It’s been reported that Arthur C. Clarke, among the most influential visionaries in technology has died in hospital care at the age of 90. Along with his many written works (such as the infamous and immeasurably influential 2001: A Space Odyssey), Clarke was possibly best known for conceptualizing the geostationary communications satellite — clearly one of the most important technological innovations in history.
(via Engadget)
Arthur C. Clarke’s three laws of prediction.
- 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.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
These are simple words, but in them exists a very singular hope: science can do anything that strong and able minds ask it to, and that a faith in science doesn’t remove one from a sense of wonder. This is still an important message, that science doesn’t mean magic doesn’t exist, it just means that magic is something that takes discipline and time to learn and wield. Arthur C. Clarke has passed away at the age of 90 but, in these simple laws, he gave something we’ll never lose: a blueprint for dreaming.
Arthur, you’ll be dearly missed.
UPDATE: Arthur C. Clarke’s 90th Birthday Reflections
(h/t Seed)
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