Childhood's End

Once there was A. E. Van Vogt.  Once there was Asimov, and Heinlein, and Clifford Simak.  Once there was Kurt Vonnegut.  

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but today the world is a little less magical.

An aide says science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died.

Rohan De Silva says Clarke died early Wednesday after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90.

Clarke is the author of more than 100 books, including "2001: A Space Odyssey."

To paraphrase John Adams, "Bradbury survives."

"All political problems," Karellen had once told Stormgren, "can be solved by the correct application of power."

"That's a cynical remark," Stormgren had replied. " ...it's a little too much like 'might makes right.'" In our own past, the use of power has been notably unsuccessful in solving anything."

"The operative word is correct. You have never possessed real power, or the knowledge to apply it."

•  I never read but a few.

  But I liked the ones I did read.  Not every scifi author is a visionary.  Clarke was.

  by Fabian on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:09:51 PM PDT

  •  Visionary indeed

    In the postwar years, Clarke became involved with the British Interplanetary Society and served for a time as its chairman. His most important contribution may have been the idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He was the first in the world to propose this concept, doing so in a paper privately circulated among the core technical members of the BIS in 1945. The concept later was published in Wireless World in October of that year.

    cite

    by Lahdee on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:33:37 PM PDT

•  I am sorry to hear this

  I have a huge book of his short stories waiting to be read...he wrote a LOT...

  I liked the Rama series, too.

  He will be missed.

  by cfk on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:10:21 PM PDT

•  I love now and then to read

  a book or story I loved in childhood.  It calls up the excitement, dreams and wonder of a person I now remember vaguely.

  by Deep Harm on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:14:28 PM PDT

  •  Wow. what perception. I have embedded

    as only a fellow scifi reader from adolescense can.

    In my grieving I often think about the planet surviving as Trantor, totally covered in concrete and metal and all memory of the past viewed as a fairy tale.

    by yoduuuh do or do not on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:38:46 PM PDT

•  To paraphrase John Prine

  We are living in the future
  You ask me how I know
  I read it in the paper
  a long time ago

  by Ex Con on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:14:31 PM PDT

•  The world just became a little bit less

  interesting.  Sorry to hear this.

  by lineatus on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:15:31 PM PDT

•  Oh my. Clarke was my first foray

  into the science fiction genre.  What a loss.

  by Pandoras Box on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:15:56 PM PDT

•  Childhood's End

  sits in my nightstand and has for many years. I love this book.  I thought there was a lyrical side to Clarke that many missed.  Sad to see him go.

  by ksh01 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:16:12 PM PDT

  •  Probably his best book:

    Childhood's End

    Perhaps the most relevant of his books for today, as alluded to by the diarist.

    by Knarfc on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:44:18 PM PDT

  •  City in the Stars

    Is one of the first books I can rememeber reading.

    But too still have a copy of Childhood's End.

    by se portland on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:58:57 PM PDT

  •  My first science fiction book

    Childhood's End was the first science fiction book I ever read, at age ten, so it has a special place in my memory.

    It's amazing how well the future can be predicted and yet still surprise us.  DaVinci, Jefferson, Verne, Clarke, Feynman, and a host of others saw far ahead of their time, told us what was coming, and yet the details still astonish, delight, bedevil, and confound us.

    Time to crack open a few more books...

    by J McDonald on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:12:47 PM PDT

    •  more books, no kidding

      I read so much yet so little of what I read is in books  at all these days.

      My first science fiction book (I guess I was around 8) was A Wrinkle in Time.  Still love that book.

      by ksh01 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 06:03:45 PM PDT

•  Aww, you beat me to it, so I'll give you a rec.

  Here's what I was going to say in the diary I was writing:

  Clarke is perhaps remembered for his three laws:

    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.

  The third is widely quoted, often by people who aren't fans of science fiction and who don't know the man who coined the term.

  Issac Asimov once wrote a corollary to the first law which went something like:

  "When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right."

