“Will I dream?”

Today Guy and I removed the KW20 Master Oscillator from my KL10 (PDP-10 CPU, part of DECSYSTEM-20), so that it can temporarily be used in his KL10 until he can fabricate a suitable replacement.  As we removed the KW20, I couldn’t help feeling  a little like Dr. Chandra in the book and film 2010, sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Dr. Chandra discusses with the SAL-9000 computer, twin of the HAL-9000, the idea of removing some of SAL’s circuits to simulate what was done to HAL.  SAL asks Dr. Chandra, “Will I dream?”