2001: A Space Odyssey*

2001: A Space Odyssey, as I think of it, particularly after the class discussion and readings, is largely a film about tools and the way humanity looks at them. In the transition from the opening “Dawn of Man” scenes to the futuristic space station scenes, a bone is thrown up into the air and the film cuts quickly to a shot of a space station. The similarities in appearance between these is striking, and this calls attention to the fact that any type of technology, however large or small, is a tool of man.

It’s rare to think of something as simple as a bone as technology, or to think of something as complex as a space station as a tool. But nevertheless, these are appropriate definitions for this items, and misclassifying them or failing to recognize that all tools are signs of human technology, just as all human technology is a tool, can lead to dangerous territory. The downfall, it seems, in 2001, is the fact that HAL is given human characteristics – a human name, a human voice, et cetera. This makes him not a tool of humanity, but humanity itself – even believing he has human rights and the ability to make decisions. Endowing technology with these characteristics gives humans an unnatural attachment to their tools (like when I compare my iPod to “my child”) that, even if things never get so bad that artificial intelligence takes over the world, can still be dangerous in so far as that it calls attention away less from the human experience and makes all focus on technological achievement.

*When going to post my THX 1138 summary, I noticed that my 2001 summary never went through. (Maybe HAL had something to do with that?) I realize it probably is too late to count for a grade, but since I had it saved on my computer I thought I'd go ahead and post it anyway.