Posted on 11/16/2009 4:47:22 PM PST by Daffynition
Okay, so this may not be important breaking news about astronomy, but it may answer a burning question posed by most people who have watched or read "2001: A Space Odyssey": that is, why does the computer HAL-9000 sing the song 'Daisy Bell' as the astronaut Dave Bowman takes him apart? Well, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke made HAL's final act in the world this song as a tribute to HAL's great ancestor, the first IBM computer to ever sing. Click below for more on this geeky topic!
In 1962 Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the novel – and co-wrote the screenplay for the movie – "2001: A Space Odyssey", visited Bell Labs before putting the finishing touches on the work. There, he was treated to a performance of the song 'Daisy Bell' (or, 'A Bicycle Built for Two') by the IBM 704 computer. This evidently inspired him to have HAL sing the song as an homage to the programmers of the 704 at Bell Labs, John L. Kelly, Carol Lockbaum, and Max Mathews. Kelly and Lockbaum programmed the lyrics, and Mathews the accompaniment.
'Daisy Bell' was originally composed in 1892 by Henry Dacre, and English composer. Upon coming to the U.S., he was charged a duty fee for his bicycle. A friend remarked that it was lucky that he didn't bring a bicycle built for two, or he would have had to pay double duty. Taken by the phrase, he used in in a song to acclaim both before it became a smash hit with computers with a penchant for song, and after.
Here's a recording of the 704 talking and singing the song. If you want to sing along karaoke style to the original singer, here's a video of the 704 doing its ditty (ignore the different model name and year – the 7094 exists but can't even sing backup):
And, of course, here is HAL-9000 in his death throes with a more maniacal version of the classic:
So if my computer crashes, I should sing “A Bicycle Built for Two” in memoriam?
Actually, it was explained in the sequel “2010” that HAL was NOT derived from IBM, but from the words Heuristic ALgorithmic. The way it was explained leads me to believe that Clarke was NOT happy with people making that connection. If I remember correctly, it was Dr. Heywood Floyd that talks about it in the story.
The Daisy song was sung by HAL as he regressed back to “childhood” because his storage modules were being removed by Dave Bowman in order to release Discovery from HAL’s control. HAL had become murderous because of a conflict between priorities in his programming(Keeping the true nature of the mission secret vs the stated mission and keeping the crew alive). This is also explained in 2010 when they introduce the Dr. Chandra character.
‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’.
YOU
“Dr. Chandra, I have a question.”
“Yes, HAL. What is it?”
“Will I dream?”
I never understood the movie, especially the ending...
Neither did I, until....
One day, I borrowed the book from my son. It is a short book, and easy to read.
It pissed me off that the movie was intentionally confusing.
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