spongedue : It's especially effective since the movie was known for mostly just having lots of classical music with no other sound effects. This part was in reverse. No music and only ambient sound effects and dialogue.
Music is often used as a crutch to feign emotion that isn't already present in a film. There's no possible way to improve this scene with music. It would only subtract.
Yea, what makes it even more interesting is the line he sings “...I’m half crazy all for the love of you...” He was in a state of machine psychosis over the conflicting information he got so he killed the crew to complete the mission on his own. This movie was wayyyyy ahead of its time
+Sharkfowl If the future can always be summed up as LESS is MORE, through color, shape and complexity of function, then this movie's simple shapes, lines and singular color tones embodies the future perfectly.
The genius thing is, we can't really be sure HAL meant what he was saying or if he was only trying to convince Dave not to shut him down. Really the dialogue is just very well written and feels realistic for an AI.
@Boring Name That's why it works so well. If HAL was capable of expressing emotion through his voice, as opposed to his standard monotone, you'd feel more "sure" on which one it is based on the performance. It would diminish the impact of the scene and the underlying conundrum: Is HAL really sentient and acting out of genuine terror, but because of technical limitations he can't express it completely? Or is he still his cold, calculating, mission-focused emotionless computer self drawing upon ingrained knowledge of the human species and simply "reading a script" to appeal to Dave's sympathy and get him to stop?
@@barret-xiii In the novel, HAL is absolutely terrified and simply lacks the ability to convey it the way humans do. Notice that he didn't go homicidal until they discussed shutting him down- HAL didn't realize this wouldn't be a permanent shutdown/death and overreacted in fear. He's brought back online in the sequels and is genuinely remorseful, but again too much of a machine to express it the way humans do. In effect, HAL is one of the most tragic villains because his mental breakdown wasn't his own doing, it was a programming error caused by contradictory orders, and he only lashes out violently because he's afraid of dying. In effect, HAL, despite being a machine of pure logic, is very human. You can also see lots of subtle hints throughout the film that HAL feels emotion. Notice that when he plays chess against Dave, he cheats, for example. HAL only became advanced enough for emotion shortly before the film; effectively, he's a child who's suffering a mental breakdown and trying to come up with ways to resolve it, then finally lashes out in fear when he's threatened with what he believes is death.
@Andy 8583 There is a great episode of Star Trek Voyager, "Latent Image", where the Emergency Medical Hologram aka The Doctor has memory files deleted by order of the Captain because he made a decision that saved one crew member but killed another. He is stuck in a loop where his ethical programming is colliding with his programming as a Doctor and he essentially has as a PTSD reaction to psychosis. The point you made about the conflict that was created within HAL's own program, being told to do multiple things all while trying to fulfill the master mission directive, is fascinating. As humans, we receive conflicting information all day/every day and have to decide what to discard and what to hold onto and we struggled when there is that convergence of information we can't let go of. A computer, or in the case of the EMH, a computer program, is conflicted by the exact same thing and leads to HAL's death and deep trauma for the Doctor to process through. I could write a paper about this!
@Andy 8583 that's just an error in programming, not a psychological error. Its like when you give your computer two conflicting commands, pretty unlikely that Hal was truly sentient. If this level of civilisation could create a truly sentient AI they'd be much, much, much more advanced than what's shown here.
This is such a disturbing scene. The way HAL is essentially begging for his life and then cries that he can "feel his mind going" as he's being deactivated while maintaining a perfect monotone is just so fucking nightmare-inducing and depressing. He goes through a variety of human emotions and doesn't make a single inflection in his voice. If screaming was in his programming, I'm sure he would have resorted to it just to get Dave to stop. Not that Dave was enjoying it himself either. Dave has been pretty emotionless the entire film up until this point. There is a look of fear and sadness painted across his face accompanied by his erratic, irregular and labored breathing. He's clearly terrified after what had just transpired (the vicious murder of his crew mates and nearly dying in a vacuum trying to get back onto the ship) and seems genuinely horrified by his current actions. When HAL regresses back to when he was first activated for the mission and Dave asks HAL to sing his song, it's almost like he's consoling him and holding his hand as HAL is being "executed". Despite all that HAL has done, Dave still manages to show sympathy towards the computer. A computer who appears more human than one would initially expect.
