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Arthur C. Clarke Is Dead At 90
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Mar 18, 2008 05:27 PM
from the pod-bay-doors-are-open dept.
from the pod-bay-doors-are-open dept.
Many readers are sending in word that Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka. He wrote over 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous With Rama, and popularized the ideas of geosynchronous communications satellites and space elevators.
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Science: The Arthur C. Clarke Gamma Ray Burst 120 comments
Larry Sessions, a columnist for Earth & Sky, has suggested in his blog that the gamma-ray event whose radiation reached us a few hours before Arthur C. Clarke died, and which occurred 7.5 billion years ago, be named the Clarke Event. The outburst, which produced enough visible light to render it a naked-eye object across half the universe, is officially designated GRB 080319B. What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one? Sessions suggests writing to any astronomers, heads of physics departments, or planetarium operators you know and talking up the proposal.
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Mortality (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mortality (Score:5, Informative)
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
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Not Just the Fiction (Score:5, Interesting)
The world will miss him.
Re:Not Just the Fiction (Score:5, Insightful)
God speed, Mr. Clarke.
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Re:Not Just the Fiction (Score:5, Informative)
He was a imaginative and intelligent man. He contributed a lot. He's gone, but he's not going anywhere.
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Re:Not Just the Fiction (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, I do share your opinion in part, and I don't want to sound like I'm flaming. I do think that his stories, and the field of science-fiction in general, has not only inspired budding scientists and engineers, but also ordinary people to develop an interest in the role of science in our society, as well as its prominent role in humanity's future.
That is one way of appreciating Clarke's writings. It can also be appreciated for its historical significance, having been written in an era of unprecedented American optimism. Just a year after both the book and movie were written, the Americans landed on the moon, after all! The stories' popularity can also be seen as a reflection of our self-image, value systems, or even fears through the themes and issues it raises. And if the HAL 9000 isn't an expression of our fear of technology, then I don't know what is!
(as written on Wikipedia, because I'm too lazy to do any of my own analysis, one theme that the book examines is the way that "troubles... crop up when man builds machines, the inner workings of which he does not fully comprehend and therefore cannot fully control"--sounds like my mother trying to work her DVD player, but I digress)
Once again, I'm not trying to criticize your feelings, but I merely wish to nitpick and point out to others that it is possible to appreciate authors and the works they create in more ways than a pragmatic, utilitarian, "what have they done to improve our world" sense of appreciation. Literature is more than just a tool...
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Re:Not Just the Fiction (Score:4, Insightful)
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Now this is someone (Score:5, Insightful)
Farewell (Score:5, Funny)
All These Novels... (Score:5, Funny)
RIP, ACC.
Re:All These Novels... (Score:5, Insightful)
And the morons, the geeknobs, the imbeciles that self-award themselves for movies, completely blew it. Do you know what won the Oscar for the best movie of 1969? You might look it up. No one remembers it. 2001 didn't even win an award for best costumes, that went to the inane world of Roddy McDowell and his geriatric simians for Planet of the Apes. They gave 2001 an award for special effects, and you can argue almost everything important until CG was done in 2001. It didn't make it onto that stupid list of 100 best films (give me a break). And compared to other films made the same year (how about the ludicrous 'Robinson Crusoe on Mars'?) it was just miles and miles ahead of anything anyone else could imagine.
Most importantly, much of what Clarke/Kubrick presented was righteously and vigorously dismissed as bunk, especially w.r.t. the early hominid sequences. Remember this was the era of arguing over "Killer Apes" or gentle pre-humans. His presentation of pre-humans' war-like behavior was ridiculed, and his presentation of weapons development as the nucleus of development of greater intelligence was mostly scorned.
Today we can watch some of the nature channel films about chimpanzees going out on "war patrol." They act almost exactly like the prehumans did in the film. They said bands of apes wouldn't fight, well, they do. They said apes don't fight over water, well, they do. They say they don't use tools as weapons, well, they do. In the end, Kubrick and Clarke were right about almost everything.
To this day, from watching his film, almost no one can grasp his biggest concept on their own (that when we encounter a greater intelligence we will have no greater understanding of it than an ant would walking about on a tank). And to this day almost no one can spot the aliens right there in plain sight (and no, they aren't the monoliths).
You will be missed, Arthur and Stanley.
