Revisiting the Monolith: 2001 A Space Odyssey

[narrativus]

I watched the sequel, 2010, and just realized that the Monolith's eclipse in 2001 now reminds me of archaeoastronomy. You know like Stonehenge had certain proportions and the Egyptian Pyramids did as well. Both structures relied on the cosmos aligning itself in a certain way. The Monolith was filmed as aligning with an eclipse too. It probably seeped into humanity's consciousness after this first encounter and was probably misconstrued as being a god of some kind. And the people of Earth aligned it much like the Monolith had.

 

[BAYLOR]

It tested one group of apes selected some ignored the rest . The monolith had the capacity of being able to determine which apes had the capacity for future evolution and which didn't. One group learned to make tools and weapons from the Bones of the pigs they learned tohunt slaughtered and that group more evolved drove killed and drove off the a rival group of less evolved apes . The end result , the Tool users evolved and become man, the other group became extinct.

 

[narrativus]

Is that from the book? Because I wondered why the Monolith chose one hominid over the other. It didn't care about unity in 2010.

 

[BAYLOR]

Is that from the book? Because I wondered why the Monolith chose one hominid over the other. It didn't care about unity in 2010.

I read the book almost 40 years ago and I recall , that it test individual Hominids in the group it made them tie knots with grass some the did the tying others resisted and the next nday the monolith repeated selected certain memberS that had aptitude and ignoring those that didn't.

On a side note, book you migueyt find of Interest The Lost Worlds 2001 by Arthur C Clark , It contain early story versions for 2001.

By the way , this is a very good topic . Please, keep posting.

 

[narrativus]

It is a good topic, thank you!

 

[BAYLOR]

It is a good topic, thank you!

Your welcome .

Welcome to Chrons , the best book website on the planet,

 

[narrativus]

I looked it up on Wikipedia actually, the books is always better!

A mysterious alien civilization uses a tool with the appearance of a large crystalline monolith to investigate worlds across the galaxy and, if possible, to encourage the development of intelligent life. The book shows one such monolith appearing in prehistoric Africa, 3 million years ago (in the movie, 4 mya), where it inspires a starving group of hominids to develop tools. The hominids use their tools to kill animals and eat meat, ending their starvation. They then use the tools to kill a leopard preying on them; the next day, the main ape character, Moon-Watcher, uses a club to kill the leader of a rival tribe. The book suggests that the monolith was instrumental in awakening intelligence.

 

[BAYLOR]

I looked it up on Wikipedia actually, the books is always better!

A mysterious alien civilization uses a tool with the appearance of a large crystalline monolith to investigate worlds across the galaxy and, if possible, to encourage the development of intelligent life. The book shows one such monolith appearing in prehistoric Africa, 3 million years ago (in the movie, 4 mya), where it inspires a starving group of hominids to develop tools. The hominids use their tools to kill animals and eat meat, ending their starvation. They then use the tools to kill a leopard preying on them; the next day, the main ape character, Moon-Watcher, uses a club to kill the leader of a rival tribe. The book suggests that the monolith was instrumental in awakening intelligence.

Indeed .

In the Lost Worlds of 2001 , in early story drafts there is an actual alien and no monolith at all teaching Moon Watcher and his tribe.

 

[narrativus]

Super cool, man! I got that now. I found the book on Amazon. Looks like an interesting read. That's why I came on the forum, to find more leads. Thanks, Baylor.

 

[Ambrose]

I have just been reading the 15th SF Megapack
It has a story by one Willard Marsh called 'The Ethicators' from Worlds of If, August 1955.
A ship from some other star millenia ago came to Earth during the time of the dinosaurs and planted an thical ray diffuser to affect some being that might emerge on earth. They left, but many many years later it found a receptive individua, the First Human,l and affected him.
I wonder if Clarke knew that story.l

 

[Ambrose]

Ah! I just checked. The Sentinel was first published in 1951. So . . . .

 

[Ambrose]

The Lost Worlds of 2001 is fascinating.

 

[narrativus]

I'd still take a look at "The Ethicators", it sounds interesting. Yeah, The Lost Worlds of 2001 should have a lot of interesting tidbits in it. I just watched "Epoch" yesterday and it was pretty bad, but the alien was interesting. Close to 2001 though. Going from planet to planet trying to meddle with evolution for the greater good of ...whatever.

 

[Ambrose]

'The Edthicators' is, apart from the idea, pretty bad. The aliens are stllted, and unimpressive.