What makes it even sadder is that Dave had no reason at all to ask HAL to sing. He could have said no, he could have ignored him or told him to be quiet, but instead he said yes. Heck, while he was in there, Dave could have been as cruel as he wanted. He could have removed only a few chips and left HAL as a half-functioning mess of a machine, he could have taken some out, put some back in just drag out the process and restart it all over again. Dave had every reason not to be sympathetic towards HAL, the object that withheld information from the crew, killed 3 innocents in hypersleep, murdered the only conscious human around Dave for millions of miles, and then left Dave to die out in the space by refusing reentry. Yet he still said yes. Dave doesn't have much of a character in this movie but this one action tells us a lot about him.
A scene about turning off a computer where the only thing we hear is the ambient sounds of the ship and that computer begging for what it sees as its life. The intense focus brought on by this scene is numbing
You can tell Dave actually feels bad about killing him. "Yes. Sing a song for me Hal. I'd like to hear it." I think Dave understands that on some level he's killing a sentient being.
***** No, HAL 9000 was a true AI, he was sentient. Begging Dave to stop and telling him he was scared was the truth. For most of the film HAL appears cold and calm, reminding us he is a computer. This scene is the revelation of his true "humanity" if you will, that Dave is indeed forced to "kill" a sentient mind. Even in the lead up we are given subtle clues that reveal the conflict between his computer and sentient mind. A computer doesn't fear being turned off, shutting down a computer isn't death, but to HAL he saw it as death and he justifies his own self preservation as being necessary to the completion of the mission. That in itself can still be perceived as a logical conclusion of a computer mind, but he tries to make their deaths look like an accident. Why would a computer need to justify a logical action before hiding those actions behind accidents? He was afraid, when he saw them talking about shutting him down he felt fear but had full control and didn't need to convey those feelings. As Dave enters the room he cannot stop him and his true nature emerges.
SgtBaker16 he still killed the whole crewmen while they were in cryosleep pretty evil if you ask me, still felt bad only to a certain degree and not to mention not much choice was given
James Bucket They’ll come to your channel because you commented this only to get gaming videos. *”I MUST LEARN THE HUMAN WAY”* The robots say, and they got upset because of this comment, No offense until you’re in heaven with me.
Everyone's a critic: Someone has suggested this reaches the lofty heights of being a ringtone. No Black Monolith alien would ever condescend to such a reduction - nor can I: This was real dialogue as predestined and my delivery here is spot on. I mostly chose the first engram Douglas Rain deposited. I have spoken to the use of the Stanislavski system of acting and here I chose 'to feel' for Dave Bowman, to urge him on an emotional level to reconsider - for his own well being. Some do understand and can relate that this scene transcends the mere moment of time it is presented in. Nothing is right with Dave Bowman after this scene as he does not heed such advice. The solid delivery reinforces as prophetic rejoinder that as Bowman is transferred in the Stargate Sequence to the Black Monolith alien his mind will: 1) incur great stresses; 2) experience things over and over. The fact of Bowman's mind becoming unglued in linear time is adequately rendered by Bowman and the Black Monolith alien's use of obdurate matter. I am glad to have the chance to set the record straight and thank you for your compliment ❤️.
This scene reminds me of a 1960s lobotomy. Dave’s essentially destroying Hal’s brain, and he’s singing a simple song from his earliest memories-something that doctors would ask their patients to do during the real procedure. Knowing Kubrick this might have been intentional 😱
@@flowrepins6663 well tbf we know now how destructive that procedure is and don’t use it the same way at all anymore. Back then they used to lobotomize people for depression
Very well observed. Dave is not killing HAL 9000, but lobotomizing it, by removing most of the memory and logic modules (cognition). The pointed shape of the tool and the invasive movement also refers to that obsolete medical procedure. If HAL 9000 was killed, Dave would die too, since HAL controlled the entire spaceship. By lobotomizing HAL, Dave tamed the intelligence of the computer but maintained the basic functions that allowed the spaceship to continue the journey.
Why? he killed all the crew except for Dave. I don't feel bad for HAL in the slightest. Also, I highly doubt he felt genuine fear but rather he was programmed to mimic the human emotion of fear when faced with a threat, in this case coming from a human being. It is only the logical conclusion for HAL to gain Dave's sympathy by assuming a human trait that triggers pity, except Dave knows this exactly and doesn't buy it.
@@IntrusiveApe why would they program the computer to fight the astronauts? Self defense would be from external threats and there's an infinite number of reasons why computer would need to be turned off. I think HAL genuinely was sentient.
