The Concept of God in 2001: A Space Odyssey

I was just watching the What Is Out There? special feature on the Director Series edition of the 2001 DVD. That feature brings up Kubrick's assertion that the concept of God is "at the heart" of the film. From some of the other things he has committed to the record, it seems Kubrick's own interpretation was that of God-as-advanced-extraterrestrial.

I thought it would be interesting to see what interpretations of the God concept in 2001 this community might have to offer. Also, discussions on the God of the scientists, philosophers, and faithful and how they relate to the vision as presented in the film might be interesting.

The Obelisk, HAL, God, and Human Nature

My take on the question of God that is at the heart of the film is that Kubrick is presenting us with a Feuerbachian view of God, which is God is the projection of an individual's and group's view of themselves and their values. I think the Obelisk represents the projection of the higher intelligence and HAL is the projection of humanity.

HAL is portrayed in his introduction as being perceived--and perceiving himself--as infallible. In the context of the ship, he is also close to being omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is also prideful. HAL's pride is commented on by the reporter in the clip we see, after he asks HAL if he resents human beings for their imperfections. This setup gives me the idea that HAL is supposed to represent the projection of modern man's positive attributes: rationality, power over one's environment, and sense of purpose.

The problem with prizing these attributes is that we prize and elevate these attributes mainly because they give us advantages. As Heidegger, Einstein, and “The Dawn of Man” sequence point out, our pursuit of technology and advancement is a mixed bag. When the ancestors of modern man discover tools, the discovery gives them the means to overcome other animals that have natural advantages over them, such as the cheetah in the film, and procure food easily from other animals. This paves the way for the beginnings of society. Unfortunately, it also heralds war, as we see when the rival group of primates develop an interest in the Obelisk and the tools. The primates with the tools, rather than sharing this advancement, recognize and exploit the disadvantage of the unequipped primates and kill them, as they see the other group as weaker and having interests that are in conflict with theirs (interest in the resources they subsist on and the means to procure those resources).

HAL, as an intelligent machine, is the embodiment both of technology and the attitudes that technology fosters in us. The unfolding of how HAL represents the aspect of human nature that we saw towards the end of the Dawn of Man sequence begins with the chess match. Almost immediately after HAL is presented as being infallible, he calls out his position on the board incorrectly. However, Frank does not catch this and his failure to catch the mistake costs him the game. It reveals that Frank is intellectually disadvantaged in relation to HAL and his actions on the ship.

Following Frank's demonstration of disadvantage, HAL interviews Dave and Dave unwittingly reveals another disadvantage: he does not know the purpose of the mission. This is when HAL announces the equipment “malfunction” and the events that will lead to the death of the crew unfold. HAL knows the purpose of the mission, has personal interest in the mission, and views the inferiority of the crew as a threat to the mission, so he sets out to eliminate the crew. HAL seems to be the character that most represents the “traditional” view of God: omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, testing, and a being that sees humanity mostly as either means or obstacles toward an end. That is, the projection of all the positive attributes we give to the primates when they discover tools.

The Obelisk seems to be the stand-in for the Spinozan view of God or the view of God that the philosophers and scientists who do not discount the existence God entirely take. It is indifferent toward humanity both in the beginning and in the end. It possesses all the positive attributes of man: knowledge, power, existence and so forth. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is. Its arrival on earth heralds our discovery of tools, humanity's discovery of it on the moon heralds the beginning of the Jupiter mission, and Dave's encounter with it heralds the next step for man, which seems to be being part of a universal consciousness.

The issue of God that is at “the heart” of the film, I think is this: Kubrick thinks that the frightening thing about the universe isn't that it is hostile but that it is indifferent. He thinks that if we could simply accept the indifference of the universe and use that recognition to foster a cooperative, rather than competitive nature, then we could do greater things and achieve that next step.

The Gnostic interpretation is an interesting one. The only major sticking point, to me, to reading a Gnostic meaning into the film are found in the concept of God and how HAL and his relation to human understanding is portrayed in the film.

The obelisk could be viewed as the thing imparting "gnosis"--or esoteric knowledge--to humanity throughout the film. However, there doesn't seem to be a Demiurge-typed figure in the story. Also, the supreme beings are portrayed as indifferent to humanity, not as persons interested in our advancement/salvation.

You could argue--as John Thurman does here--that the HAL story is the Frankenstein story, which is basically the Promethean tragedy for a modern age. That seems to imply that the man-as-Creator concept is an affront to the higher intelligence, which doesn't seem to gel with the message of gnosticism.

Of course, you could argue that humanity itself is the Demiurge. That, through technology, humanity has created a world in which it is blinded by mere shadows of actual things--they do say they aren't sure whether or not HAL actually has emotions, that he is merely programmed that way--which impedes the realization of their own true nature.

In that interpretation, it might be that HAL's seemingly purposeful and ruthless machinations are, in fact, malfunctions that the higher intelligence has forced onto HAL so that the crew must destroy HAL in order to complete the mission. It works, given that HAL's role in the film is essentially that of the "gatekeeper" to Jupiter. By confronting their own poor simulation of intelligence, they acheive apotheosis and are given the ultimate boon of awakening to a higher consciousness.