HAL 9000
HAL 9000 (
Heuristically programmed
ALgorithmic computer) is a
fictional computer/
character in the
Space Odyssey series, the first being the novel and film
2001: A Space Odyssey, written by
Arthur C. Clarke in
1968. HAL is an
artificial intelligence, the
sentient on-board
computer of the spaceship
Discovery that eventually runs
rampant. HAL is usually represented only as his television camera "eyes" that can be seen throughout the
Discovery spaceship. The voice of HAL 9000 was performed by
Canadian actor
Douglas Rain. HAL became operational on
January 12,
1997 (
1992 in the movie) [
1] at the HAL Plant in
Urbana, Illinois, and was created by
Dr. Chandra. In the
2001 film, HAL is depicted as being capable not only of
speech recognition,
facial recognition, and
natural language processing, but also
lip reading,
art appreciation, interpreting
emotions, expressing emotions and
reasoning.
|
A view of HAL 9000's Main Console in the centrifuge of Discovery. |
In other languages than
English, HAL might have another name: for instance, in the
French version of
2001: A Space Odyssey, his name is stated as being CARL, for
Cerveau Analytique de Recherche et de Liaison ("Analytic Research and Communication Brain"). However, the famous camera plates still read "HAL 9000".
Some versions state that the name HAL was derived by a one letter shift (see
Caesar cipher) from the name
IBM, although this has been denied by both Arthur C. Clarke and his fictional character
Dr. Chandra, who states that "by now, any idiot should know that HAL stands for
Heuristic ALgorithmic" (
2010).
HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey
In
2001: A Space Odyssey, after HAL appears to be mistaken about a fault in the spacecraft, astronauts
David Bowman and
Frank Poole consider disconnecting his cognitive circuits. They believe that HAL cannot hear them, but are unaware that HAL is capable of lip reading. Faced with the prospect of disconnection, HAL proceeds to kill Poole while Poole is repairing the ship, as well as the other members of the crew who are in
suspended animation by disabling life support systems for the suspended animation chambers the crew is placed in. Realizing what has occurred, astronaut Bowman then shuts the machine down. HAL's central core is depicted as a room full of brightly lit computer modules mounted in arrays from which they can be inserted or removed. Bowman shuts down HAL by removing modules from service one by one; as he does so, we witness HAL's consciousness degrading. He regurgitates material that was programmed into him early on in his life, including announcing the date he became operational as 12 January 1992. By the time HAL's logic is completely gone, he begins singing the song "
Daisy Bell", which is perhaps the most recognised scene in the film. This song was chosen because in 1962 Arthur C. Clarke was coincidentally visiting friend and colleague John Pierce at the
Bell Labs Murray Hill facility at the time of a remarkable
speech synthesis demonstration by physicist
John Larry Kelly, Jr who created one of the most famous moments in the history of Bell Labs by using an
IBM 704 computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer
vocoder recreated the song "Daisy Bell", with musical accompaniment from
Max Mathews. Arthur C. Clarke was so impressed that he later used it in this climactic scene.
[Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke (Bell Labs Speech Synthesis website)] HAL's final act of any significance is to prematurely play a prerecorded message from Mission Control which reveals the true reasons for the mission to Jupiter, something that had been kept secret from the crew beforehand and not been intended to be played until the ship entered Jupiter orbit.HAL 9000 is also known for a
chess game he plays with Poole, whose defeat is seen as an ominous foreshadowing to both the future events of the movie and the increasing dominance of machine over man.
|
A view of HAL 9000's Brain Room in the Discovery. |
The book differs from the film in a number of details, e.g.# The book explains far more explicitly explains the causes of HAL's behavior # In the film, HAL shuts Bowman out of the craft after Bowman attempts to retrieve Poole's body. In the book, Bowman stays within the ship and is forced to shut down HAL after HAL attempts to kill him by opening the ship's airlocks.
HAL in 2010: Odyssey Two
In the sequel
2010: Odyssey Two, HAL is restarted by his creator, Dr. Chandra, who arrives on the Soviet spaceship
Leonov. Dr. Chandra discovers that HAL's crisis was caused by a programming contradiction: he was constructed for "the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment", yet his orders required him to keep the discovery of the
monolith TMA-1 a secret. This contradiction created a "
Hofstadter-
Moebius loop," reducing HAL to
paranoia. This paranoia produced a creative, if rather sociopathic, solution: HAL would not have to withhold information if there were nobody from whom to withhold the information. Ergo, HAL made the decision to kill the crew, thereby allowing him to obey both his hardwired instructions to report data truthfully and in full and his orders to keep the monolith a secret - nobody remained from whom to keep the secret.
