A life time fan and Prisonerologist of the 1960's series 'the Prisoner', a leading authority on the subject, a short story writer, and now Prisoner novelist.
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Friday, 1 August 2014
WHY?
As it happens the General is capable of answering any question from advanced mathematics to molecular structure. From philosophy to crop-spraying, given the basic facts first. And so the question has been asked why doesn't Number 2 ask the General why Number 6 resigned? But of course to do so, the General would have to be programmed with all the basic facts first......that's why the computer self destructed when Number 6 asked it the question WHY? The General could not answer the question, because it was not pre-programmed with all the basic facts first! Of course computers do not blow up simply because they cannot answer a particular question. The General blew a fuse for dramatic effect.
The General may have been a super computer, but any computer is only as good as its programming. It would be the same if Number 2 had typed the question “Why did Number 6 resign?” To get that answer someone would have had to programme the General with all the given basic facts first, had possibly researched and computed the Prisoner’s whole life in fact. Just like Number 2 had done for ‘A B and C!’
Of course, Number 6 could have typed the question “Who is Number 1?” {as I thought Number 6 was going to do when I first watched the series}. Although I suspect there wasn’t enough basic information in the General to have answered that question. What I mean is, you can't take out, what you don't put in!
Be seeing you.
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