‘My God, it’s full of Stars….’
I’ve been musing all last night and this morning about how to tackle this sad news and decided that its probably best for the great man to speak for himself (pilfered unashamedly from a comment on Metafilter);
From 2010:
‘Held there by curiosity, and a growing fear of the long loneliness that lay before him, that which had once been David Bowman, Commander of the United States spacecraft Discovery, watched as [its] hull boiled stubbornly away. For a long time, the ship retained its approximate shape; then the bearings of the carousel seized up, releasing instantly the stored momentum of the huge, spinning flywheel. In a soundless detonation, the incandescent fragments went their myriad separate ways. Hello, Dave. What has happened? Where am I?” …
“I will explain later, Hal. We have plenty of time….’
I grew up reading the big three of SF, a love I inherited from my Dad as my family home was littered with books by Clarke and Asimov in particular. I’ve already discussed my relationship with 2001: A Space Odyssey, suffice to say I will be having a tribute viewing over the Easter weekend, I was planning to watch the commentary on the new 2001 DVD release but I think its more fitting to watch it ‘properly’.
I was never much of a ‘hard’ science fiction fan, give me Ray Bradbury, William Gibson or Philip K Dick any day (truth be told with the exception of Gibson and a bit of Iain Banks I don’t read any SF these days) but what I did like about Clarke was his ability to evoke the universe as quite staggeringly beautiful in its enormity, hows it’s mysteries and wonders are almost spiritual in their vastness.
I hope someone’s keeping an eye on Bradbury. Final word from Clarke which I have published here before, but it bears repeating;
‘Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe and sometimes I think we aren’t. Either way the implications are staggering’….
Minty's Menagerie 
How to respond the life and work of Arthur Clarke? That’s a good question and one about which I have plenty to say. Though whether or not I can convey it all here and now is another matter (especially after returning from an evening of hefty drinking with the Minty Blonde one himself).
In my opinion 2001 wasn’t his greatest work, Rendezvous with Rama was much better. Unfortunately now both the author and the director who could have done it justice are dead. I read that there have been talks about making a movie of “Rendezvous” but frankly I find it hard to believe that any modern major motion picture company would do it justice (for financial reasons, nobody seems interested in the actual stories rather than the bangs and sex any longer).
I love Minty’s title “My god, it’s full of stars”. I remember catching the sleeper train to Cornwall for a weekend of debauchery surrounded by a zillion other computer programmers, wandering into the buffet car and commenting “My god, it’s full of geeks” 🙂 You just have to pay your respects where they’re due (even if it is with misquotations)
Surely though the greatest quote ever from Mr Clarke was: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ?
To this day many of us who write software for non-software organisations surely appreciate the truth of that quote?
No doubt other technologists working in various fields would sympathise with me there.
Ah well, the chap’s dead and so be it. Time comes to us all.
Shame though.
March 20, 2008 at 12:36 AM