The most obvious question is this.
Why build a computer like this if there is the slightest inclination it can start to self learn, and becoem disobedient to it's creators without at first installing some safeguards to shut it down?
Why oh why would you do that?
Are scientists really that short sighted?
I read the book and it explains that Forbin had no intentions for the computer to self learn and rule as it did. The bigger question should be asked why was there not a fail safe device added upon the units completion!
shareIn the 5 minute speech at the start the President said to the "people" that humans had put the world on the brink of extinction. They could no longer risk this.
He said other things that were supposed to justify turning over control to a machine. I think maybe he was lying to the "people". Someone said about 30 minutes later "You've lost control Forbin".
If they could shut Colossus down then humans would still be in control, which the president said they could no longer afford. It would also indicate a waste of 5 years of a mega project and the president wouldn't get re-elected :)
Since some humans were going to push us over the brink, then Colossus had to become disobedient to some humans. I don't know that it disobeyed what the president talked about in that first 5 minute speech.
This is fiction, so there were no programming bugs to worry about or MeSsy OS's that had to be rebooted every few days.