Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by mpathus (A) on May 11, 2008 at 23:24:42

In Reply to: RE: HAL posted by halfnote on May 11, 2008 at 21:52:57

Yes, HAL is truly iconic -- perhaps a perfect reflection of ourselves as intellect but without a root (soul) connection to an analog divine paradigm = massively top-heavy puppy without conscience.

Daisy: "...half crazy, all for the love of you..." HAL doesn't know how to love, but termination is easily enough: all ones and zeros = either on or off.

I think of Alien's version of "HAL" being the ship's computer "Mother"= design, and Ash = emotion/impetus (Ian Holm). Ash blows its top at Ripley in frustration for the absurdity of his pseudo-symbiosis with humans, magazine in hand for a phallus. Ash was responsible for jeopardizing the crew, just as HAL was, due its dependance upon orders and inability to understand or generate.

Once the genie is out of the bottle it becomes a travail to get it back in -- first Prometheus then Frankenstein, and we now face the goliath artificial intelligence in the 21st century.

The movies seem less escapism than tutorial :)