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From: hester%uci-750a@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Does anybody remember these ?
Message-ID: <810@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Jun-84 01:06:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.810
Posted: Wed Jun 13 01:06:34 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jun-84 00:12:19 EDT
Lines: 59

From:  "Jim Hester" 

To my knowledge, and that of my reference books, the meaning of
"Klaatu Barada Nikto" was never disclosed.  However, the robot's
behavior implies one of two messages.  The first would be a
simple plea to help Klaatu rather than destroy the Earth.  As you
pointed out, Klaatu never said that Gort would do that, but he
told the woman that he was afraid of what Gort would do if he
were killed.  When she asked him what a simgle robot could do, he
said that it could destroy the world if it decided to.  He later
said the same thing to the scientist, Professor Barnhard.
Thus one interpretation would be "Klaatu Needs Help".

The other possibility stems more from Gort's immediate action
upon hearing the message:  he returned to the ship and activated
the main screen.  Klaatu used this screen on at least one
occation, and it seemed that he was giving verbal commands to the
ship's computer.  He might also have been communicating with
confederates, either for advice or help for his 'demonstration'.

Gort's use of the screen could have been for two purposes: to
use the ship's instruments for locating Klaatu, or for getting
advice from the ship's computer or others.  I doubt Gort would
have consulted the ship's computer, due to the nature of the
intelligence Klaatu described built into the robot police force.
It is possible that he might want to consult humans on a policy
matter if specifically instructed to by Klaatu.  Thus the second
interpretation might be "Klaatu requests you seek advice", or
just "Gort, Phone Home" (I can't take credit for the pun, it
appeared some time ago on a bboard).

I don't have a preference between these theories.  I can't see
Klaatu sending a message (in the event of his death) to Gort just
to come and help him, although he certainly might send something
like 'help me if possible, otherwise consult the home office
before doing anything rash'.  Given the length of the message, I
would expect Klaatu to instruct Gort to phone home for
instructions, but it seemed to me that Gort was using the screen
to find Klaatu rather than communicate (just a feeling, really).
Klaatu's description of the robot police force made it clear that
they were mentally as well as physically capable of destroying
the planet, which implies a high degree of intelligence and
independence.  I doubt Gort would think of phoning home on his own.

My pet theory is that the message, if we knew the literal
translation, would still be somewhat cryptic.  I believe that
Klaatu was reminding the robot of part of the Code it followed:
that it must exhaust all possibilities before becomming violent
on a planetary scale (Klaatu mentioned that they AUTOMATICALLY
react against aggressors, but there must be some tempering in
there for cases like when it's master just disappears).  This
reminder may have been in the form of quoting a rule, or
something like "Klaatu is the policy-maker on this mission".

In other words, I don't believe the message was a request at all,
but something with special meaning to the robot, that would
interrupt the automatic strike reflex and get it started thinking
and recognizing it's options (including BOTH or EITHER rescuing Klaatu
or calling for advise) before it went berserk.