This is the year of Arthur S. Clarke, as active as ever at his home in Sri Lanka. And greetings from the HAL computer
By: Felicity Beringer, New York Times *
Arthur S. Clarke. Left: from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"
"what? Only three interview requests in one night? Has the world already forgotten me?" This email response to an interview request was short, heartfelt and to the point. As the world entered the year that will always be identified with him, Sir Arthur S. Clarke was busy firing off reporters with good-natured vigor, despite a bout of post-polio syndrome that causes muscle and joint pain as well as fatigue. He let his website (www.acclarke.co.uk), his biography and a few interviews speak for him.
His book "2001: A Space Odyssey" and its film version helped put director Stanley Kubrick and Clark himself into the pantheon along with their offspring, a black monolith and a computer named HAL. Now their year has come as it did George Orwell's year, 1984. But Orwell was no longer there to see how his vision of totalitarian dystopia compared to reality.
Kubrick died a few months ago, while Arthur Clarke, 83 years old, is still here with us, or maybe a little ahead of us if you take into account the time zone of Sri Lanka where he has been living for decades. And so his phone and email served as a millennial hotline for fans and news organizations.
This is the reason for the message that Clark sent in an e-mail to the media in Sri Lanka and subsequently to the rest of the world: "After several thousand interviews in all the media, I am completely tired of talking (even about myself). All the basic facts are in the biography written by Neil McAleer or on many websites. And as for my final opinions on anything and everything, see 'Congratulations, going for two on a carbon basis!'" (a reference to the collection of his articles and opinions published in 1999 by St. Martin's Publishing). "However", he added, "I am always ready to comment on any important development in my specific areas of interest (like, for example, an authentic message from space or IT landing on the White House lawn)".
It is little material, yes, but more than what Dr. Haywood Floyd, the main character in "2001" and the sequels, gave to the reporters who crowded around him in an imaginary Florida at the beginning of an imaginary millennium. Dr. Floyd then went to the moon and reporters wanted to know about rumors of an epidemic on the lunar colony. The onslaught of the press described at the beginning of the book "was part of his way of life. It was neither the time nor the place for him, and he had nothing to say, but it was important not to offend the masters of the media."
Sir Arthur's feeling seems to be similar. In his writing in the sixties, he was able to illustrate the atmosphere and the mindset of the media in the style of the year 2000 until the description of the television reporter who managed to "run to his side and capture Dr. Floyd properly with his miniature television camera" while the doctor returned and uttered "no response" as he made his way through the audience .
Those interested in artificial intelligence and space exploration can now debate how well Clark predicted the future in 2001, but those involved in new technologies must acknowledge the prophetic power of his portrayal of Dr. Floyd catching up on the news during a Pan-Am flight to the moon 25 years before the Internet. There was a common saying in everyone's mouth. "When he got tired of official reports, memos and protocols, he used to connect his little news sheet to the spaceship's information circuit and review the latest reports from Earth. One by one he uploaded the main electronic newspapers in the world. He remembered the codes of the most important ones and didn't need to consult the list on the back of his notebook." And: "The text was automatically updated every hour; Even if you only read the English versions, you could spend a lifetime just absorbing the incessant stream of information from the news satellites." Anyone who has spent a working day surfing the internet knows what this is all about.
A Pan Am flight? Well, Arthur Clarke can't be right about everything.
A schedule attached to his e-mail last week was a testament to his great energy, despite his illness confining him to a wheelchair. The first item was: "Future Technology (The White House: Memo Requested for the President)".
His correspondence during his youth with CS Lewis is to be published in "The Nemesis Press" in Bridgecrest, California. In February, the Smithsonian Institution will celebrate Arthur S. Clarke Day. In March, he will webcast live with Leonardo DiCaprio on behalf of the Diane Posey Gorilla Foundation. And he continues to preach about the dangers of asteroid collisions with Earth.
Despite his other activities, Arthur S. Clark, who obviously could not help but have an effect on his ego, found time to send the Sri Lankan media and the rest of the world a message welcoming the year 2001. Among other things, the message said: "Perhaps no other year before or After 1984, there was no such eager anticipation." Well it was the year 2000. But who's counting?
* {Appeared in the Haaretz newspaper, 12/1/2001} The Hidan website was until 2002 part of the IOL portal from the Haaretz group
2001: Arthur C. Clark will not embark on a space odyssey
The 83-year-old author, who wrote "A Space Odyssey - 2001", will send a message and a DNA sample to space
3/12/2000
Arthur C. Clark, the famous science fiction writer who wrote "A Space Odyssey - 2001", decided in the year 2001 to send a handwritten message and a DNA sample from his body as part of a project of an American company called "Meeting 2001".
Clark is one of 55 people who signed up for the project, which aims to send a message to space, in case there is someone there to talk to. "It's like a cosmic message in a bottle, an archive of humanity," said the company's spokesman, Chris Pancheri.
The spacecraft is supposed to go on its mission at the end of 2003. It will be launched from French Guinea. First a short trip around the Earth will be made for three weeks. If the experiment is successful, the team will go on a journey of 13.5 years to the planet Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system.
"Hello, my clone", is the handwritten message that Clark will send into space, along with a DNA sample from the roots of his hair and a photo of himself.
The cost of the project is 25 million dollars. An amount that the "Meeting 2001" company hopes to raise from commercial sponsorships. But in the meantime the idea of searching for signs of life in space is popular mainly among schoolchildren. It seems more interesting to them than the old "time capsules" that they tend to bury in the mitzvot of their teachers.
