Did anyone understand why the supercomputer called Zero behaved so strangely?
Was it broken? Was it manipulated by the elite in power? What was the intention of that scene? Did make any sense to you?
Please tell me what you think about that scene! =)
The reason why ZERO reacted the way it did was because Jonathan asked it a question that wasn't supposed to have been asked.
Remember what Bartholomew said earlier in the film, when he meets with Jonathan in his personal chamber after the first Rollerball game? He said that the Corporations would provide for everything (energy, food, transportation, luxury items, housing, and communications). The only thing the Corporations asked for in return was that its' decisions would not be interfered with by anyone. ZERO overloaded itself protecting the Corporate status quo when Jonathan asked, "I'd like to know how Corporate decisions are made."
Also, Jonathan had become more than just a formidable Rollerball player. He had become a great symbol of individuality, popularity, success, and unbound spirit, something that the Corporations wanted to squash to protect themselves and their global power.
So, yes, the ZERO scene made perfect sense to me.
I actually took it as a religious allegory... the technician treats Zero with fervent reverence, especially regarding its omniscience, yet makes comments that it acts in ways they don't understand.
The technician also has faith that Zero can answer Jonathan's questions about why decisions were made, yet it can't. As a religious devotee might console himself through adversity that "God has a plan".
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(SPOILER!)
Ironically, the computer tells Jonathan the truth. As we see when he heads of the corporation make a decision, there is really no rhyme or reason, other than they feel it is their decision to make. The motion is tabled, vote is taken, and that's that. Corporate leaders make corporate decisions. There is no how or why about it.
The problem is, Jonathan doesn't ask the right question. He should have asked why they made that specific decision about him.
Ezreal has an excellent answer, but also realize, Zero is the greatest computer in size and power, and knows everything, except the 13thC at this moment in time. It could be it has become aware with all that knowledge, like the computer Mike in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but is overwhelemed about it all, and therefore quite eccentric.
shareZero behaved strangely because it used 1970s technology. Did you see those removable disk drives? The size of a small refrigerator, and the disks themselves about 18" in diameter, with a storage capacity of 5 or 10 megabytes. Not much of an upgrade from punch cards, which were also shown in that scene.
Zero lost the 13th century because management removed the 13th century. Any questions?
shareWhat's really up with the supercomputer was that the author of the screenplay didn't have the foggiest idea as to how computers actually work.
shareI think that Zero was just a horrible way to keep information. Didn't it save information by encoding it on water in some bizarre way? Its operator was a loopy old man without a real care at all for maintaining history as much as making this special little curiosity work. As such, history and such went missing or simply forgotten, unneeded in a world that got safety and security at the expense of doing anything else.
shareZero may have been a film adaptation of bubble memory. This is 70's and 80's technology that was supposed to provide more data density and access speed than the conventional storage media of the time. It eventually got swept away by cheaper semiconductor memory that is still prevalent today. I guess it was the next big thing at the time, don't know how much of it was implemented. Maybe that's where the technical advisor got the inspiration for Zero.
share