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Arthur C. Clarke: 1917-2008
3/19/2008
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke has died. Damn. First Gygax and now Clarke. I feel like having a bunch of friends over to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey and then running characters thru and old D&D module.
The fearsome and prolific intellect named Arthur C. Clarke was always my favorite science fiction writer. He had an immense gift for crafting compelling tales of the fantastic based on real science not fantasy. His works had no need for warp drives, mental powers or any of the other pseudo-science that other authors lean so heavily upon. He never felt compelled to take the easy path around reason and good science to spin a good yarn.
This anchoring in reality was also evident in his personal life where he lived as ardent atheist and man of reason. He was never dismissive of the supernatural and indeed had quite and interest in it (see his "Mysterious World" show), but he possessed the moral courage to denounce chicanery and delusion when the facts didn't square. It's an attribute that the world could use a lot more of these days.
3/19/2008 | Permanent Link
