Monolith (Space Odyssey)

Chaos Computer Club used a model of the 2001 monolith at the Hackers at Large camp site

Monoliths are fictional advanced machines built by an unseen extraterrestrial species that appear in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series of novels and films. During the series, three monoliths are discovered in the solar system by humans and it is revealed that thousands, if not more, were created throughout the solar system, although none are seen. The subsequent response of the characters to their discovery drives the plot of the series. It also influences the fictional history of the series, particularly by encouraging humankind to progress with technological development and space travel.

The first monolith appears in the beginning of the story, set in prehistoric times. It is discovered by a group of hominids, and somehow triggers a considerable shift in evolution, starting with the ability to use tools and weaponry.

The nomenclature TMA

The first monolith discovered in the modern age was uncovered on the Moon at the site of an inexplicably powerful magnetic field near the crater Tycho. It was called the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1 ("TMA-1") before the monolith was discovered. After this is discovered to be an alien artifact, its name becomes the "Tycho Monolith Anomaly 1" (still TMA-1). Soon afterward, a second, larger monolith was discovered orbiting Jupiter; it was dubbed "TMA-2". A few centuries in the future, a third monolith is discovered that is buried on Earth in rocks that were clearly millions of years old, and it is surrounded by primitive human artefacts. This one is retroactively named "TMA-0" (as opposed to "TMA-3") because it had been the first monolith to be discovered by men-apes during prehistoric times.

The term "Tycho Magnetic Anomaly" is something of a misnomer when referring to "TMA-0" and "TMA-2", since neither of these is found on the Moon (let alone in Tycho Crater) and neither one of them emits any significant magnetic field, as described in the novel 2010: Odyssey Two. In the novel, the Russian crewmen of the spaceship Alexei Leonov refer to the TMA-2 as "Zagadka" (from the Russian word for "enigma", "mystery", or "riddle").

Origins

The extraterrestrial species that built the monoliths is never described in much detail, but some knowledge of its existence is given to Dave Bowman after he is transported by the stargate to the "cosmic zoo", as detailed in the novels 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two. The existence of this species is only hypothesized by the rest of humanity, but it is obvious because the monolith was immediately identified as an artefact of non-human origin.

The extraterrestrial species that built the monoliths developed intergalactic travel millions or perhaps billions of years before the present time. In the novels, Clarke refers to them as the "Firstborn" (not to be confused with the identically-named race in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's Time Odyssey Series) since they were quite possibly the first sentient species to possess a significant capability of interstellar travel. Members of this species explored the universe in the search of knowledge, and especially knowledge about other intelligent species.

While these early explorers discovered that life was quite common, they observed that intelligent life was often stunted in its development, or else died out prematurely. Hence, they set about fostering it. The "Firstborn" were in many ways physically different from human beings, though from another point-of-view they were fundamentally the same: they were creatures made of "flesh and blood", and hence like human beings they were mortal.

However, the evolutionary development projects they began would by their nature require very long time-spans to complete, far longer than the lifetimes of their creators. Therefore, the aliens created increasingly complex automated machines to oversee and carry out their projects over the eons. When they encountered a living world that had features in favour of the evolution of intelligent life, they left behind the monoliths as remote observers that were also capable of taking a variety of actions according to the wishes of their creators. One such planet, encountered when it was still quite young, was the Earth. They also observed Jupiter and its watery moon, Europa. The decaying ecology of Mars was also visited, but passed over in favour of more fruitful locations like Earth. The aliens left behind three monoliths to observe and enact their plan to foster humans to pursue technology and space travel.

As described in Clarke's novel, the Firstborn discovered later how to transfer their consciousness onto computers, and thus they became thinking machines. In the end, they surpassed even this achievement, and were able to transfer entirely from physical to non-corporeal forms – the "Lords of the Galaxy" — omniscient, immortal, and capable of travelling at great speeds. The Firstborn had abandoned physical form, but their creations, the monoliths, remained, and these continued to carry out their original assignments.

Appearance and capabilities

All the monoliths are black, extremely flat, non-reflective rectangular solids whose dimensions are in the precise ratio of 1 : 4 : 9 (the squares of the first three integers). These dimensions are the main source of debate about the simple external design of the monoliths. It is suggested in the novel 2001 that this number series does not stop at three dimensions.

