Manual override
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A manual override is a mechanism wherein control is taken from an automated system and given to the user. For example, a manual override in photography refers to the ability for the human photographer to turn off the automatic aperture sizing, automatic focusing, or any other automated system on the camera.[1]
Some manual overrides can be used to veto an automated system's judgment when the system is in error. An example of this is a printer's ink level detection: in one case, a researcher found that when he overrode the system, up to 38% more pages could be printed at good quality by the printer than the automated system would have allowed.[2].
Examples in fiction
As a plot device manual override is often used in Sci-Fi because of the usual prevalence of advanced / electronic technology. For example:
- In Star Trek many automatic systems, such as the automatic navigation, or the 'site-to-site transporter' can be overridden. A slightly different type of manual override is used in the film Star Trek: Insurrection, when acting Captain of the Starship Enterprise (E) William Riker asks the computer for the 'manual command column', in effect a joystick which gives him pilotage control of the ship.
- In Casino Royale (2006), a villan overrides the emergency fire sprinklers at Miami airport and starts a distraction so that he can blow up a plane with a remote-controlled pipe bomb.
References
- ^ Manual override, Ambitions Photography Academy.
- ^ 'Raw deal' on printer ink, BBC, 3 July 2003
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