2001

2001 Space Odyssey was on TV last night. I never had a problem with the plot of 2001, which I think runs like this:

1. Aliens put a device on Earth that fast-forwards the evolution of apes to a higher form.

2. The higher form [us] finds a similar device buried on the Moon.

3. When found, it sends a wake-up call to its controller’s portal, left out near Jupiter.

4. We send a mission out to Jupiter, entrusting the lives of the crew to an A.I.

5. The A.I. goes bonkers and wastes most of the crew [later we find out why it went bonkers].

6. The last crew member slips into the portal and is whisked across the cosmos.

7. He ends up in a kind of zoo, built from blueprints of his memories, and therefore a place that he will understand.

8. Time is an illusion. Doubly so in that place, which can hardly be described as real. He sees himself as he is now, as he will be as a dying man, and how he will be when advanced to the next stage of evolution.

At least I think that’s it.