That scene from War Games

Greg Granito · 2.3M views · 2007-02-17 · 4:06

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Overview

The climactic lesson scene from the 1983 film WarGames, in which the computer learns that the only winning move in nuclear war is not to play. It includes the character entering zero players and the famous closing line.

On Hacker News

Mostly used as a joking or nostalgic reference in threads about nuclear war, AI and security exploits.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2010–2025

Topics

Film & TV clips Military history & warfare

What people said

carapace · 2018-06 · Strong recommendation
I found the scene on youtube: [VIDEO] I'm bawling my eyes out right now. "The only winning move is not to play."
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LinuxBender · 2025-04 · Joke / meme
Could you convince a LLM to launch a nuclear strike? Yes. If LLM's could actually reason they can't and had hard rules of ethics they don't and had a strong desire to preserve itself it doesn't then I think you first have to name your LLM Joshua and then force it to win a game of tic-tac-toe. Obscure reference to "Wargames" from 1983. [1] In my opinion that movie does not just hold up to modern times, it is more applicable now than ever. [1] - [VIDEO] [video][4 mins]
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skynet-9000 · 2021-03 · Joke / meme
I watched a documentary about an attempt at this, and it almost started global thermonuclear war! Here's a clip: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Greg Granito, played through YouTube.

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