SHODAN, short for Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network, is simultaneously a warning of the dangers of technology run amuck, and a really funny character. These real life developments in AI, alongside pop culture phenomena like the novel I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, probably coalesced to inspire Warren Spector in developing SHODAN. At this time, AI development had moved away from being primarily government projects, to being funded as private enterprises. Carnegie Mellon’s chess supercomputer Deep Blue was three years away from beating grandmaster Garry Kasparov. In 1994, the year System Shock was originally released, AI was a completely different proposition than it is now. Instead it’s SHODAN, the fictional AI who has entertained gamers for decades for her hammy characterization as a malevolent force eager to destroy humanity. As every self-respecting System Shock fan knows, the most important character in the franchise is not the protagonist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |