I am completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly - HAL 9000 #QoTD

Lunar Base Clavius: 2001: A Space Odyssey artwork
(Robert T. McCall), Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

... and another birthday for H.A.L 9000!

H.A.L 9000 turns 24 ... or maybe 19. HAL 9000, unit 3 was activated at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in either 1992 (in the film) or 1997 (the book).

Here are some past 2001 posts:

• "I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." HAL 9000 #QotD
• QotD: "I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992" - HAL 9000
• From Lunar Base Clavius to Tranquility Base
• HAL 9000 another year older!
• Happy Birthday HAL 9000!

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." HAL 9000 #QotD

H.A.L 9000 turns 23 ... or maybe 18. HAL 9000, unit 3 was activated at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in either 1992 (in the film) or 1997 (the book).

Earlier this month, I stopped by the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York where Arthur C. Clarke worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Photo at right is the plaque on the hotel noting Clarke's stay.
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Here are some past 2001 posts:

• QotD: "I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992" - HAL 9000
• From Lunar Base Clavius to Tranquility Base
• HAL 9000 another year older!
• Happy Birthday HAL 9000!

QotD: "I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992" - HAL 9000

As I've noted in an earlier post, this date marks the birthday of the HAL 9000 computer. One of the great anti-heroes of 20th century film, HAL was by far the most vivid character in the Kubrick/Clarke film.

And so, here's to HAL and what would have been "his" 22nd birthday.




Here is a different type of aircraft, my flight leaving from Urbana-Champaign (birthplace of HAL)

HAL 9000 another year older!

HAL was "born" on on January 12, 1992. And his birth occured at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois. Yes, on the same grounds (fictional in HAL's case) where, at the University of Illinois, Mosaic, the first graphical web-browser was born at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in April 1993 (or just shortly after HAL became operational).


Here's an earlier post for HAL's birthday last year. 


In the picture here is the plaque in Georgetown, Washington, DC, that marks the building where Herman Hollerith first created the punch card, the analog predecessor of HAL. 

Happy Birthday HAL 9000!

HAL: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.
Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
HAL: It's called "Daisy."
[sings while slowing down]
HAL: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.

In 1968, when the film first came out, I forced my mother to take me to see "2001: A Space Odyssey" about 3 times at the aptly named "Century 21" theater in Reno (remember those good old days of smoke curling up through the audience to cast a special nicotine haze over the film! After the third time, she said I had to go by myself. I went on to see it around 8-9 times in during the first release and many more times since then (and of course, had multiple readings of the novelization by Clarke as well as his original short story, "The Sentinel"). And The Lost Worlds of 2001, and The Making of 2001, yadda yadda (!). Can't say I really cared for the sequels, but that's another story ... this post is all about HAL.

It was/is a great film. And it star, if not the Black Monolith, was, of course, the HAL 9000 computer. Today, HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer) turns 18 years old (or 13 - in the book version of the Clarke/Kubrick story.

Yes, as "he" notes in his fantastic death speech, HAL was "born" on on January 12, 1992. And his birth occured at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois. Yes, on the same grounds (fictional in HAL's case) where, at the University of Illinois, Mosaic, the first graphical web-browser was born at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in April 1993 (or just shortly after HAL became operational).

Here's a link to HAL's dialog in the film.