Arthur C. Clarke & Roger Ebert Chat About Artificial Intelligence

Summary

In this engaging interview transcript, the renowned author discusses the discrepancies between the book and movie versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly focusing on the character HAL 9000's birth year. The conversation delves into the creative process behind the development of HAL, the author's thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence, and his reflections on the evolution and impact of the science fiction genre. The author also shares his experiences with UFO sightings and his speculations on space travel and the potential for time probes.

Takeaways

• 📚 The character Hal from '2001: A Space Odyssey' has two different birth years in the book and the movie, causing some confusion.
• 🎬 Stanley Kubrick insisted on changing Hal's birth year from 1997 in the book to 1992 in the movie for reasons that remain unclear.
• 🚀 The author expresses pride in the upcoming release of '3001: The Final Odyssey', which he believes is the best of the series.
• 🌌 The author discusses the concept of a space elevator, a permanently orbiting ring above Earth, which could revolutionize space travel.
• 🤖 The author's views on artificial intelligence have evolved, and he acknowledges that AI has not developed as quickly as anticipated in the timeline suggested by '2001'.
• 🌠 The idea of a 'soul catcher' is explored, a device that could store and recreate a person's physical, emotional, and spiritual essence.
• 🌍 The author reflects on the unexpected miniaturization of computer chips and its profound impact on society, leading to the term 'cyberclasm'.
• 🔍 The author's experiences with UFOs are shared, dismissing them as misinterpretations of natural phenomena after investigation.
• 🎥 The author's thoughts on the science fiction genre's evolution from disrespectability to mainstream acceptance and its current status.
• 🏆 '2001: A Space Odyssey' is considered one of the greatest films of all time, but its visionary approach has not been widely followed in the genre.
• 🌟 The 'star child' at the end of '2001' symbolizes an open future and the question of human destiny is left to the audience's interpretation.

Q & A

What is the main topic of discussion regarding Hal's birthday?

The main topic of discussion is the discrepancy in Hal's birth year between the book and the movie. In the book, Hal was born in 1997, while in the movie, he was born in 1992.

How did the conversation about Hal's birthday lead to a discussion on the release of '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

The conversation about Hal's birthday led to the discussion of the release of '2001: A Space Odyssey' because the birthday is related to the timeline of the story, and the release of the movie in 1968 is a significant event that has been celebrated many years after the fact.

What was Stanley Kubrick's stance on the birth year of Hal?

Stanley Kubrick was insistent that Hal's birth year in the movie would not be the same as in the book, which was 1997, and chose 1992 as the new birth year.

What is the significance of the release date of '3001: The Final Odyssey'?

The release date of '3001: The Final Odyssey' is significant because it continues the story from '2001: A Space Odyssey' and is mentioned as being released in the early part of the year, specifically around February or March.

How does the author feel about the development of artificial intelligence as depicted in '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

The author acknowledges that artificial intelligence has not developed according to the timeline suggested in '2001: A Space Odyssey', and that we seem to be as far away from achieving a HAL-like AI today as we were then.

What was the original inspiration for the story of '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

The original inspiration for the story came from a short story called 'The Sentinel' written by the author, which was about the discovery of an artifact on the moon.

How did the idea of Hal emerge during the creation of '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

The idea of Hal began to emerge during brainstorming sessions between the author and Stanley Kubrick, where they went through several of the author's stories and discussed basic ideas.

What is the author's opinion on the problems Hal experiences at the end of the movie?

The author believes that the problems Hal experiences could be due to a programming error or a result of Hal's 'jealousy' over humans wanting to usurp his role in the mission, but it's left open-ended as the books and movies exist in parallel universes with differing details.

How does the author view the concept of a space elevator?

The author is intrigued by the concept of a space elevator, a permanently orbiting ring above Earth, and has developed the idea further in his novel 'The Fountains of Paradise'. He believes it could significantly reduce the cost of space travel.

What is the 'soul catcher' concept mentioned in the script?

The 'soul catcher' is a concept where a computer or computer-like device, with enough complexity and memory, could store and recreate a person's physical, emotional, and spiritual essence.

How does the author feel about the impact of cyber culture on society?

The author is concerned about the dramatic changes that cyber culture has brought to society and is worried about potential future developments, even coining the term 'cyberclasm' to describe the potential societal upheaval.

