Computer senility
Computer senility is a concept developed in Red Dwarf that considers how a sentient computer might develop mental instability if left alone for millions of years. Computer senility would therefore be a product of lasting loneliness.
The sentient computer in question is Holly. Initially having an intelligence quotient (IQ) of six thousand (6,000), Holly becomes very strange after Red Dwarf has drifted through deep space for three million (3,000,000) years. One of Holly's odd activities alone included Hol Rock, a form of decimalized music with two extra notes that Holly invented, "H" and "J."
Holly brings Dave Lister out of stasis partly because s/he (Holly underwent a "head sex change" later in the series) is so lonely, and partly because the radiation from Red Dwarf's engine failure had dropped to a safe background level.
Holly briefly regains more than twice her original IQ in a scheme devised by Kryten and tested on Talkie Toaster.
Kryten also claims that he knew a fellow mechanoid who was senile, whose name was Gilbert but preferred being called "Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble". The "droid rot" suffered by Kryten's Spare Head Three is presumably a related condition. This seemed to manifest itself in outraged rants against Kryten, made in a Yorkshire accent.
See also: Queeg 500, Norman Lovett, Hattie Hayridge
In reality, computer senility can be quite apparent. This condition occurs when a computer has been operating for too long. Real computer senility is manifested in redundant glitches. It would be equivalent to the human condition of tiredness.
See also: computer science
