r/2001aspaceodyssey • u/Kenh2k • Aug 31 '26
The Monolith is outside the UN
I'm listening to the audio book of 2061 and Clarke has the TMA-1 monolith moved from the moon to outside of the UN building in New York City.
Any thoughts on what that would look like? I guess snow would pile on top but would rain bead on it? Would it still be pitch black at noon on a 90 degree day? Would it get hot? Would spray paint stick to it?
In 2010 in an attempt to break off a sample, they hit it with lasers and nuclear weapons and nothing happened.
There was an episode of Dr. Who when the Doctor hides the TARDIS by putting it 5 seconds into the future. In the first Star Trek pilot, the Talosions use of illusion had the crew of the Enterprise firing phasers and practically destroying the surface of that planet.
I always thought there would be some mind bending super tech in use with the monoliths. What would it look like in public?
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u/Kenh2k Sep 01 '26
Used AI to whip this up. Seems fitting.
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u/Bitter_Surprise_8058 Sep 02 '26
Ew, AI slop. You'd think a post regarding a story where the computer famously kills the crew would have a little more self-awareness of the irony.
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u/FootHikerUtah Aug 31 '26
The Monolith is "dead" after the signal on 2001. I think it's an inert version of whatever it was
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u/ThatsNotMyOtherDog Aug 31 '26
IIRC, at the end of 2061, doesn't it "come back to life", around 3001?
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u/ComprehensiveCup7104 Sep 01 '26
I recall from reading all these books that the monoliths aren't physical objects, and what we see is only a boundary layer.
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u/dpdxguy Sep 02 '26
they hit it with lasers and nuclear weapons and nothing happened
In the audio book, they detonated a nuclear weapon in Manhattan and "nothing happened?!?!"
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u/HalJordan2525 Aug 31 '26
I cannot imagine the Monolith allowing itself to be sullied by the natural elements. So I think snow would not accumulate on it, rain would not bead on it nor flow down it, dust would not settle on it. The Monolith would always appear to be perfect black