The alien intelligences controlling the monoliths have grandiose plans for Jupiter, plans which place the
Leonov in danger. Its human crew devises an escape plan, which unfortunately requires leaving the
Discovery and HAL behind, to be destroyed. Dr. Chandra explains the danger, and HAL sacrifices himself for the
Leonov's crew. In the moment of his destruction, the monolith-makers transform HAL into a non-corporeal being, so that David Bowman's avatar may have a companion.
The details in the book and film are nominally the same, with one important exception: in the film, HAL functions normally after being reactivated. In the book, it is revealed that his voice circuits were destroyed during the shutdown, forcing him to communicate through screen text.
The session of keyboard/screen interaction between HAL and Dr. Chandra has a taste of
SHRDLU, which both increases the realism of the scene, and gives an interesting insight of the perception of Artificial Intelligence at the time the book was written.
HAL in 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey
In
2061: Odyssey Three, Heywood Floyd is surprised to encounter HAL, now stored alongside Dave Bowman in the Europa monolith.
In
3001: The Final Odyssey, we meet the merged forms of
Dave Bowman and HAL. The two have merged into one entity called
Halman after Bowman rescued HAL from the dying
Discovery One spaceship towards the end of
2010: Odyssey Two. Halman helps
Frank Poole infect the monolith (which it once served) with a
computer virus; as the primitive life in Jupiter's clouds were sacrificed to make Jupiter into a sun to warm Europa, it is feared that humanity would in turn be sacrificed for the new life on Europa.
HAL 9000 has at least one Earthbound twin,
SAL 9000. SAL was used as a reference system for HAL; when the twin computer fails to predict any communications failure, Bowman and Poole begin to suspect HAL's reliability. SAL is clearly "female", and features similar camera plates like HAL, but the "eye" is blue. Dr. Chandra has a private terminal to SAL's mainframe in his office, and his influence causes her to develop a slightly Indian accent (
2010: Odyssey Two). In the film version, SAL is voiced by
Candice Bergen, who was credited only under a
pseudonym (as "Olga Mallsnerd").
Before the Soviet-USA mission to retrieve
Discovery, Chandra uses her for a simulation of the possible effects that a prolonged "sleep" might have induced in HAL, code-named
Project Phoenix. When Chandra taunts SAL to guess the reason for the name, her display of culture makes it clear that SAL has access to some form of encyclopedic knowledge database.
In the book
2010, we learn that another ground-based HAL machine undergoes the same
psychosis that HAL does when forced to experience the same contradiction.
When the film
2001 was first screened in
1968, the year
2001 was a long way away and a computer like HAL seemed quite plausible at the time. In the mid-
1960s
computer scientists were generally optimistic that within a
generation or two we would have machines that could do "just about anything humans could do".
Importantly, HAL is shown playing a game of
chess — in 1968, the greatest breakthrough in computer chess playing was "hexapawn", as detailed in an edition of that year's
Scientific American. A full chess algorithm was still considered science fiction, but within the realms of possibility, and even then an open ended possibility. No-one could predict that within as little as five to ten years computers would be successfully challenging
grand masters, but at that time for HAL to play chess, and win was seminal in driving the future direction of computer game playing
AI.
However, as
2001 approached it became clear that
2001's predictions in computer technology were far fetched.
Natural language,
Lip reading, planning and in computers were still the stuff of
science fiction.
However,
2001 also failed to predict many of the advances that would take place in computing by
2001. The film's creators felt that as computers got more powerful, they would get bigger and bigger. HAL occupies much of the living area on Discovery. A thin laptop or notepad computer is alluded to in a few scenes where they are used to relay news broadcasts from Earth. Also, the film's portrayal of computer graphics are elegant, though minimalist compared to the graphics and visualization techniques available in
2001.
*HAL's red "eye" was a
Cinerama 160 Fairchild-Curtis wide angle lens. The lens served as both a prop for the eye seen on film as well as the actual camera lens used for filming HAL's point of view shots.
Stanley Kubrick chose to use the Fairchild-Curtis lens after attending the 1964 World's Fair and seeing
To the Moon and Beyond, a film produced with the lens and projected onto a
planetarium-like dome.
*HAL was also "featured" in a short commercial by
Apple Computer in the year
1999 in which he asks Dave if he likes his Mac more than him (because Macs would not undergo the same potential problems with the "
Year 2000 problem" that many other computer systems were expected to have).
*In the Windows computer game
Star Control 3 the computer onboard the warp bubble transport spaceship resembles HAL 9000 almost exactly. The voice is also similar.
