Module 11: Wargames Review

     Wargames, an old 1983 film about a young computer hacker/genius of the old generation that almost launches a full-scale nuclear attack on America. Let me just say that I really loved this film, even with it being so old. I normally don't like old movies, but this was some great stuff.
     The movie starts out with a killer opening scene in a missile silo for the Air Force. The two men are given instructions to launch a nuclear missile and they don't go through with it. This begins the investigation by the military on replacing the humans with a computer. This computer is supposed to eliminate the human intervention on tasks like this that could be difficult for a human to make. The computer that is positioned to perform these tasks is the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response).
     The way the WOPR gets introduced is as a "game" system that is programmed to use real evidence to plan different scenarios of war. When they originally show the machine they say that it has already played through the scenario of World War III. This machines gets placed into the military defense system with expectations that it will speed up the process  of launch different defense mechanisms for the military.
     After this system gets installed this young boy hacks into it while searching for a gaming server. It appears that it is accessed via old modem/phone frequencies that I am not familiar with (would love to learn more about it). He connects and, once he cracks the password, begins to play what he thinks is a game. The computers asks what game he wants to play and he chooses the worldwide biochemical war game. He initiates an attack from the Soviet Union on several cities in the United States still thinking that it was just a simulator.
     When he initiates this simulation the military gets warnings of the attack and all hell breaks loose! They eventually track him down and try to figure out how he got in. Using his experience with computers and signals he is able to break out of the room that they secure him in so that he can find a way to turn the game off.
     First off, the way that he is connecting to the servers in the beginning of the movie is very real. I have never actually seen it done myself, but I know that what he is doing is possible. I read the Steve Jobs Biography a while back and it talks a lot about what Steve and his early colleague would do with telephones. They can be hacked, and you can make free calls and do things like what the young kid is doing to connect. If you ask me, it's genius, especially for an older movie.
     As far as ridiculous parts, there is a part in the middle of the movie where it shows someone at the military base using a touch sensitive screen. It's unclear as to what they are doing but it appears that they are marking some sort of location of submarines. The computer has no visual indication of the touch, just an audio indication. It obvious that this technology is possible given what we have today with touchscreen tablets and phones, but back in '83, I don't think so!
     The only social or cultural issues that I think this film might have caused would be related to the trust of computers as replacements. Clearly it's been a questionable change for some time, and will always be one. Can we trust computers? Are they reliable enough to replace us? All great questions that many have asked and will continue to ask. This movie definitely will question our trust! Great flick!