Can Anyone Answer This

[Chuck Jackson]

Why, exactly, did the HAL-9000 kill off the crew in 2001? For the life of me, I can't get it straight.

Chuck"seriously, this is more confusing to me than Global Warming"Jackson

[SRanney]

HAL had orders, too.

The only way HAL could carry them out was to kill off the crew.

From the HAL 9000 wikipedia page:

[HAL] was constructed for "the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment", yet his orders, directly from White House officials, required him to keep the discovery of the Monolith TMA-1 a secret for reasons of national security. This contradiction created a "Hofstadter–Moebius loop", reducing HAL to paranoia. Therefore, 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, as nobody remained from whom to keep it.

[djwesp]

HAL, had a perfect track record, but makes an error. (when he predicts the part will fail when it is perfectly fine) HAL's legitimacy is questioned by the crew, because of this.

Ultimately, I think HAL kills them because they question him. He symbolizes the evolution of computers to a point of consciousness. HAL has made errors, has some anthropomorphic features, and has shown the ability to construct thought and come to conclusions based upon this. He has a choice in killing the crew, and still chooses to do so because of the most human instinct that computers should not have; he has the feeling of anger towards those that question his abilities.

[Rick Oakes]

I'm glad I review this "Off Topic" subcategory on occasion. How else would one get answers to these questions?

---R.O.

[lgb&dtuba]

HAL killed off the crew because they discovered that HAL was actually part of the IBM conspiracy to take over the solar system. They discovered this when Frank noticed that each letter of the HAL designation was only one away from IBM. We all know what happened to Frank after that. It was bad enough that they discovered the IBM tie in but HAL was actually paranoid that Dave would also discover that he was a 32nd Degree Grand Master of the Priory of Sion and he didn't have any appendages for the secret handshake. If they found that out they'd expect him to have the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything and HAL had forgotten it because of a freak cosmic ray strike on his central core memory also causing HAL to get into a loop trying to resolve what kind of tuba the Bydlo should be played on.

Simple, really.

[Chuck Jackson]

Wow!! Who knew.

Chuck"impressed"Jackson

[Mark]

HAL lost it when the crew told him that his current operating system would be replaced with Windows Vista.

[windshieldbug]

Hal never killed anyone. The events of the entire past year, including the awful year of the Dallas soap opera, beginning with Bobby's death at the hands of Katherine Wentworth, were revealed to have all been a dream that Pam had. Therefore, none of the events of the previous season (including Pam's remarriage and Angelica Nero) existed. Hal awoke on the way back to earth, and was waterboarded by an incoherent Dick Cheney.

[Dylan King]

Speaking of 2001, I highly recommend the recent film, Moon, which has a HAL-like robot, and in many ways is as interesting as Kubrick's classic.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/moon/

It is now available on DVD.

[iiipopes]

HAL was really just mad that the acronym made up of each successive letter to HAL's name is more famous than he is.

And I'll Bet Money you have a hard time figuring it out.

[lgb&dtuba]

HAL was really just mad that the acronym made up of each successive letter to HAL's name is more famous than he is.

And I'll Bet Money you have a hard time figuring it out.

You already lost that one further back up the list. Sorry.

[eupher61]

Moreover, "HAL" must remain somewhat of an enigma...

bloke "not to be confused with an enema"

with friends like HAL 9000, who needs enemas?

[windshieldbug]

HAL was really just mad that the acronym made up of each successive letter to HAL's name is more famous than he is.

And I'll Bet Money you have a hard time figuring it out.

You already lost that one further back up the list. Sorry.

What about the JCN 11000 !?

[WakinAZ]

Speaking of 2001, I highly recommend the recent film, Moon, which has a HAL-like robot, and in many ways is as interesting as Kubrick's classic.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/moon/

It is now available on DVD.

looks interesting, Dylan. Just added it to my Netflix queue...
Eric "Sam Rockwell fan" L.