A psychopath meets a woman at a funeral: they hit it off. The next day, the psychopath kills the woman’s sister. Why? So the psychopath has an opportunity to meet the woman again, under similar circumstances.
HAL 9000, the AI from 2001, is in a way worse. It’s been programmed to keep certain mission parameters hidden from its human crew. When they start snooping, HAL boh has to and can’t tell them. How to solve this dilemma? HAL decides to kill them, to keep the secret.
The H in HAL stands for heuristics, a way of quickly solving tough problems. But HAL’s decision gets to the core of our human issues with AI; what quick decisions will artificial intelligence make regarding us? And do we truly want artificial intelligence, or just compliant computer programs?
How much do you know about HAL 9000?
1. 2001’s creators, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke, said it was a coincidence that HAL is one letter away from what 1960s computing giant?
2. HAL’s intelligence is shown early on when it plays what game with a human astronaut?
3. Per the movie and book, HAL was built in the 1992 at what Midwestern school (Go Illini!)
4. 2001 wasn’t made in 2001: what year was it made in?
5. Its sequel, 2010, wasn’t made in 2010, either: what year was it released in?
6. As HAL is unplugged, it sings a song, the very first song “sung” by a computer using a text-to-speech program. What song?
7. Canadian actor Douglas Rain voiced HAL: maybe that’s why HAL apologizes while trying to kill people. In lieu of America’s Saturday Night Live, he appeared on this Canadian late-night sketch show to parody HAL.
8. Prince Hal, from real life and various Shakespeare plays, is better known by what kingly title?
9. What number asteroid in the asteroid belt was named after HAL?
10. Anthony Hopkins partially based his Oscar-winning cannibal role of which character on HAL’s flat line readings?
11. In 1999, Apple ran a parody ad suggesting that HAL was responsible for what infamous computer glitch?
ANSWERS BELOW! Are you a true V11LLAIN?
1. 2001’s creators, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke, said it was a coincidence that HAL is one letter away from what 1960s computing giant?
IBM
2. HAL’s intelligence is shown early on when it plays what game with a human astronaut?
CHESS
3. Per the movie and book, HAL was built in the 1992 at what Midwestern school (Go Illini!)
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
4. 2001 wasn’t made in 2001: what year was it made in?
1968
5. Its sequel, 2010, wasn’t made in 2010, either: what year was it released in?
1984
6. As HAL is unplugged, it sings a song, the very first song “sung” by a computer using a text-to-speech program. What song?
DAISY BELL (BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO)
7. Canadian actor Douglas Rain voiced HAL: maybe that’s why HAL apologizes while trying to kill people. In lieu of America’s Saturday Night Live, he appeared on this Canadian late-night sketch show to parody HAL.
SCTV
8. Prince Hal, from real life and various Shakespeare plays, is better known by what kingly title?
HENRY V
9. What number asteroid in the asteroid belt was named after HAL?
THE NINE THOUSANDTH DISCOVERED
10. Anthony Hopkins partially based his Oscar-winning cannibal role of which character on HAL’s flat line readings?
HANNIBAL LECTER
11. In 1999, Apple ran a parody ad suggesting that HAL was responsible for what infamous computer glitch?
THE Y2K BUG