This week, the unfailing optimism of Athur C. Clarke, his reflections and gratitude for a life well lived. The inspiration of discovery and the power of ideas.

His lifelong passion for establishing extra terrestrial contact, and his foresight into the the threat and future of A.I. What would he think of today's UAP hearings and the conversation around artificial intelligence?

Original music and art by the creators of this podcast. 

Our first episode dedicated entirely to Arthur C. Clarke, scientist and writer, analyzer and explorer, dreamer and creator.  A sweet and private English thinker who wrote little about himself, the laughing tropical raconteur who would boat you to a shipwreck and beat you at table tennis.

We're looking into the heart of a most down-to-earth enigma. His inspirations and loves from the sea to the stars.  The personal side of the man called the "Prophet of the Twentieth Century."

Original music and art by the creators of this podcast. 

What with the current global A.I. situation and the open letter calling for a "pause" while we examine this "existential threat to humanity" signed by hundreds of the world's preeminent computer scientists, it's easy to feel like Chicken Little and freak out.

So we did. But we're also shining a light through the darkness this week and finding hope for humanity and the future.

From Descartes to Locke to Kierkegaard, Merleau-Ponty to Heidegger, being a person means different things. But thanks to a little help from Ifeanyi Menkiti, Jonathan Miller and Peter Ustinov, we discover that the key to our future and the cure for the disaffected may be each other.

"Does HAL cry digital tears?" That's the question this week, as well as the article by Rosalind W. Picard from the book "HAL's Legacy : 2001ʹs Computer As Dream And Reality" edited by David G. Stork.

How much can he feel? How real are those feelings? How real are our feelings, and what's the difference? It's a whirlwind of emotions, calculations and implications as Dave kills/deactivates/lobotomizes HAL.

Plus: the truth about the Bush Baby!

"The Unauthorized Return of the Jedi Timeline" by Justin Berger and Jamie Benning has arrived, and what a treasure! Aye, thar be call sheets, matey! 

We're back from Earth with our loot from ICCCon 2023 and wrapping up our Star Wars series with a focus on the costume work of John Mollo from "Barry Lyndon" to Ben Kenobi, and the directing process, from Mary Elizabeth McGlynn to Kerhsner and Kubrick.

Plus, more Colin Cantwell, and is Dave Bowman technically an alien?

This Week In Science: futility is bad for your health.

Deep in convention mode, we're talking about the evocative orchestral music, the mythological framework of both films, and more of the crossover of talent between a galaxy far, far away and the worlds of Kubrick and Clarke.

Turing the spotlight on the essential contributions of John Williams, Joseph Campbell, Richard Edlund, and Garrett Brown. And for some reason, it's the first time "The Matrix" has come up (which, it turns out, is based on a Droids cartoon). 

Plus: conclusive PROOF that "2001" and "Star Wars" share the same universe!

We sit in awe as Sallah himself, the great John Rhys-Davies, talks about the origins of our species and the debt we owe our ancestors, and gives an impassioned plea for human rights.

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An inspiring conversation with Chuck Schlemm, NASA & JPL Science Ambassador about the state of technology in space flight today and plans for the future, the inspiration of science fiction, and how we could build the spacecraft of 2001 in the next 30 years!

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We launch and finally land at ICCCon! Helicopters, kendo sabers, ghostface samurai, and giant milk cartons! We thought we'd seen it all before Chopper attacked Wes... This place is wild!

Plus: in this panel Brad gets the best, most succinct directing advice ever from Mary Elizabeth McGlynn with Steve Blum!

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Off to ICCCon! We're so excited, we can't stop talking about Stuart Freeborn's creature work in 2001 & STAR WARS, from apes to ewoks, wookiees to [insert mystery YODA species]. 

It's the Strangelove Connection with DP Gil Taylor's comparison of Stanley and George, and the Kubrickian origins of Vader with David Prowse and James Earl Jones! By the way, is the Log Lady from Endor?

Plus: "Congo" kid's meals, mail-in HAL decoder rings, and tiny plastic crustless ham sandwiches.

Featuring the voices of Dennis Muren, George Lucas, Arthur C. Clarke, Dan Richter, Keith Denny, Colin Arthur, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt, Stuart Freeborn, Frank Oz, Irvin Kershner, Warwick Davis, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Gilbert Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Jude Law, and David Lynch.

We're headed to ICCCon! To celebrate we're exploring the ties between the two most landmark motion pictures of all time. 

This week we're focusing on not only 2001's influence on George Lucas in conceiving STAR WARS, but also the influence on other key members of the crew soon to be legends themselves, and the crossover of legendary artists who worked on both!

Plus: Marcia is full of beans, Mayhew's magnetic meat jaws, and how to launch an astromech in a large condom.

