First Singing Computer That Inspired Kubrick's HAL 9000 (1968)

"The Incredible Machine" a fascinating 15-minute 1968 documentary from Bell Laboratories, showcases cutting-edge developments in computer graphics and digital technology that would lay the foundation for today's digital world.

At the heart of the documentary is the "Graphic 1" computer system, which represented a revolutionary approach to design and engineering. As the narrator explains, "It's a new way of working out abstract problems in the age-old medium of drawings and designs, which explains why the technique is called computer graphics."

In one demo, engineers using an electronic light pen to design telephone circuits directly on a cathode ray tube. "The operator talks to the computer with an electronic light pen, which does a precise and easy job of assembling the symbolic parts of the design," the film explains.

The film also showcases early experiments in computer animation and digital art. A particularly intriguing sequence features a collaboration between a graphic artist and a Bell scientist, with the artist noting, "I want to reach out to this technology. I want to incorporate this technology into my art and have the two mixed together."

My favorite part is at the 10-minute mark, where the computer sings "Daisy Bell." According to Hackaday, it "inspired Stanley Kubrick to play a glitchy version of the track as Dave is pulling Hal 9000's brains out, symbolically regressing backwards through a history of computer voice synthesis which at that point in time was the present."

The film concludes with a prophetic observation: "The art of computer graphics is only in its infancy. Yet it is already stimulating creative thought in far-out areas where research is likely to get complex and unwieldy. It offers not only the means to quicken the pace of discovery, but an ideal way of communicating what we may discover."