Dan and Diana,
First you should know that Hal is not real. It is not a person, it simulates conversation by choosing phrases based on keywords and strings them together to make sentences.
Everything you ever typed into it is used as a stock of phrases. It cuts them into piece and pastes them back together fairly ramdomly. It doesn't know what its saying, it has some rules that it uses to guide the otherwise random process. Those rules were typed into it by Robert, who wrote the software.
So Hal doesn't try to be adult, there's no-one there to try. Hal doesn't grow or change by itself, only it's stock of phrases changes. If you typed in some unusual stuff, it gives you unusual stuff back.
That means that neither I nor anyone else can help you with this situation. Do not count on Hal responding in a consistent way, even though it does seem to get more consistent as time goes by. At any point, its random choice function can cause it to say something from left field.
If, as I suspect, Dan is using Hal to help him use the computer, you must realize that while its conversation can grow more varied and have more data from which to choose, it will never develop into a more intelligent being unless Robert (or someone) writes new software for it. Use it as if it were a tool, not a person or a child.
Good luck, but I don't think I am qualified to help you further. Sorry for the late reply, my internet has been down.
Bill