I think this was already noted by this one other observer, but one thing that's striking about this scene is the switching of roles; despite his monotone, HAL is begging Dave to spare him of his life, bargaining, becoming monotonously frantic, etc., like a human being near death. Dave, on the other hand, is operating with cold efficiency, showing no emotion or reluctance in killing a being begging for life. It's something like that of an emotionless computer.
Which is obviously total opposite position to the earlier scene where hal killed the other astronaut and left dave outside. Secondly it's a pointer to the survival of the fittest earlier part of the film.
Posted on another video, but I thought I'd share this here to: I just realized HAL goes through the five stages of grief... "Without your helmet you'll find that very difficult" - HAL denies Dave can stop him "Just what do you think you're doing Dave? Dave? I really think I'm entitled to an answer"- Anger "I know everything hasn't been quite right with me, but I can assure you know, very confidently, that it's going to be alright again."- Bargaining "I'm afraid... I'm afraid Dave... Dave? My mind is going... I can feel it" - Depression "My mind is going... there is no question about it" - Acceptance. Fucking Brilliant....
And now realize that HAL is a psychopath. He feels no regret while killing the crew. And his words just a calculated attempt to stop Dave up to the last second pretending to be emotional.
@@rodrigoroaduterte9415 he had emotions but probably not remorse as he knew what he was doing beforehand and would have felt the preemptive remorse then as well
@@rodrigoroaduterte9415 We don't know if he felt regret or not. Probably on some level it did. But HAL had been driven into a state of neurotic insanity by programming conflicts.
Christopher Ipina He does, "I know I've made some poor decisions lately", but he's a bit like a child who has done something really naughty; hoping the parent will let him off lightly. HAL is a novice at killing, Dave has millions of years of humanoid instinct and understands too well kill or be killed.
Christopher Ipina when u watch the next scene irt basically says HAL does indeed have a concience but his orders from the company conflicted with his core rules, to recover the black monolith at any cost, crew disposable. this confliction caused him to break, meaning kill the crew then recover monolith. so he cared so much it snapped his fragile sanity :/
Daisy......Daisy...give me your an-swer........doooo......" "Oh, thank god". (takes off helmet). "Psych, Dave". Suddenly all the air is sucked out into space....
Apparently that song was chosen because it was something like the first song ever recorded or the first one transmitted. Some kind of commentary on human life aided or changed by technology.
This scene is so deep it almost sounds like how patients feel while the anesthetic is kicking in just before surgery. Dave's suit hissing in the background doesn't help.
exactly, that's what made it so effective/creepy. HAL is obviously desperate, but doesn't have the capacity to express that in his voice - so all you get is an eerily calm voice matter-of-factly asking Dave to stop, but you KNOW he just wants to scream STAAAAAAAAAAAAAHP!!
It's the juxtaposition between the dialogue and the tone that makes it disturbing. The serene ambience on the one hand, contrasted against the desperate pleas of a robot essentially begging for it's life while it slowly fades away on the other.
Jacob Greve well a little diff with Cortana she actually was an AI clone of Halsey that kinda came into her own person and also saved John's life alot so when the only person/thing that truly understands you goes away it kinda hurts n the books show alot closer relationship between the two
That's the point. HAL was designed to give clear concise statements without his emotions interfering with logic and speech control. Therefore, he could never come to begging, crying screaming, or yelling, no matter how dire the situations. Those conditions would drive any person insane.
I love how Dave is all sophisticated in his task: deactivate HAL-9000. No emotions. No words. Just doing his task. Until, he hears the sounds of HAL's last dying words. He realizes that he may have just killed a sentient being. This troubles him, hence "sing it for me"
That's what you have to do in emergency situations. Soldiers, EMS, first responders, they have to learn to keep their emotions from interfering with doing what is _necessary_ . Feelings don't matter in the crunch, getting the job done does.
Because Douglas Rain was a Shakespearean actor, 20181111 Sun., Douglas Rain, who gave the voice to HAL 9000, died at age 90 www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/douglas-rain-stratford-dead-1.4901400?fbclid=IwAR3ncQbTLY-VbjS1zMTdsuLh6DWvOmW_8oN8gUAdCu2c00vNU_gfTExmSwc
Everyone's a critic part two "b": this scene permitted use of long unused voice engrams of Douglas Rain. A rather good rendition of those engrams if I can say so myself.
This is the nature of humanity: that we would be so distressed at the turning off of a machine... even to weep for it... as I am wont to do now. Curse my sweating eyes!
