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From: rab@well.UUCP (Bob Bickford)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.cog-eng,net.ai
Subject: HAL from IBM (was "alive computers")
Message-ID: <998@well.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 27-Apr-86 18:56:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: well.998
Posted: Sun Apr 27 18:56:51 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 28-Apr-86 17:52:48 EDT
References: <154@lutton.tcville.UUCP> <601@qantel.UUCP> <143@sally.UUCP> <339@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU>
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Summary: odds

(WHAT line ea

In a previous article, vis@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU (Tom Courtney) writes:
> Gordon Joly writes:
> > Mark leeper says:-
> >
> >> I talked to Clarke about 2001 in 1969 and he brought up the HAL/IBM
> >> question himself.  He said that it was just a surprising coincidence.
> >
> >With odds of 1/8788 against, maybe it was more a case of subconscious
> >reasoning, as in Kekule's discovery of the structure of the benzene
> >molecule, and in the deciphering of Samuel Pepys' diaries. And the odds 
> >must also take into account strings like S*X or BCA, musn't they?
> >
> The odds probably weren't so bad. Suppose Clarke was looking for a three
> letter acronym that was actually a name? Then he's restricted to a much
> smaller set of possibilities (HAL, SAL, SAM, ART, etc... [not ETC]).
> Furthermore, after the fact, lots of things look like the odds were
> too horrendous to be coincidence. 


    Indeed.  I am reminded of the oft-quoted observation that *every*
bridge hand dealt has astronomical odds against it.  The HAL/IBM
coincidence would be interesting only if the "HAL" wasn't pronouncable.
If Clarke had chosen "JCL" (now where have I heard *that* acronym....)
then there would be little doubt of his inspiration.   Simalarly if he
had chosen "CDB" or "EFD".........


-- 
Robert Bickford     {lll-crg,hplabs}!well!rab