Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality

Book Overview

How science fiction's most famous computer has influenced the research and design of intelligent machines. I became operational... in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997. Inspired by HAL's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262193787
• ISBN13: 9780262193788
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Gradually, HAL is coming....

There are few films that have had the influence of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is difficult to say how many A.I. researchers were inspired to go into the field by the viewing of the film, but this book is good evidence that research in A.I. has undergone a sort of "public benchmarking" via a comparison with HAL, the arch computer-villan in the movie, and whose name is now ubiquitous in debates on robotics and artificial intelligence. This excellent book is a summary of just how far A.I. has come, as compared to the abilities of HAL. All of the authors acknowledge that the present level of A.I. is not what it is in HAL, but that progress is being made, in spite of, as one author remarked, the fact that A.I. is one of the most profoundly difficult problems in science. Marvin Minsky is interviewed in the book, and he believes it is the problem of knowledge representation that has slowed down the progress in A.I. Too much time has been spent on chess programs and character recognition, and not on fundamentals, Minsky argues. Minsky also believes that emotions are absolutely essential in intelligent problem solving, and this is interesting in light of recent work on computational models of emotion. The large physical size of HAL is compared with present sizes of computers in the article of David Kuck. But, the author argues, the human brain is also much smaller than HAL, but such a marvelous computing machine has yet to be emulated by even the best of present-day supercomputers. Size does not matter in matters of intelligence. The article on error correction by R. Iyer is particularly insightful, for he argues, quite correctly, that making mistakes is a characteristic of true intelligence. HAL's brag that it is "incapable of error" is a sign of stupidity, rather than intelligence. False leads, uncompleted strategies and goals, and inconsistent reasoning are all part of genuine problem-solving. M.S. Campbell discusses the efforts in machine chess, with Deep Blue of course being the focal point. Comparisons of how HAL plays chess compared to Deep Blue illustrate Campbell's belief that a mere combinatorial approach to playing chess should not be considered an intelligent one. HAL is intelligent because it plays intelligence like a human does, but Deep Blue does not. Campbell also gives an interesting historical summary of computer chess. He cites that example of a "fortress" position as one that chess computers have severe difficulty with. The ability of computers to speak, and not sound "machine-like" is the subject of the article by J.P. Olive. His discussion gives the reader both an historical and technical overview of the difficulties involved in computer speech. And yes, the song "Daisy, Daisy" is real, and was the first song ever sung by a computer. R. Kurzweil gives an optimistic overview of computer speech recognition. He details the "lessons" one needs to perform speech recognition and repeats his well-known desire to "reverse-e

Oh! This is AI...a must have book

This book is an ART and amazing. You can learn and know whatreally Artificial Intelligence means and you feel happy, relaxedand enjoyable in reading each chapter.If you don't want to waste time to read lots of technicalwords to understand AI, this book is the only and best choice.Every chapter will give you concise and clear information, andalso is interesting. An excellent book for anyone whois interested in mind, thought, robot, cognition, AI or just like the Sci-Fi wrote by Clarke.This is a book for professional AI programmer and for anyone who just want to know what is Artificial Intelligence.

HAL is based on real research...

I have only one word for this book: COOL! For science-fiction aficionados everywhere, HAL's Legacy is a review, in 1997 when HAL was supposed to be created, the state of the technology (artificial intelligence, natural language processing, speech processing, etc.) from premier Sci-Fi writer Arthur C. Clarke and leading computer scientists in the area of AI (and other areas) like Marvin Minsky. Are we there yet? Is HAL really possible? It includes deep analysis of specific scenes in the movie and tying it in with the different premises presented in the articles/chapters in the book.This is one book absolute die-hard sci-fi fans should have, especially if you are working in the high tech sector.

Excellent book for people into technology or computing

This book was featured as a IEEE Book Pick in IEEE Spectrum Magazine. After ordering it, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It combines the latest breakthroughs in electrical engineering and computer science with the fascinating work of Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey". The 2001 movie is now one of my favorite movies because of the fantastic writing in this book. You can read each chapter almost as a small book as the book is well-organized into separate chapters for each topic. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a medium to high level of interest in technology. The cover art, color pictures, and glossy pages make this book a keeper, and a pleasure to thumb through.

Dave...Don't Stop!

Prior to attending a lecture by Dr. David Stork at a celebration of HAL 9000's birthday in Urbana, Illinois, I had only a passing interest in the field of Artificial Intelligence. After the lecture, I was motivated to learn more and bought a copy of his book, Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer As Dream and Reality. It turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking as well as entertaining books I have read. Through a series of expert essays, Stork explores the current state and direction of Artificial Intelligence using HAL as both backdrop and benchmark. Non-technical readers will enjoy the way that the scientists that Stork has chosen present their theories of what it would take for us to realize Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's vision of HAL. HAL's Legacy analyzes the prospects and possibilities of computers being able to converse, understand natural language, visualize, feel emotion, and even make value judgements. It also give the reader a new appreciation of the science that went into the science fiction of the movie 2001.