2001: A Space Odyssey

My boss brought me his 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD on saturday, after he found out that I hadn't seen it yet. He said he saw it on big screen when he was in high school and it really blew him away, although there were some symbols he didn't quite understand.

"You have to see it. And tell me about what you think about those symbols."

OK. So it sounded like an assignment.

I watched it. Wow! What a strange movie! Not sure what was going on, I watched it again. Then some really weird parts a third time.

Today I brought it back to the boss and we talked about it for almost an hour. I told him my understandings of the symbols he wasn't quite sure about, and he shed some light on the scenes I didn't understand, or didn't even notice. He told me about what he thought of HAL, the supercomputer on board of the spaceship. "He wanted to take control," he said. Finally, we both agreed that it was one of the best movies, not just sci-fi movies, ever.

The boss got so excited by the discussion that he said:"why don't we watch some of the parts again on my computer?"

Good idea.

After he popped in the disc, the DVD Player program automatically jumped out. But before it played the DVD, it asked:"This is the first time you play a DVD on this machine. Please set your region code. (You can only set it for 5 times.)" But the "Set region code" button was grey. The only button that could be clicked was "Cancel". When the boss clicked "Cancel", another dialogue box jumped out, asking for the "Administrator Password".

Ah, nice. The UNIX-based Mac OS X. If you are not an administrator, you can't change or set anything. Even though my boss bought this PowerMac, he isn't the administrator. Who is? Some guy from the "computer-facility-purchasing office". Every machine purchased with your grant has to be "configured" by him first. He is slow, inefficient, and irresponsible. Now it's apparent that he wants to take control, too. Just like HAL, the supercomputer in 2001, A Space Odyssey. He disabled everything on this Mac. If we want to change anything, we have to beg him. By this way he displays the importance of his job, and enjoys power, however small it is.

How chilling, the human nature. Every smallest authority is used to gain the maximum control. No wonder HAL wanted to control the spaceship. Can you blame him? He was built with Artificial Intelligence, modelled after human nature. An innate control freak.

Of course, the administrator was probably just following the computer security rules of the university. But it is always easier to criticize an individual than a "system".

I guess that is another chilling aspect of human nature.