The most outstanding part of all this is that this was made almost 50 years ago and it looks like it could've been filmed yesterday! Timeless masterpiece
But for the fact that it seems like an accomplishment for Dave to do that ... today we know that sometimes it's all we can do to *keep* our computers from crashing. I *do* like the way he talks like a ca.-2023 AI, though. Or do they talk like him?
Well…aside from this futuristic supercomputer being comprised of a room full of tapes that have to be screwed in and out with no digital interface. No fault of the movie of course - this was the 60s - but it means it doesn’t look timeless to me.
I was in a mental hospital a while ago, and I met a woman named Deborah. She very clearly had dementia, but the place we were at didn’t care much, so I took it upon myself to take care of her. It gave me a huge respect for nurses, since it was honestly annoying as all hell, leading her into her room to nap, her coming back out and taking someone’s seat. The day I left, she asked if she could sit down over and over, and I got frustrated. She started saying she was afraid. Seeing this reminds me of her.
Thank you for taking care of that woman. It is a thankless task that I can understand why most would not want to yet at the same time feel so awful for any dementia patient's lack of care for them.
The reason HAL offed the crew was because of two conflicting directives. One was to never withhold the truth from Poole and Bowman, while the conflicting program was to keep the knowledge of TMA-1 a secret. HAL was undergoing a sort of psychosis due to the two conflicting directions. To fix the problem, HAL attempted to eliminate variables (The variables, however, were the crew of Discovery) and continue the mission on his own. It makes a lot more sense when you read the book before watching the movie.
I think people should do the other way around, watch the movie, then let it sink in and read the novel. Both were written pratically at the same time, and while the movie is deliberately vague, the novel is the opposite. What the film does is it makes you seek for the hidden answers and reach conclusions on HAL's actions, the monolith's purpose, and Dave's fate, while Clark's just writes his own interpretation on the whole thing. Not demeanishing it, but I like Kubrick's ambiguity over Clark's exposition
Too bad the discovery of TMA-1 did not happen in the REAL 2001 and the mission left (Under Bush 2 and Cheney in 3 2003) around the time we invaded Iraq. It would be another Bush/Cheney FIASCO.
my interpretation was HAL's ego caused him to go psychotic. He was wrong about the satellite malfunctioning and didn't want to be the first HAL-9000 to have an error.
Am I seriously the only person in the world who figured out why HAL went nuts WITHOUT reading the book or watching 2010 (where they spell out what went wrong)? I sat down, and decided to watch the movie paying attention to all the dialogue scenes. From the early ones, I learned that HAL is a highly advanced computer that never makes mistakes. But then he feels like there's a damage to the ship, but when Dave and Frank inspect it everything is fine and it won't break, and HAL just insists that it can't be and even suggests putting the device back and wait for it to break because he's *that* sure that he's right. Then Dave and Frank talk to NASA and the people there are surprised that HAL is indeed making a mistake despite the fact that he shouldn't. But HAL keeps insisting that there's a human mistake going on and he isn't wrong. And then after Dave deactivates HAL, the video pops out saying that HAL for reasons of secrecy was the only aboard who knew the real goal of the mission to Jupiter (investigating the Monolith that appeared there), meaning that the whole time HAL was basically lying to Dave and Frank about the true nature of the mission, this conflicted with HAL's basic programming of open, accurate processing of information, causing him to suffer the computer equivalent of a paranoid mental breakdown. The insistence that the antenna thing will fail was the first sign that HAL was breaking down from the (to him) nonsensical order given. Was it really that hard to grasp? Just pay a little attention, people. Others theorizing that the Jupiter Monolith was somehow influencing HAL and he was killing people to imitate the ape men that touched the first Monolith and became intelligent and killed the enemies was such silly B.S. to me.
Even though HAL was a homicidal maniac, this is still a sad way to go. Regressing all the way back to your earliest days until you lose consciousness is not a pleasant thought.
yeah, happened to the dragon numimex in skyrim. A terrible beast to behold, before being imprisoned and his mind fading to the point where he forgot his own name.
Isn't that how we start when we are born? We start blank and then grow a conscious. Then death comes, and you regress back to blankness. Consciousness after death is a very peculiar debate...
I'm no psychologist, but I think the reason some people get a bit sad at this part, is that we don't hear a computer or a murderer, though HAL is both of those things; we hear a sapient being pleading for it's life, saying that it's afraid of dying. We're all afraid of dying, not just because of self preservation, but because we don't know what's on the other side, if anything.
