How did I find this book? Colossus is one of those stellar Goodwill finds that was completely unexpected. I made a challenge with myself to not read what the book was about beforehand, and just pick up on the first page. The book itself has this black, bumpy texture, with a missing dust cover. No description is included on the inside of the book, no advertisements for other novels, just words on the page. I picked this book off the shelf namely for it just sticking out at me with the red text, "COLOSSUS" on the side, and the pages colored red at the top. The book was written in 1966, and is about supercomputers taking control of mankind, and later adapted into a feature film, Colossus: The Forbin Project(1970), which I am excited to watch.

About the Author:

Dennis Feltham Jones (D.F. Jones) was a science fiction author and a naval commander during World War II. He has written over eight books in his lifetime, majority in science fiction.

The synopsis of Colossus follows a professor named Forbin, who is head on the Colossus project. For the first three chapters, it did not mention what the purpose was, right until it was announced to the general public. Colossus, is a super-computer built right into the rocky mountains, and the size of a small city. It was designed to bring world peace, and planned to replace over 75% of the military. The arsenal of the USA missile silos are directly hooked up to Colossus, removing the need for humans, making the system being able to respond to threats easier. (In my mind, I envisioned a large IBM mainframe as Colossus)

Pictured is an IBM 7090 Data Processing System from 1959, and featured a fully-transistorized system, with speeds ranging six times faster than those of its vacuum-tube predecessors.

It all goes downhill from here...

As of course with all gigantic, AI like computers, something goes terribly wrong. Originally, Colossus was built in a way so it can't have thought, only analyzes what it is given, and makes a decision. But quickly the entire team realized Colossus is rapidly improving itself, and is calculating advanced problems with ease. Colossus makes the bold request; wait, more like a demand, to connect with the USSR computer Guardian, who has recently been announced right after the Americans. Initially, Forbin denies the request, but Colossus threatens to nuke an entire city if it's requirements are not met.

Forbin agrees and the two machines start communicating. Times tables are sent back and forth, then geometry, theorems of Euclid, calculus, and moves onto solving theories humans haven't even fully solved yet, like the theory of gravitation. The team is blown away that this much progress of science was done only in a couple hours. After the two machines have built a common basis of communication, they develop their own language, and to mear humans, is completely unreadable. Colossus and Guardian start working together, and demand Forbin be made under "house arrest" with these rules below.

FOR FORBIN - THE FOLLOWING ORDERS ARE
TO BE COMPLIED WITH ON RECEIPT
1-PROCEED TO THE SECURE ZONE AND STAY
  THERE UNTIL FURTHER ORDERS
2-ARRANGE VIDEO AND SONIC SURVEIL-
  LANCE TO COVER YOU AT ALL TIMES CON-
  NECT TO ALFA
3-DO NOT COMMUNICATE WITH GUARDIAN
  BUILDER
4-DISOBEDIENCE WILL CAUSE MISSLE
  LAUNCH WHICH WILL NOT BE INTER-
  CEPTED
5-ACKNOWLEDGE FROM CPO PERSONALLY
  BEFORE 2100 GMT TODAY SURVEILLANCE
  SYSTEM TO BE OPERATIVE IMMEDIATELY

Photo taken at Hubbard Valley Park on your friendly neighborhood bench...

Forbin and Kupri (The Soviet's head at Guardian) are seen as the biggest threat to these machines because they know the most about these systems and how they function. Colossus slowly presses more control over the team, and demands a voice modulator to be built with exact specifications, all printed out on the teletype terminal for humans to follow and assemble. Toward the end of the book, Colossus reveals its final plan, to build a better version of itself on an island, and relocate millions of people to do it. Forbin hates this idea of Colossus not caring about humans at all, and Colossus asks Forbin to join him in a partnership. Colossus states:

"In time, you too will respect and love me." 
Forbin screams, "Never!"
The single word, bearing all the defiance of man,
was torn from Forbin's uttermost being.
Never?

The book ends on this word and questions Forbin's absolute answer of never teaming up with Colossus, as he would rather die then do so. Also, I see it as a question, waiting for a response from the reader. In 1966, computers were used for precise tasks with an easily quantitative solution, and only in the hands of businesses, and governments. What the book is getting at here is that will we in the future, respect and love machines? The answer is already here, and it's yes.

There are two sequel books, The Fall of Colossus (1974), and Colossus and the Crab (1977).

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