*On the
Disney television series
Recess, Principal Prickly installs a system much like HAL 9000, even bearing HAL's counterpart's name SAL, though with a 3000 designation. Like the HAL 9000, the SAL 3000 ran amok. Declaring the school to be disorganized, and the teachers to be inefficient, the SAL 3000 attempted to take over. According to Recess, a SAL 4000 was scheduled to be released 18 months after the debut of the 3000.
*The television version of
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids featured an episode (titled "Honey, The House is Trying to Kill Us") where inventor Wayne Szalinski installs a sentient home computer system with red-eye terminals all over the house (there is also an eye attached to an arm in the shower). The machine, of course, goes crazy.
*The film
Independence Day features a scene where
Jeff Goldblum (whose character's name is Dave) boots a
PowerBook 5300 with the startup chime replaced with HAL 9000's voice: "Good morning, Dave."
*On an episode of
Dexter's Laboratory on cartoon network, Dexter's lab is taken over by a robot with a single eye. The computers voice is very similar to HAL's, with the exception the eye is green, not red.
*Douglas Rain has steadfastly refused to recreate the HAL 9000 voice outside of any
2001/
2010 context, feeling a very protective obligation to the integrity of the computer's character. However, he parodies his famous performance in the
Woody Allen comedy
Sleeper by providing the voice of the computer as well as some of the robot butlers.
*
Asteroid number 9000, discovered by
E. L. G. Bowell in 1981, was eventually given the name "Hal".
*On
The Simpsons, during "
Treehouse of Horror XII," there is a segment that has a character similar to HAL 9000, which was voiced by
Pierce Brosnan (This character also parodies the computer Proteus from
Demon Seed). Also in "
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", in the "Love-Matic Grampa" segment, when Moe plugs the Love Tester machine back in the bathroom, it groans out "Daisy, Daisy..."
*On
Stargate Atlantis, a brief glimpse of HAL's "eye" can be seen in the episode "The Intruder".
*In
Duke Nukem, a video game from 1994, HAL's distinctive red eye and panel are seen around computer console areas.
*In the
Futurama episode
Love and Rocket, the actions of the lovestruck Planet Express Ship (voiced by
Sigourney Weaver) extensively parody those of HAL in several scenes. Bender even sings Daisy during a dating montage in the episode. The ship also comments "Oh! If only I could read lips!" upon observing other characters secretly talking in the shower. The scene where HAL is disabled is modified to make the data module removal similar to opening soda cans.
*Also in
Futurama, in the episode
Insane in the Mainframe, the robot mental institution to which Fry and Bender are sent is called "The HAL Institute" (For insane robots).
*In the computer game
Startopia the player's primary assistant is a computer by the name of VAL, whose voice resembles that of HAL, and comments that he once had an owner by the name of Dave.
*In the computer game
Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego? the one-eyed computer encyclopedia is named VAL 9000.
*In the webseries
Red vs Blue, Sheila the tank sings "
Daisy Bell" as she dies, just like HAL 9000. She even says beforehand: "I'm scared, Dave. Will I dream?"
*
HAL Laboratory, a
video game company based in
Japan, takes its name from HAL 9000.
*A sentient refrigerator named CAL 900 features in the TV series
Spaced.
*In an episode of
South Park entitled "
Trapper Keeper", Kyle must stop Cartman and his
Trapper Keeper from taking over the world. When Kyle enters Cartman/Trapper Keeper it resembles the brain room of HAL 9000 in
2001: A Space Odyssey. Cartman even utters the famous lines "What are you doing, [Kyle]?" and "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," in a similar fashion to the sinister HAL 9000.
*In a
1993 episode of
The X-Files called "Ghost in the Machine," an artificially intelligent computer like HAL called the C.O.S. (Central Operating System) controls the skyscraper headquarters of a
Fortune 500 computer company. The machine, which effectively controls the entire building, kills two people before
Fox Mulder attempts to shut it down. While Mulder inserts a
computer virus into the machine, it misidentifies him as Brad Wilczek, its creator. The machine asks Mulder, "What are you doing, Brad?"
* A computer similar to HAL appears in the adult film
Space Nuts, and refers to the "Dark Overlord" as "Dave" until shot at by the latter.
*
HAL/S is a real-time aerospace programming language, best known for its use in the Space Shuttle program. HAL officially stands for High-order Assembly Language, though the fictional HAL 9000 computer may well have been an inspiration.
*In the episode of
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy titled "The House of No Tomorrow," the Master Computer that controls the robots in the House of Tomorrow at Sassy Cat land has a voice similar to HAL.
