F E A T U R E S    Issue 3.01 - January 1997

I Was a Teenage Centenarian

By Jeff Greenwald

Arthur C. Clarke, that modest genius, talks about HAL in 3001, computers that can take a joke and the two looming breakthroughs that will get us back on our space odyssey.



The most disturbing moment in 2001: A Space Odyssey occurs not around the notorious black monolith, but within the bowels of the spaceship. Astronaut Dave Bowman, having witnessed the murder of his colleagues by HAL, methodically disconnects the computer's intelligence circuits. As he does so, the machine begs for mercy: "Stop, Dave. Stop, will you? I'm afraid. My mind is going. I can feel it...."

HAL's creator, Arthur C. Clarke - who turns 80 this year - is a long way from an equivalent meltdown. Juggling all kinds of new projects despite crippling post-polio syndrome ("My present method of locomotion may best be described as Frankenstein's lurch," he jokes), Clarke has just put the finishing touches to his magnum opus - 3001: The Final Odyssey.

On the eve of HAL's birthday, Wired contributor Jeff Greenwald interviewed the ever-youthful Clarke, who was at his "technoasis" in Sri Lanka.

Wired: Let's clear this up once and for all. What was the original inspiration for the name HAL?

Arthur C. Clarke: It wasn't mine! It was Stanley's! Originally it was called Athena; we were going to have a woman's name, a woman's voice. Don't ask me when he changed it to HAL. I've been apologising to all my Harold friends ever since.

Who, among today's visionaries, comes closest to being HAL's "parents"?

Well, actually, Negroponte, who was here the other day, and of course Marvin Minsky, who I met back in the 2001 days. They're still the best-known people in the field, apart from the people out there making hardware.

What will it take for you to concede that a machine has consciousness?

There's an enormous amount of discussion about that now; there's even a society formed to discuss consciousness. Endless books on it: Consciousness Explained, Consciousness Not Explained and so on. This is one of the themes in 3001, incidentally. The monolith turns out not to be conscious.

Anyhow, it's one of the big philosophical problems. Why do we need consciousness? Is it really there, or do we only imagine we're conscious? This way lies madness. I mean, can you prove that you're conscious? To my satisfaction?

Only to my own satisfaction - and even that's doubtful sometimes.

Yes. I'm fond of paraphrasing Descartes: "I think, therefore I am ... I think."

Do you suppose a computer could have similar vague doubts about its own consciousness?

Good question. If a computer didn't have doubts, it wouldn't be conscious, probably.

So is there a "Clarke Test" for computer consciousness?

I'll tell you what: if it showed a really genuine sense of humour, then I'd decide it was conscious. That could be a really good test. It would have to be able to make jokes - and make jokes at its own expense.

Anything you would do to recreate HAL if you had the chance?

I have changed it; I've done nothing but that. He's been recreated in every succeeding volume.

Really? How is the HAL in 3001 different from the HAL in 2001?

Wait and see! You'll learn a lot more about HAL - and Frank Poole - in 3001. Anyway, there's a lot going on right now; I'm trying to get the trilogy out in one volume. I'm also trying to revive the nonfiction books, which are out of print now: The Making of Kubrick's 2001 and The Lost Worlds of 2001.

When you wrote 2001, we lived in an era when it seemed anything was possible. What took the wind out of our sails?

Well, Vietnam and Watergate and, of course, the cold war - the fact that it's gone. That was the driving force, let's face it. The cold war was the driving force as far as the Apollo missions were concerned, and they were the highlights.

What will get us back on track to the Moon and the planets?

There are two big things now, and I'm pretty confident about one of them: overunity energy devices. These are devices that give out more energy than goes in. Apparently some may be tapping zero-point energy - or quantum fluctuations seen at very low temperatures. Some may indeed be cold - or at least low-temperature - fusion. These devices are popping up all over the place now; you can search the Web and find the references. There was a recent conference of the cold fusion mafia in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I'll be very surprised if it isn't commercial by 2001.

And that means the end of the fossil fuel age. It also means lightweight energy sources - which is what we need for space travel.

Even more controversial is this announcement about antigravity from Finland. A group of Finnish scientists and engineers claim they've detected a very slight reduction in weight over a spinning superconducting disc, or something like that. It's in the Journal of Physics D; they've been peer-reviewed!

It could be 20 or 30 years before anything practical comes out of it, but anything that affects gravity, if it's genuine, is a revolution. It's about the same as Becquerel detecting radioactivity! And the applications appear to be of the same import - if the claim is confirmed.

Where will you be on HAL's birthday?

Probably online, to the University of Illinois; they're doing a Cyberfest. It's HAL's birthday celebration.

You've managed to resist the Web almost completely - true?

Officially, yes; unofficially, no. I've just been overwhelmed with other things. Look, I've got ten major movie and TV projects on my hands. I'm involved with a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of commitments. If a fraction of them actually materialise, I'm a dead man....

Clarke, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're more attracted to fun than money.

Well, that's exactly what I'm doing now. In fact, I did tiptoe onto the Web recently, downloading images of two of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede and Europa.

You'll turn 80 in 1997 - how will you celebrate your birthday?

By starting on my sabbatical decade! Then I'm going to start working on my autobiography. Have I told you the title? Modest Genius. And the subtitle? I Was a Teenage Centenarian.