Thursday, April 27, 2006

Why Does HAL Sing 'Daisy, Daisy' in 2001: A Space Odyssey?



Mystery solved.

Jason Kottke:

In 1962, Arthur C. Clarke was touring Bell Labs when he heard a demonstration of a song sung by an IBM 704 computer programmed by physicist John L. Kelly. The song, the first ever performed by a computer, was called "Daisy Bell", more commonly known as "Bicycle Built for Two" or "Daisy, Daisy". When Clarke collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, they had HAL sing it while Dave powered him down.

Also:

A reader just reminded me that HAL may have been so named because each letter is off by one from IBM, although Arthur C. Clarke denies this.

More here.

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