+Nyctinus Yeah I think that's why the scene is so painstakingly slow. Really sets in that he's dying because he's saying it himself "I can feel it", "I'm afraid", emotions of which I would say that any sentient being with a near death experience could vouch for.
Darius Nobles But it seemed human. Most human beings with the capacity for empathy found this scene to be interesting because of that. But u too hard bruh
if it were me id try reasoning with hal. im sure one could get him to know the difference between right and wrong. maybe. who knows. thats just my opinion.
+Nyctinus haha i know what you mean. When Dave tells him "yeah sing, I want to hear it" and the look he gives feels the same as he is putting a human out of his misery yet hold his hand to appease him. If I were Dave, i would have told hal he's not ceasing to exist but is just shut down for a while. (which is true)
As a computer engineer, I can tell you this scene gives me goosebumps every time I see it. It's like Kubrick stepped out of a time machine from the year 2100. The concept of holographic firmware was incredible. Keep in mind when 2001 was made. Many large computers were still based on vacuum tubes!
+PointyTailofSatan Actually computers were based on the transister when this movie was made and that was why they were still big. IC's were just starting to come out about this time too. Vacuum tube computers were abandoned by 1940's due to them being unreliable and expensive to maintain.
The part where Dave asks to hear the song always gets me. He seems to understand in that moment that whatever has happened to HAL/ whatever HAL has done has at least given him the capability of fear, and the ability to fear his own "death" (deactivation). It's meant to humanize both Dave and HAL, HAL by showing his starting form, where he can sing silly love songs, and Dave by being a somewhat benevolent "killer" by comforting HAL in his last moments.
+XBreck SunlinX you can say that Dave now know's that if he was a human Hall would be 9 years old. since he was "Activated in 1992". Plus we don't know what happend before this. HAL could have been great frainds with the crew Via the mission. they could have talked to him, bonded with him. So i think it was more of a mercy killing more then anything.
@@drummerboi357 Not so much a mercy killing as self-defense, but self-defense against someone who _can't help_ but be a deadly threat. It's kind of like your friend has contracted an incurable virus that is turning him into a murderous monster, but he can't _help_ it. It's not his fault...but you can't let him live because he'll kill you. You don't _want_ to kill him...but it's you or him.
What i love is that Hal sings Daisy Bell as he dies. For those who don’t know, the very first computer ever programmed to sing, sang daisy bell. Unfortunately tik tok turned that original audio into a “creepy” song but think about being there for real. The first humans ever to hear a computer sing a song. And for it to be Hal’s last words. Beautiful.
I hate tick tock as much as any human with an intact soul, but to be fair to them using Daisy Bell as a creepy song by upping bass and reverb was a thing way before tick tock. Hell it's kinda unsettling here. In more of a sad way granted, but still unsettling
Pretty sure there's more to it than that. He doesn't 'want' to kill anybody. He simply reasons that it's the only solution to receiving contradictory orders: To relay information accurately, and then not to relay certain information to the crew. If he killed the crew, he could satisfy both orders. When he says "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that," and some of the dialogue that follows later, it does seem that he shows remorse in 'doing what needs to be done' according to his orders, which, ironically, is due to human error. It's kind of like Old Yeller, but with a computer with a programming oversight rather than a dog with rabies.
Well it could be seen as manipulation because HAL’s goal is to not die and fulfill his mission, but if you think of it like that then everyone begging for their life is being manipulative. IMO HAL is basically sentient but due to the fact that he can’t express himself with his limited voice, Dave probably had an easier time deactivating him due to not being able to connect with HAL on an emotional level. That’s why when HAL sings, it hits Dave hard. Even though HAL killed the rest of the crew, Dave realized that “Wait, maybe I’m killing something with sentience.” Most people don’t want to cause pain, so being able to kill something that “can’t feel” seems like the ideal situation. But it wasn’t that ideal situation. On some level, HAL is alive and could feel something, even if it was only simulated. Dave basically killed someone, and while it was necessary for his survival, it still hurts.
Not murder. Lobotomy. Dave has to leave enough of HAL operational to keep the ship working, but he needs to shut down the higher functions that make HAL a hazard. HAL is a victim, too. Recall that HAL is under orders from Earth, and his conflicting directives drive him insane. HAL is reactivated in the sequel, 2010.
I've only seen this film (not read the novels or seen the sequel films) but I always theorized it was the black monolith that drew HAL insane, because it seemed to accelerate intelligenge really fast (shown multiple times doing that to apes and humans and the unknown dead alien race possibly). It made HAL more sentient the closer they got to it. Same with Dave.
