As you may have heard, Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, and the web is full of eulogies today, a transient digital blossom of remembrances. It’s late, and exhaustion ensures that this won’t be as eloquent as it should be, but Clarke deserves a moment.
I grew up on science fiction, on Asimov, Clarke, and similar authors, and although my interests have shifted more toward what can be done on this world, at this time, I keep a little bit of that childhood wonder in my heart. It’s been years since I’ve read one of Clarke’s stories, but I can still recall a speculative timeline of human history that was included in an “odds and ends” collection of his writing. The exact wording escapes me, but I’ve never forgotten, and will never forget, the idea, “Humanity colonizes the stars, real history begins…”
Take a look at the sky in his memory.
I hadn’t heard this news, Samuel – thanks for telling me.
Vale, Sir Arthur. My your spaceship never run out of stargas.
Sad news, indeed. He so nearly lived to see 2010, but at least he made it to 2001.
BTW Samuel – his adopted home is Sri Lanka, not Singapore.
Thanks for the correction Matt (I edited the post to reflect), I knew I had something out of whack.
Hi Sam – I was going to add some personal recollections of Clarke here, but they got rather long, so I have blogged about them instead.