mar 18th, 2008
the greatest science fiction writer and visionary of our times is no more. arthur c clarke passed away in sri lanka at the age of 90.
'2001: a space odyssey' remains the greatest science fiction film of all time, challenged only by one or two, such as 'blade runner' and 'metropolis'.
his ideas about geostationary satellites and about space elevators was interesting. his philosophy that there were no real black-and-white, scientific answers, but only grayish scientific-humanistic answers to various problems, is an indic response to semitic certainties. i think he was influenced by buddhist and hindu ideas.
one of my favorite stories by him is the 'nine billion names of god'. in it, tibetan lamas commission a large computer to print out the names of god one by one. their belief is that entire purpose of the universe is to come up with the nine billion names of god. the sceptical engineer who sets up the computer and gets it going is preparing to leave, while the names keep on getting generated and printed. then he looks up at the cold tibetan sky, and (i paraphrase from memory), "overhead, quietly, without fuss, the stars were going out one by one." yes, the purpose of the universe is complete and it is coming to an end as the nine billionth name is printed.
6 comments:
I too felt a sense of loss today morning when I watched BBC News 24 to hear Clarke had died.
I was born too late to read many of his books as they were out-of-print! Hopefully his estate will bring out a "Complete AC Clarke" as a DVD.
Amongst my favourite novels are Rendezvous with Rama and The Fountains of Paradise.
I too remember "The Nine Billion Names of God" and that last sentence. Very like Clarke to explore and be inspired by all beliefs and sources of knowldege.
He was a Scientist in the truest sense of the word. Unlike the self-professed "rationalists" the great Clarke did not present a closed mind when it came to what would be considered "paranormal" phenomenon. He studied them with an open mind just like anything else and was willing to hypothesize possible rational solutions though he was probably skeptical. No out-of-hand contemptuous dismissal. Definitely very indic, dare I say, in the mold of ancient Indian Rishis. This characteristic can be seen in his television serials "Mysterious World" and "World of Strange Powers".
I too have been an avid reader of his books for a long long time. The 2001 and 2010 space odyssey was good and so was Rendezvous with Rama. It was kind of disappointing to know that he chose the Hindu word Rama only after exhausting all the Greek and Roman names.
On a side note, wasn't he accused of pedophilia a while ago? Whatever happened to the case?
Clarke didn't himself exhaust Greek and Roman names - in the story, the extraterrestrial spaceship is named Rama after the namers -whoever they were - exhausted Greek and Roman names for extraterrestrial objects. That's how the story goes - there's a difference. You should read stories more carefully.
As far as the pedophilia accusation is concerned, Wikipedia reports that the magazine that accused him retracted their story.
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Don't forget that Clarke, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, came up with the idea of the Geosynchronous Telecommunications satellite. We are all surfing and conversing together on the internet, thanks to him. I loved his various books and short stories, including The Star, which had a very original twist to it.
shahryar, worthwhile stuff to read. out of print in the UK? that's sacrilege. i think most of his work in likely still in print in the US. anyway, libraries will have them. i read several of clarke's books as a youth at the british library in trivandrum. i liked the bleak 'childhood's end', and also 'a fall of moondust'. but my favorite always has been the screenplay for 2001 which was later issued as a book. his short stories were very good.
but there are a few other great sci-fi writers too that i have enjoyed. philip k dick (blade-runner), isaac asimov (i robot), ursula k leguin (lathe of heaven), robert heinlein, ray bradbury (fahrenheit 451).
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