Frasi di Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Data di nascita: 16. Dicembre 1917
Data di morte: 19. Marzo 2008
Altri nomi:Arthur Charles Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke è stato un autore di fantascienza e inventore britannico.
Clarke è ai più noto per il suo romanzo 2001: Odissea nello spazio del 1968, cresciuto assieme alla sceneggiatura del film omonimo realizzato con il regista Stanley Kubrick ed ispirato al racconto breve La sentinella dello stesso Clarke. Lo scrittore ha però al suo attivo una produzione letteraria assai estesa, tra cui la celebre serie di Rama. È considerato un autore di fantascienza hard o "classica", dato che una caratteristica saliente dei suoi romanzi è l'attenzione per la verosimiglianza scientifica.
In suo onore l'orbita geostazionaria della Terra è stata chiamata "Fascia di Clarke". Egli infatti fu il primo ad ipotizzare, in un articolo pubblicato nel 1945, l'utilizzo dell'orbita geostazionaria per i satelliti dedicati alle telecomunicazioni.
Frasi Arthur C. Clarke
„Il sistema solare comprende il Sole, Giove e detriti vari.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
da 2061: Odissea tre
„Dietro ogni uomo oggi vivente stanno trenta spettri, poiché questo è il rapporto con il quale i morti superano il numero dei vivi. Dagli albori del tempo, grosso modo cento miliardi di uomini hanno camminato sul pianeta Terra. Orbene, è questo un numero interessante, in quanto, per una coincidenza bizzarra, esistono approssimativamente cento miliardi di stelle nel nostro universo locale, la Via Lattea. Così, per ogni uomo che abbia vissuto, in questo universo splende una stella.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
premessa
„classical Hohmann orbit“
— Arthur C. Clarke, libro 2010: Odissea due
2010: Odyssey Two
„Ogni tecnologia sufficientemente avanzata è indistinguibile dalla magia.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
da Profiles of the Future, Harper & Row, 1958
„Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
As quoted in Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295
„I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
[http://web.archive.org/web/20021201214228/http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/aclarke.txt IRC discussion at Scifi.com (1 November 1996)] with Clarke and Gentry Lee
„Clarke's Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in Profiles of the Future (1962)
„Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.“
— Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible
Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)
„Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
Context: Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.
3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
„In my time I’ve been very fortunate to see many of my dreams come true!“
— Arthur C. Clarke
Context: In my time I’ve been very fortunate to see many of my dreams come true! Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s, I never expected to see so much happen in the span of a few decades. We "space cadets" of the British Interplanetary Society spent all our spare time discussing space travel — but we didn’t imagine that it lay in our own near future… I still can't quite believe that we've just marked the 50th anniversary of the Space Age! We’ve accomplished a great deal in that time, but the "Golden Age of Space" is only just beginning. Over the next 50 years, thousands of people will travel to Earth orbit — and then, to the Moon and beyond. Space travel — and space tourism — will one day become almost as commonplace as flying to exotic destinations on our own planet.
„Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
Context: Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other. This is why we still have many disputes and conflicts in the world. Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information, but we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding between peoples and nations.
I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I hope we've learnt something from the most barbaric century in history — the 20th. I would like to see us overcome our tribal divisions and begin to think and act as if we were one family. That would be real globalisation…
„I want to see lasting and meaningful peace achieved in Sri Lanka as early as possible. But I am aware that peace cannot just be wished; it involves hard work, courage and persistence.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
Context: We should be less concerned about adding years to life, and more about adding life to years. I have been very fortunate to have witnessed some of humanity's greatest achievements during the 20th century that is nearing its end. Yet we must admit that it has also been the most savage century in the history of our kind. If I can have one more wish, I want to see lasting and meaningful peace achieved in Sri Lanka as early as possible. But I am aware that peace cannot just be wished; it involves hard work, courage and persistence.
As we welcome 2001, let us harness our collective energies to create a culture of peace and a land of prosperity.
As quoted in the [Sri Lanka] Sunday Times (31 December 2000)
„Only a lifetime ago, parents waved farewell to their emigrating children in the virtual certainty that they would never meet again.
And now, within one incredible generation, all this has changed.“
— Arthur C. Clarke
Context: When the pioneers and adventurers of our past left their homes in search of new lands, they said good-bye forever to the place of their birth and the companions of their youth. Only a lifetime ago, parents waved farewell to their emigrating children in the virtual certainty that they would never meet again.
And now, within one incredible generation, all this has changed.
