Colossus is not a threat because....

Why software is so bad ...

As software becomes increasingly important, the potential impact of bad code will increase to match, in the view of Peter G. Neumann, a computer scientist at SRI International, a private R&D center in Menlo Park, CA. In the last 15 years alone, software defects have wrecked a European satellite launch, delayed the opening of the hugely expensive Denver airport for a year, destroyed a NASA Mars mission, killed four marines in a helicopter crash, induced a U.S. Navy ship to destroy a civilian airliner, and shut down ambulance systems in London, leading to as many as 30 deaths. And because of our growing dependence on the Net, Neumann says, “We’re much worse off than we were five years ago. The risks are worse and the defenses are not as good. We’re going backwards--and that’s a scary thing.”

Colossus, of course, is the Forbin Project, the science fiction tale of a supercomputer that takes over the world. Given what is said in this article, we can assume that Colossus would be just as likely to kill itself, as vaporize a city or two.

How...comforting.