Jan 27
Ragtag Cinema Columbia, MO
TicketsDr. Cynthia Dudenhoffer
Director, WeMake Learn and Design Lab; Professor, College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri; Associate Director, School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri
WarGames— When the Game Plays Back: WarGames, AI and Ethical Control
Program Description
This presentation examines WarGames as an early cultural case study in AI ethics, long before concepts such as alignment, accountability, and human oversight became central to public and scholarly discourse.
Film Synopsis
A young hacker unwittingly initiates a US military supercomputer programmed to execute nuclear war against the Soviet Union.
High school student David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) unwittingly hacks into a military supercomputer while searching for new video games. After starting a game of Global Thermonuclear War, Lightman leads the supercomputer to activate the nation's nuclear arsenal in response to his simulated threat as the Soviet Union. Once the clueless hacker comes to his senses, Lightman, with help from his girlfriend (Ally Sheedy), must find a way to alert the authorities to stop the onset of World War III.
Part delightfully tense techno-thriller, part refreshingly unpatronizing teen drama, WarGames is one of the more inventive—and genuinely suspenseful—Cold War movies of the 1980s. [Rotten Tomatoes]
Banner image courtesy of MGM/UA Entertainment Co./Photofest
About the Speaker
Dr. Cynthia Dudenhoffer is a distinguished scholar and expert on emerging technologies in learning environments who is helping prepare current and future educators for an ever-evolving AI and technology landscape. She’s a teaching professor in the College of Education and Human Development, the associate director of the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, an AI Faculty Fellow and director of the WeMake Learn and Design Lab.