The Tipping Point (The Outer Limits)
| "The Tipping Point" | |
|---|---|
| The Outer Limits episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 7 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | Brent Clackson |
| Written by | Jim Crocker |
| Original air date | September 15, 2001 |
| Guest actors | |
"The Tipping Point" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on September 15, 2001, during the seventh season.
Introduction
A computer programmer must destroy a deadly artificial intelligence and avert a Technological singularity.
Opening narration
| “ | When we awaken an intellect within our machines, will we enter a new enlightened age or a much darker one? | ” |
Plot
A woman, Megan, brings her hacker boyfriend, Zach (who had formerly hacked into the Pentagon), into a high-tech company. Programmers there begin dying off as he, only able to see his own small part of the puzzle, tries to figure out what exactly he's programming.
Clues start showing up, including glasses that can see some sort of electrical humanoid enemies (who have been the ones killing programmers). The protagonist realizes that a "Merlin" is supplying him with clues about a program called "Prometheus", a sentient AI which will try to take over the world once programmers finish building interfaces to every electronic device in the world.
The protagonist (Zach) is given a virus that will destroy the program. He tries to destroy Prometheus but is stopped at the last minute and is almost killed.
In the end, it is revealed that his girlfriend was actually "Merlin". The protagonist turns to the dark side to expose her instead of trying to stop the Prometheus program.
Closing narration
| “ | In trying to create machines that think, we should take care that we don’t end up creating a new race that will supplant our own. | ” |
Trivia
This episode mentioned the website http://www.fidelisveres.net as part of the story line. This website had lead directly to The Outer Limits website on MGM.com.