HAL was following static orders in a radically changed environment which was not thought of when the static orders were designed. This is really a problem of an

HAL was following static orders in a radically changed environment which was not thought of when the static orders were designed. This is really a problem of any formal / religious / moral system designed by humans and ultimately comes down to the fact that we cannot look into the future. If you want to see a movie where this problem is brought to the extreme and affects a human instead of a computer, watch The Bridge on the River Kwai. It's the (SPOILER ALERT) story of a British military commander (Col. Nicholson) who as a POW in a Japanese camp is ordered to build a railway bridge. Following his "western" standards regarding work ethic and craftsmanship, he and his men against all odds succeed in building a high quality bridge which he thinks is proof of the superiority of their western values and knowledge. At the end, he finds himself in a battle to safe this (as he perceives it) monument to the superiority of his culture against attackers - only to realize too late that because of a radical environmental change he could not foresee, the attackers are actually American and British forces. By defending his culture, he actively battled it. In the end, as he realizes his mistake, he is a broken man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRHVMi3LxZE&feature=youtu.be&t=51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRHVMi3LxZE&feature=youtu.be... Whether a machine (HAL) will ever be capable of the insight of realizing such a mistake on a grander scale like Colonel Nicholson in the last minutes of the movie is another question :)