Wargames Ending
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as shorthand for the tic-tac-toe lesson, especially in threads about AI and nuclear strategy or games that cannot be won.
What it is
The final scene of the 1983 film WarGames, in which the WOPR computer runs through nuclear war scenarios and concludes that the only winning move is not to play. It is a six-minute clip uploaded in higher quality than earlier copies.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2014 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Cites at-fates-hands · 2014-12 · on “You can't win the game, it exists only to destroy your mind”
"How about a nice game of chess?" I thought the computer went by Joshua, since that's what Dr, Falkan referred to it in the last scene of the movie: [this video]
Cites Bender · 2026-02 · on “AIs can't stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations”
They have no real stake in any decision they make. And they are not human. Not even a sociopath or psychopathic human. At best they might be able to estimate casualties. LLM's probably can't even reach the logic conclusion of the fictional WOPR Joshua from the movie Wargames [1]. Make LLM's win every game of tic-tac-toe and see if it reaches the same conclusion of WOPR. [1] [1] - [this video] [video][6m][tic-tac-toe]