2001: A Space Odyssey

Moon-Watcher wakes in the night. There is an unfamiliar sound in the valley below, and he is afraid. He compares the sound to those he recognizes—stealthy cats occasionally cracking a twig and elephants uprooting plants—but it is not like those noises. Then there is a sound that has never been heard before on Earth: metal hitting stone.

Moon-Watcher finds himself face to face with the “New Rock” at first light, when he leads his tribe to the river. It is a rectangular slab three times as tall as Moon-Watcher but only as wide as the span of his arms. It is transparent; Moon-Watcher has never seen ice or crystal, so he has nothing to compare it to. Moon-Watcher concludes that the New Rock must have grown as he knows some plants do. He remembers finding mushrooms in the shape of rocks and concludes this rock must have a similar origin. He tries to taste it but, finding that it is not edible, proceeds with his foraging expedition.

The foraging is bad, and one of the females collapses in the heat of the sun. The others make sympathetic noises but are too tired to carry her, so they leave her behind. There is no trace of her when they return that way. Toward the end of the day, while they are nervously looking for predators and drinking from a stream, a noise begins to emanate from the monolith. It is a hypnotic vibration like “drumming,” though no drumming will be heard here for 3 million years. Entranced, the “man-apes” move toward the monolith, some of them making movements that are like dancing, and gather around the stone. They forget their hunger and fear of the encroaching night. The monolith becomes opaquer and “phantoms” appear on its surface and move within it. The “ape-men” are “mesmerized captives,” unaware that the monolith is considering them.

The “man-ape” closest to the object becomes animated by it like a “puppet.” He tries to tie a piece of grass in a knot and seems terrified as he attempts greater dexterity than ever before. He fails to knot the grass, and the animating force leaves him, returning him to a state of passive hypnosis like the others. The same thing happens to another “man-ape,” but this one succeeds in tying a knot. The process continues with different “man-apes” performing different tasks, not under their own control. Moon-Watcher’s task is to hit a target with a stone. Depending on their success, the monolith rewards them with pain or pleasure.

The “ape-men” don’t remember their experiences. The next day they hardly even notice the monolith, which has become just another part of the landscape; being neither an aid nor a threat to their survival, it is not worth their attention. At the river, they encounter “the Others.” The routine confrontation takes place, and the leader of the other tribe, One-Ear, encroaches on their territory in a brief show of dominance. The Others then retreat without violence.

As the group returns from foraging and passes the monolith, it once again reaches out toward them with “inquisitive tendrils.” Moon-Watcher has visions of a family of “ape-men” who are not hungry but instead “gorged”—something he never imagined possible. He doesn’t remember the vision consciously, but he begins to dwell on feelings that resemble envy and dissatisfaction with his lot in life. The monolith shows the same vision for nights at a time and gradually reshapes Moon-Watcher’s brain. These changes will pass to future generations through his genes. It is a slow process, but there is no hurry: There are many monoliths scattered around the globe as part of an experiment.

These interactions with the monolith become a “nightly ritual” for the “man-apes.” It pauses for one night when one among the group dies; the monolith becomes inactive to “learn” from its mistake. When it resumes, the visions shown to Moon-Watcher have changed. Moon-Watcher’s instincts were developed in times of plenty by his ancestors but now his survival depends on adaptation, though he finds the monolith’s “lessons” difficult.

He encounters some warthogs, creatures that the “man-apes” usually ignore. Without knowing what he is doing, Moon-Watcher searches the ground for something. He finds a stone with a point and uses it to kill a young pig that doesn’t run away because it considers the “man-apes” harmless. The group of “man-apes” pulverizes the dead pig with sticks and stones. A female “man-ape” licks the gore from a stone, and they realize that they have mastered hunger.

The monolith “programme[s]” the “man-apes” to use simple tools: weapons with which to hunt animals on the savannah. They begin with objects gathered from the ground—stones and sticks—and progress to using the bones and horns of other animals. These “marvellous inventions” allow the “man-apes” to survive and become associated with “power.” From this point forward they must develop alone: “[T]he future was, very literally, in their own hands” (18).

Time passes, measured in the movements of the Moon and the births and deaths of the tribe. The tribe flourishes now that it is better nourished. Now that they are not hungry, they have time to think. The monolith’s intervention is forgotten, and they don’t realize that they did not come up with the notion of tools. Meanwhile, the leopard continues to hunt them at night, and the Others remain their adversaries on the other side of the river.

After an unsuccessful hunt, the tribe is returning to the caves empty-handed when they find an injured antelope in their path. They drive off the jackals who are worrying at the creature and circle it cautiously because its horns remain dangerous. It is almost dark by the time they have killed it, and the jackals begin to return. Moon-Watcher has a stroke of inspiration; they can keep the kill safe in his cave. The group drags it to the cave, where they feast and then fall asleep. Moon-Watcher wakes in the night. He goes outside to investigate a noise and discovers the leopard is only 20 feet from his cave. It had never climbed so high before but has been drawn by the smell of the antelope carcass. It enters the cave, and the “man-apes” kill it gruesomely with their new weapons. This act transforms humanity’s relationship to the surrounding world.

As the tribe heads out on the hunt, they pause in the spot where the monolith stood. It is now gone, but the “man-apes” hardly notice. They encounter the Others in the usual place by the river; the Others scream at them, but Moon-Watcher’s tribe doesn’t respond. Instead, they approach in silence. The Others don’t understand the purpose of the weapons their adversaries carry, but they do recognize their menace. The Others begin to call out again but are struck silent by the sight of what Moon-Watcher is carrying: the head of the leopard on a stick. All but One-Ear, their leader, run away. Moon-Watcher kills One-Ear with the leopard-head club. Later the Others return, having already forgotten their lost leader.

It has been 100,000 years since the monoliths arrived. The “man-apes” have invented nothing new, but they have developed new skills and altered physiologically. Their teeth grow smaller thanks to their use of cutting tools. This changes the shape of their faces, which in turn allows them to make new sounds with their mouths. These sounds will become the rudiments of speech. Their hands become more dexterous so they can manipulate tools. As the tools become more complex, their brains develop. These changes coincide with changes in the planet, including ice ages that kill off those who don’t adapt, accelerating the process of evolution.

After the ice ages have passed, the “man-apes” have died out, but their adaptations have created descendants. With the development of language, early humans develop a sense of the past. The Bronze and Iron Ages follow. Hunting is followed by the development of agriculture. Written language develops and forms the foundation for philosophy and religion. Humans’ bodies become weaker, but they become more aggressive. Weapons grow more sophisticated, allowing killing at a distance. The chapter ends with an accelerated survey of modern weaponry with “infinite range” and nearly infinite power. These weapons have driven human evolution but are now a threat to human existence.