Slashdot Mirror
Arthur C. Clarke Talks With The Onion
sootman writes "The Onion has an interview with Arthur C. Clarke in this week's issue. My favorite line: 'The asteroid [named after me] is number four thousand and something, and the International Astronomical Federation, which deals with these sorts of things and numbered it, apologized to me because number 2001 wasn't available, having been given to somebody named "A. Einstein."'" Reader ronys point out that Despite the source, the interview is not a spoof or satire."
When somebody's dead wrong, it's generally not a good idea to mod them up "Informative"... More like "Misinformative".
I'm not incompetent, but I always throw my violence in the garbage too!
Oh, you mean refuGe!... Nevermind...
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Clark is fascinating despite his age - we should treasure the elderly, there is much knowledge there to be gained, but all too often we simply shuffle them to the side like a pair of worn shoes. Enjoy his insights while you still can. He has some fascinating opinions on Martian life, for example.
Stop corporate
The man is over 85 years old. Give him a break. I'm surprised he is still alive, let alone coherent.
The first quote deals exclusively with Mars and whatever pictures Clarke has seen that appear to be vegetation. The second quote is more general about intelligent life in the universe and how we've seen signs of vegetative life on Mars.
Where does one get the idea that he's talking about pictures of vegetation from some place other than Mars?
The previous poster's logic *is* flawed, but he makes the same mistake that you do: differentiating between secular humanism and religion. As religion does not necessarily require belief in the supernatural, secular humanism fits the definition (or "at least one" definition) of religion. (Maybe Clarke meant "belief in the supernatural" when he said "religion", but that wouldn't be very intellectually honest.)
Clarke's statement could be interpreted as a condemnation of zealous devotion to anything at all, but as someone who is zealously devoted to a number of different things, I don't prefer that view.
Instead, I interpret Clarke's statement as a criticism of lack of critical thinking. People often believe things for bad reasons, and it's no excuse if some of those things happen to be true. Phrased like that, I might agree; it's quite possible that bad decision-making has the most harmful influence on humanity.
I don't think that he took an overly simplistic viewpoint... he mentions racism as another example of a "mind virus," so it seems to me that he's blaming such conflicts on exactly the type of segregationist thinking that you mention. A mind virus would naturally play to the desires of its host, i.e. the idea that one is superior to everyone else, otherwise it could never propagate.
Doug
Venn ist das nurnstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ya! Beigerhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
It's different because it shifts accountability onto others. Being able to say "God told me to" makes it God's fault, whereas other excuses invariably come back to humans at some point.
Arthur, it's one set of people perceiving themselves as different from (and by implication superior to) another
Yes, but the problem is that nearly all religions actually encourage people to perceive themselves as different, or superior, if they belong to that religion.
if man hadn't used religion as an excuse for this despicable behaviour, we'd have used something else instead.
Really? So the Crusades, for instance, would have still happened if there wasn't a religious basis for it? I doubt it very much.
I seriously doubt he has such a simplistic view of it. He's doing a light interview and it was an offhand comment. I'm sure when we all get as old as he is we'll have little patience for rattling off the same crap over and over for a new audience of noobs.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
Of course, there are some evil atheists. But the 'people will find an excuse' argument is just weak. You might as well defend racist beliefs on the basis that 'Southerners would have found an excuse to string up black people anyway'.
Religion, in general, is a system of false beliefs that cause people to behave badly. Just like racism. EOT