The Kubrick Site: The Case For HAL's Sanity by Clay Waldrop

[Baobab]

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0095.html

Introduction

Some viewers of Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey" have theorized that HAL, the computer genius turned villain of the spaceship Discovery, went mad during the Jupiter mission. However there is an alternative theory: that HAL acted rationally and logically, indeed with cold, calculating precision befitting a machine of his intelligence. This alternative theory will be presented here, with supporting evidence.
Before proceeding, let us acknowledge that Arthur C. Clarke, in his sequel novel "2010: Odyssey Two" says (in effect) that HAL went mad due to conflict in his programming. However, the 2001 novelization and its sequels differ in many respects from Kubrick's movie, so I will exclude them from my examination, and refer exclusively to the movie for evidence


The Chess Game

The first piece of evidence arises from the chess game between Frank Poole and HAL. The initial position shown on the computer screen is:

[longship]

1. What a pack of rubbish!

Blah, blah, blah-de-blah, de-blah, de-blah.

It's fiction. And Clarke already stated clearly what his intent was, in subsequent novels. Mumbo-jumbo like this article are therefore just tiresome made up shit.

[msongs]

2. let's ask HAL for his opinion....

[bemildred]

3. I think the programming error is this: thinking it is "foolproof and incapable of error".

That will always lead to contradiction.