The monolith, or monoliths, symbolize humanity’s evolutionary journey. Arriving at key moments in human history, the monoliths offer humanity a guiding hand, first saving the man-apes from extinction by teaching them the use of tools, then creating the Star-Child to save humanity from nuclear destruction. (In the novel’s present, scientists name the monolith on the moon TMA-1.) In this way, the monoliths emulate the natural evolution process, with a twist—sent out en masse across the universe, they selectively cultivate intelligent life, or rather, "Mind," akin to how humans on Earth cultivate plants, dogs, or cattle. This simultaneously affirms and challenges notions of human exceptionalism: we are far from the smartest or most powerful beings in the universe, but we have also passed the monolith’s test, so to speak. Still, humanity remains in its trial period, with the weaver wondering whether humans will be permitted to “form part of his still-growing tapestry.” Given humanity’s trajectory in the novel, such hesitation is not unwarranted; every time humanity has been given new knowledge or power, it has resulted in violence, tribalism, and greed, and it’s not clear that the Star-Child is off to a better start. More broadly, then, the monoliths function as externalizations of human potential, raising the question of whether humanity will transcend its history of misusing its gifts, or simply continue to perpetuate the cycle of self-destructive tendencies. The monoliths, in short, are mirrors of the human condition.
The Monolith 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.
Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy–of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one step toward humanity.
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.
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?
And because, in all the galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.
Where in God’s name am I? Bowman asked himself; and even as he posed the question, he felt certain that he could never know the answer. It seemed that space had been turned inside out: this was not a place for Man.
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.