This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. Those were the words of HAL 9000 (HAL) in the classic science-fiction movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey (2001)). HAL was a programmed computer that controlled the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft, and interacted with the crew on the spaceship in an almost human way, doing things such as talking with them and playing chess. When 2001 was released a little over one half a century ago, what Hal was able … [Read more...]