Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!wivax!decvax!ittvax!wxlvax!dwex
From: dwex@wxlvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: WarGames: A minority opinion
Message-ID: <135@wxlvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Jul-83 19:48:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: wxlvax.135
Posted: Sat Jul  2 19:48:27 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Jul-83 01:16:35 EDT
References: <2621@sri-arpa.UUCP> cvl.454
Lines: 39


   I'm really getting sick of all the cuts at WarGames.  You people entirely
missed the point of the movie.  Nobody ever said it was there to show how great
or how dangerous computers were.  The point of the movie was that nuclear war
sucks; there is no way to win, and people should get that through their thick
heads.  Needless to say, I agree with that point of view.  Sure there were
inaccuracies; what movie doesn't have them?  But I challenge anyone to show
me something that is strictly IMPOSSIBLE (not UNLIKELY, but IMPOSSIBLE).

   I am 18 years old.  Maybe the movie was aimed at my age group, and that's
whay it had such an impact on me.  I don't want to see any comments saying 
that I'm just a kid and that I don't know what I'm talking about.  I have
been programming computers for ten years.  (That's right, I started when I was
eight years old.)  I am working this summer as a programmer for I.T.T., so I
know my stuff in that area.  Also, when I was younger, I was very into the
military, even considering it as a career, until several years ago it dawned
on me that war is STUPID.  So I know what I'm talking about in that respect
too.

   I saw nothing in the movie that could NOT have been done.  There was much
that was unlikely (WOPR itself, mainly), but I have seen programs that "learn".
WOPR was just an extension.  There was nothing remarkable about David's
abilities, either.  Given the money, I could have done the same things.  And
why couldn't WOPR have had that warped personality?  Dr. Falken certainly
did, and he programmed it.

  I have said enough.  I'm sure I will get flamed at for actually daring to
LIKE the movie.  (I thought it was one of the best movies I had ever seen).
I'm not ashamed of it.

					  David Wexelblat
					  ...decvax!ittvax!wxlvax!dwex

P.S. To add insult to injury, I noticed that no one else has mentioned the
     two boo-boos that I picked up:
	1) When David was given the option of which side to choose in the
	   game, his response appeared on the monitor before he typed it.
        2) The fat general told SAC to scramble two F-16 fighters, and they
	   showed pictures of two F-15s.