Excerpts4u
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2021–2025
1:16 · 540K views · Feb 8, 2015
A one-minute clip from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in which a computer refuses to reveal its results. It plays on machines giving unhelpful answers.
Used purely as a joke reference when threads feature computers or AI giving unhelpful or evasive answers.
3 comments from Hacker News
This question reminds me of the computer scene from “Willy Wonka”. this video I’m imagining the computer guru presenting his plan to Congress: “my 100% infallible computer model says here’s what the tax law should be. Please overhaul society now and make sure you don’t let any of your prior opinions cloud your judgement now that the computer has told you what’s best.” Computational models are models : they work best with systems we already basically understand the rules to or can at least approximate. Like weather or physics. Economics is a social science . Economies are incredibly dynamic systems because they’re made of people. Every change to the system causes the participants to change their behavior. People are significantly more complicated than Game Of Life gliders. A model that can correctly simulate the economy requires strong AGI or magic, neither of which have been invented yet.
It reminds me of the scene from the original willy wonka from that era, where they are trying to use a computer to predict where the next winning ticket will be. this video
Predicted way back in 1971 in the classic movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”! One of the many hysterical scenes I didn’t truly appreciate as a kid. this video