What is the significance of the monoliths in the movie 2010:The Year We Make Contact?

Question by merlin_steele: What is the significance of the monoliths in the movie 2010:The Year We Make Contact?
I’ve seen both movies, and even read the synopsis on Wikipedia of 2010, and at the end it says that a single black monolith stands waiting for some type of evolution. What does it mean? Will the plants and animals on Europa evolve very quickly, or just in real time as it did on Earth (in the movie, I’m not sure about real life, not wanting arguments about/against evolution, thanks lol)

Best answer:

Answer by Fatwayne
This question has been asked thousands of times before! Please don’t feel bad because I am certain that it was asked by people smarter than you or me. This movie caused more “head scratching” than any other that I can remember. Not only the monoliths but the ending with the old man dying in bed somewhere outside of Jupiter!

I checked on Roger Ebert.com and came away with his insight as follows: “audiences don’t like simple answers, I guess; they want the monolith to “stand” for something. Well, it does. It stands for a monolith without an explanation. It’s the fact that man can’t explain it that makes it interesting”.

By Mr. Ebert’s comment, I am led to believe that we have all been looking for an explanation that doesn’t even exist! It is what it is!

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