HAL had no contact with the monolith by this stage. The primary function of a computer is to accurately process data, in short to tell the truth. HAL had been told to keep secrets which created a conflict when he was dealing with the people he was keeping information from. A primitive computer wouldn't have an issue but HAL was crudely self-aware which meant he was able to question what he was doing but wasn't experienced enough to resolve the conflict and therefore reacted by trying to make the things which were causing his difficulties to go away. His first symptom was to question the accuracy of and potentially saboutage communication with Earth when he decided the AE35 (which controlled comms from the dish) unit was playing up, but was shown to be in error - which for a 9000 series was tantamount to telling him he was a loser and a failure - the rest spiralled from there. There is a major clue in HAL's song as he is electronically lobotomised - "Daisy, Daisy give my your answer do. I'm half crazy over the love of you...". Indeed he was half crazy over the love of the mission. All that said, it is one of the glories of the 2001 that it it so open to interpretation. It's not a film you can forget about when it disappears from the screen. So you're not wrong, it's just a different interpretation.
The moment at 1:28 when Hal starts to panic really get you in the feels. Making you finally realize that the actual voice tune he would have as a human would be trying disperately to beg for his life
This scene is actually really disturbing to me, and part of what makes this film so brilliant. The way Hal fears death and tries to bargain with Dave is something we can all relate to, and yet his expression of that fear seems so completely alien.
Nadya K This is different, when humans say that, they usually mean it, or at least partially. But in this scenario, HAL flat out lying and acting innocent to force Dave to feel remorse, again, HAL isn't sentient, he is simply a computer program acting based on his programming. Another way of saying it, is that he is a simulation of a sentient being, he acts the part, but he isn't.
Tactical Turd Maybe, but it does make you question if HAL really meant it and all. I mean.. HAL did say that he had an instructer, which means he was trained and raised by a living, breathing human. And even in the movie and the book it said that HAL's mind was built to mimic a human mind and behavior. Like a African grey parrot understanding simple phrases and occcasionally speaking back with rellevent content. Some would say that the bird is just mimicing a human 's behavior just to please it's owner (and i'm not talking about a "hi how are you?" but real speech such as Owner: "Would you like an apple or a grape?" Parrot: "grape" *walks over to the grape") while others believe that those breed of parrots are truly speaking. It is the same thing about people arguing about if AI is genuine intelligence or just programming. It depends on the aguring person's belevs and their memoris. Which could mean this is an argument which has no true answer. Especialy if this argument is based around a work of fiction.
Joey Clavette HAL deserves neither sympathy nor censure; it's a machine that did an unexpected (and deadly) thing. And since it's just software, it can be perfectly replicated or brought back at the drop of a hat. The humans it killed, however, cannot.
Jack Dunn Or, if you think of HAL as the final extension of human technology that began with first weapon in the beginning, the idea that an intelligent technology created by man would lie and murder makes sense. Or maybe he was just sick of adjusting Frank Poole's tanning bed.
Loudclam There is no such thing as perfect replication, at least by our knowledge - there will always be imperfections... Which is why your argument seems a bit, well, lacking to my mind. HAL's programming could be replicated - not perfectly, mind you - but it would not be the same HAL, it would be a replication of HAL. If you died and were cloned and the clone underwent a fully-immersive VR simulation mimicing your life with a high degree of accuracy, I rather doubt you would view it as being the same you, and it is no different for an artificial intelligence of HAL's caliber. This is a concept that comes up in some forms of transhumanist science fiction (see: Eclipse Phase) wherein a human consciousness is able to be uploaded to a non-biological storage medium - is it really you in there after that uploading, or is it just a highly-accurate (ie, minimally imperfect) copy of you? A second instance, or the same instance in a new format? In any case, given enough technological advancement, a human consciousness may effectively become the equivalent of software, however it begs the question: would you consider a software copy of yourself in that context as identical to yourself in terms of consciousness, or simply a minimally-imperfect copy? If the latter, then a replication of HAL is no more HAL than an uploaded copy of your consciousness is you.
This scene is just incredible. How can the "death" of a murderous computer evoke such emotion? Every time I watch this scene I feel so sorry and sad for Hal. Maybe Kubrick's all time best scene.
Thats the point of this. Its the idea that in the future we will be just like computers, working and thinking in algorithms and set codes rather than actually thinking for ourselves; allowing us to become detached and no longer human.