  Arthur C. Clarke wrote what would be known today as hard science fiction.  That's science fiction based on speculation with real scientific foundations.  These are the books I cut my teeth on as a youngster, and although I've since moved on to other genres, I remember them fondly, and read the books of my youth occasionally.  (Except Heinlein, who I now find to be preachy and a bit sopohmoric.  Sorry, Heinlein fans!)

  My favorite Clarke work has to be 2001: A Space Odyssey.  What's yours?

  Arthur will be seriously missed by his fans, including me.

  by Clues on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:18:25 PM PDT

  •  "Against the Fall Of Night"

    Bildungsroman 1 million years in the future.

    by Bob Love on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:27:58 PM PDT

    •  Oh yeah..loved that (nt)

      by Clues on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:28:29 PM PDT

•  Another great Humanist

  is now gone. What a shame. He was a great inspiration.

  He spent some years trying to figure out exactly how 70 years after the Scopes trial Americans were still not a single step further along than they were at the close of that trial.

  -I would defend the liberty of concenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent. [Arthur C. Clarke]

  I have encountered a few creationists and because they were usually nice, intelligent people, I have been unable to decide whether they were really mad, or only pretending to be mad. If I was a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created that whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading mankind? [Arthur C. Clarke, June 5, 1998, in the essay Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids, pp 1532-3]

  by iliketodrum on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:18:57 PM PDT

•  As a side project...

  I wrote a screen adaptation of Childhood's End over the course of three years. It has never been made into a film despite being on bookshelves for over what now 55 years?

  Clarke is the author that "got me into reading" when I was a kid. And Childhood's End was the book that made me realize I wanted to be a writer.

  -fink

  by fink on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:22:46 PM PDT

•  I enjoyed his writing

  Childhood's End was fun for me as it projected a possible end to this existence. My favorite is Rendezvous with Rama. I found the possibility of such a world fascinating. Imagine having a whole, self contained environment to tool around the universe in?

  A great loss of an amazing author and thinker.

  by Lahdee on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:26:00 PM PDT

•  Sad news, Devilstower

  Clarke was a favorite when I was growing up.  There was a single short story of his that made a particular impression on me when I was a young computer programmer to be: The Nine Billion Names of God.

  (If you're interested you can find a copy easily enough on the internet, but I haven't linked to any because I'm not sure of the copyright status of the work.)

  by mlharges on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:27:53 PM PDT

  •  One by one, the stars were going out...

    Still gives me shivers. Great story.

    by lesliet on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:50:50 PM PDT

    •  I did a radio play of that story

      back in college as a project for a literature class.

      I can still hear the accents of the guy we got to play the high lama.  Okay, so he was actually from Kenya, but to a bunch of Kentucky kids and exotic accent was an exotic accent.

      Damn fine story, no matter how badly I butchered it in my ten minute production.

      by Devilstower on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 09:26:38 PM PDT

  •  gives me the heebie-jeebies

    I dunno, maybe I actually do have a morsel of religiosity, and in such a fantasy can conceive of these events actually occurring.

    Maybe that's what the Incas were talking about with their October 2012 stuff.

    by N in Seattle on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:56:35 PM PDT

•  Inventor of the Geostationary Orbit

  if I recall correctly. And the orbital space elevator, though we have yet to build one.

  by Bob Love on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:30:01 PM PDT

•  I Thought,

  That the title of this diary referred to Obama's speech.  This was the first time any politician has spoken honestly about race.  Is America grown up enough to hear it?
  PS- Humanity has lost a great mind and a great heart.

  by Prince Nekhlyudov on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:33:06 PM PDT

  •  PrinceNekhlyudov, good thing Kos took away

    my power to deliver zeroes or you'd get one for this attempt to hijack a diary.

    by BlackSheep1 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:42:14 PM PDT

    •  So, What Do -

      You have to say about Clarke?  The overriding theme in Clarke's writing is the potential for human growth, transcendence.  I do find a startling parallel with the place where America today stands.  Perhaps I was being trite for making a specific reference to Obama's speech, but it was not my intention to hijack the diary.

      by Prince Nekhlyudov on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:52:48 PM PDT

      •  have to say that he opened my very young

        reader's eyes to a universe of imaginative and fascinating possibilities -- and that I admired him as much for the predictions which I have lived to see come true as for the craftsmanship of his fiction. (Geostationary orbit, etc.)

        by BlackSheep1 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:16:35 PM PDT

        •  2001

          See my post below about the film.  I discovered his writing via the film.  I have always said that my brain has never been the same since.

          by Prince Nekhlyudov on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:26:33 PM PDT

  •  Yeesh.

