bolyard@fortune.UUCP (Nelson Bolyard) (10/16/83)
I recall once reading an article about the author of 2001 and 2010, in which it was said that the name HAL was created by taking the letters IBM and taking the preceeding letter for each one. I-1=H, B-1=A, M-1=L. All flames to /dev/null please...
pdbain@wateng.UUCP (Peter Bain) (10/17/83)
About HAL -> IBM (is this a rot(1)?). According to the book, HAL stands for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer". -peter bain
barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (10/18/83)
I believe that Arthur C. Clarke denies the rumors that the name HAL was defined by taking the letters previous to IBM. I assume that he denies it, because he has one of the characters in "2010" vehemently deny it to one of the other characters in the book. -- Barry Margolin ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar
jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (10/18/83)
HAL does stand for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer; however,
it's not just a coincidence that it's a rot(1) of IBM. I believe the book
2010: Odyssey II says that the initials were chosen because the HAL series
was supposed to be "one step ahead of IBM." My guess is that this was not
mentioned in 2001 because Clarke and Kubrick wanted people to figure it
out for themselves.
Jeff Richardson
DCIEM, Torontontt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) (10/19/83)
HAL does stand for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer; however,
it's not just a coincidence that it's a rot(1) of IBM. I believe the book
2010: Odyssey II says that the initials were chosen because the HAL series
was supposed to be "one step ahead of IBM." My guess is that this was not
mentioned in 2001 because Clarke and Kubrick wanted people to figure it
out for themselves.
Jeff Richardson
Clarke has asserted several times that it *was* a coincidence. In `The Lost
Worlds of 2001' he adds that if it had been noticed they would certainly have
changed it. The sequel (which I haven't read yet) is a work of fiction
and Jeff's quotation looks like a nice touch of retroactive justification.
Considering that...
(1) Clarke wanted to give his computer an ordinary personal name
(2) he also wanted to have some kind of acronymic justification for it
(3) the above two items are easier if the name is kept short, and
there are only so many short names
(4) there are many other *equally likely* coincidences that might
have occurred, e.g. rot(2) of IBM, that would be taken as equally surprising
...the view that it was anything but a coincidence seems very hard to take.
Mark Bradernotes@ucbcad.UUCP (10/21/83)
#R:mit-eddie:-82500:ucbcad:19500001:000:416 ucbcad!kalash Oct 21 08:41:00 1983 > HAL does stand for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer; however, > it's not just a coincidence that it's a rot(1) of IBM. I believe the book > 2010: Odyssey II says that the initials were chosen because the HAL series > was supposed to be "one step ahead of IBM." NO, NO, NO! In fact the book 2010 specifically says that Clarke DIDN'T know about nor plan rot1(IBM) == HAL (reread the book!!!). Joe
mcewan@uiucdcs.UUCP (mcewan ) (10/23/83)
#R:fortune:-161000:uiucdcs:10700044:000:515 uiucdcs!mcewan Oct 21 14:51:00 1983 HAL does stand for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer; however, it's not just a coincidence that it's a rot(1) of IBM. I believe the book 2010: Odyssey II says that the initials were chosen because the HAL series was supposed to be "one step ahead of IBM." My guess is that this was not mentioned in 2001 because Clarke and Kubrick wanted people to figure it out for themselves. /* ---------- */ But the letters 'H','A','L' are one step BEHIND 'I','B','M'. Scott McEwan pur-ee!uiucdcs!mcewan