Sunday, October 23, 2005

2001: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY!



"I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN.
Man is something that is to be surpassed.
What have ye done to surpass man?
All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves:
And ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the beast than surpass man? Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm.
Once were ye apes, and even yet man is more of an ape than any of the apes.
Even the wisest among you is only a disharmony and hybrid of plant and phantom.
But do I bid you become phantoms or plants?
Lo, I teach you the Superman!
The Superman is the meaning of the earth.
Let your will say: The Superman SHALL BE the meaning of the earth! I conjure you, my brethren, REMAIN TRUE TO THE EARTH,
and believe not those who speak unto you of superearthly hopes!
Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not.
Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them!"

From the book THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTHRA by Friedrich Nietzsche

Arvind's recent post (Power play!) reminded me of the epic science fiction movie released in 1968: 2001 a space odyssey. The movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick and the story was written by Arthur. C. Clarke. The Story was published as a book in 1969 a full one year after the movie was released. What makes this movie so special? The movie and book were inspired in part by the book “thus spake Zarathusthra” by Friedrich Nietzsche. You might have wondered at why I included those sentences from the book by Nietzsche. Anyone who reads those sentences will realize the power behind them and the truth that they hold; I do not need to take the trouble of explaining them or analyzing them. This is the central theme of the movie “2001 a space odyssey”. A bench mark science fiction film of sorts.

It is a story that for the first time describes artificial intelligence. HAL9000 is a computer controlling a space ship on man’s mission to one of Jupiter’s moons. It becomes artificially intelligent and now begins to consider its human inhabitants as a threat to the mission. It considers itself above everyone else. It tries to annihilate all the inhabitants of the ship but finally succumbs to the simplest of tools that man has invented (a screwdriver!). The deep philosophy behind this movie is not apparent immediately. Many people who watched this movie came out confused not able to fathom what it meant.

I recently came across a website that explains Kubricks fantastic journey in detail.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO EXPERIENCE 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY

2001: THE SPACE ODYSSEY EXPLAINED!

4 comments:

Venky Krishnamoorthy said...

Have you tried the "back to the future" show in universal studios?

Ganesh said...

Kubricks 2001 website is just awesome.
Enjoyed the story very much.
Man is indeed a fish out of water in space.

Krish said...

Kubrick is a different thinker altogether. One could see his flashes of brilliance even during his last days thru "Eyes Wide Shut".

Ganesh said...

Good luck with your exams