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Chapter 36
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Collaboration vs. Individualism
Tools and Human Evolution
Space Travel
The Perils of Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
The second monolith is called the “Star Gate.” Created from a former moon—the debris of which now circles Saturn—the monolith has waited three million years for an intelligent species to break free from its “planetary cradle” to fulfill an “ancient experiment.” Long ago, the Star Gate’s creators had traversed the universe, encouraging intelligent life wherever they found it. Arriving at Earth, they had “tinkered” with many species. Being mortal, however, they could not wait around to see their results, and left their servants, the monoliths, behind to finish their work.
Here, the narrator explains the origin and purpose of the Star Gate. Designed to detect the emergence of intelligent life, the monoliths reflect the desire of their creators to cultivate intelligent life. Though limited in scope, this information provides the reader with insight into the monolith’s creators. Though biased, they are largely benevolent beings, intent on fostering like-minded races across the universe.
Themes
As Earth grew older, civilizations and empires rose and fell across the galaxy. Gradually, the monolith’s creators left their fleshly forms for metal bodies, becoming spaceships. However, this was only one step in their evolution. Learning to store their minds in space itself, the monolith’s creators eventually transformed into pure energy, becoming lords of the galaxy. Still, they did not forget their fleshly origins, nor their experiments from long ago.
As elaborated upon here, the creators of the monoliths are not only significantly older than human civilization but also vastly more advanced. Humanity’s evolutionary journey from man-ape to human pales beside these aliens’ transcendence of their physical forms. However, the role of the monolith in shaping human evolution implies that the aliens' own evolutionary path could offer a potential blueprint for humanity's distant future.
Themes
