Wednesday, March 19, 2008

2008: The Final Odyssey

I don't intend this blog to become a collection of obituaries, but I figured I had to mention the passing of Arthur C. Clarke, one of the pioneers of science fiction.

Clarke was the author of many seminal works including the 2001 series, Childhood's End, Rendezvous With Rama, and The Hammer of God.  Unlike many science fiction authors, Clarke was truly concerned that his science fiction contain as much science as possible.  This keeps his work from seeming as dated as the work of many of his contemporaries

Clarke's science fiction was not what you would call "action packed".  Nevertheless, he had a vision of the future that over his long life turned out to be right more often that it was wrong.  Well, ok, his idea that we would all have monkey servants by the 1960's was a bit off the wall.  Still, the man was able to envision the concept of a global communication system running off of satellites in geostationary orbit long before it became a reality.

Clarke's death is not a shock to me the way Gary Gygax's was.  After all, Clarke was 90.  Still, the world seems a smaller place with his passing.

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