Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!hester@uci-750a 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.