Ascent of Man
- Time passes.
- More time passes.
- More time passes.
- Lots of time; thousands and millions of years.
- Whoosh!
- The man-apes get more man-like.
- No word about what happens to the women-apes. 2001 doesn't care much about women.
- Anyway, apes get more like humans-beings, ice ages come and go.
- Using tools gives the apes dexterity, which they use to make better tools, or at least use the ones they've got better.
- Also they've learned to talk, which is helpful.
- Humans are awesome and powerful and have bigger and badder tools, including nuclear weapons, which are not so cool because they could kill everybody.
- That's the ominous end of part one.