What was the author's experience with UFO sightings?

The author has seen multiple UFOs but does not take them seriously, as all sightings he's experienced have had simple and often absurd explanations, such as satellites or seagulls.

What is the author's perspective on the genre of science fiction?

The author has seen science fiction evolve from a less respectable genre to one with bestsellers, academic research, and critical acclaim. Despite its rise in popularity, he reminisces about the fun of the genre when it was considered more of a 'gutter' genre.

Outlines

00:00

🎉 Celebrating Hal's Birthday and the Discrepancy in Dates

The conversation begins with a discussion on the celebration of Hal's birthday, highlighting the discrepancy between the birth years mentioned in the book (1997) and the movie (1992). The speaker expresses confusion over the change and inquires about the reason behind it. The mention of Kubrick's insistence on the 1997 date is noted, but the exact cause of the discrepancy remains unknown. The speaker also discusses the release of '3001: The Final Odyssey' and shares their anticipation for its publication. The conversation touches on the idea that the four-book series represents the best of the trilogy and that there will not be a fifth volume.

05:00

🤖 The Evolution and Future of Artificial Intelligence

The discussion shifts to the topic of artificial intelligence, with the speaker reflecting on the progress made since the creation of HAL 9000 in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. The speaker acknowledges that AI has come a long way and is advancing rapidly, contrary to some current pessimistic views. The conversation includes a mention of a symposium on intelligent autonomous systems for space, indicating that the ideas presented in '2001' are becoming more relevant. The speaker also contemplates the nature of HAL's issues at the end of the movie, whether they stem from programming errors or emotional jealousy, and notes the differences between the book and movie universes.

10:01

🚀 Space Elevators and the Future of Space Travel

The speaker delves into the concept of a space elevator, a revolutionary idea that would allow for cost-effective travel from Earth to space. The idea is explored in the speaker's novel 'The Fountains of Paradise' and has gained traction with advancements in material science, specifically the discovery of Buckminster fullerenes. The conversation also touches on the potential for space tourism and the impact of such technology on the future of space exploration. The speaker shares a personal anecdote of an astronaut holding his book in space, emphasizing the close connection between science fiction and real-world achievements.

15:02

🌌 The Possibility of Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Scientific Discoveries

The conversation turns to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, with the speaker expressing interest in the evidence suggesting past life on Mars. While acknowledging that the evidence is not conclusive, the speaker advocates for further exploration, particularly of Europa and Ganymede. The discussion also covers the ethical implications of scientific discoveries, such as the potential dangers of a time probe that could reveal past events. The speaker reflects on the responsibility that comes with scientific advancement and the potential consequences of creating such powerful tools.

20:04

📚 The Legacy and Future of Science Fiction

The speaker reflects on the evolution of the science fiction genre, from its pulp magazine roots to its current status as a respected form of literature. The conversation touches on the impact of '2001: A Space Odyssey' on the genre and the lack of films with similar ambition since its release. The speaker also discusses the challenges of adapting science fiction to film, particularly the unconventional ending of '2001', and shares his thoughts on the future of space travel and the potential for humanity to explore the universe.

25:06

🌠 Speculations on Instantaneous Travel and the Growth of the Science Fiction Genre

The speaker engages in a discussion about the theoretical possibility of instantaneous travel, or 'universal acceleration', as presented in his book '3001'. He draws parallels with the gravity fields of black holes or neutron stars, where immense acceleration is experienced without the sensation of gravity. The conversation then shifts to the development of the science fiction genre, with the speaker reminiscing about its early days and the transition from pulp magazines to a more respected literary form. He expresses a fondness for the genre's earlier, less formal days and the sense of fun and creativity that characterized it.

Keywords

💡Hal's Birthday

The term 'Hal's Birthday' refers to the fictional anniversary of the activation of the HAL 9000 computer from the novel and film '2001: A Space Odyssey'. In the video, it is mentioned that there is a discrepancy between the birth year of HAL in the book (1997) and the movie (1992), creating a sense of confusion and highlighting the attention to detail in both mediums.

💡2001: A Space Odyssey

This is a landmark science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and the subsequent film directed by Stanley Kubrick. It explores themes of human evolution, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life. The video discusses the creation and development of the story, as well as the differences between the book and the movie adaptation.

