Goodbye Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Sad news from Colombo, Sri Lanka today as the world mourns the loss of one of science fiction's great authors, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Writer of over 100 books, he is probably most well known as being the author of "2001: A Space Odyessy" which was famously turned into the trippy sci-fi film by Stanley Kubrick. Discussions on the psychadelic ending of the film aside, "2001" was one of the first films to present life 'in the future' in such a hopeful manner. As the Cold War progressed, it was easy to contemplate the world of the future being a post-nuclear holocaust nightmare which was often the case in many movies and books, but Clarke's works always had a hopeful note.

Many of the books he wrote remind me of what Robert Kennedy once said, that "there are those who look at things the way they are and ask 'why', I dream of things that never were and ask 'why not'". These words were never more fitting for a person than they were for Arthur C. Clarke. Though he wrote primarily on science fiction topics and visions of the future, he always had a hopeful outlook on the direction our society was headed. The jist of his works most usually dealt with mankind and how future technology and advancement affected our lives. Indeed he was even a pioneer in this field. Many of the technologies and ideas that he wrote on came to pass. Starting as a radar officer during the Second World War with the Royal Air Force in England, Clarke was among the first to suggest the concept of orbitting communications satellites meant to help relay messages around the world without the limitations of earth-based systems. It took a few decades and cost a lot more, but as Clarke famously wrote in a paper published later in life, it was the reason he 'lost' over a billion dollars as he never patented the idea.

Not many people realized that he was the first to promote the idea of e-mail. When work was being done on the adaptation of his novel "2010: Odyessy Two" he famously corresponded with film director Peter Hyams over a medium that was new and cutting edge at the time but which is now considered rather common; e-mail. Many of his other works have also been optioned as future films and though not everything in his books has come to pass or the settings are no longer as valid as they once were, there is still the underlying theme of man and technology and how it will affect us. Clarke long held a fascination with life beyond our own planet. Many of his stories dealt with man's first contact with extraterrestial life and unlike the popular pulp stories of the time with the violent aliens coming to take over our planet, Clarke always held a fairly optimistic outlook on what our relations with them would be like.

He usually contended that these species were far more advanced than we were and that our frailties and faults were often the cause for misunderstandings and difficulties in dealing with the discovery of other-worldly life. By showing how we would deal with a completely alien species, Clarke often turned the mirror on ourselves to show us how we as a race had much to learn before we could deal with something outside our current realm of understanding. Tying in religion, technology, and man's insatiable curiousity for the universe, Clarke wrote stories that were prophetic but self-contemplating as well and though many were written decades before about the times we are living in now, they are still fascinating glimpses into what life could be like in the future. Clarke always wondered what secrets life in the great beyond held. He wondered about life beyond our planet and what it all means. Perhaps he is on his way to discovering them now. I wish him a wonderful journey in discovering the great unknown.