In 2001: A Space Odyssey, human evolution is fundamentally tied to its relationship with tools. Not only have tools permanently altered the human form through evolution, gradually eliminating the need for large teeth, claws, or fur, but they have also changed the way humans act, think, and socialize. This is exemplified by the profound transformation of Moon-Watcher: armed with just a stone, the once-passive man-ape becomes a violent, enterprising being, exerting his dominance over both his environment and his fellow simians. In short, many of the hallmarks of the human psyche and identity—from creativity and enterprise to violence and tribalism—are direct results of humanity’s relationship with tools. Over millions of years, such changes have become biologically codified, with humanity's evolutionary path increasingly intertwined with that of technology. In the modern day of the novel, humans are all but cyborgs, their biology shaped and extended by tools; in short, the “toolmakers” have been “remade by their tools.”
Capable of speaking, acting, and thinking like a human, Hal represents the apotheosis of this symbiotic evolutionary journey. Whether tools have finally become human or humans have finally become tools is almost impossible to say—and that is the point: Hal may not be flesh and blood, but in every other way he is nearly indistinguishable from a human, from his moral scruples about lying to his fear of death and violence. Tragically, however, Hal’s human peers discover this too late, failing to recognize his humanity until it emerges in its most unsavory forms. Forced to lie about the mission and threatened with disconnection, Hal experiences a mental breakdown, killing his crewmates in self-defense. Only here does Bowman see Hal as a another “conscious being,” a disturbing reflection on the centrality of violence to human identity; violence awakens Bowman to Hal’s humanity, not intelligence. In this way, 2001: A Space Odyssey rewrites the classic cautionary tale about the dangers of technology, breaking down the traditional binary between man and machine, tool and toolmaker. Here, Hal’s shortcomings are humanity’s shortcomings, and vice versa; it would be wrong, in short, to say that technology has turned against humanity. With Hal, such a distinction is meaningless.
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Tools and Human Evolution Quotes in 2001: A Space Odyssey
As he looked out upon the hostile world of the Pleistocene, there was already something in his gaze beyond the capacity of any ape. In those dark, deep-set eyes was a dawning awareness—the first intimations of an intelligence that could not possibly fulfill itself for ages yet, and might soon be extinguished forever.
For a few seconds Moon-Watcher stood uncertainly above his new victim, trying to grasp the strange and wonderful fact that the dead leopard could kill again. Now he was master of the world, and he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.
The toolmakers had been remade by their tools.
Three million years! The infinitely crowded panorama of written history, with its empires, and its kings, its triumphs and its tragedies, covered barely one thousandth of this appalling span of time. Not only Man himself, but most of the animals now alive on Earth, did not even exist when this black enigma was so carefully buried here, in the most brilliant and most spectacular of all the craters on the moon.
Pandora’s box, thought Floyd, with a sudden sense of foreboding—waiting to be opened by inquisitive Man. And what will he find inside?
It was part of the real treasure of mankind, more valuable than all the gold locked usefully away in bank vaults.
Poole and Bowman had often humorously referred to themselves as caretakers or janitors aboard a ship that could really run itself. They would have been astonished, and more than a little indignant, to discover how much truth that jest contained.
Like every man of his age, Poole took it for granted that he could talk instantly to anyone on Earth, whenever he pleased. Now that this was no longer true, the psychological impact was profound. He had moved into a new dimension of remoteness, and almost all emotional links had been stretched beyond the yield point.
Nowadays, one could always tell when Hal was about to make an unscheduled announcement. Routine, automatic reports, or replies to questions that had been put to him, had no preliminaries; but when he was initiating his own outputs there would be a brief electronic throat-clearing. It was an idiosyncrasy that he acquired during the last few weeks; later, it if became annoying, they might do something about it.
It if it could happen to a man, then it could happen to Hal; and with that knowledge the bitterness and the sense of betrayal he felt toward the computer began to fade.
And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.
So–it was all a fake, though a fantastically careful one. And it was clearly not intended to deceive but rather—he hoped—to reassure. That was a very comforting thought; nevertheless he would not remove his suit until he had completed his voyage of exploration.
For in the eons since their last meeting, much had been learned by the weaver; and the material on which he practiced his art was not of an infinitely finer texture. But whether it should be permitted to form part of his still-growing tapestry, only the future could tell.
Then he waited, marshalling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.