💡Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke is a British science fiction writer, science writer, and futurist, best known for his novel '2001: A Space Odyssey' and its film adaptation. In the video, Clarke is the person being interviewed, and his insights into the creation of '2001' and his other works are central to the conversation.

💡Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor known for his attention to detail and innovative film-making techniques. He directed the film adaptation of '2001: A Space Odyssey', and the video discusses his insistence on the birth year of HAL 9000 in the movie.

💡Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the context of the video, AI is discussed in relation to the character of HAL 9000 and the future development of intelligent systems.

💡Space Elevator

A space elevator is a proposed megastructure that would allow transportation from the Earth's surface directly into space, without the need for conventional space launch vehicles. In the video, Clarke discusses the concept of a space elevator as a potential future technology, illustrating his forward-thinking approach to speculative technologies.

💡Cyberculture

Cyberculture refers to the cultural and technological changes brought about by the advent of digital computing and the internet. In the video, Clarke reflects on the impact of cyberculture on society and expresses concern about potential future developments, such as the concept of 'cyberclasm'.

💡Time Probe

A time probe is a hypothetical device that could access and visualize past events, potentially revealing secrets and histories that were never recorded. Clarke introduces this concept as a thought experiment, questioning its ethical implications and the potential consequences of such a technology.

💡Science Fiction

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts, often exploring the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations. The video features a discussion on the evolution of the genre, its impact on popular culture, and Clarke's contributions as a leading figure.

💡Star Child

The 'Star Child' is a symbolic character at the end of '2001: A Space Odyssey', representing the next stage of human evolution. In the video, Clarke discusses the significance of this character and the open-ended question it poses about humanity's destiny.

💡UFOs

UFOs, or Unidentified Flying Objects, are often associated with extraterrestrial life and alien spacecraft. Clarke, in the video, shares his skepticism about UFO sightings, stating that he has seen too many to take them seriously as they all had simple explanations.

Highlights

Discussion of the discrepancy between Hal's birth year in the book (1997) and the movie (1992).

Mention of the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey and its impact on the perception of artificial intelligence.

The author's uncertainty about the change in Hal's birth year and the influence of Stanley Kubrick.

The author's anticipation of the release of 3001: The Final Odyssey and his belief it's the best of the series.

Reflection on the development of artificial intelligence and its current state compared to the predictions in 2001.

The author's recollection of the initial brainstorming sessions with Kubrick that led to the creation of 2001.

The origin of the idea for 2001, starting with the short story 'The Sentinel'.

The author's optimistic view on the future of space exploration and the concept of a space elevator.

The concept of the soul catcher, a device that could store and recreate a person's physical, emotional, and spiritual essence.

The author's thoughts on the rapid advancement of technology and its societal impact, termed 'cyberclasm'.

The author's connection to Urbana and the University of Illinois, and its influence on his work.

The author's speculation on the possibility of life on Mars and the importance of further exploration.

Discussion on the concept of a time probe, its potential implications, and why it might be terrifying.

The author's views on the potential for a science fiction story to be adapted into a movie and his unfilmed projects.

Reflection on the ending of 2001 and the visionary leap it represents, contrasting with modern studio preferences.

The significance of the star child in 2001 and the question it poses to the audience about humanity's destiny.

The author's personal experiences with UFO sightings and his skepticism towards the UFO phenomenon.

The author's thoughts on the development and respectability of the science fiction genre over time.

Transcripts

foreign

t video phone

[Music]

Mr Clark

good morning oh good afternoon as the

case may be

interested in for you it's evening for

us how are you I am fine looking forward

to

talking to you well you know every

parent is proud on the birthday of a

child and you must be very proud now

that Hal's birthday is finally coming up

so many years after 2001 was released

well it causes the problem here because

he has two birthdays one in the book and

one in the movie and I'm never quite

sure which is which or why we changed I

wanted to ask you about that because in

the book he was born in 1997 and in the

movie he was born in 1992 and uh Kubrick

of course was uh very insistent on that

that he he wasn't going to be fooled for

a second that the birthday was in 1997.

