The Electrical Engineer and the Guardian Of Piri

“Do you think that today’s generation could match the drive and inspiration of yours?”

We were at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and I was focused on my 5-year-old daughter reading a placard about the F-1 engine when I noticed someone wearing a white lab coat standing off to the side and slightly behind us.

He waited patiently as she finished participating in the same method I used on my son, twelve years ago: hook them with history and incorporate that interest into the foundational skills of reading, retention, and interpretation.

Mean dad, I know.

Once she was done, I looked up to see and older guy – one of the volunteer interpreters strategically placed under the Saturn V – and immediately recognized him from two “Smarter Every Day” videos: How did NASA Steer the Saturn V?- Smarter Every Day 223 and I Asked An Actual Apollo Engineer to Explain the Saturn 5 Rocket – Smarter Every Day 280… Luke Talley.

True to the nature of most folks I have met in technical fields, Mr. Talley was as charming as he was encyclopedic in his storied knowledge of all things IMU and technology-related; think Mark Twain if he had Kerbal Space Program at his disposal.

Out of the blue, and looking up at the first stage, I posed the question above – after all, how often does one get an opportunity to hear the observations of the previous generations are? However, as this was an impromptu and chance meeting, I was unprepared to properly capture the verbatim answer and am paraphrasing his response:

“They are missing fundamentals. Back then, we wore out slide rule after slide rule looking for solutions to problems while using the fundamentals. Today, things are easier to Google or use a program. If the computer is programmed incorrectly, they won’t know it because they are lacking the understanding of the core of the problem and trust that the information being presented is correct when there might have been a programming problem way back and no one thinks to look or knows where to look.”

Fascinating.

We have all this technology as a blessing but are also so very blind to the curse of our own hubris and trust in that same technology.

A month ago, I happened down the rabbit hole of old Space:1999 episodes on DailyMotion – specifically, Season One, Episode 11: Guardian Of Piri, where an encounter with a seemingly benevolent, but seductively malicious AI threatens the residents of the wandering Moonbase Alpha.

The dialogue could be viewed as a warning of sorts:

KOENIG: “Computer’s a problem we can handle. What bothers me is why Irving and Davis had no sense of danger.”

ALAN: “Because they believed what that lousy computer told them to believe.”

[…]

KOENIG: “Victor, we can’t rely on it. That computer seems to be telling us just what we want to hear.”

[…]

PIRIAN GIRL: “They built a world of machines to run the necessities of life so they could enjoy their pleasure. Then they created the Guardian to control the machines and save them from decision. Their life was perfect, and the Guardian was directed to maintain it.”

[…]

PIRIAN GIRL: “We reached out and offered them happiness. And they accepted. Time is stopping for them.”

KOENIG: “Life is stopping for them.”

PIRIAN GIRL: “They are at peace.”

KOENIG: “The peace of death.”

PIRIAN GIRL: “You have seen, Commander, and not understood. Your fear is from ignorance and it has made you stubborn. But you will accept, as they have done.”

KOENIG: “This place is not for us. I’ll make them understand.”

[..]

[When Koening asks the computer why he has been locked in his quarters after confronting the others of Alpha with the possibility of an existential threat]

COMPUTER (words on comms post): “Your comlock facility is withdrawn. You are confined to your quarters.”

KOENIG: “By whose order?”

COMPUTER: “Operation Exodus Committee.”

KOENIG: “I said who? The individual?”

COMPUTER: “Doctor Russell.”

KOENIG: “Grounds?”

COMPUTER: “Diminished Responsibility. Your freedom threatens the safety of Alpha.”

[…]

PIRIAN GIRL: “Creatures of the Moon. The Guardian’s task is to take pain from your lives and make you perfect.”

VICTOR: “We are grateful.”

ALL: “We are grateful.”

PIRIAN GIRL: “The Guardian has made you happy.”

VICTOR: “We are happy!”

ALL: “We are happy!”

PIRIAN GIRL: “And peaceful.”

