For Diversicon in 2010, we're also posthumously recognizing the work of Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) and Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) and having a number of great debates including the great AI Faceoff and Asian American Speculative Fiction, discussing the work of William F. Wu, Ted Chiang, Marjorie Liu and others.
So who's Arthur C. Clarke?
Sir Arthur C. Clarke was born in England but eventually emigrated to Sri Lanka to study scuba diving. Most readers will be familiar with his work with 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, and Rendezvous with Rama, but also his television show Mysterious World.
He also made the following 3 "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.
One of Clarke's key contributions to science is to help promote the idea geostationary satellites can be telecommunications relays enabling, oh, cell phones, the Dish Network and other goodies. He also has a number of other books out including The Other Side of the Sky, Tales of Ten Worlds, The Nine Billion Names of God, A Meeting With Medusa and 3001: The Final Odyssey.
Here you can see a segment from his show Mysterious World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzrkkTBbob0
We'll take a look at more of his work in the coming months ahead!
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