how did that happen I have no idea it

could have been a Fluff of the actor I

just had any ideas whatsoever and um

but obviously

um we've missed 92 so let's make the

most of 97 absolutely and 97 is of

course what you wrote In the book and

you also mention it uh in the notes at

the end of 3001 the final Odyssey which

is coming out um

this

early next year I believe

I think in February March yes February

March I got the typescript of it in the

mail today oh excellent um I am really

happy about it I I really think it's the

best of the

the the best of the trilogy and I don't

think any Trilogy should have more than

four volumes so there won't be another

one

I thought you were a little better at

math than that

let me ask you

how uh you originally created how we

know of course the famous story of how

Kubrick approached you and you uh

remember this short story that you had

written called The Sentinel but uh there

were many many steps between that first

meeting and the screenplay and novel of

2001 and at what point did the idea of

Hal begin to emerge

well you're trying you're asked me to

dredge up memories that are overlaid by

many other stratas of books and movies

and things but it's all began in in

64. I can't really believe the date when

I was actually Moonlighting at time life

and then say by not coincidence the

issue of times just arrived today it's

got a letter in about 2001 how did it

how it anticipated the future

and Sandy contacted me in fact he

contacted me before I went to New York

to work on the time life man and Space

Project

and we sort of brainstormed together for

quite a few days and what I did I went

through my

the stories I'd written and I made a

list of about six and said to hear some

basic ideas and

um a solar motor Stanley all six and the

only element He used really was from The

Sentinel over a short story

about the discovery of an artifact on

the moon and then I bought back the ones

he didn't use from Stanley and I hope

one day I will resell them to somebody

else now who invented what after all

this length of time I have no idea we

were sort of bouncing ideas back and

forth in like a table tennis match

certainly at that time you were much

more optimistic about the possibilities

of artificial intelligence than people

are today

oh I don't think so artificial

intelligence is roaring along and in

fact I've just got a fact some jet

propulsion laboratory and this is rather

interesting other to tell you what

they're up to I'm just reading from the

letter from Dr Richard Doyle who is the

head of the autonomy technology program

and listen to this

um we are holding in January 1997 a

symposium on the topic of intelligent

autonomous systems for space intelligent

autonomous systems well that's exactly

what how it was

but it

hasn't really developed Artificial

Intelligence on the timetable it was

suggested by 2001 we seem to be about as

far away today don't you think from Hal

as we were then or not yes um artificial

intelligence is always used about 20

years in the future

when I saw you in 1958 you were speaking

at the University of Illinois in Urbana

did that visit have anything to do with

friends you had there and did it lead to

how being born in Urbana

oh very much so because my

math professor at King's College London

was George mcvitty Who later went to

University of Illinois and my

placing house birthday there was a

rarely attribute to George and uh who is

indeed now for many years he was a

leading cosmologist incident as well as

a mathematician and um

by an odd coincidence the super computer

center now is it Urbana now whether

that's a coincidence I don't know

let me ask you some questions about how

that um

I'm really interested in your opinion on

do you believe

that the problems that Hal experiences

at the end of the movie are a

programming error

or is he jealous of the fact that humans

want to usurp his role in the mission

another says he had a human emotion or

has he had a programming mistake

IPL pause on that one but um remember

there are the four books are not exactly

sequels they're in parallel universes

now and I may have changed quite a few

ideas some I've forgotten some were not

relevant anymore and some in fact Clash

related developments obviously the time

scale has gone completely wrong a 2001

storyline can't happen before at the

earliest maybe 2030

and you know because the whole Space

Program sort of on hold now it is hard

to remember that when we worked on 2001

in from 1964 to

1968 roughly

NASA was seriously planning to put men

on Mars in the 1980s well now we haven't

put men back on the moon yet

one of the things that intrigues me in

3001 your new book is your idea of the

sort of

space elevator a a permanently orbiting

ring

above the Earth connected to Earth by a

fabric made out of Buckminster

fullerenes

which would allow a person to be

lifted from the surface of the Earth up

to this space station at a cost of only

about a hundred dollars worth of

electricity

that's true and in fact ten dollars for

the round trip because you get most of

the energy back when you return the

nearest gravity to it no this is an idea

I developed much further in another