ALL: “We are peaceful!”

PIRIAN GIRL: “And you would not have your peace disturbed?”

ALL: “No!”

PIRIAN GIRL: “There is one amongst you who threatens your happiness…” [she steps down, the Alphans murmuring angrily] “…who comes to destroy your peace. He will not accept the dominion of the Guardian. He must be destroyed!”

ALL: “Destroy him!”

PIRIAN GIRL: “He is your Commander, John Koenig.” [a murmur of surprise] “You must destroy him so the Guardian may live and protect you forever!”

ALL: “Long live the Guardian!”

IRVING: “You’re destroying our peace, Koenig. We’re going to kill you now.”

Yeah… Rewatching it brought me distracted chuckles at the beige bellbottoms, over-acting, and visual effects which are, by contemporary examples, comically quaint.

Mr. Talley’s observations resonate; like many examples in the science fiction genre, they also serve as a warning against losing the understanding and appreciation of the fundamentals… the basics… and the caution of blind trust disguised as reassuringly simplified redundancy.

In this sense, “fundamentals” might be considered the root ability to know what is going on and why. I would be a hypocrite to insist that calculators should be chucked for slide rules and abacuses… that computers be cast aside for ink-and-ribbon typewriters… but a general idea of what components or core elements are within a system or process and what the consequences of failure are associated with those portions.

“Basics” would be how to approach a problem with the simplest positive solution. Where fundamentals would be understanding how to drive, the basics would be how to drive on certain road conditions or within different levels of congestion. Politically, the difference between knowing the three branches of U.S. Federal (or Feral, depending on one’s own level of frustration or regional accent) Government versus how the individual efforts interact or are influenced by each branch.

“Trust” and “redundancy” is a bit trickier as I am immediately wary of the claims of the former and skeptical of overburdening of the latter. How is trust verified or verification trusted?

Where there is trust, no proof is necessary. Where there is none, no proof is possible.

(Source)

On the other hand, the compulsion to maintain backups… to backups… to yet more backups can drive one to obsessive lengths and provide either a false sense of security or an overly complicated system or process… or – potentially catastrophically – both. We can trust a system or component not to fail… and we can find comfort in the fact that, if something does fail, there is another system or item which will mitigate the error… But what happens if we forget what to do when trust becomes dubious and the alternate courses of action are incapable of functioning properly due to additional and compounding factors/failures?

Computers are amazing tools, but we tend to forget that they are not absolutes; we forget that we managed for thousands of years without the luxury of those conveniences. A recent discussion I came across debated the planning systems used by modern military aircrews – whether or not “X2.0” programming software would be better than “X1.0,” and I could not help but smirk as I pondered the 100+ bomber missions which were coordinated 80 years ago – all planned using paper maps, trained navigators, and attention to the operational environment.

Artificial Intelligence will change things… but I cannot help but skeptically wonder if it will be for the good. When the computer-based logbooks first became a burden were introduced to the rabid subset of Army Aviation that were the 67-series MOSs, my grumblings were very Luddite-esque:

“It doesn’t matter how many damn computers you use – if the idiots plugging in the information are wrong, then the data will still be wrong. Garbage in, garbage out.”  

In the end, it didn’t matter then as it won’t matter tomorrow; the irritation with having to produce both paper and computer records faded and one more level of complexity was added – all in the name of the “Paperwork Reduction Act” and the increased need for database administrative efforts by those who were neither administratively minded nor versed in the nuances of how to properly handle databases.

Yeah. “Old Man Yells at Cloud.” That’s me, more often than not.

The conversation with Mr. Talley was what I needed today. We may not be able to create a “perfect” world, but we also need to be reminded that there are folks still around who have done far more with far less. Perhaps we need to see that the forest is not merely trees, but the legs of many historic giants upon which we may find suitable shoulders to sit upon.

After all – our happiness and success can be guided by but should NOT be determined or dictated by claimed “perfection” programmed by proven imperfection.