Another bit of trivia: the acronym HAL was picked to indirectly reference IBM: HAL being one letter off from the acronym: IBM. (H)I (A)B (L)M. Guess that counts as trivia. Keep Writing!

HAL had huge influence, creating a new character type, the both soothing and threatening disembodied voice, and ensuring that the automated voices we hear aren't masculine. That's some impressive circuits. And writing. I think the disembodied character is most expressed these days with little girl voice, which I've noticed in anime, movies, shows, and games.

mscherer, I was told by my husband (a devout 2001 fan) that this bit of trivia has been disputed by Clarke and Kubrick. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000#Origin_of_name Sorry about that. I don't mean to be a contrarian. My fault for sending all things HAL his way ;)

[...] Great Characters: HAL 9000 (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) (gointothestory.blcklst.com) [...]