h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In 1982 Arthur C. Clarke wrote in his novel "2010 - Odyssey Two":
"All these are yours, except Europa." - referring to the colonisation of planets & moons within our solar system.
Interesting!
- Mickle

i was going to say that

True, but in 2061 and 3001, he implies that the monolith-makers, who told David Bowman to say that were malevolent. They sent the Monolith instructions that lead the humans to decide to destroy the monolith on Europa in 3001 and in 2010, they destroy the Jovians. It isn't really clear whether he supports that statment.

I thought that the instructions showed the limitations of the monolith makers rather than any particular malevolence. they believed that they had made a mistake and were attempting to make the best of it. it said in the book that the M.M. cultivated the universe and sometimes 'dispassionately ' they weeded. so no intended evil more than a gardener intends evil to their plants

You have a good point. Of course, since the monolith makers (also called the Firstborn) "found nothing more precious than the mind", the "attempt no landings there" warning might only apply to creatures with some chance of achieving intelligence, not simply to Europan bacteria. After all, the MM/Firstborn had no problem killing the noninteligent Jovians who probably wouldn't have become inteligent.

I think the "attempt no landings there" should probably be interpreted more as a corolary to the Prime Directive than a specific warning about Europa, "Not only don't interfere with inteligent beings, don't interfere with species that might evolve inteligence." It only applies to Europa if Europans have any chance of developing complex animal life with a potenial for inteligence and that is unlikely to happen unless Jupiter becomes a star. Even Clarke pointed out that pre-Luciferian Europa was a doomed world.