Movie references are fun.
The โHALโ in โHAL 9000โ is also only one letter off from IBM. This is more evidence of a direct reference to IBM.
One day I want to write a piece about references in film that are nearly everywhere but harder to quantify โ such as how so, so very many movies reference the Mercury astronautโs walking down the corridor iconic scene from The Right Stuff.
I notice them all the time and point them out, but they are harder to catalog because visual things always are.