While the tools were a blessing toward aiding in survival, they also were used "to kill the interlopers from the opposing tribe" (Kolker 659). After that sequence, the bone used to kill the tribe leader is thrown in the air and shot in slow motion, transitioning into an important four million year jump cut in space. The bone is then replaced with a close up of a spaceship similarly shaped, called the Orion, taking humanity "to [their] current state of achievement still retaining much of [their] caveman attitude" (Sheridan). .
The people in the future are generally portrayed as isolating, programmed into a set way of thinking, and have almost completely forsaken their emotional process as a result of a huge wave of technological innovation. For example, there are many scenes in the beginning of the film where Dr. Floyd is the only one sitting in a room full of chairs, either in wide angle shots or long shots. The purpose of the way he is presented in the scenes are meant to show how empty and isolate humans have become with technology progressively advancing, emphasizing structure over emotional capacity. This is further demonstrated with the way birthdays are celebrated in the future. There is a mid ranged shot toward the beginning of the film where Dr. Floyd video chats with his daughter to ask what she wants for her birthday, and there is similar shot toward the middle of the film where Frank Poole gets a recorded birthday message from his parents. The scene has no music in the background, not setting up what is supposed to be a happy occasion. These scenes display how the idea of life isn't celebrated with full vitality as it once was, de-humanizing the concept in a busy, structural environment. It is seen as merely an obligated past time, losing its genuineness over the course of time. This contrasts the beginning of the movie, where the birth of a civilization was a monumental event, full of energetic movement and sound, as well music when the bone was discovered as a tool.