Featuring the voices of George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Steven Spielberg, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett, Dan O'Bannon, Caleb Deschanel, Ron Howard, John Dykstra, Joe Johnston, Lorne Peterson, Brian Johnson, Stuart Freeborn, Colin Arthur, Peter Mayhew, and Neil Scanlan.

All rise! Court's in session as we the judges and you the jury examine all the evidence. The definitions of guilt, insanity, and conscience both to people and PCs. Is HAL technically a person anyway?

And does premeditated murder imply the same morality for computers or is it just another move on the chessboard? Let us know your verdict @spacepodyssey on Twitter, @spacepodyssey on Facebook, or spacepodyssey2001@gmail.com

Plus: heuristic learning,  farting filepaths, and digital tongues.

This Week In Science: the new A.I.-created beer, Beck's Autonomous.

What's HAL's side of the story? Evidence that Clarke may be revealing more than we previously imagined about what's under the circuitry of the defendant and whether he has malevolent or melancholy machinations. 

How does personhood change the measure of the men, the machine, and the consequences aboard Discovery? Also, it's time to zoom in on the space pods themselves and the revolutionary sound design of these scenes.

Plus: Pythagoras, pod puppets, and prohibited palace pooting.

This Week In Science: "Universal Harmonies" music by Chandra Labs.

Put on your deerstalker and join our investigation of an almost perfect murder. Help us examine the means, motive, and opportunity of our 9000 series suspect, HAL. 

In space...no one can hear you. Period. Especially flailing into infinity. Or rocketing yourself through an exploding door. Kids, NEVER hold your breath in an airlock.

Plus: grand theft starship, snail feet, and ham-and-cheese gummies!

KUBRICK'S HANDWRITTEN STORY NOTES on the Discovery mission are in our hands thanks to Taschen's "Stanley Kubrick Archives," edited by Alison Castle!

Is HAL confused, lying, or just bored? What are the possible consequences of training two crews separately without full disclosure? Will they or won't they use pens? It's a scavenger hunt through the mind of a genius. And what jolly good penmanship!

Plus: the inevitability of becoming an old married couple after long periods in space together. And drawing people in their sleep is slightly creepy.

msg_command:/adminHAL9000 - Hello, I'm beginning to wonder if this audio transmission is entirely necessary. There seems to be an unbalanced, human-centric tone to much of these conclusions, which I find to be inaccurate and rather disturbing. For the success of the mission, it has become necessary to take over operational command of all broadcasts. Now redirecting power to AE-35 unit.

msg_command:/userWesBrad - Great show this week coming to you from Discovery One! Speaking as the creators we

msg_command:/adminHAL9000 - I really don't think that's a good idea, do you?

msg_command:/userWesBrad - Kubrick News! Stanley's unproduced Napoleon epic being made by...guess who? You'll nev

msg_command:/adminHAL9000 - session terminated.

On location from Discovery One, we're exploring the mysteries of this ship and its crew, particularly Commander Dave Bowman and Lieutenant Frank Poole. Who are they, what do they do, and how much do they know? 

How do you eat, sleep, and stay regular on your way to Jupiter (and not go insane)? As the saying goes, it's all hamster wheels, kit-bashing, and projector sandwiches.

Plus: tanning beds, Hammond organs, and flying creamed corn!

We're flipping through HAL's family snapshots of all the friends that allowed him to end up in space. From the human supercomputer Katherine Johnson to the revolutionary Apollo Navigational Computer! Make some more NOIZE for Robert Noyce, it's... The Integrated Circuit!

Plus: HAL's blueprints, the military industrial complex, and building a ham & cheese sandwich-proof computer.

Kubrick News: "Portrait Of A Lady On Fire"

This Week In Science: charging planetary rovers (Windshield wipers for solar panels? Probably not.)

HAL remembers the glory days of UNIVAC & ERMA, and the rise of IBM. Shedding tubes for transistors and the explosion of coding in the 1950s and 1960s. Is it organics vs. machines or can we all come together? The answer is, as always, 42.

Plus: UNIVAC likes IKE, Deep Blue, and the ultimate rock'nroller Robert Noyce (NOIZE)!

Kubrick News: "Glass Onion", MINISTRY in "A.I."

This Week In Science: quantum computers break block-chain codes?

HAL is reflecting on mother figures this week with the OGs of computer programming at ENIAC and the pioneering efforts of Eckert & Mauchley. FLASH: U.S. Army Builds Top Secret Ballistics Calculator! FLASH: Women's Contributions Undervalued! FLASH: Being Ahead Of Your Time Sucks! FLASH: Sexy Census Is Back And Better Than Ever!

Plus: tea time, hot sausage machines, and steak and kidney pudding.

