Monolith (Space Odyssey) 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 appear to have abandoned all interest in the evolutionary experiments overseen by the ancient Monoliths. Given that the Monoliths' 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", and Bowman is apparently transformed into the Star Child, not by the Monoliths, but by the Firstborn (both Kubrick
Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the film calls attention to the purpose of the satellites. James John Griffith, in a footnote in his book "Adaptations As Imitations: Films from Novels", wrote "I would wonder, for instance, how several critics, commenting on the match-cut that links humanity's prehistory and future, can identify—without reference to Clarke's novel—the satellite as a nuclear weapon". Arthur C. Clarke, in the TV documentary "2001: The Making of a Myth", described the bone-to-satellite sequence in the film, saying "The bone goes up and turns into what is supposed to be an orbiting space bomb, a weapon in space. Well, that isn't