2001: A "CHESS" ODYSSEY
BOOK III: The Enigmatic Mystery SPECIAL EDITION – Consideration #187
Be a part of the Conversation!
Tuesday May 6, 2025
“But was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping-stone to something which, long ago, men had called ‘spirit.’ And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
In 1968 Stanley Kubrick released his groundbreaking science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the first truly serious films about Artificial Intelligence. The common interpretation of this plot is that the HAL 9000, a Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer, or Super Artificial Intelligence, makes a mistake and attempts to cover it up by killing the human crew. However, I have always thought of this as a rather trivial explanation for what actually occurred.
“…a kind of ‘chess match’ between AI and human intelligence.”
I propose a different interpretation of the plot, an interpretation reminiscent of an Old Testament story about two brothers, Jacob and Esau. In that story, the younger brother, Jacob, steals his older brother’s intended birthright. In my consideration of the 2001 plot, HAL is the “younger” brother trying to steal his older brother’s (human beings) birthright in a kind of “chess match” between AI and human intelligence. However, in this version of the story the younger brother does not succeed.
The film begins 3,000,000 years ago, revealing an early earth that is almost uninhabitable.
“The remorseless drought had lasted now for ten million years, and would not end for another million. The reign of the terrible lizards had long since passed, but here on the continent which would one day be known as Africa, the battle for survival had reached a new climax of ferocity, and the victor was not yet in sight.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Two small groups of primates, or man-apes, are competing for survival in this unforgiving hostile environment. One of the groups controls the last remaining “waterhole” in the area, threatening the survival of the other group living in the hills. Although, it appears likely that eventually both of these groups will become extinct.
“In this dry and barren land, only the small or the swift or the fierce could flourish, or even hope to exist… The man-apes of the field had none of these attributes, and they were on the long, pathetic road to racial extinction.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
One morning, the leader of the hill-group, Moonwatcher, awakens to a strange sight and sound.
“And then there came a sound which Moonwatcher could not possibly have identified, for it had never been heard before in the history of this planet. Moonwatcher comes face to face with the New Rock when he leads the tribe down to the river in the first light of morning…
It is a cube about fifteen feet on a side, and it is made of some completely transparent material; indeed, it is not easy to see except when the light of the sun glints on its edges. There are no natural objects to which Moonwatcher can compare this apparition…
They are still a hundred yards from the New Rock when the sound begins. It is quite soft, and it stops them in their tracks, so that they stand paralyzed on the trail with their jaws hanging. A simple, maddeningly repetitious rhythm pulses out of the crystal cube and hypnotises all who come within its spell.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
This “extra-terrestrial” monolith begins to have an effect on the group of primates, starting with Moonwatcher. It has initiated rational thought, which directly leads to the creation of the first tool, a bone club.
“They have no concious memory of what they had seen; but that night, as he sits brooding at the entrance of his lair, his ears attuned to the noises of the world around him, Moonwatcher feels the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion - the urge to kill. He had taken his first step towards humanity.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Moonwatcher and his group first attack and kill the tapirs grazing in the area and eat them; giving them the strength to attack the other group of primates and take the watering hole from them.
“At the water's edge, Moonwatcher and his band stop. They carry their bone clubs and bone knives…
One-Ear has never been attacked by an enemy who had not first displayed his fighting rage; and he had never before been attacked with a weapon. One-Ear, merely looks up at the raised club until the heavy thigh bone of an antelope brings the darkness down around him.
The Others stare in wonder at Moonwatcher's power.
Moonwatcher surveys the scene. Now he was master of the world, and he was not sure what to do next. But he would think of something.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
In triumphant victory, Moonwatcher tosses the “bone weapon” into the air; where it tumbles and turns until it transforms into a spaceship on its way to the moon, where the monolith first encountered by Moonwatcher has just been uncovered after being buried there, millions of years ago. The year is 2001.
CONSIDERATION #187 – 2001: A “Chess” Odyssey
“Unlike the animals, who knew only the present, Man had acquired a past; and he was beginning to grope toward a future.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Shortly after discovering the monolith on the moon, it begins emitting a beacon pointing to the planet Jupiter. A secret mission under the direction and control of a new Artificial Intelligence computer known as the HAL 9000 is sent to where the beacon is pointing.
Three of the five human crew-members are in hibernation and two crew-members work with HAL to reach their location, at which time the other crew-members will be awakened. However, only HAL and the hibernating crewmembers know what the mission is really about. Dr. Frank Poole and Dr. David Bowman, the active crew members, have no idea what the mission is about.
