[GreenKeys] HAL - 2001 - Bell Labs

[Paul Wills]

Speaking of HAL, the computer, here's another interesting piece of trivia:

http://jukeboxmafia.blogspot.com/2009/02/bell-labs-speech-simulation.html

Another site indicates that Clark was inspired by a visit to Bell Labs where 
he heard the demo.

PDW

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Douglas W. Jones" <jones at cs.uiowa.edu>
To: "Greenkeys Keys" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] My experiences and questions


>
> On May 7, 2009, at 4:58 PM, John D. Kopke wrote:
>
>> BTW,I made a incredible discovery. What are the odds that HAL
>> Communications and
>> Hal from 2001, A Space Odyssey are both made in Urbana ,Illinois .
>> THEY ARE!!!!!
>
> HAL Communications was named after HAL from 2001, quite
> deliberately.  HAL, the
> computer, was made in Urbana because, in the mid 1960's, Urbana was
> the center
> of the supercomputer universe, with ILLIAC 2 recently decommissioned,
> ILLIAC 3
> still under construction (it was never finished) and ILLIAC 4 in the
> planning.
> These computers were extraordinary machines, for their time,
> particularly ILLIAC 4,
> and captured the imagination of Arthur C. Clark.
>
> Clark and Kubrik's movie, in turn, provided a name for a small startup
> in Urbana.  Asking about the odds is not meaningful in this context
> because it
> is not a cincidence.
>
> Doug Jones
> jones at cs.uiowa.edu
>
>