Dangerous Computer - 11-26-2023
I do not know when this dream occurred, but it seems to me to be some time ago. It was at a moment when my mind was almost totally blank, that it just appeared, vividly, from the depths of memory.
I have had several dreams about malignant computers. In most cases the solution was to find and get too the means of shutting off the electric power - generally not easy to do. This dream took a preemptive approach.
Begin: A large, massive, isolated facility had been built to house a very large computer system that was thought extremely dangerous. I was involved with installing the safety system, and I would not be in the facility when it was in operation.
This safety system was just plain old dumb plumbing, and the working parts were not shown in the plans for the facility. Only a few people involved in installing it knew about it, and they would not be working in the facility. The computer would have no means to detect it.
It consisted of a water tank, with a valve that opened if the water reached a certain level. That level would mean that toilets weren't flushing and sinks weren't being used - in other words, no people. That valve opened into a large pipe the open end of which was above the drop ceiling - right over a very critical (and vulnerable) part of the computer system.
On the top side of the ceiling tiles was scattered an acid substance (citric acid?) that would assure the water was conductive and corrosive.
The critical part of the computer was a very complex looking tower, about 7 feet high and 3 feet diameter, with a lot of cabling involved.
There was a safety system for the safety system. There was a red light, about 1-1/2 inch diameter, in the janitorial closet where only the janitor would see it. The janitor was instructed that if that light ever went on, he was to run water in his sink for a certain time. He was not told why, just that he'd be fired if he didn't do it.
Since the dream faded out here, I have no idea it the system was ever
activated.
End.