"Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future"

This quote by Robert Smithson talks to the idea that the new monuments these days are not as effective in helping us keep in mind the past as the old monoliths were. Instead, these brand-new monoliths seem to be triggering us to forget the future. This might be translated as a criticism of the modern world, where we are so concentrated on the present that we forget to prepare for the future. Smithson's quote might likewise be interpreted as a caution that if we don't make the effort to bear in mind the past, we might be doomed to duplicate it. By forgetting the future, we are not gaining from our errors and are rather setting ourselves up for failure. Smithson's quote is a tip that we need to make the effort to keep in mind the past and prepare for the future in order to create a much better world.