novel called The Fountains of paradise

where I describe the building of the

space elevator instantly from a mountain

in Sri Lanka now that book was recently

carried up in the space shuttle by the

crew of Atlantis uh when they did the

tether experiment and I have a wonderful

photograph of Jeff Hoffman holding The

Fountains of paradise floating in

because in space inside him with the

Earth in the background now that is a a

a story I'd love to see film one day

another interesting fact

um Buckminster fullering the material

that will make this possible was of

course named after Bucky Fuller who I

last saw In This Very Room and a couple

of weeks ago the chemist who when the

co-discovers of this material got the

Nobel Prize so all these things are you

know 20 in the Direction one day we may

be able to make the space elevator and

then the universe will open up another

idea that you've come up with recently

that I found fascinating is the soul

catcher

the idea that a apparently a computer or

computer-like device could have enough

complexity and memory that it could

store and recreate a person physically

emotionally and spiritually and you say

in the notes at the end of 3001 that the

memory that it would take to do this is

less than you originally thought well

it's about 10 to the 15th or so but it

is a thought we saw that one day we may

be stored in something about this size

not only our bodies but our minds our

emotions everything I think it's a

pretty scary idea but I have developed

it in the uh

n3001 is not really original I mean the

idea of storing personalities goes back

into science fiction and a number of

people you know in the business now are

taking it seriously and working on the

idea

uh today we live in a time when um

the Cyber culture

uh has changed our lives so dramatically

could you have foreseen that at the time

that you uh were writing about HAL 9000

did you think that computers of of the

power for example of the one on my

desktop or on your desktop would be in

the hands of private citizens by 1996

97. no I don't think anybody did the

chip Revolution is the most remarkable

in the human history I mean no one could

ever have dreamed that something the

size of a in a house like the first

computers using tens of kilowatts of

energy it would be compressed into a

thing you know about the size of your

your thumbnail

that is

totally unexpected and that's changed

Society you know a will change society

you know beyond recognition and I'm

rather worried about summer developments

that may happen recently I had a essay

in the Asia Week Magazine and I've

invented a new word the coming

cyberclasm

or the subtitle this the coming cyber

criticism or who will change the light

bulbs well when we're all plugged into

entertainment uh you know who's going to

run the world let me ask you uh

something that

is an obvious question I think for any

science fiction writer including the

greatest of them all what were your

thoughts uh when you read about that

rudimentary evidence that they might

have been able to prove that there have

been Life on Mars

well of course I was very interested I

think it'd been rather overblown because

we're

it's not proof it's I'd say 80 or so

evidence but it does mean we should

follow this up and look for a similar

evidence perhaps from Europa in fact

Freeman Dyson wrote to me the other day

and said that we should look for

meteorites that have been splashed off

Europa because the oceans of Europe as I

said in in 3001 and 3000 and 2010 you

know maybe the other place where there's

a lot of life in the solar system

and what about these cities that you

found on Ganymede

well the one I describe in Ganymede if

you look at the images from the Galileo

spacecraft and there's some

extraordinary formations there and the

one I mentioned specifically it does

look like a city it doesn't require much

imagination to see that these are city

streets the fact that there are five

kilometers or so wide is a minor detail

do you think that there is any

scientific invention or discovery that

the man or woman who

came up with it would be so alarmed by

that they would feel it was necessary to

suppress it or would all knowledge be

useful and

worth communicating in one way or

another there is one invention

which

I have discussed I think many years ago

supposed to be in profiles of the future

okay

and that is a Time probe if we could

ever invent something that would reveal

the past so we could see anything that

never happened

when you think of the implication of

that they're pretty appalling and would

human civilization

survive such a thing I just don't know I

don't think it's possible but I kind of

wrote it out and if a Time probe was

could be created then all the Mysteries

all the secrets that ever happens all be

revealed total transparency and I think

that's the most terrifying invention I

can think of

so if you were to invent the time probe

you might want to seal up your notes or

even burn them

hey I love it

one of the problems of course would be

that if you did have a Time probe there

would be so much time to probe that you

would never live long enough to do it

'd be a bit like the web

[Laughter]