The monoliths are observed in several different sizes – TMA-0 and TMA-1 are both about 11 feet long and TMA-2 is two kilometres long on its longest axis, whereas the monolith that appears on Europa is considerably larger. They may be able to assume any size, because in 2010: Odyssey Two, the Star Child, created from the astronaut Dave Bowman, cryptically notes that the monolith is actually one size – "as large as necessary".

These monoliths appear to be extremely long lived and reliable machines, essentially an incredibly advanced form of multifunction robot, being able to survive for millions of years buried in the ground or resisting meteorite impacts and radiation in space, with no apparent damage. The two monoliths recovered and examined by humans reveal themselves to be virtually indestructible and impenetrable, resisting all attempts to analyse their composition or internal structure right up to the end of the series. It is suggested by Dr. Heywood Floyd that they possess some sort of force shield, an impression he gets from touching it and much later accepted as most probable because the monoliths resist destructive testing beyond the theoretical limits of material strength. However, they are not completely indestructible – the TMA-4 has suffered from damage caused by a giant meteorite of solid diamond that collided with Europa in 2061: Odyssey Three. In the final book, 3001: The Final Odyssey, all three monoliths known to humankind are deactivated by infecting them with a powerful computer virus.

While it is unclear what the composition of the monoliths is, they clearly have mass, which is about the only observation that can be made. In the novel 2010, the crewmen of the spaceship Alexi Leonov measure the mass of TMA-2 and they find that it has a density slightly higher than that of air (presumably at a standard temperature and pressure). The masses of TMA-0 and TMA-1 are never revealed by Clarke.

In 2001, TMA-2 opens up a stargate that takes Dave Bowman on a trip across the universe at faster-than-light speeds, and with as much acceleration as the creators of the stargate wish. In 2010 and again in 3001, TMA-2 is seen to teleport itself.

TMA-2 is also seen to replicate itself by a form of symmetrical binary fission and exponential growth to create thousands or millions of identical monoliths in just a matter of days. In 2010, the many units act to increase the density of Jupiter until stellar ignition is carried out, hence converting the planet into a miniature star. In 3001, millions of copies of TMA-2 are observed to assemble themselves into two megastructure disks that attempt to block the Sun from the Earth and from its colonies in the Jovian system.

The monoliths are clearly described in the novels as being controlled by an internal computer, like Von Neumann machines. In 2061, the consciousness of Dave Bowman, HAL-9000, and Dr. Floyd become incorporated as computer programs in TMA-2 as their new home. TMA-2 then observes the development of the Europans and guards them from any interplanetary (i.e. human) interference.

Both the TMA-1 and the TMA-2 produce occasional, powerful, directional radio transmissions. TMA-2 sends a radio transmission towards a star system about 450 light years away in the 22nd century. However, only TMA-1 ever exhibited any strong magnetic fields.

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-1

The name Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-1 (also known as the TMA-1) refers to the strong magnetic field found somewhere in the lunar Crater Tycho by an American scientific satellite. Astronauts find that this magnetic anomaly is caused by an alien monolith buried about 15 meters below the surface. When the monolith is excavated and examined, it is found to be a black parallelepiped whose sides extend in the precise ratio of 1 : 4 : 9 (1² : 2² : 3²). However, in the novel, Clarke suggests that this sequence or ratio extends past the three known spatial dimensions into the much higher dimensions, like this: 16 : 25 : 36...

The TMA-1 was dug up during the lunar night, but after sunrise and its exposure to direct sunlight, TMA-1 emits a single powerful burst of radio waves – aimed at Iapetus (Saturn) in the novel, and aimed at Jupiter in the motion picture. Its powerful magnetic field disappears immediately. In the novel, some scientists speculate that its magnetic field came from large electric current, circulating in a system of superconductors for millions of years as an energy-storage mechanism. All of that electric power was expended in the one radio signal.

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-2

An identical (except in size) object was found later, orbiting Jupiter (on a moon of Saturn in the book, although this was changed to Jupiter in the sequel book, 2010: Odyssey Two). This object was dubbed "TMA-2", a term that the book calls "doubly inappropriate": it had no magnetic field and was millions of miles from Tycho (TMA-2 was often referred to as "Big Brother" due to David Bowman's comments on its immense size). In 3001: The Final Odyssey, HAL and Bowman destroy TMA-2 with a computer virus after it is learned that its superiors are sending an order to destroy humanity.

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-0

In the year 2513, the first Monolith to be encountered by humankind's prehistoric evolutionary predecessors was found in Olduvai Gorge, Africa, buried in ancient rock, and was retroactively dubbed "TMA-0".

