in the SciFi classic Forbidden Planet (1956), we see
an inconceivably large mega-computer; one that
occupies a underground complex some 40 miles long
and 7,800 levels deep

it had been created by an extinct race, the Krell

check it out in the excerpt below; it ends with a
question, posed by Commander John J. Adams, who
is played by Leslie Nielsen . .

What's it all for?


before too long, Commander Adams learns that the
Krell had designed this mega-computer to make their
every wish a reality; an instant reality

however, this race wrought its own destruction
when it failed to take into account its darkside

like us, the Krell possessed what Freud called an Id;
that primitive, amoral, ego-centric part of the psyche
associated with aggressive and destructive drives -

a part of us that we typically are able to suppress

in Forbidden Planet, we discover that when the Krell
threw the switch on their mega-computer, the power
of their darkside was infinitely multiplied, their des-
tructive impulses were quickly acted out, and they
self-destructed in a single night

check out this second clip; once again the monsters
of the Id are unleashed, and the mystery of the
Krell's disappearance is resolved



in this last clip we see an example of pioneering
work on the brain-computer interface; does this ring
any bells?



as science are proceeds down that path of using the
power of the computer to make our wishes reality,
how close will we come to that point where the
computer acts out our destructive impulses? -

that point when we inadvertently unleash our darker,
destructive drives

then again perhaps somewhere, in some top-secret
lab, it has already happened