-Luen
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Re:All These Novels... (Score:5, Interesting)
at no risk of sounding stupid -- AC here! -- could you clarify that statement, please? Or perhaps you're talking about us? Even if we were seedlings of extra-terrestrial intelligences, Earth has been our home for millions of years and I'd feel uneasy at calling ourselves aliens in our home planet...
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Don't worry (Score:5, Funny)
sorry, couldn't resist.
This one hurts! (Score:5, Insightful)
Bon Voyage, Sir Arthur! Many of us will truly miss you...
Coverage from several news sources (Score:5, Informative)
AP/Washington Post [washingtonpost.com]
BBC [bbc.co.uk]
LA Times [latimes.com]
Bloomberg [bloomberg.com]
National Post [nationalpost.com]
Re:Coverage from several news sources (Score:5, Interesting)
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From TFA (Score:4, Informative)
It's such a shame, isn't it, that they can't get things right in these articles, even when the slightest research would have shown the writer that the novel Space Odyssey [wikipedia.org] was written as a novelization of the classic movie. The movie itself was based mostly on Clark's short story, The Sentinel. Furrfu!
Huh. (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:From TFA (Score:5, Interesting)
Asimov dropped off the manuscript the following week, and it was promptly serialized in a magazine, leading many people to believe the film was made from an Asimov novel. Harry Kleiner, who wrote the original screenplay, was not amused...
rj
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Re:From TFA (Score:5, Interesting)
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Friend of my youth (Score:4, Insightful)
"Time is the fire in which we burn..."
RIP90th Birthday Reflections (Score:5, Informative)
His Kipling quote at the end should help bring closure to all his fans.
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
Condolences and fond memories (Score:5, Insightful)
I can still remember hollowness in my chest from "Childhood's End," the wonder and fear from the "Odysseys", and the rompy fun from "Rama."
Though we can all take some solace from the immortal parts of him that live on in all of his books and in us, his readers, I for one will surely miss him.
Thank you Sir Clarke and peace on your eternal rest.
Will I dream? Of course you will. (Score:5, Insightful)
many of those dreams became a relaity.
And we are still pursuing some of them.
--dmg
Now my whole trinity is gone... (Score:4, Insightful)
But their stories, intellect, and vision for the future will inspire generations more.
If there is anything beyond this life.... (Score:5, Interesting)
In terms of his factual writings, I have many of his articles that were written for Wireless World, including the letter and two follow-up articles on geostationary satellites. Those three in particular can be found on the web - many people have scanned them in. They're well worth reading. He was a highly skilled writer on technical stuff. Technical writers today should pay attention to them and learn.
Thinking not just of Clarke but all of Discovery.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is it that when one cries at a movie involving war heroes or romance it is socially acceptable, but when I become choked-up not just about the passing of one of our greats - as I have today - but at the whole of scientific discovery I feel somehow, I'm not sure...I guess just ashamed.
This happens to me now and then. Like when I saw a documentary on mitochondrial eve, and I became full of such emotion about the interconnectedness of us all that I had to leave the room lest my wife see me weep (not that she would ridicule me, just because).
Why should I not be proud of my tears? Why, even in this day, surrounded by so much intellect and accepting cultures should I still not disclose this little secret to anyone except the pseudo-anonymous like-minds on this website?...
Why should we not all weep at the stars?
Re:Thinking not just of Clarke but all of Discover (Score:4, Interesting)
In real life, if you will, these events cause really deep, pure emotions that are... well, difficult to handle at times.
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Daisy, Daisy/Give me your answer do (Score:5, Interesting)
finding your great connexion
with the majesty that lies buried in mens' hearts
watching and waiting to see if those you left behind
will understand your message before it's too late
arthur c clarks should have been done in threes
a backup seer always ready
to disarm warmongering nukes from Mercury or even Imperial Earth
leading us across a bridge to the heavens and a rendezvous with destiny
counting the nine billion names of god as they are one and none
now we carbon based bipeds must confront childhood's end
with a memory in our hearts
of one who changed the world with intelligence, nobility and grace
rest in peace, arthur c clarke, you will be forgotten all too soon
but not for a little while yet
He was really a futurist... (Score:5, Funny)
The article states he died on wednesday, but it's still tuesday!
(I know, I know... it's due to the time zones...)
One of the masters (Score:4, Interesting)
His story "How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time" about his failure to patent his geosynchronous communication satellite network concept is simultaneously sad and funny. He got everything right except he thought that the satellites needed to be crewed because of the requirements of changing burnt out vacuum tubes! Too bad the transistor was still ten years away at the time.
