The 1986 "Star Trek" movie sequel "The Voyage Home" has a classic scene in which the crew has traveled back in time to 1986 to recover two humpback whales, the only Earth beings that can respond to a destructive space probe orbiting the planet in the future, where whales have become an extinct species.
In one scene, James Doohan’s character Scotty offers to share some future scientific knowledge with a materials manufacturer in exchange for the aluminum walls needed to enclose the whales for transport back to the future. When shown the computer on which Scotty will display the formula, the non-responsive machine confounds him when it doesn’t answer his "Hello, computer" request. It’s not until the scientist suggests using the keyboard that things start to happen.
This isn’t the first reference to voice recognition in computers. The first I can remember is the conversation between Dave and HAL 9000, the rebellious computer from Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey." The discussion is like any conversation you might have with a psychotic killer that happens to be a machine. At the end of the epic battle between man and machine, HAL degenerates into a mindless automaton as Dave removes his memory packets and his voice becomes less and less recognizable.
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