Colossus: The Forbin Project story
The film is based on the 1966 science fiction novel Colossus, by Dennis Feltham Jones (writing as D. F. Jones), about an advanced American defense system, named Colossus, becoming sentient to everyone's pleasant surprise... at first. After being handed full control, Colossus's draconian logic expands on its original nuclear defense directives to assume total control of the world and end all warfare for the good of mankind despite its creators' orders to stop.
12 total · 8 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| AI risk to civilization | major | The film ended with the Colossus computer taking over the world and forcing humans to live together in peace. |
| autonomous weapons system | major | The Colossus computer was designed as an advanced national defense system that functioned without human aid. The Soviets had coincidently built a similar system at the same time. |
| autonomous weapons system killing everyone | major | The Colossus defense computer got out of human control forced everyone to put an end to all warfare for the good of humankind. |
| human vs. sentient machine | major | The people of Earth versus the Colossus computer. |
| machine regulated society | major | The film ended with the Colossus computer taking over the world and forcing humans to live together in peace. |
| maker and machine | major | Dr. Charles Forbin and the Colossus computer. |
| nuclear holocaust | major | The Colossus computer come to control the nuclear weapons stockpiles of the United States and the Soviet Union. |
| sentient computer | major | The Colossus super computer became sentient, as did its Soviet counterpart. |
| government secrecy | minor | Both United States and Soviet governments concealed knowledge that their defense computers fired missiles from their respective publics. |
| romantic love | minor | Charles Forbin and Cleo Markham. |