    The Recent Diaries List is swimming in Obama diaries.  Not everything has to be about Obama.

    by Fabian on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:53:06 PM PDT

    •  Fine

      Then say something about Clarke.

      by Prince Nekhlyudov on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:54:47 PM PDT

      •  I already did.

        And Obama?
        Obama is Obama.
        Obama is for Obama.
        Go team Obama.  rahrahrah.

        by Fabian on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 03:20:43 AM PDT

•  wow.... so sad

  Fountains of Paradise is one of my top five favorite books. His loss is huge, and he will be sorely missed.

  by Timroff on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:36:41 PM PDT

•  Rendezvous with Rama

  ...Science Fiction 9th grade...opened my mind!
  May you rendezvous with the beauty and wonder of the universe beyond our imaginations.....peace Clarke

  by Rachel Griffiths on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:41:47 PM PDT

•  It's the end of an era

  The last of the "big three" sf writers to go. Very sad.

  by kevinwparker on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 03:50:26 PM PDT

•  Some of my favorite quotes, good for Daily Kos

  There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

  Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.

  The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

  I'm sure we would not have had men on the Moon if it had not been for Wells and Verne and the people who write about this and made people think about it. I'm rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.

  A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible - indeed, inevitable - the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody.

  It may be that the old astrologers had the truth exactly reversed, when they believed that the stars controlled the destinies of men. The time may come when men control the destinies of stars.

  The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars... A whole generation is growing up which has been attracted to the hard disciplines of science and engineering by the romance of space.

  Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1- It's completely impossible. 2- It's possible, but it's not worth doing. 3- I said it was a good idea all along.

  I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her.

  It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.

  This is the first age that's ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.

  Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society.

  As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.

  I have a fantasy where Ted Turner is elected President but refuses because he doesn't want to give up power.

  by autoegocrat on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:02:05 PM PDT

•  I remember watching 2001: A Space Odyssey

  when I was about 11.  It was an awesome vision of what we thought the future might be like.  It's too bad that our society lost interest in creating a better world, and devolved into anti-intellectualism, shopping, and National Enquirer mentality.  It's kind of funny in a way - The first part of 2001 - The Dawn of Man - would probably be protested by todays religious fundies.  

  I want my flying car damnit!

  by Anna M on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:11:47 PM PDT

  •  I Have Seen,

    "2001" at least 40 or 50 times.  I never get tired of it, and I always find new things to think about.  The melding of Kubrick and Clarke produced what is, IMO, the greatest film ever made.  The great religious film created by a couple of atheists.

    by Prince Nekhlyudov on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:15:30 PM PDT

    •  I have the poster for 2001 on my wall

      And a model of "Discovery" on top of the TV.

      When do we get to 2001?  2100, perhaps?

      Actually, my fear is that we hit high tide at Tranquility, and mankind will never again reach that far.  That's one of the nightmares that makes me shake at 3AM.

      by Devilstower on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 09:29:06 PM PDT

•  thank you, DT

  The title is perfect.

  Though I must say that before clicking on it I thought I was about to read an analysis of Obama's speech.

  by N in Seattle on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 04:50:27 PM PDT

•  Open the pod bay doors, Hal

  ... there's a great and wonderful writer we need to let go out there to see what's next.

  by Eddie Haskell on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:54:52 AM PDT

•  I added the 'teaching' tag

  and will include this diary in Daily Kos University, which goes up a little after 9 AM Eastern, on Saturday.
  (It stays open all week)

  Stop on by.  No books, no fees, no grades - just learning.

  by plf515 on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 04:04:04 AM PDT