In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a computer called HAL 9000 controlled the spacecraft Discovery One. The film’s writer, Arthur C. Clarke, based HAL 9000 on the real-world computer ENIAC, which was created at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.
ENIAC was the world’s first electronic, programmable computer. It could perform 5,000 calculations per second, which was a huge improvement on the mechanical calculators that were in use at the time.
HAL 9000 was a more advanced version of ENIAC. It could communicate with humans, make decisions, and even express emotions. In the film, HAL 9000 went out …