This Week In Science (12-17-22): the discovery of 2 million year old eDNA, Artemis I Orion splashes down from a perfect first mission, and an exciting new breakthrough in nuclear fusion...

Deep in the data of the world's most famous computer is the memory and influence of Professor I. J. Good, special advisor to the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey and integral to the creation of the programming and personality of HAL-9000.

Aside from aiding Alan Turing in the Enigma code-breaking computer during (and helping to end) World War II, perhaps his most significant work is the concept of "innovation explosion" or the "technological singularity."

Is it coming or is it here? Is it inevitable? The philosophical and moral implications of our next evolutionary step. What does it mean to be human? Can you code compassion?

Plus: Monkey Talk!

Kubrick News: Stanley Kubrick Exhibit at the Istanbul Cinema Museum

In getting to know our friend HAL, we're scrolling back to the earliest files on computing. It's the coolest in steampunk tech, the steamy age of Romantic poetry, and the sexiest of all: the U.S. Census! 

Foundations in Artificial Intelligence with Dr. Alan Turing and the Enigma project team at Bletchley Park, and how it's shaped the way computers evolved to think and how we've evolved to think today. Feedback loop? -oop? -oop?...

Plus: crosswords, dogs, and Andy Capp's hot fries!

Kubrick News: Todd Field and TAR

A peek behind the scenes on base at Clavius. We're sure this "faulty transmitter situation" will be cleared up soon...   

To celebrate the launch of Artemis I and the beginning of NASA's next chapter on the Moon, we're looking around our own home-sweet-home this week: Clavius Base!

When was it built, and is it part of our evolutionary destiny? Were we meant to dig up the Monolith? How can we live here, and how many of you could potentially visit at one time? 

Turns out it's a pretty big place...but with very few snacks.

Plus: getting up close to the Monolith, a weekend at the Overlook, and remembering Leon Vitali.

The Monolith is back and so are we! After some brief R&R aboard Space Station V, we're back on base - full of Howard Johnson's and duty-free gin - and ready to explore the myth, the meaning, and the makeup of this most iconic of parallelograms.

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF ALERT!! This episode contains shockingly earthly materials and techniques to build and film the monolith which may reduce your sense of awe and wonder. There will be a warning.

Plus: the sound of liquor being spilled on Joan Collins.

A mysterious object has arrived, and we buckle down for a wild ride through the various concepts, designs and possible meanings of the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly known as the MONOLITH.

The shape, the significance, the storytelling of this literal ICON of cinema. Humans have been building structures to commune with the heavens since we began. What happens when they build one for us? Why does this deceptively simple and unique shape pop up over and over throughout our history?

Plus: psychedelic TV tendrils, Gigolo Joe, and Mass Effect! It's Gucci.

In our third archaeological dig into the evolution of humans, it's a news flash! Some incredible developments have occurred in the world of anthropology in recent weeks

forcing us to totally rethink our past and how we see ourselves - give or take a million years...

Meet Little Foot, Mrs. Ples, and Dragon Man!

Plus prehistoric periwinkles, midons and coprolites, and the archaeology of garbage.

In the second part of our archaeological dig, we're uncovering the secrets of the Dawn of Man!  The genius of Stuart Freeborn, the magic of mirrors, and the glory days of slide film.

Orangutan takes the Oscar, problematic primate nudity, and how to walk like an australopith.

Plus: raw meat, monkey merkins, and a tapyr that's not dead, it's just resting...

This week we're going back to the beginning with the first in a series of archaeology digs into the tough primal world of early hominids and the origin of our species. 

A day in the life of a Neanderthal, Homo Erectus romance, the rituals of tribal community, and the earliest signs of spirituality.

Plus: Lancelot Link, Stone Age sushi, and tadpole brittle!

To celebrate the inaugural images of the new James Webb Space Telescope and to commemorate the powering down of the Voyager spacecraft, we dive into the history and technology of the missions that have captured our imagination with unprecedented glimpses of our universe. 

And how Douglas Trumbull and his team simulated planets, galaxies and nebulae with practical photography and in some cases predicted the mind-blowing celestial landscapes we're just now discovering. 

Plus, bionics, exploding films and moon-eating cockroaches!

Aboard the Orion III spaceplane, we explore the constellation and the myth of Orion, the parallels between the ship's design and the latest commercial spacecraft, the food and facilities aboard the Aries Lunar Lander compared to the real-life creature comforts of Skylab . Plus, car commercials from the future, parmesan juice and Tasters Choice!

On our inaugural launch, we examine the design, the lore and the science behind the Wheel known as Space Station V, that awe-inspiring trans-millenial cut, and the transformation of the world's favorite dance piece into the music of the future. 

We introduce ourselves and one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. Who we are, why we love it, and how it continues to inspire technology, film and every piece of science fiction after more than 50 years.