More than once in his writings he made the claim that he was proud to be an atheist. Somehow I hope that he wasn't disappointed being wrong and instead was pleasantly surprised.
What the machine might do (Score:5, Interesting)
They got so much wrong, but the issues they got right. We don't have flying cars, but we are different people due to technology. We do not get our food from cubes, but the fast food is just presented manner meant to imitate the food it replaces. We had pocket calculators long before the cleaning work was autonomously taken over by machine, but the roomba exists. Children are being trained in ware fare using video games. The basis of our interactions are being changed by rapid instantaneous communication. Our basic functions, such as sex, have been changed by the picture phone and internet. No longer must anyone settle for the person next door, when one can surf for an attractive specimen in the morning, text during class, and set up the date for the evening at a bus stop midway between the two of you. In fact, we never have to settle when everything can be custom made to out specifications.
There are two things that disappoint me about many so-called intellectuals. The first is that they don't seem to read enough history. The second is that don't seem to read enough science fiction. To me this strikes me as a person who knows not where they came from, and who knows not where they are going. All they know is what is happening at the moment, their immediate desires, and all they care about is what they must do to fulfill those desires.
Clarke's writing clearly defines him as a different sort of person. The Foundation series clearly identifies him as a man who knew history. His life defines him as a man who knew where he as the rest of us were likely going. I wonder what the world would be like if our leaders were like this. People of history and vision, rather than people who apparently do not even both to hold a book correctly [about.com], and proudly states that they never read, or that they read the cliff notes versions. I am reminded of John F. Kennedy, the person who pushed the nation to space, for better or worse. It is claimed in Thirteen Days that JFK had read the Guns of August, did understand that many conflicts start because leaders assume they know what the other party is thinking, and then constructs inflexible plans based on those assumptions. As he knew history, he could do something different in his attempt to achieve a result. Again, history and vision of the future. Something we are sorely lacking, and something that is all too often ridiculed by those who are justing looking at how to swindle their first million by the time they are 25.
Also, the Newspad (Score:5, Interesting)
How cool it must have been for him to see so many of his visions turn into reality!
Memories of Paradise (Score:5, Interesting)
I actually got to travel to Sri Lanka and meet him. It was truly the experience of a life time. I had been following the foot steps of many other great people. Astronauts, writer, Hollywood types and scientists that have all traveled there to meet him. I had lunch at his home, got to play ping pong with him, it was one of the few physical activities he was still up to. He showed me original sketches of the Space elevator that he and Buckminster fuller had drawn. Even gave me a signed copy of one of his books.
Unfortunately I was so broke at the time all I could afford was one of those 10 Dollar disposable cameras and none of the photo's I took came out, maybe the X-ray machine zapped em. The grand old British hotel there the Galle Face Hotel built in 1864 was incredible but was killing my finances at $150 per night. http://www.gallefacehotel.com/ [gallefacehotel.com]
The video streaming even was at UIUC in celebration of Hal's birthday.
It was amazing to see the turn out. On the large theater screen he was larger then life and it really seems th e internet owes him a large debt of gratitude. For he has been an inspiration for so many.
Sri Lanka was Paradise. In spite of the Civil war, I have never been anywhere so majestic, the people were so hospitable, even strangers on the street were inviting me to there homes to have some food and drink with them. I must have walked every part of Colombo in the week I was there. The food was fantastic, the women were so beautiful, the ocean breeze and the sun sets. Oh the sun sets they put even the best ones in Santa Monica to shame. I still feel almost home sick for Sri Lanka even though I have only been there the one time.
I can completely understand why he moved there. I would if I could also.
Never making it back there is something that I deeply regret. Hearing this news really drove that home this afternoon. Meeting him has been one of the defining moments in my life.
Godspeed Arthur.
For Clarke is for us techies far more significant to us then Prices Dianna ever was.
It's nice to see that this slashdot page it turning into a memorial. I wonder if more formal memorial services would happen around the world.
http://www.dnull.com/~sokol/clarke.html [dnull.com] This is from the streaming even and some video clips of him.
I actually think this may be the longest clip up on youtube, somehow they must have allowed it to slip through there size restrictions.