you've written a lot of great science

fiction stories and novels do you think

that there is one you've written that

would make a great movie and you haven't

been able to convince a producer or

director of that

what would be your favorite

unfilmed project to film

oh that's an easy one to answer that's I

think my best novel is the songs of

distant Earth and then sending Mike

Oldfield is just on a beautiful Suite

based on it and it's already sold over a

hundred thousand copies

well the songs of distant Earth was in

fact I think yes um Michael Phillips

optioned at one time but the option is

lapsed meanwhile I've got several of my

stories on option

my meter impact story The Hammer Of God

Steven Spielberg has just renewed the

option on that so I hope that will go

ahead

um there's work on Fallen Moon dust uh

childhood Zen has been sitting at

Universal for about 40 years and I'm a

bit upset because the opening of

Independence Day which I've not yet seen

is identical with that of a childhood's

end

and you sent me an email saying that

oddly enough the ending of Independence

Day

was an example of anticipatory

plagiarism in which they stole the

ending from your forthcoming novel

before it was published before it even

got around to thinking it

[Laughter]

it's really synchronicity I suppose yes

it's a in fact I could come to think of

it HD Wells beat us both you know it was

a virus that killed the invading

martians well you know 2001 is

certainly the best science fiction movie

ever made and as you probably know it

was voted

um one of the greatest 10 films of all

time in that poll that's taken every 10

years of the world's film critics

directors producers archivists and so

forth by Sight and Sound magazine in

London it's considered one of the the

top 10 films of all time but so many

other science fiction films have not

followed that lead there has not been a

film since 2001 with the same kind of

vision or ambition in the science

fiction genre no perhaps not of course

2001 Kim films for about a decade until

the technology caught up with it and

then we had you know Star Wars and

and so forth which are um you know I

guess space westerns great fun I enjoy

them but you're perhaps right in saying

that no one's ever attempted to follow

the leads created by 2001. the

whole third Act of 2001 is such a

Visionary leap into the unknown the

the the feeling that

that the astronaut has arrived at a

place totally Beyond imagining and

although his physical environment seems

to be a room the room has apparently

been created by some

um other race for its own purposes

that's a

the kind of ending that today a studio

wouldn't allow the studios today would

say the audience will be confused they

won't understand it it doesn't have a

satisfactory Revolution resolution uh it

will be frustrating how did you get away

with that you and Kubrick in in in

making a a film with an ending that is

so poetic and and provocative and

unconventional well again you must

credit entirely as Stanley deserves all

the credit for that I just gave him some

ideas and inputs and the credit was

still standing and his amazing special

effects team led by Douglas Trumbull and

Wally Weavers and they deserve the

credit but then so the notion of putting

him in the in the bedroom that must have

you must have contributed to that

and again I can't remember

exact details you see there was feedback

in both directions I would write

something give it to Stanley and he say

that's Splendid but but you know I'd go

back and rewrite it and then sometimes I

had the extraordinary experience of

rewriting in peace after I'd seen the um

Sandy's version of it you know in the

rushes and so it was there was feedback

in both directions

the star child the last shot in the film

as the star child or at least 2001 fans

Now call it the star child I I don't

know if that was really

what you called it but the star child

turns and looks at the audience as if to

put the ball back in our court to ask us

what we think our destiny is and what do

you think that question was and what do

you think the answer is what is the star

child asking is and what can we how can

we respond

well

I would say that the implication is that

the future is wide open it's up to us

what we do about it our destiny is at

least to some extent under our own

control

but of course at the time

a lot of people didn't get it and one of

the remarks I remember hearing after the

premiere was from a

senior MGM executive saying despairingly

well that's the end of Stanley Kubrick

that

in your uh original short story The

Sentinel you

you talk very

dramatically of the impact on the uh

mines and on the very identities of the

people who see an artifact that is

obviously uh the creation of a race

other than the human race

why is it do you think that we still

haven't gotten any definite proof of

intelligence from anywhere else wouldn't

you

think or hope that there might be some

way that another race could make itself

known or is the universe simply too

large and is there too much time

involved well of course this is a

subject which has been debated endlessly

and we don't know the answers there's so

many possibilities

um some scientists are coming around to

the Viewpoint that we are maybe unique

or that intelligence is very very rare

although perhaps life of some kind maybe

fairly common that we have the other

dichotomy that I think about 50 percent

of the of the population in the United