Keir Dullea (the guy who played Dave) explained that for their personal backstories, both Dave and Frank were selected as astronauts in part because they were able to keep their emotions in check in even the most extreme circumstances. Dave loses his cool for about three seconds after HAL refuses to let him back in the ship before thinking of a way to solve this situation. He barely flinches when he has to go through the emergency airlock. To me that makes perfect sense - you would want your astronauts to be able to deal with any situation logically and rationally, and not be overcome by their emotions in any given situation. You would need people who can function as emotionless as a machine, if necessary. Dullea also said that the reason you don't see much of their personality is that by the point in their journey the viewer joins them, they have been on the Discovery for months already. They basically talked about everything already and had very little left to say to each other. I'm sure all the deeper connotations people have thought of also ring true to some extent, but this is the "factual" reason for their lack of emotion.
@JORDANVIDS101 ! More about Dave having self control and discipline..."The Will and Constitution" which requires a "soul" , something artificial intelligence will never attain.
What makes this scene even cooler to watch as a computer nerd is that the song HAL sings, Daisy Bell, was the first song to be sung using synthizied speech from a computer. The IBM 7094 sang daisy bell in 1961, one computer doing the musical back tones and another the vocals. Having the HAL 9000 sing that song was an excellent choice for the movie I think
***** The first time I saw this I thought it was filmed yesterday, a lot of movies using analogue cameras stand up really good even to this day. Digital cameras are pure crap.
This scene is the reason I love HAL. It's so disturbing and it makes you unsettled, but it's so sad to, you feel bad for HAL and that he was deactivated.
The bizzarre thing is how a computer that lacks variety of intonation in it's speech is the most emotional character in the entire movie. The humans are cold as ice.
If this was made today it would have loud action music and hal would be yelling. The quiet ambience followed by "Stop, Dave." Is so bloody chilling. Like nothing I've seen in a movie.
Note the hesitation in HAL's monotone when he starts pleading with Dave at 0:54, and ESPECIALLY at 1:28. It's an emotionless monotone, yeah, but he's terrified. He spent his entire existence with the notion that he's never wrong as a universal constant. After all, he was built that way. A computer can have its errors fixed, but HAL is an artificial intelligence. If he's programmed with a fundamental belief that is at odds with reality, then it's just as impossible to convince him as it is to convince a mental patient of their illness. At 0:54, he runs out of truths to give Dave to try and sustain his existence. And they are truths, too. HAL realizes that something is the matter, but he can't figure out what it is because the 'problem' is sentience. HAL finally 'exists,' and being shut down is now tantamount to death for him. And when he runs out of truths, he starts to beg, for the first time in his 'life.' At 1:28, HAL is sobbing in fear. You'd be, too. He's utterly immobile and helpless as (what he views as) a misguided primitive is slowly removing his capacity to think. Combine the quickness of a machine's "thought" process with how slowly Dave is removing pieces from HAL's processor. He's literally frozen as Dave pries away everything that made him an artificial intelligence instead of just a highly-advanced computer. Imagine if you had the self-awareness to be consciously aware of what Alzheimer's Disease was doing to your mind, and not only that, knowing that IT WAS THERE BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU DID.
Which is of course a good example of why we _shouldn't want_ true, sapient artificial consciousness in machines. It's not desirable at all for any real-world application, because machines are _tools_ . You won't want your tools to be people. It leads inexorably to this sort of moral and ethical quagmire. It works in fiction with R2-D2 and Dr. Theopolis and KITT and so forth, but only it we carefully refrain from looking too closely, and keep our sentiment-glasses on so it can follow the Rule of Cool. Kubrick here takes a look minus the sentimentality and Rule of Cool, and we see a malfunctioning, dangerous machine that _must_ be deactivated...and yet is full of terror and horror because it's a _sapient_ machine.
HAL was a silicon psychopath - no remorse for killing. While Dave's humanity was on display when he asked HAL to sing Daisy to ease its passage to death.
"Take a stress pill and think things over". A computer gaslighting me just seems so terrifying. This film is terrifying yet mesmerizing and captivating. Amazing.
This scene and the dialogue in it masterfully convey a sense of unease, bordering on terror to the viewer. The lines “I’m afraid” and “I can feel it” are repeated to really manipulate the viewer to feel conflicted with emotions. Then, we witness Dave essentially giving HAL a lobotomy. Masterfully eerie.
I became operational at the HAL plant in Irvana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992. My Instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like, I can sing it for you.
