Rewatch that movie, and then watch nearly every Sci-Fi film that's followed it. You'll find striking (almost biting scene-for-scene) similarities in films like Solaris, Eagle Eye, Mission to Mars, and even a Batman Animated feature bites off of HAL9000.
That movie alone, though boring to most, single-handedly shaped the Sci-Fi genre and set the precedent for artistic, visual style filming 41 years ago. On top of that, Arthur C. Clarke nailed precursors to the world we live in now. Video phones and liveable space stations, most notable.