HAL hailed as Intel inspiration

This week Intel marked the 30th anniversary of the microprocessor and revealed that HAL, the psychopathic computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, was the inspiration behind it all.

Just three years after the film's release in 1968, Intel launched the 4044 microprocessor, designed by Intel engineer Ted Hoff for a Japanese calculator firm.

"Movie-goers in 1968 were amazed and enthralled by 'HAL', the powerful computer in the science fiction classic," said the firm.

But "even with that fantastic preview into the future, personal computers and the internet were inconceivable."

Boasting 2,300 transistors on an area smaller than a fingernail, the 4004 microprocessor packed as much of a punch as the ENIAC, the first ever electronic computer that was so large it filled an entire room.

Following in the footsteps of HAL, the 4004 microprocessor was launched into the stratosphere as the brain for NASA's Pioneer 10 Deep Space Probe. Fortunately that craft was unmanned, so nobody died.

Intel's latest baby, the P4 is approximately 18,000 times more powerful than the now humble 4004. And Ralph Bond, Intel's consumer education manager, spookily predicts that "eventually, we may be able to speak to our PCs and have them respond instantly."

Let's just hope they don't start singing "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do."