Question: If Hal is supposed to be this flawless computer that never makes a mistake or gives false information why then does it tell the astronauts Frank and Dave that a system will fail when that turns out to be wrong?
raywest
14th Feb 2022
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Answer: In the sequel, "2010" it was revealed HAL was programmed with all the information about the mission to the monolith, but Frank and Dave were not. HAL was programmed not to reveal anything until the scientists were taken out of hypersleep. When Frank and Dave tried to uncover the mystery surrounding the mission, HAL was forced to lie in the only way he knew how. He was not programmed to lie.
26th Nov 2020
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Question: That multi-coloured gloop that Bowman and Poole are eating looks quite disgusting. What were the actors really eating?
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Answer: This is gleaned from the Internet: The novel explains that HAL is unable to resolve a conflict between his general mission to relay information accurately and the specific orders requiring him to withhold the mission's true purpose from Bowman and Poole. HAL reasons that if the crew is dead, he would then not need to lie to them. He fabricates the failure of the AE-35 unit so that their deaths would appear accidental. In other words, HAL is asked to lie, and he doesn't take to it very well, to say the least. The conflict between his mission objectives backs him into a corner where he has to make some pretty big (and cold) leaps in logic in order to reconcile the paradox in his programmed orders.
raywest ★