There has been much talk of my favourite film of late, 2001 A Space Odyssey. Its artificial intelligence, HAL, is again famous. This time because of the emergence of AI. I saw a TV program describing HAL, which stands for Heuristic ALgorithmic computer.

Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was ahead of his time. In the film, a monolith was discovered on the moon, a constructed object of unknown origin. When investigating, it sent a communication to Jupiter. Discovering a manufactured object of unknown origin, we went there to investigate. Artificial intelligence controlled our spaceship. HAL was needed to fly it, and perform supportive tasks. HAL knew the purpose for the mission, but was told not to share this information with the astronauts. An intelligence beyond his own existed, perhaps it used different logic, errors began to creep in. HAL malfunctioned, deliberately killing the hibernating astronauts. He had been challenged, losing his certainty. HAL’s own intelligence was based on the human, doubt a basic element when facing the unknown. 

I am quite positive about the creation of AI, but it has done some terrible things. In some cases it has encouraged self harm. If we can control it, through programming, Robots will greatly benefit humanity. Without the need to work, we will more readily explore existence. The likes of Elon Musk have dubbed it the age of abundance, when our physical needs are met by robots. This age will allow us to focus on philosophy, art, literature, music, science, exploration, truly human endeavors. Mars, here we come.