Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 15-16: "Discovery," "Hal"

Hal 9000. Source

We now begin the third act known as "Between Planets." And yes, as the above picture would suggest, this is the first appearance of Hal 9000.

Chapter 15: "Discovery"

We are introduced to the character of Dave Bowman. He is on the spaceship Discovery which is thirty days from Earth. Frank Poole is another character on board. Discovery is planning to go to Jupiter, then to Saturn. (In the film, the mission is only going to Jupiter.) 

Bowman looks at his three sleeping colleagues in the Hibernaculum, supposedly a place where the crew members hibernate. Their last names are Hunter, Whitehead, and Kaminski. Bowman and Poole will join them in sleep in one year.

Bowman remembers when he was tested for hibernation back on Earth. When he woke up from his week-long sleep, he was convinced that he was on the spaceship about to be picked up by Discovery II. First he heard the voice of a computer, then the voice of Frank Poole telling him to relax until the crew came to get him out. Later he left the Hibernaculum located in the Houston Space Flight Center.

Chapter 16: "Hal"

There is an telescope located behind Discovery that is always pointing to Earth. Dave Bowman looks through the telescope periodically while making his rounds, watching Earth become smaller and smaller. 

The author mentions there is a sixth member on the ship that isn't human: Hal 9000. He is an advanced computer that controls everything on the ship. An AI on par with real life ones such as Alexa and Siri, Hal is able to communicate almost exactly like a person. Whether he can think like one is another question, though according to Alan Turing by the 1940s, if a machine can have a long conversation with a human, then it can think.

Bowman and Frank Poole often joke that they are like janitors who are on a ship that is self-sufficient. Soon they will realize how true that statement is (dun dun duuuuun!).