Kubrick and Science Fiction

HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey is a symbol of the worst-case scenario of artificially intelligent computers and their relationship with Humanity.

 In which the narrative serves theme.

I think the concern of resistance to AI begins before the digital age itself.  If we look to Science Fiction writing we can find

 early doubts and uneasiness with mans relationship t machines. The doubts in the minds of a generation of writers have echoes of distrust of the Modern and from the rise of the Atomic Age, sci-fi dealt with annihilation by machine (although certainly this is countered by what we can label “optimist” sci-fi; star trek, etc.)

AI is commonly associated with an ultimate evil. A central theme of Science Fiction writing is that rational thought without emotion is dangerous.   The human mind, untethered from the body-and by extension the web of psychological, social, and emotional need-will eventually rely only on its intelligence, breeding arrogance, hubris, a revolt against what is human, and deny any connection to their human counterparts and set about destroying them.  This is really an old parable about hubris and over-dependence on technology (Icarus rejects his father, took refuge in technology, falls to earth, while Faust casts his lot with the scientific and pays with his soul).

I enjoyed how Kubrick grounded the narrative in a sleek contemporary aesthetic, a slightly hyper-real  version of everyday life in 1968. While the stewardesses in pillbox hats and the back-slappin' bonhomie of the characters-Somewhere between a Brylcream ad and a stroll through Bedford Falls seems corny to us, pretty gosh darn cool in 1968.  More importantly it was entirely plausible that the future would look familiar to us, a staple of many Sci Fi narratives, and the obvious set-up for the final act when Hal rebels. In a setting where nothing could possibly go wrong and superintelligences have sorted out all the problems, the likely thing to go wrong is a machine itself.

And when it learns, it becomes a Superintelligence. It will accumulate a base of knowledge the builds upon itself, eventually knowing more than humans, though nurtured by humans, evolves beyond the comprehension of humans and lacking any empathy, turns on them.

2001 is a work of fiction, and Turing's influence on Kubrick is evident. 

The link between2001 and Turing is well established.  I.J. Good, who worked under Turning as a cryptologist (enigma machine stuff in England during World War II) he went on to publish several articles and consulted with Kubrick on the "design" of HAL 9000.

The interesting thing here is that the concept of an “Intelligence Explosion” was pioneered by (guess who?) a science fiction writer. Vernor Vinge came up with the idea of superintelligences, both AI and via human biological enhancement.

Good takes it further, stating:

 "Let an ultra intelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultra intelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion,' and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultra intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make."

Enter HAL9000 stage left.