HAL’s malfunction: by way of a Bush Presidential order?

3 April 2009

One fictitious error that could be attributed to former US President George W. Bush, is an executive order issued in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The intervention would precipitate the malfunction of the HAL 9000 computer, during the doomed voyage of the USS Discovery spaceship, to Jupiter.

The discovery of an alien artefact on the Moon, referred to as Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1 (TMA-1), or more simply, the monolith, and the Jupiter mission, are events set during Bush’s presidency.

As is a 2003 memo written by Dr. Heywood Floyd, in his capacity as chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, objecting to the order (2010: Odyssey Two, chapter 26 “Probation”, pg 141).

The problem [HAL’s malfunction] was apparently caused by a conflict between Hal’s basic instructions and the requirements of Security. By direct Presidential order, the existence of TMA-1 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-1 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.

Originally published Friday 3 April 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.