At the end of the 1960s, computers were still something alien to many people. Garage-sized devices were slowly learning more than basic arithmetic. The beginning of automated archiving and administrative processes at US universities provoked the first student unrest.
Then the mastery of computers by a younger generation became a promise. Computers became more human and found their way into living rooms and children's rooms. First came Pong (1972), then SIMON. The requirement in SIMON is to imitate four varying impulses of the machine without error. To do this, one physically binds oneself to the machine in order to tap the cognitively simple task of remembering sequences of colours and sounds into a round machine. Such a strictly one-dimensional application raises the question of whether the machine is operated or controlled.

The essay shows images of the ongoing play of SIMON, the patent and a projection of the rules.