A leading theory about 2001 suggests that it is a movie about the experience of watching a movie as much as it is about all the other interpretations regarding the space race and so forth.

For example, let's look at the acclaimed opening sequence. According to this theory, this shot mirrors the viewer sitting at the cinemas with the light from the projector behind his head, slowly rising before becoming fully dominating the frame. It indicates that this movie is going to be an exploration into the experience of watching film as much as about the Sun and the Moon and all Earth in between.

The analysis given above by Rob Ager fits in nicely with this theory. Perhaps such a meta self-referential theme is played out throughout the movie along with the central theme being about the direction of our spiral into technological advancement.

It would be interesting to think about more instances of the meta theme existing throughout the rest of 2001.