2001: A Space Odyssey at 50. HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality

Along with celebrating 50 years of software engineering, we can also celebrate the premiere of one of the most famous science fiction movies in history, 2001: A Space Odyssey. One of the central characters in the movie was the supercomputer HAL, the most powerful computer imagined at that time. Possessed knowledge superior to that of a human, HAL controlled the spaceship, found solutions to the most complex problems, played chess with the astronauts, and served them continuously. Then something went wrong. Why?  Was it a bug in the system, or a problem intrinsic to AI? This is the core question.

50 years later, we might frame the questions differently: Would it be possible to design a computer today that could reach or outreach HAL’s capabilities? Can today’s software do what HAL did? What are the ethical questions and dangers of AI in such a context?

In this interactive talk Dr. David Stork will discuss these questions and explore the ethical concerns and potential deep dangers of artificial intelligence.

Speaker: Dr. David Stork