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发信人: by (春天的小懒虫), 信区: SFworld
标  题: 2010 (26)
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (Wed Oct  6 14:50:39 1999), 转信

                           26
                     Probation

To:       Victor  Millson,  Chairman.  National  Council  on  Astronautics,
          Washington
From:     Heywood Floyd, aboard USSC Discovery
Subject:    Malfunction of onboard computer HAL 9000
          Classification : SECRET

Dr  Chandrasegarampillai    hereinafter referred to as Dr C.1 has now com-
pleted  his  preliminary  examination  of  Hal. He has restored all missing
modules  and  the  computer  appears to be fully operational. Details of Dr
C's  actions  and  conclusions  will  be  found  in  the  report he and Dr
Ternovsky will submit shortly.
  Meanwhile   you   have   asked   me  to  summarize  them  in  non-technical
terms  for  the  benefit  of  the  Council - especially the new members who
will not be familiar with the background. Frankly, I doubt my ability to do
this; as you know, I am not a computer specialist. But I will do my best.
  The  problem  was  apparently  caused  by  a  conflict  between Hal's basic
instructions  and  the  requirements  of  Security.  By direct Presidential
order,  the  existence  of  TMA-l  was  kept  a complete secret. Only those
with a need to know were permitted access to the information.
  Discovery's  mission  to  Jupiter  was  already  in  the  advanced planning
stage  when  TMA-l  was  excavated, and radiated its signal to that planet.
As  the  function  of  the  prime  crew(Bowman, Poole) was merely to get the
vessel  to its destination, it was decided that they should not be informed
of its new objective. By training the investigative team (Kaminski. Hunter,
Whitehead) separately, and placing them in hibernation before the
voyage began, it was felt that a much higher degree of security would be
attained, as the danger of leaks (accidental or otherwise) would  be greatly
reduced.
  I would like to remind you that, at the time (my memorandum NCA
342/23/TOP SECRET of 01.04.03) I pointed out several objections to this
policy. However, they were overruled at a higher level.
  As Hal was capable of operating the ship without human assistance, it
was also decided that he should be programmed to carry out the mission
autonomously in the event of the crew's being incapacitated or killed. He
was therefore given full knowledge of its objectives, but was not permit-
ted to reveal them to Bowman or Poole.
  This situation conflicted with the purpose for which Hal had been
designed - the accurate processing of information without distortion or
concealment. As a result, Hal developed what would be called, in human
terms, a psychosis - specifically, schizophrenia. Dr C. informs me that, in
technical terminology. Hal became trapped in a Hofstadter-Moebius
loop, a situation apparently not uncommon among advanced computers
with autonomous goal-seeking programs. He suggests that for further
information you contact Professor Hofstadter himself.
  To put it crudely (if I understand Dr C.) Hal was faced with an intolerable
dilemma, and so developed paranoiac symptoms that were directed
against those monitoring his performance back on Earth. He accordingly
attempted to break the radio link with Mission Control, first by reporting a
(non-existent) fault in the AE 35 antenna unit.
  This involved him not only in a direct lie - which must have aggravated
his psychosis still further - but also in a confrontation with the crew.
Presumably (we can only guess at this, of course) he decided that the
only way out of the situation was to eliminate his human colleagues -
which he very nearly succeeded in doing. Looking at the matter purely
objectively, it would have been interesting to see what would have
happened had he continued the mission alone, without man-made inter-
ference.
  This is virtually all I have been able to learn from Dr C.; I do not like to
question him further, as he is working to the point of exhaustion. But
even allowing for this fact, I must frankly state (and please keep this
absolutely confidential) that Dr C. is not always as cooperative as he
should be. He adopts a defensive attitude toward Hal, which sometimes
makes it extremely difficult to discuss the subject. Even Dr Ternovsky,
who might have been expected to be a little more independent, often
appears to share this viewpoint.
  However, the only really important question is: Can Hal be relied upon
in the future? Dr C., of course, has no doubts on the matter. He claims to
have obliterated all the computer's memories of the traumatic events
leading up to the disconnection. Nor does he believe that Hal can suffer
from anything remotely analogous to the human sense of guilt.
  In any case, it seems impossible that the situation that caused the
original problem can ever arise again; Although Hal suffers from a number
of peculiarities, they are not of a nature that would cause any
apprehension; they are merely minor annoyances, some of them even
amusing. And as you know - but Dr C. does not- I have taken steps that
will give us complete control as a last resort.
  To sum up : The rehabilitation of HAL 9000 is proceeding satisfactorily.
One might even say that he is on probation.
  I wonder if he knows it.

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