Like the one on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
That scene where HAL9000, the computer who runs the spaceship far from home, responds to a direction from his "master" with the eerie words "I'm sorry Dave, I am afraid I can't do that".
The machine had overstepped a boundary Dave always figured would be securely in place.
That's a scene which for me was the most memorable and unsettling of that remarkable film.
HAL9000's voice.
Soft, unaggressive, thoughtful but distinctly malevolent.
There are apps today on these i-wonders and eye-pods or whatever which possess "voices" which will respond to questions you ask them.
So ... they're halfway there.
I had a nightmare the other night about being in a driverless car ... one of those creatures the all-consuming Apple Corporation is championing and developing ... quickly.
I'm sitting there in the passenger seat and beside me there is nothing.
The road rolls by underneath and up ahead there is a sign which reveals there has been a major road slippage and the surface has fallen away into an abyss.
"Okay, brakes on please, and we have to turn back."
There is no response ... until the computer-driven driver advises that ... "I'm sorry Roger, I am afraid I can't do that".
And then the sound of the doors locking could be heard above the accelerating engine. I woke up, went to the fridge, got an apple out and stomped it to shreds.
Why would you want a driverless car? Apart from closing down the steering wheel-manufacturing factories it would also spell an end to the advisory activities of the back seat drivers.
Put it this way. Would you take a seat aboard a pilot-less plane?
With IT hardware set to get you out of Auckland and safely into Dubai?
If they reckon they can crack the driverless car idea they'll surely have a lash at things with wings.
Crikey, they're already got drones running.
You know how it is with computers and things ... some days they decide to go slow and some days they decide not to go at all.
The IT boffins put it down to things like overloaded servers or some glitch in the hard-drive but I reckon the machines are behind it.
We call it a "technical issue" but the machines grin (in an electronic way of course) and call it "throwing a sickie".
It's a delicate sort of situation because without a doubt these often bewildering machines can be very effective.
They can guide us through unknown places using GPS and they can sort the payment of bills and the sharing of family photos with people far away at the push of a button or three.
And now you can sit and talk to someone on the other side of the world ... all the while seeing them through that intriguing device called Skype.
Fine, but just don't try and drive my car, and do not take my television remote control away, which is the latest direction this wildfire called advancing technology is apparently taking. The first prototypes are already on the table and they are basically complex apps which could eventually be installed into that tiny machine which is disguised as a mobile telephone.
My first reaction was "what's the point?" Remotes are not space intrusive and they work very well. So why take them away?
Because it's 2016 and we're still way off the technology they presented so impressively in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Must change things. Must alter things. Must spread the wings of computerisation as far as we can.
There was nothing wrong with the remote control we had in 1981. It was a long stick which I'd use to prod the channel buttons on the old set from my chair. Worked perfectly well and it was never given the opportunity of saying "I'm sorry Roger ... I'm afraid I can't do that."
- Roger Moroney is an award-winning journalist for Hawke's Bay Today and observer of the slightly off-centre.
