Arthur C. Clarke, incomparable writer of such classics as The Fountains of Paradise, Earthlight, The City and the Stars, Childhood's End, Tales of the White Hart and 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died after (as he puts it) completing 90 orbits around the sun.
Clarke's writing style was uniquely enjoyable; although many problems and complications might arise, there is no problem that lies beyond deliberative, rational human effort.
He expressed three wishes in his 90th birthday video: he would like to see some evidence of extraterrestrial life, he wanted to see an end to the addiction to oil and a growth in other alternative technologies, and finally he wished that Sri Lankans could get along.
Clarke has arranged to send some DNA from strands of his hair into orbit. “One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time,” he told the Associated Press. Along with his DNA sample, Clarke enclosed a note with a brief handwritten wish addressed to that far-flung future: "Fare well, my clone."
He will be missed.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/18/2008)
Is There A Subterranean Ocean?
'A vast, limitless expanse of water, the end of a lake if not of an ocean, spread before us, until it was lost in the distance.'- Jules Verne, 1864.
The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future
'...the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound.'- John Brunner, 1975.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'