Why Does Hal 9000 Malfunction?

2001 Space Odyssey, the film that changed science fiction forever. Touted as one of the best movies of all time by directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Vilenauve space odyssey is long, haunting, and not an easy film to watch for the average filmgoer. Kubrick takes us through three major sections spanning in time, from the dawn of man to our first visit to Jupiter. The film is lonely, cold, and huge much like the universe it seeks to portray. While 2001 is known for many of it’s elements from its breathtaking cinematography and special effects, to its strange and psychedelic third act, what the movie arguably is best known for is, the supercomputer hal 9000 and his breakdown during the spaceship Discovery’s mission to Jupiter. In an attempt to prevent his shutdown Hal kills all the ships crew except Dave Bowman who manages to deactivate the supercomputer in one of cinemas most haunting scenes. But this raises the question: Why exactly did hal 9000 malfunction? What spurred a 9000 series supercomputer, known to have never made any errors, make such a fatal mistake? Well like any of director Stanley Kubrick’s films the answer is not very clear. So lets go through this step by step as I present to you my understanding of this segment of the movie, and what it says for the 2001: Space Odyssey as a whole.