BKHALGCY.RVW   970726

"HAL's Legacy", David G. Stork ed., 1997, 0-262-19378-7, U$25.00
%E   David G. Stork
%C   55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA   02142-1399
%D   1997
%G   0-262-19378-7
%I   MIT Press
%O   U$25.00 800-356-0343 fax: 617-625-6660 curtin@mit.edu
%O   www-mitpress.mit.edu
%P   384
%T   "HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality"

HAL as a legacy system?

Since I do occasionally review the technical aspects of fictional
works, I see nothing wrong with a book that "reviews" the capabilities
of a fictional computer.  HAL is probably the most famous computer,
real or fictional, of all time; arguably the central character of
"2001"; and certainly, the most appealing character.  And, besides,
according to Clarke's more realistic book timeline, it's HAL's
birthday.

The essays collected in this work cover topics such as supercomputer
design, fault tolerance and reliable computing (which, ironically,
appears to assign the "original bug/moth" story to the wrong machine),
computer chess playing, speech synthesis, speech recognition, speech
understanding, computer use of natural language, knowledge bases,
computer vision, visual speech reading, user interfacing, computer
emotion, computer planning, and computer ethics.  The papers look at
the possibility of the capabilities ascribed to HAL, the current state
of the art, predictions of future directions, and personal
reminiscences of the film and reactions to it.  Each essay includes an
annotated bibliography for further studies.  The contributors are
major players in their respective fields.  (The piece on computer
chess, for example, is by one of the leaders of the Deep Blue team.) 
A few other items are harder to define, being general editorials. 
(Donald Norman's article on working with machines is particularly
snide in tone, and limited in content.)

While the book is technically accurate and sophisticated, the writing
is accessible to the intelligent lay reader, without requiring an
engineering or computer background.  For those wanting an introduction
to various of the fields of artificial intelligence, as well as
science fiction fans, an enlightening and valuable read.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKHALGCY.RVW   970726