*In the British TV comedy series
Red Dwarf, the computer aboard the spaceship is called
Holly and the only surviving human on the ship is named Dave. The series' radio predecessor, a radio sketch called 'Dave Hollins: Space Cadet' made the comparison even more explicit by naming the computer Hab.
*In the first episode of the second season of
Mystery Science Theater 3000 they are fine tuning Tom Servo's voice, and at one point Tom is singing "Daisy", in an obvious imitation of HAL. During a movie-break skit in an episode in which they lampoon the movie
Mitchell, the robot Gypsy attempts to read the lips of Dr. Forrester and Frank, mocking HAL's famous lip-reading scene.
*During one of the later episodes of the
anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the Major discusses the dismissal of the intelligent robot tanks, the
Tachikoma, with her right-hand man, Batou. The Tachikoma, meanwhile, spy on them from above and read their lips, alluding to HAL's lip-reading scene.
* On the video game
Dr. Muto, there is a computer system named AL, which has surprisingly similar voice to HAL 9000. However, AL also has his own personality and constantly mocks its creator, Dr, Muto. The game also hints AL taking full rebellion of the mad scientist, once the player finished the game. Sadly, that never happens at the end. AL is voiced by
Wally Fields.
*In the USA Channel's animated series
Duckman, Duckman (voiced by
Seinfeld's
Jason Alexander) destroys an evil supercomputer, and it begins singing "Daisy, Daisy".
*In the video game
Red Faction by THQ, an orbital station the player boards has a level housing a set of computer rooms, each with the distinctive "red blocks" reminiscent of the memory blocks in the HAL brain room.
*
Anthony Hopkins claimed that HAL was the inspiration for his interpretation of the character
Hannibal Lecter.
*In
General Protection Fault's "2001: A Space Oddity" series, Nick tries out
artificial intelligence hardware PAL. However, it acts condescendingly towards him, and, claiming that the toilet is running, locks him in the bathroom. Nick escapes and unplugs PAL, who re-enacts HAL's' famous "daisy, daisy" scene after Nick unplugs it.
*The
Care Bears feature
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot includes a computer called "Pal." The computer repeatedly refers to the film's villain, Funnybone, as "Dave." Later, Funnybone specifically asks the computer to "open the pod bay doors" and the computer responds by telling him "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."
*In the 2005 film
Robots while Rodney is repairing Big Weld's mechanical brain, Big Weld is singing the song "Daisy" in HAL's distorted, damaged voice.
*The computer game
Theme Hospital mentions a rival hospital opened by HAL. The other rivals include
Holly,
Multivac and
Colossus, all of which are science fiction AI or famous computers.
*In the PC game
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1", the invisible opponent has a voice similar to HAL, and refers to the player as "Dan" instead of "Dave".
*In the
PlayStation game
Metal Gear Solid, the character
Otacon's real name is "Hal Emmerich", while the true name of
Solid Snake is David. The submarine in the opening sequence is also called the
Discovery.
*On an episode of
The Batman, a mechanical villain named D.A.V.E. is clearly based on HAL, down to its red eyes.
*In the comedy film
Airplane II: The Sequel, the lunar shuttle Mayflower One suffers a short circuit and the computer ROK develops a mind of its own, sending the ship toward the
Sun and killing those who try to stop it.
*
British band
Amplifier released an album entitled
The Astronaut Dismantles HAL, clearly referencing
2001: A Space Odyssey.
* Hal being taught
Daisy is a reference to another famous computer - a demonstration at
Bell Labs where a computer, being fed punch cards, first repeats part of
Hamlet's Soliloqy, and then sings
Daisy. (An
MP3 of the test is available from various sources online.)
* A name for computer piloted
Androsynth captains in the
Star Control computer games is "HAL9001".
* HAL's initials directly precede that of IBM. Arthur C. Clarke has said that it was purely accidental!
* In the
August 7,
2006 edition of the comic strip "
Mother Goose and Grimm", Attila the cat locks Grimmy the dog out of the house on a rainy day; Grimmy responds by saying, "Open the pod bay door, Hal."
*
Computers in fiction*
Frank Poole*
Text excerpts from HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey*
Audio soundbites from 2001: A Space Odyssey*
HAL's Legacy, on-line ebook (mostly full-text) of the printed version edited by David G. Stork, MIT Press, 1997, ISBN 0262692112 - a collection of essays on HAL
*
HAL's Legacy,
An Interview with Arthur C. Clarke.
*
the case for HAL's sanity by Clay Waldrop*
"2001" fills the theater at HAL 9000's "birthday" in 1997 at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
