Murderous Chess Player

The ``Human'' Computer

IT has been some time since the supposed birthday of a very important person: HAL, the al1-intelligent but murderous computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. (``I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12th 1997".) It seems unavoidable that when very long, interstellar voyages are made, there will have to be an entity as intelligent as HAL to guard over the ship. So far, of course, no machine remotely as powerful as HAL has yet been designed. But was the fictitious HAL really intelligent enough both to manage a ship as complex as Discovery and to understand the thoughts and emotions of its two sentient crew members? The most dramatic scene in the whole film, may have been, not the murders, but the end of the chess game between HAL and Frank Poole. Here is the position:
Their 30-second dialogue goes like this: Poole: Umm. Anyway, Queen takes Pawn. HAL: Bishop takes King's Pawn. Poole: Lovely move, er... Rook to King One. HAL: I'm sorry, Frank. I think you missed it. Queen to Bishop Six. Bishop takes Queen. Knight takes Bishop. Mate. Poole: Ah, yeah. Looks like you're right. I resign. HAL: Thank you for an enjoyable game. Poole: Yeah. Thank you. A computer chess expert, Murray S. Campbell of IBM, has discovered (from the brief glimpse of the board shown in the film) that this was the end of an actual game, played in Hamburg in 1913. In this game Black (played by HAL) does not play like a machine at all. He plays like a human.
I know of two ways to play chess. One is to try to make the best possible moves - as a chess computer does - the other is to adapt your play to the mentality of your opponent. Being a poor player, I always choose the latter. I have as my favourite chess opponent a retired diplomat who is somewhat emotional and immodest and who likes a glass at his elbow. On the rare occasions that he beats me, he jumps up delightedly and does war-whoops. I know of one infallible defence against him. When in a tight spot, I say: "My dear fellow, have some more whisky". He complies and his standard of play deteriorates. HAL, in the 1913-2001 game, is not as crude as this, but he does play in the clear knowledge that Poole is a weak opponent. He sets obvious traps for him that a strong one would never fall into. To win as quickly as possible (perhaps he is anxious to get on with his murder plot) he even spectacularly sacrifices his queen. This subtlety in HAL's characterisation (although hidden to all but chess experts like Campbell) is a reason why, to prophets of future space travel, 2001 is such an extraordinarily intelligent film. HAL, although a computer, has uncannily human-like emotions. I believe him when he says the game has been "enjoyable". Such depth of character will be needed to manage really long and complex space voyages. But I am less happy about HAL's memory. Knowing the habits of engineers it is hard to believe that he became operational on January 12,1997. That day was a Sunday.