Like Nietzsche, Kubrick's interpretation is also metaphysical. There is a mysterious rectangular parallelepiped with a perfect ratio of 1:4:9 in the universe. The whole body is dark and gleaming with the light of metal. It seems to be the product of a highly developed civilization. Let's call it "black stone". It came to the earth three million years ago, and the mysterious energy transmitted was sensed by a handful of ancient apes on the African continent. Since then, the ancient ape has obtained the inspiration to use and make tools, and gradually gain a foothold in the cruel struggle for survival, and finally stand out and evolve into the spirit of all things-human beings. This is the process of human beings from the camel stage to the lion stage. At the beginning, the living environment of the ancient ape ancestors was extremely harsh—drinking turbid and almost dry streams, eating berry leaves or plant rhizomes, living in dark and narrow caves; there are other jackals, tigers, leopards, ancient apes, and the like. Food chain competitors. In this precarious situation, their life extension depends only on the kindness of nature, so they must love nature and respect nature, just like a camel with hard work and resentment, and bravely undertake the task of nature to do it with a respectful attitude. And trembling. But later, Blackstone developed their thinking potential. As soon as they mastered the tools, they used them to hunt down other people of nature-birds and beasts, flowers, birds, insects and fish, and of course their own ancient ape compatriots, laying the foundation for the history of mankind. It is the basis of a history of slaughter-species slaughter and cannibalism. They have evolved in this way, and the concept of "man", and thus the concept of "man will conquer the sky," has deepened, and the fear of nature has been thrown out of the sky. The result of evolution is that mankind regards himself as the lion, the king of beasts.
The guidance of Blackstone's "kindness" enabled mankind to break away from the passive camel stage and advance to the arrogant lion stage. Indeed, for three million years, the power of the "lion" has become more and more terrifying. This power is not reflected in physique, but in thought. The tools created by mankind are becoming more complex, especially artificial intelligence is widely used, enough to enable mankind to continue to explore in a way far away from dangerous places. During the expedition, it is inevitable that there will be another ecological catastrophe. On the other hand, the development of tools of killing is even more rapid, and the nuclear weapons possessed by major nuclear powers are enough to destroy the earth 50 times. The destructive power of the lion seems to have reached the level of the universe-just imagine how the earth's destruction, which causes the abrupt gravitational relationship of the solar system, will bring about earth-shaking changes to the solar system, the Milky Way, and the entire universe.
Many of the fantasies of science fiction films 40 years ago have now become facts. No wonder countless people regard "2001: A Space Odyssey" as a hard science fiction classic. However, it is a film with deep philosophical connotation, a kind of grasp of the human development process. Under the lens, the contradictory character of both arrogance and low self-esteem is exposed. Undoubtedly, human beings have always been in the lion stage, ignoring the laws of nature, ignoring natural forces, and sadly unaware that humans are actually powerless before nature really retaliates-the "SARS" incident in 2003 was nothing more than nature's indulgent appetite for humans. , The small punishment and the big commandment to punish the aliens have already made the people of the earth panic all day long. The evidence of the facts just shows that Kubrick’s far-sightedness. The humans in his eyes, even in 2001, are still very lofty and self-righteous, so there is Dr. Freud’s tyranny of his colleagues and Captain Bauman’s indifference to his family. , Some government departments keep secrets about major news. The battle between humans and computers at the climax of the film is even more intriguing. It was the government that wanted to find out and conceal the truth, which caused the supercomputers on the expedition spacecraft to be sent to Jupiter to fall into a secret mission and the infallible Military Rule 22 dilemma, forcing the computers to make The helpless decision to kill mankind. Here, the "three rules for robots" was overturned. Kubrick won't get caught up in Asimov's caress about the ethics of robots-it is likely that he himself doesn't even trust the ethics of humans.
Kubrick, who has experienced two world wars and the Cold War, stared coldly at mankind's various murder games, destroying nature and destroying himself, so he created this story together with another famous science fiction writer, Arthur Clark. In the novel version, Clark explains the origin of Blackstone-the evolutionary product of super civilization. But in the movie, Blackstone is mysterious and unpredictable. What does this mean? I believe that the black stone in the movie is the essence of the universe. It contains information about the evolution of civilization and is sent to life in every corner of the universe to help them achieve breakthroughs in different stages. I took the liberty to speculate that Kubrick, who has pessimistic masterpieces such as "Lolita," "A Clockwork Orange," and "Doctor Strange Love," actually showed a rare optimism in this film, using up to fifteen. Minutes of time and space travel gave humans the hope of devoting themselves to the infant stage, and at the end, Bowman evolved into a veritable "star child". At that time, according to Nietzsche's philosophy, human beings broke the limit of "you should" and became moral creators, able to create the world according to their own imagination. Different from Husbandry in the lion stage, human beings in the infant stage have a moral and natural view, and are in harmony with the universe, and their words and deeds conform to the popularization of the universe, that is, human beings in the infant stage are children of the universe. Of course, the child will not destroy the parents' norms. On the contrary, he should grow up on his own under the guidance of the basic principles and enter a more advanced and transcendent state. In the minds of Nietzsche or Kubrick, this is probably the best outcome for mankind.
The humans in "2001: A Space Odyssey" saw the dawn of a new evolution, but the humans in reality still seem to be stubborn-the smoke of war is permeating all corners of the earth, and the leaders of developed countries continue to ignore the excessive emission of greenhouse gases. There are also big and small dumping, framing, fighting in nests, blocking news... It seems that mankind is and will continue to be in the lion stage for a long time. There is a saying, things must be reversed. The strength of the lion is solid, and the achievements of mankind in the accumulation of material power in the past century are obvious to all. However, there is no universal ethical consensus that conforms to the nature of the universe and the laws of nature. One cannot help but wonder whether the demise of mankind is due to the low emotional intelligence of mankind and the inability to scientifically grasp the use of material civilization? Or, should the death of the lion be due to improper overdraft of power?
View more about 2001: A Space Odyssey reviews