States believe that aliens are already

here and have made contact with us

there's an extraordinary situation I

think it's part of the madness which

occurs at the end of all millennia

you are not one of the people who

believes in the UFOs are Among Us Theory

I've seen too many UFOs to take them

seriously I've seen about six including

the best on all with Stanley Kubrick

it's all on record and they all they all

turned out to have very simple and often

absurdly simple explanations

the one that you saw with Kubrick how

did you explain it

okay well we're this is really

incredible you think you might think I'm

making this up but the very night we

agreed to make 2001. we went on the roof

of Sandy's Penthouse and coming up from

the West Was a brilliant star rose

you know we're getting right up the sky

and apparently stopped overhead

well our first reaction was of course it

was an artificial satellite but

artificial satellites can't it's not

motionless and then it continued on down

down to the east well we actually got

checked with the New York Times to see

if there was a satellite then

um and we got onto the Pentagon and the

explanation was absurd really absurdly

simple it was a satellite it was the

echo satellite but there was a full moon

at the time and it's very hard to judge

the movement of something it vertically

overhead

if it's stationed you may think it's

moving if it's moving you may think it's

stationary it was the echo satellite but

by some extraordinary coincidence the

New York Times was gave satellite

Crossings didn't give that particular

one that particular night now you can

invent all kinds of conspiracy theories

out of this one but we did see the echo

satellite we couldn't identify it we

eventually did

the other five or six that you saw did

any of them look uh any more puzzling

than that one uh not really the most

striking one I guess a lot of brilliant

saucers flipping back and forth over the

over the sunset and again the

explanation turned out to be ridiculous

they were seagulls you wouldn't believe

this but birds at some angles reflects

almost specularly like mirrors and you

can't tell what they are if you're a

long way away

the uh

information at the end of 3001 includes

your speculations about the possibility

of instant Universal acceleration

which would allow someone to move very

quickly to another place without having

to worry about the g-forces and you seem

to feel that that might be theoretically

possible

well we know it is well a gravity field

just does just this if you're falling in

the gravity field of a

a black dwarf or a neutron star you

could be accelerating at a million G and

you wouldn't feel anything

until you got so close that the tidal

forces told you to pieces so you know

Nature has provided a space Drive in a

way if we can ever control gravity and

there's some hints that this might be

possible then we would have a space

Drive

when you started as a science fiction

writer the genre was not very

respectable

there were some good magazines John

Campbell of course at astounding was

trying to do some very high level stuff

but many of the magazines were pulps on

the level of thrilling Wonder Stories

and amazing stories today science

fiction is a genre with best sellers

with professors with PhD

research projects with books of

criticism

conferences symposiums what are your

thoughts about the development of this

genre which you are certainly one of the

small handful of of grand Masters and

and founding fathers of

well science fiction was respectable

before it got a label I mean the wells

is scientific romances or whatever you

like to call them uh you know we're

quite highly regarded and most

mainstream writers seem to have written

some science fiction quite some

surprising names I mean Roderick Kipling

for example who's I think making a bit

of a comeback nowadays you wrote stories

about the future of Aviation

and

um Melville or the robot story that's

not very well known but Bruce Frankton

put together a collection of such

stories

um and so science fiction until Hugo

gernsback came along and launched the

pulp magazines and Sven respectable so

we don't know what the the bless or

curse Hugo for making it uh maybe

popular but less respectable and I

remind of a remark made by one of my

friends in the field said you know

science fiction should go back to the

gutter where it belongs it was fun when

we were in the gutter that was getting

too respectable

yeah

I'm afraid

I'm afraid saying

ATT video phone

foreign

good morning oh good afternoon as the

case may be

good morning or afternoon for you it's

evening for us how are you I am fine

looking forward to

talking to you well you know every

parent is proud on the birthday

of a child and you must be very proud

now that Hal's birthday is finally

coming up so many years after 2001 was

released

well of course there's a problem here

because he has two birthdays one in the

book and one in the movie and I'm never

quite sure which is which or why we

changed I wanted to ask you about that

because in the book he was born in 1997

and in the movie he was born in 1992 and

Kubrick of course was uh very insistent

on that that he he wasn't going to be

fooled for a second that the birthday

was in 1997. how did that happen I have

no idea it could have been a Fluff of

the actor I just had any ideas

whatsoever and um

but obviously

um we've missed 92 so let's make the

most of 97. absolutely yeah