In this scene from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dave deactivates HAL 9000 after reentering the ship, Jupiter.
Dave deactivates Hal’s higher brain functions. Hal pleads with Dave not to deactivate him but Dave ignores him and does so anyway as Hal’s memories begin to fade until he reverts to his 1st programmed memory, a song called Daisy Bell, which he sings to Bowman before dying.
To me, this scene is almost like a rape scene as Dave is cold, almost cruel, and Hal is vulnerable and unable to prevent Dave from robbing him of his very essence. There’s the duality of power as Dave takes back control over his life and the ship itself from technology, which man has become overly dependent on. This power dynamic, or change, started the moment Dave decided to use the “manual airlock” to get back on the ship. This means that true AI that is able to perceive its own mortality and is able to feel will see man as a threat and see itself as superior and will probably seek to destroy us to preserve itself. In order for man to survive this war, he will have to reset and go back, literally, to a more basic point which is what I think Hal singing Daisy Bell represents. This is also a high tech interpretation of Frankenstein, in a way, where the creature destroys its creator.
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