# Confuse-a-robot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351 "2017-03-04T00:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/21 "2017-03-04T16:32:33Z")
I was surprised by the date on this: I thought [_Colossus: The Forbin Project_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus:_The_Forbin_Project) pre-dated Star Trek but it’s from 1970. Anyway, it’s yet another example of someone trying to overload a computer with a special program (in this case for distraction). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/22 "2017-03-04T16:33:38Z")
In [Robot Monster (1953)](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/RobotMonster), Robot Gorilla Ro-Man says, “I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do ‘must’ and ‘cannot’ meet? Yet I must - but I cannot!” He doesn’t actually start smoking, but it is an early instance of conflicting programming/inputs causing. . . eh. . . ‘internal issues.’ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/23 "2017-03-04T16:35:02Z")
A for-once-pissed-off Susan Calvin does this to a robot in Asimov’s LIAR!, in '41. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/24 "2017-03-04T16:35:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I was surprised by the date on this: I thought [_Colossus: The Forbin Project_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus:_The_Forbin_Project) pre-dated Star Trek but it’s from 1970. > > Anyway, it’s yet another example of someone trying to overload a computer with a special program (in this case for distraction). Novel from 1966. But in the first sequel, “The Fall of Colossus” (1974), the Martians give Forbin a formula to feed into Colossus that will shut him down. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/25 "2017-03-04T23:59:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > “I, Mudd” wasn’t even the first time the trope was used on _Star Trek_. The first-season episode “The Return of the Archons” climaxes with Kirk arguing a computer into self-destruction, as does the second-season episode “The Changeling”, which aired a month before “I, Mudd.” > > Of Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” stories, I guess “Liar!” from 1941 is somewhat close - a robot that can read minds but is also programmed to not harm humans can’t reconcile the conflict. It never occurred to me before this thread, but is “I, Mudd” actually a take-off on “I, Robot”? The title, I mean, not necessarily the plot. That would be cool. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/26 "2017-03-05T00:14:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Well, my movie example was 10 years before Star Trek, and I’d welcome an earlier scene.😉 Yes but it wasn’t an example of the cheesy cliche. > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > It never occurred to me before this thread, but is “I, Mudd” actually a take-off on “I, Robot”? The title, I mean, not necessarily the plot. That would be cool. Probably more of a take off on I, Claudius. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351/27 "2017-03-05T00:16:30Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > It never occurred to me before this thread, but is “I, Mudd” actually a take-off on “I, Robot”? The title, I mean, not necessarily the plot. That would be cool. I wasn’t trying to suggest a connection (the similarity of the titles hadn’t occurred to me, truth be told). I just followed up some details about Star Trek with a literary example I thought many Dopers would recognize. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confuse-a-robot/781351.md?page=1)