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."
The Onion does have real interviews and a pretty good AV section.
The print edition is like a reverse newspaper, with the comic section everywhere and a small non-comic center pull-out.
O: Do you have any particular hopes for what they'll find in this round of exploration?
ACC: Well, I think they've already found life. There's some pictures from the laboratories which seem to me to be unmistakably vegetation--leaves and stems and things. I don't see what else it could possibly be. And where there's vegetation, you can bet there'll be something nibbling on it. I'm still hoping we'll find some Martians up there, holding up a sign that says "Yankee go home." [Laughs.]
I've watched all the press conferences and I want some I that sri lankin he's smoking.
ACC: Well, I think they've already found life. There's some pictures from the laboratories which seem to me to be unmistakably vegetation--leaves and stems and things. I don't see what else it could possibly be.
I almost wondered: did I miss a day of NASA releases where they casually announced that 'Oh, by the way... there's stuff growing on Mars'.
I mean, I suppose it's possible that he was referring to debris that resembles decayed plant matter. I'd think anything decayed would be long-since so weather-worn and scattered that it couldn't possibly resemble plant-life at the macroscopic scale. Of course, IANABotonist or Geologist, so what the hell do I know?
But hey, he is Arthur C Clarke, so maybe he's privvy to stuff that we aren't. Then again, he's Arthur C Clark - the guy who predicted the Kuwaiti oil fires would cause a nuclear winter-like effect and essentially cancel summer in the region. Thankfully that came nowhere near being true - though it certainly casts some doubts on his pontification.
The second response though is geared solely toward intelligent life - so I don't know that he necessarily contradicted himself or anything.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
That doesn't mean he's "nuts".
Was I the only one who noticed this little quote?
Incidentally, have you heard about the discovery of the largest living creature on Earth? Would you believe it's two or three miles across, and probably several thousand years old, and still growing? It's this fungus that's eating Oregon. It's a single creature. I'm not quite sure how that's determined.
Does anyone know WTF he is talking about here? Before I came back to China last year I didn't seem to remember my fellow Oregonians running away in fear from the killer fungus...
Do not anger the worm.
His word choice leads one to envision doom and death, and I was sufficiently motiviated to search for more info on this beastie.
http://www.harpers.org/Oregon.html
http://www.newhouse.com/archive/story1b080700.html
Google search gets you more.
on another topic: Anyone amazed at how many quotes this guy has stored up in his head?
I bootleg Fizzy Lifting Drinks.
ACC: [Laughs.] Well, I was rather a cynic once. But now I've combined all my beliefs into this phrase I've been circulating: "Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." It's adapted from a phrase by the British writer and scientist Richard Dawkins, who said that religion was a mind virus, an idea that infected the mind. He said that not all mind-viruses are malignant; some may even be beneficial. But many are harmful--racist theories, for instance.
-- http://www.swcp.com/~hudson/
My questions is, why hasn't this been bigger news? Did it come out and I just missed it?
Yeah, and the interviews are usually excellent. Even if they're interviewing someone I have little interest in (like Amy Sedaris or The RZA), I'll still read it, because I know it'll be interesting. The A.V. Club's reviews are usually pretty good too, though their "Films That Time Forgot" sometimes get thematic from week to week.
The way that I seem to remember it is Clarke wrote the novel and Kubrick wrote the screenplay of a story that they collaberated on. Though there are major plot differences. In fact I remember reading once that Clarke said he wouldn't touch screenwriting with a bargepole (too technical)
You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
I was particularly interested in the last couple of paragraphs, regarding a possible film adaptation of Fountains of Paradise, and the fact that Clarke considers that his best/favourite novel.
Fountains was the first novel to incorporate the modern concept of a space elevator.
Anyone heard anything else about this news item?
Personally, I'm hoping for Steven Spielberg. He did a terrific job on Minority Report. Between that, AI, and Taken, he's definitely on a sci-fi roll lately.
I think you missed the point. He's implying the Bible is a work of Science Fiction, not a legitimate religious document. He's indicating that a single author drafted it as a work of fiction largely as a practical joke on the rest of history.
It's a theory with some holes, but one that's fun to needle the radical right with.
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
Clarke's Law(1962), which was later renamed Clarke's First Law, reads:
It is perhaps relevant given the misattribution to Asimov earlier and the corollary reference of the grandparent to also mention Asimov' Corollary to Clarke's First Law (1978):Hawking thinks that humanity needs to genetically engineer ourselves to pre-emptively keep machines from taking us over.
Well then, call me nuts, too, but I think this is actually a pretty inevitable conclusion once you start thinking of the big picture - say, developments over the next 1000 years or more. Hawkins may be disingenuous in going public with such long-range thoughts, but they are actually very well-founded.
Be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker. JG Ballard
Amen to that.
> He has some fascinating opinions on Martian life, for example.
From the article: "Well, I think they've already found life. There's some pictures from the laboratories which seem to me to be unmistakably vegetation-leaves and stems and things. I don't see what else it could possibly be."
But with all due respect, Sir Clarke, what pictures are these again? Fark photoshops don't count.
His Dark Dune Spots look a lot more like some sort of outgassing (well, out-watering or out-CO2ing, which would in itself be interesting, but isn't proof of life) or wind-related phenomenon than trees.
With the new orbiter, we should get some new data that could resolve this question.
Favorite quote from the interview: "Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." Awesome, none of this idiotic, politically correct, don't-say-what-you're-thinking crap for Clarke. I was all set to write the Brits off as total losers - we recently had articles with them trying to get people to stop using the terms boyfriend/girlfriend and then tring to ban a video game for having animal violence (what's next, ban Looney Tunes?) - pretty much as far from this free thinking fellow as possible. Then again the interview also said he doesn't have any interest in returning to England...maybe we should all just write US, UK, and company off as old fogeys that are only getting worse and more restrictive rather than the innovative places they used to be.