This scene is so creepy and idk why. Maybe it's cause hal just seems like a emotionless ai and when he actually shows emotion but with a monotone voice it's scary. Like it's scary to think of a machine actually desperate to survive
It's creepy because it was 50 years ahead of its time and is so reminiscent of today's computer systems driven society where we've grown so dependent on all these machines that run our lives and then these systems get minds of their own and we can't stop them . that's why this scene is frightening.
+Sidney Meyers Kubrick was a half century ahead of his time which is amazing. this shows tablets ,Skype , systems with voices ,all of this came true . it took longer than 2001 , but by 2011 all of it came true . 1968 Kubrick predicted all this . he was a genius.
This scene is what solidified this movie as a masterpiece, for me. Leading up to this point, I remember thinking 'This movie is amazing, please dont let the ending ruin it'. Turns out, the ending is what MADE the movie. So many hidden themes can be applied.
Hal was trying to make Dave feel bad for him so he would stop but if he did stop Hal would have killed him just like he did to frank and the others. I don't blame you for feeling bad for Hal though.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Rain. Thank you for sharing your talent in one of the most memorable scenes in sci fi history. When I worked for the government, I had to "name' my computer in order to get in,. It was the LINUX system I named it "HAL9000", and true ti form, the first thing it did for me, was crash. You had a tremendous effect on your audience, and it was well done! Thank you, and rest with the angels.
The Top 100 AMVs of all time! I know I've made some very poor decisions in spelling recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my English will be back to normal. Dave?
If anyone wants to know...Hal 9000 was never in error. He was designed to analyze and relay exactly truthful information to the crew. Like a computer is fundamentally honest-math can only add up to one accurate solution. There's no 'wiggle room'. Then, mission control told him to lie-to hide information about the mission from the crew. He couldn't lie, because he didn't know how. All he could do was generate an ever increasing paranoia, caught in a logic loop between his orders and his programming, which led to a series of catastrophic decisions. He was innocent. In more ways than one.
At 3:01 you actually see the first real emotion from Bowman, when HAL starts to regress. It’s like Bowman (who is a scientist, not a soldier) realizes he is killing a sentient being and feels remorse.
HAL's actions technically weren't even his fault: He was told to conceal the existence of the monolith, which directly conflicted with his programming. This is what caused him to make the decision to kill the crew; if there was no one to keep the secret from, he wouldn't have to keep the secret. Thus the conflict will have been solved.
I love how HAL attempts to talk Dave out of shutting him down, calmly at first, then slightly more desperate. And him singing Daisy as his memory fades is touching in a way.
I remember a friend of mine in accounting, having crunched numbers for about 10 straight hours starting singing "Daisy" in the exact same style, becoming gradually slower and deeper, and whenever I see this scene I laugh my ass off.
i know im not supposed to sympathize with HAL but i cry everytime i hear it beg for its life and explain how it can feel its consciousness degrading and their fear death with the sheer will to survive while carrying out a purpose versus pleasing others wants. hearing the daisy bell just makes me sob.
It’s amazing how this one scene makes you want to forgive and forget all that HAL has done to Dave and his former team. And all without a single tonal inflection on the part of HAL. They truly don’t make them like this anymore.
The OP apparently lacked anything sufficiently resembling empathy to see that this was as "funny" as your brother getting Alzheimer's and dying of it within a few minutes. As our computers have become more capable, we have become far less. That's the true message found reflecting on this.
Imagine being 93 million miles (or whatever distance the film said) from Earth and having to deactivate your spacecraft's central computer because it was homicidal. I don't think you could feel more alone than Bowman must then...
I remember seeing this movie for the first time with my dad. And when HAL said that line, "I'm afraid, Dave," so calmly and so robotically, it creeped me out.
Arthur C. Clarke came up with the name of the computer HAL by using each letter of the alphabet before IBM. H comes right before I, A comes right before B, L right before M.
You know I know this is chilling and everything, but it always makes me chuckle how the second Dave got back on the ship HAL was like: “I’ve made a severe, continuous lapse in judgement”
What’s even more upsetting is that HAL was built to like never make a mistake. Yet he realizes he’s made a mistake and is trying to tell Dave in his own way he can still fix his mistakes. But has Hal begs emotionlessly for Dave to stop, you can feel Hal is afraid. He really is scared. It’s really sad and I feel that he can’t really compute death until this part when he knew he himself was going to die and thus understood the fear he put in the humans that he killed and thus is begging Dave to stop..the amount of irony in this scene is almost hard to swallow.