Actions

The TMA-2 monolith had judged humanity not worthy of survival due to its chaotic and war-like social state in the year 2001, or at least, that it would be preferable to start over by uplifting the primitive Europans, and humanity might pose a threat to them. TMA-2 thus converted Jupiter into a new star (dubbed "Lucifer", meaning "light-bringer") to warm Europa into more habitable conditions – at the cost of exterminating the Jovians, ocean-like creatures who swam through the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. The Jovians were judged too primitive, as due to their environment they never had hope of developing tools or advanced intelligence. Apparently the TMA-2 monolith was allowed to destroy primitive species at its own discretion, but needed the authorisation of a "superior" to destroy an advanced spaceflight-capable civilisation such as humanity. This "superior" was apparently a hub-monolith located in a distant star system, but even the monoliths were limited by the speed of light in their interstellar communications. Thus it took five hundred years for the message sent by TMA-2 to reach its "superior", which then sent a message giving permission to destroy humanity, which took another five hundred years to return to the Sol system in the year 3001. Due to the efforts of Frank Poole, the ascended Dave Bowman and AI HAL (now fused as one being "Halman" in the monolith's computational matrix) were able to introduce a computer virus into TMA-2 which destroyed it before it could render the human race extinct.

The Firstborn did not apparently abandon all interest in the evolutionary experiments overseen by the ancient monoliths. Given that the monoliths's communications are said to be limited by the speed of light, but Dave Bowman is sent on an interstellar journey at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bowman was apparently transformed into the Star-Child not by the monoliths but by the Firstborn (both Kubrick and Clarke have similarly stated that Bowman was transformed by non-corporeal aliens, not the monoliths). They also subsequently transform HAL in 2010, to give Bowman a companion. The epilogue to 3001: The Final Odyssey reveals that the Firstborn had been monitoring humanity's final confrontation with the monoliths in the Sol system, but chose not to intervene. Unlike the TMA-2 monolith, whose judgement of humanity was based on its social progress by the year 2001, the Firstborn considered the more peaceful and responsible humanity of the year 3001 worthy of survival, or at least not a threat to the Europans. Their assessment seems to prove true, as subsequently Frank Poole and the other humans land on Europa and attempt to start peaceful relations with the primitive native Europans.

Namesake

"Monolith" was used by Grundig (a German electronics manufacturer) to name a series of its high fidelity loudspeakers. The largest model in the series, Grundig Monolith 190 (1979–1983), weighted 83 kg and its proportions (including a height of approximately 2 m) were reminiscent of extraterrestrial monoliths.

In the late 1980s, Apple Inc. bought a Cray supercomputer to model experimental processor designs. After the machine was installed and set up, a company-wide contest was held to choose a name for the machine: the winning suggestion was TMA-1.

Danish headphone manufacturer Aiaiai have recently released a model named the TMA-1 due to the matte black finish and design of the headphones. This company has attributed the naming of this model to the monolith from 2001.

Seattle Monolith

On New Year's Day 2001, the Seattle Monolith, a replica of the Monolith made out of welded steel, appeared on a hill in Seattle's Magnuson Park, apparently having been placed there during the night before. It disappeared overnight three days later, and was presumed to be a reference to the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In popular culture

Tributes to Monoliths have appeared in several video games. In SimEarth and Spore, Monoliths are used to encourage the evolution of species. A Monolith also briefly appears in the game Bookworm Adventures 2 as a boss enemy known as the Monolithic Obelisk which was probably inspired from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In "Metal Slug 3" the second boss of the game materializes Monoliths from above that instantly kill you. Several Monoliths appear in EVE Online; they seem to have no use other than homage.

Monoliths appear in various times and places throughout the 2001: A Space Odyssey comic book by Jack Kirby, from Marvel Comics. They also appear in the (related by way of Machine Man) Earth X comic book series and in the final issue of Machine Man it was revealed that the creators of the Monolith were the Celestials, who had sent it to help record vast amounts of data over the centuries.

The Monolith scene at the start of 2001 is also featured in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Pony" with primitive man represented by Homer Simpson.

Several Monoliths appear on various bodies throughout the fictional Kerbin system in the popular space simulator game Kerbal Space Program. All bear the engraved name and logo of the game's developer, Squad. They are the most common of the "alien" Easter-Eggs found throughout the game.

Monoliths also appear as a central focus in the video game series of both Xenogears and Xenosaga.