Re:shame. (Score:5, Interesting)
'Islands in the Sky' Blew me away when I first read it as a child, I still consider it to be one of the most prophetic of all SF books. I recently spent rather a lot of money of a 1952 paperback edition of same.
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Re:shame. (Score:5, Insightful)
Rest in peace, Arthur C. Clarke - you will never be forgotten.
I can still remember the chill that went down my spine at the end of 2010 (the year we make contact) when HAL relays David Bowman's message:
Attempt no landings there.
Use them together. Use them in Peace.
And the (almost Obamaesque) hope I felt when Haywood Floyd tells his son, "Someday, the children of the old sun will meet the children of the new sun. I hope we can be friends"
2001, 2010, Rama, Glide Path (and instrument landing systems), The City and the Stars, Earthlight, The Nine Billions Names of God, his Scientific American paper on geosynchronous satellites, and so much more. I can't imagine what our world would be like without his contributions.
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Pedantry, I know. But if you want to use Latin... (Score:5, Informative)
It's requiescat, if you want to say "[may he] rest in peace", i.e. the traditional RIP.
If you mean it as a command (as you phrased it), it would be requiesce.
Requiem is a noun. You could say something like Requiem ei donetur (Rest be granted unto him).
And of course, it's in, not im.
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Re:shame. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's understandable that, as he got older, his energy to write faded, but it's a real shame that he let other people put his name on shoddy products that he essentially had nothing to do with. They say that the apalling sequels to Rendevous with Rama [amazon.com] (an excellent work and a science-fiction classic) were basically entirely Gentry Lee's doing in spite of the prominent appearance of both names on the covers. When the sequels are so bad they can only tarnish the perception of the original (see Star Wars).
This news is sad, but I hope that younger generations today will go back to the early works, ignoring all of the later publication, and see just how visionary a writer Clarke was.
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Re:shame. (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a normal tactic in the book industry. It is a way for publishers to introduce new authors they think might be good to the reading public. If you saw a book by someone named Gentry Lee, how likely would you be to buy it if you had never heard of him before? Now, if you see Arthur C Clark's name on the cover, you would be likely to buy it. It's not a totally bad system, because it does help to get people who are really good authors established. My father is a best selling author and the first 6-10 of his books were coauthored with someone famous (who did little more than add a couple anecdotes and a forward).
The big problems with the system, though, are when you have authors who are famous not checking up on the books they put their names on. This can happen either because they are lazy, getting old, or most likely just want another paycheck that they know a book with their name on it will bring. This can dilute the brand when bad books with their name on it get out, and sometimes hurt the author if thecoauthor gets into a scandal or does something disgraceful. That also happened to my dad when the famous coauthor did something entirely out of character with what the books were about.
So here's the basic rule of thumb when buying books. If you see a book with two names on it (one of them being a famous person you recognize), IMMEDIATELY assume that the book was written by the other, unknown author with the name in small print. Know that you are taking a risk and getting a book that may not be as good as previous books by the famous author. However, also know someone at the publishing house thought this author was pretty good or they wouldn't be trying to publish him and get his name known. So there is some chance you may find a gem of a book, and if so, you should buy books from that author again. But know going in that 95% of the time you see coauthors on anything other than a university text, the famous coauthor did 0% of the work, and probably didn't even read the book before putting his name on it. You have no guarantee he liked it, and no guarantee of quality (because even if he wrote the forward, he didn't necessarilly read the book).
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Re:shame. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:shame. (Score:4, Interesting)
It was either a prophesy or a forewarning on society and privacy - you pick. Even now it gives me the shivers thinking about it... and damned few SciFi books (of which I've read way too many) can do that.
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Re:shame. (Score:5, Insightful)
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CNN Quote - regarding patents (Score:5, Interesting)
Look at the advancement of humankind because he didn't patent the idea of satelites
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He's not dead you earthing fools (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:NAMBLA (Score:4, Insightful)
STFU. Try to have a little respect for a man whose shoelaces you are not fit to tie.
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Re:Loved this quote by him. (Score:5, Interesting)
the sci fi show stargate seems to be based on it. loved that they referred to him in show when mentioning how to create a sun.
it's a great loss but he's left behind so many books and fired the imagination of so many people that i can only ask the question are there writers writing today who will have such an impact?
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Re:Link for the uninformed. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Ouch. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:To bad he couldn't ascend (Score:4, Interesting)
The man impacted all sorts of people, in all sorts of ways.
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