Goodbye Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90.

I remember being absolutely captivated the first time I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, it was released the same year I was born so I'm not sure how old I would have been.

It was only later that I discovered his three laws of prediction:

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.

I have now lived long enough to see each of these three laws play out. They overshadow so many of the conversations that I have with colleagues and customers.

The personal danger is that I become the "distinguished but elderly scientist" in the first law.

Comments

[Vince Smith]

I remember seeing the film in the cinema - it was totally fantastic. However, I had read a) the original short story and b) the longer story. Both of these helped with the latter stages of the film.