FoundationalConceptsNeuroscience

in the future. The year is presumably around 2001, still decades into
the future at the time the film was made.
Later in the film a spaceship with a crew of astronauts leaves Earth
on an interplanetary mission to the vicinity of Jupiter. Because it takes
a great deal of time to travel from Earth to Jupiter, most of the crew
is asleep in a state of cryogenic hibernation or suspended animation.
Two members of the crew remain awake to oversee the operation of
the spaceship, but most of the ship’s operation is under the control of
a computer called HAL. Everything appears very tranquil.
Then, when one of the two nonhibernating crew is outside the
spaceship making repairs on an antenna, HAL initiates actions that
result in the astronaut’s lifeline being severed, and he drifts off into
space. The other nonhibernating astronaut, named David Bowman,
then exits the ship in a pod to attempt a rescue of his comrade, or at
least recover his body. At this point, HAL shuts off the life support
for the crew who are asleep in suspended animation. They all quickly
die in their sleep. When astronaut Bowman attempts to reenter the
spaceship, HAL locks him out and will not let him in. A conversation
takes place over the radio during which the astronaut first instructs,
and then orders, HAL to let him back into the ship. HAL responds: “I’m
sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Then: “This mission is too im-
portant to allow you to jeopardize it.” Then, finally: “This conversation
is over.” In the movie, HAL certainly appears to be operating as if it has
intentions, reasoning, and even emotions. My question is this: does
HAL have a mind?
To even begin to answer this, it is essential to first decide what we
mean by mind. Mind is not so solid a thing to define as is bone, cell,
or molecule. For the purpose of initiating discussion, I will adopt the
following definition of mind: the collection of mental experiences.
By mental experiences I mean our subjective (first-person, internal)