WarGames - The Futility of Winning in Games
Joshua/WOPR:
Greetings, Professor FALKEN.
Stephen Falken:
Hello, Joshua.
Joshua/WOPR:
A STRANGE GAME. THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY.. ... HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF CHESS?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
WarGames - Escalating Tensions in War Games
Stephen Falken: [looking at screens]
How far's he gone?
McKittrick:
Well, the President’s about ready to order a counter-strike. That's what we're recommending he do.
Stephen Falken:
It's a bluff, John, call it off.
McKittrick:
No, it's not a bluff. It's real.
Stephen Falken: [raising his voice from stairs]
Hello, General Beringer! Stephen Falken!
General Beringer: [standing]
Mr. Falken you picked a hell of a day for a visit!
Stephen Falken:
Uh, uh, General, what you see on these screens up here is a fantasy; a computer-enhanced hallucination. Those blips are not real missiles. They're phantoms.
McKittrick:
Jack, there's nothing to indicate a simulation at all. Everything is working perfectly!
Stephen Falken:
But does it make any sense?
General Beringer:
Does what make any sense?
Stephen Falken: [points to the screens]
That!
General Beringer:
Look, I don't have time for a conversation right now.
Stephen Falken:
General, are you prepared to destroy the enemy?
General Beringer:
You betcha!
Stephen Falken:
Do you think they know that?
General Beringer:
I believe we've made that clear enough.
Stephen Falken:
Then don't! Tell the President to ride out the attack.
Colonel Conley:
Sir, they need a decision.
Stephen Falken:
General, do you really believe that the enemy would attack without provocation, using so many missiles, bombers, and subs so that we would have no choice but to totally annihilate them?
Female Airman First Class: [on loudspeaker]
One minute and thirty seconds to impact.
Stephen Falken:
General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
WarGames - The Cycle of Nature and Human Mistakes
Stephen Falken:
Now, children, come on over here. I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time, there lived a magnificent race of animals that dominated the world through age after age. They ran, they swam, and they fought and they flew, until suddenly, quite recently, they disappeared. Nature just gave up and started again. We weren't even apes then. We were just these smart little rodents hiding in the rocks. And when we go, nature will start again. With the bees, probably. Nature knows when to give up, David.
David:
I'm not giving up. If Joshua tricks them into launching an attack, it'll be your fault.
Stephen Falken:
My fault? The whole point was to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves; to get the computer to learn from mistakes we could not afford to make. Except, that I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.
David:
What's that?
Stephen Falken:
Futility. That there's a time when you should just give up.
Jennifer:
What kind of a lesson is that?
Stephen Falken: [[w:Tic-Tac-Toe|tic-tac-toe]
Did you ever play ]?
Jennifer:
Yeah, of course.
Stephen Falken:
But you don't anymore.
Jennifer:
No.
Stephen Falken:
Why?
Jennifer:
Because it's a boring game. It's always a tie.
Stephen Falken:
Exactly. There's no way to win. The game itself is pointless! But back in the war room, they believe you can win a nuclear war. That there can be "acceptable losses.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.