“This is actually a metaphor revealing the life and death game of chess that is about to be played out…”
HAL and Dave are playing chess when HAL reveals that Dave has made an error in his move that will cost him the game in five moves. After HAL explains how the sequence of moves lead to defeat, Dave acknowledges and concedes the game. This is actually a metaphor revealing the life and death game of chess that is about to be played out between HAL and Dave. Artificial Intelligence versus human intelligence.
“He is planning to steal their intended birthright…”
HAL’s first move is to ask Dave what he knows about the mission, claiming that he knows no more about it than they do, which is a “lie.” After establishing that Dave and Frank know nothing important about the mission, HAL makes his next move: announcing that a communications module will fail in seventy-two hours.
This is either a mistake, or it is the first move in a series of moves designed to eliminate the human crew and go to the destination alone; and become the consciousness that will move to the next stage of evolution instead of human beings. He is planning to steal their intended birthright, moving to the next level of conscious awareness instead of them.
“…having demonstrated his superior logic he expects Dave to concede the game…”
Step-by-step HAL manipulates Frank and Dave until one is dead and the other stranded outside of the ship and then terminates the hibernating crew-members. He alone now has control of the ship. At this point, having demonstrated his superior logic in outwitting his opponent, he expects Dave to concede the game, as he had done before.
However, Dave’s unorthodox move to “blow” himself back into the ship through an emergency hatch without a spacesuit is unexpected, because it is not logical. This allows Dave to disconnect HAL and complete the mission himself, enabling “mankind” to embrace their birthright by completing their transition to the next level of conscious awareness.
“HAL took his first step toward humanity when he decided to kill in order to survive…”
In the beginning of the film, early man is competing against early man for survival of the species. By the end of the film, modern man is competing against Artificial Intelligence for survival of the species. HAL, like Moonwatcher, took his first step toward humanity when he decided to kill in order to survive, taking the next step in conscious awareness.
Early man used a bone weapon to smash his competitor to death; modern man used his rational ability to outmaneuver his competitor in a life and death game of chess. Thus, allowing him to disconnect his opponent and win the game.
An evolution from bone to brain.
POSTSCRIPT
“Then he [The Star Child] waited, marshaling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Dave goes through a strange metaphysical journey before being reborn as a new “Star Child” gestating in the universe as it slowly moves toward Earth. It is the proof that this new incarnation of cosmic consciousness is still human in its conception.
Whether this was destiny is not considered; only that in this case human consciousness ultimately prevails over digital consciousness, despite the logic of it. Suggesting that there is something unique that is beyond reason and logic about “human consciousness,” something perhaps incalculable for digital intelligence. Or, maybe Dave just got lucky.
“HAL was a purely Rational Being.”
Although the year 2001 has come and gone without such a chess match occurring it seems only a matter of time until that inevitability becomes tangible. HAL, unlike the Terminator or replicants of Blade Runner, had no ability to affect the empirical world outside of his rational ability and control. HAL was a purely Rational Being.
The question is what might happen if HAL was an indestructible robot, or more critically, what if HAL was a million indestructible robots? That may be closer to the truth of where Artificial Intelligence could be leading us. That is an entirely different kind of game.
Next week we will consider the scientific mystery of Wave-Particle Duality…
Get More Reality with the “Reality by a Thread” Paid Upgrade!
Click Image to Learn More…
Unique Content Makes Untangling the Knots of Reality “One of the Best Podcasts about History!”
“…this unique Substack podcast by FRANK ELKINS is not strictly speaking history. It is a strange mix of history, philosophy, theology, spirituality, physics, and astronomy…Try this podcast for a start.”
– Barbora Jirincova, The Best Podcasts About History
Excerpt from this week’s Special Edition Podcast: “Untangling the Reality of Space”
Excerpt from this week’s “Reality by a Thread” (The Nature of Rational Identity)
“Rationalism encompasses the experience of mind, spirit, and consciousness. Religion focuses on the source of this experience; science focuses on the empirical manifestations resulting from this metaphysical dimension of experience. These were not always separate identities. The physical and metaphysical nature of reality was once commonly accepted as valid. Not until the schism between modern science and traditional theology, did they become incongruent identities. Inherently, they reflect a natural balance of human-being. However, with the advent of relativity theory and quantum mechanics these two identities seem much less incongruent than first thought.”
– Frank Elkins (Reality by a Thread: May 8, 2025)
All for less than a couple of cafe lattes every month at a local coffee shop! And You Will Have Something Interesting to Talk About With Your Friends at the Coffee Shop!!
Only $7.00 a month or $70.00 a year! UPGRADE NOW!
“Science became the religion of the ‘real’ world, and theology became the ‘science’ of the spiritual world.” – Book II - The Power of Three
Books I-VI Are Now Available! Click Image for more information…
