Because humans endanger everything.

@MongoLloyd said:

Because humans endanger everything.

Well I can't argue with that.

From memory HAL had a glitch because he kept saying the piece of equipment was faulty even though it wasn't. The fact that HAL had a glitch made the humans decide to shut down his higher functions. This made HAL believe it was them that was endangering the mission because no 9000 had ever made an error before and HAL thought it must be human error.

In a way he made the same choice they made. They thought HAL was making mistakes so endangering the mission so had to be shut down, while HAL thought they were making mistakes and endangering the mission so had to be shut down.

@martymonstertmdb said:

From memory HAL had a glitch because he kept saying the piece of equipment was faulty even though it wasn't. The fact that HAL had a glitch made the humans decide to shut down his higher functions. This made HAL believe it was them that was endangering the mission because no 9000 had ever made an error before and HAL thought it must be human error.

In a way he made the same choice they made. They thought HAL was making mistakes so endangering the mission so had to be shut down, while HAL thought they were making mistakes and endangering the mission so had to be shut down.

Hmm, I always thought HAL made up the the faulty equipment story because it was the communication tower so that way he can dispose of them without them having the ability to call for help. I myself concluded that right before he reports the faulty piece of equipment it to Bowman, something in the conversation he had with him directly before made HAL think "These guys are just gonna fuck it up. I need to make my move" and then spills out false report. That was my impression, any way.

@movie_nazi said:

Hmm, I always thought HAL made up the the faulty equipment story because it was the communication tower so that way he can dispose of them without them having the ability to call for help. I myself concluded that right before he reports the faulty piece of equipment it to Bowman, something in the conversation he had with him directly before made HAL think "These guys are just gonna fuck it up. I need to make my move" and then spills out false report. That was my impression, any way.

Never thought of that but it's very possible....

Clarke explained HAL's flipout in the book which isn't necessarily what Kubrick intended, but it's pretty cool and it goes in line with your theory. In the book HAL was given 2 conflicting sets of instructions by his programmers. Directive 1 was to get them to Jupiter to investigate the anomaly. Directive 2 was to keep the mission a secret from Bowman & Poole. The hibernating astronauts knew the mission but they wouldn't wake up until Jupiter. In other words, the government was so obsessed with secrecy that they programmed HAL to deceive the astronauts.

Like any intelligent mind given 2 conflicting instructions, HAL couldn't process it and he ended up becoming paranoid schizophrenic. In his mind, Bowman & Poole became the enemy, and especially when they began plotting to kill/deactivate HAL, that's when HAL went batsh!t.

This is also mentioned in the sequel 2010. And it leads to a really suspenseful subplot about resurrected-HAL, will he go psycho like he did before? Especially when the astronauts treat him as disposable? Really cool climactic scene (I won't spoil).

@rooprect said:

@movie_nazi said:

Hmm, I always thought HAL made up the the faulty equipment story because it was the communication tower so that way he can dispose of them without them having the ability to call for help. I myself concluded that right before he reports the faulty piece of equipment it to Bowman, something in the conversation he had with him directly before made HAL think "These guys are just gonna fuck it up. I need to make my move" and then spills out false report. That was my impression, any way.

Never thought of that but it's very possible....

Clarke explained HAL's flipout in the book which isn't necessarily what Kubrick intended, but it's pretty cool and it goes in line with your theory. In the book HAL was given 2 conflicting sets of instructions by his programmers. Directive 1 was to get them to Jupiter to investigate the anomaly. Directive 2 was to keep the mission a secret from Bowman & Poole. The hibernating astronauts knew the mission but they wouldn't wake up until Jupiter. In other words, the government was so obsessed with secrecy that they programmed HAL to deceive the astronauts.

Like any intelligent mind given 2 conflicting instructions, HAL couldn't process it and he ended up becoming paranoid schizophrenic. In his mind, Bowman & Poole became the enemy, and especially when they began plotting to kill/deactivate HAL, that's when HAL went batsh!t.

This is also mentioned in the sequel 2010. And it leads to a really suspenseful subplot about resurrected-HAL, will he go psycho like he did before? Especially when the astronauts treat him as disposable? Really cool climactic scene (I won't spoil).

Yeah that explanation makes a whole lot more sense. It's the original story any way so it should make sense. 😁 I actually have 2010 but haven't seen it in a long time. I think I will give it a go again.