Toynbee tiles
Toynbee tiles are epoxy-based tiles found embedded in asphalt in several major cities in the United States with at least two known examples in South America as well. The tiles, about the size of a license plate, contain a somewhat mysterious inscription:
TOYNBEE IDEA
IN KubricK's 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER.
The "toynbee" referred to in the text is almost certainly Arnold J. Toynbee, a famous historian. "kubrick" certainly refers to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, co-writer and director of 2001: A Space Odyssey. However the text as a whole does not appear to reference any particular idea, the concept of raising the dead is not a part of any of Toynbee's writings nor Kubrick's (although it could be weakly argued it did in the sequel to 2001, 2010: Odyssey Two, although that was not written nor directed by Kubrick). In fact any connection between either of the Toynbees and Kubrick is difficult to find.
A possible interpretation is that the Arnold J. Toynbee reference comes from the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector", which alludes to Toynbee's idea that in order to survive, humankind must always rush to meet the future, i.e. believe in a better world, and must always aim far beyond what is practically possible, in order to reach something barely within reach. Thus the message might be that humanity ought to strive to colonize Jupiter -- as in Kubrick's work -- or something greater, to survive.
The tiles, of which about 130 are known, appear to be the work of a single person. The majority contain text similar to that above, although a second set is often found nearby alluding to a mass conspiracy between the press (including newspaper magnate
