I’m Afraid I Won’t Be Able To Do That, Dave
In 1968, I was eight years old and went with the family to a movie in Winnipeg. I knew it was going to be a science fiction movie, but I didn’t know much more about it. My older brother Greg, and my older sister Nancy were both familiar with the story having read it at the recommendation of their science teacher. I knew that it was set 33 years in the future but started out with proto-humans at the dawn of time. They rattled some bones and learned to use weapons, then were awakened to find an artifact which was accompanied by a killer choir.
Shortly thereafter, a man in a shuttle napped on his way from earth to a space station in a shuttle while the flight attendant with velcro shoes walked through, grabbed his floating pen and then went to the cockpit. Later, a meeting on the moon while a group of scientists talked about another obelisk. I had no idea what they were talking about, but they went out to a dig to have a look-see at the artifact and tried in vain to cover their ears as a loud noise pierced their helmets. Finally, a journey to Jupiter goes horribly wrong and a computer has to be shut down because it became a little to big for its breeches and tried to kill the astronauts.
I was fascinated by the visuals. I was amazed that they were trying to get the science right. I was amazed at 20 minutes of flashing colors flying past Dave Bowman’s pod as he flew through the artifact to find out what the hell his mission was all about. He left HAL behind, mindless. Dave died and was reborn.
I saw the movie three times over the next year, never figuring out what was really happening. I read the book, and still didn’t understand the point that Arthur C Clarke was trying to make. Some bits are still obscure to me, but I love the movie. (Part of the mystery was cleared up in the sequel released in 1984; but we never really learn who these aliens are. They blew up Jupiter and made a second sun in our solar system. They played God with us and our solar system. “Something wonderful was about to happen.”)
Within a few years of seeing the movie I started reading quite a bit of science fiction, and the public library had a good selection for a small town. I read 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time, and understood a bit more. I read Rendezvous with Rama, the story of a mysterious, abandoned cylinder which had entered the solar system and had been created as an interstellar spaceship. Earth’s scientists find that it only entered the solar system to take advantage of the gravity well and slingshot to another solar system. They never met the makers, they never met the occupants. They never solved the mystery of who these aliens were.
Accept it or not, there are mysteries that may never be resolved. One of those is the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Deep Thought said it was “42″ but only because it had been asked in the wrong way. People who search for God are asking the question in the wrong way. They are looking for an anthropomorphic intelligence to explain everything when we die and reading through scriptures and interpreting and listening to other people’s interpretations in order to get a heads up on the answer. What if there is no answer?
Arthur C. Clarke, in his fiction, didn’t wrap things up in nice little answers at the end. The question outlasts the book. And perhaps he is trying to tell us that there are no books that can answer all of the questions. Perhaps he is trying to tell us that the search for answers continues indefinitely. Perhaps he is trying to tell us that in death lay no answers; just death.
Arthur C. Clarke has not had his final questions answered. He is still living in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90.
Arthur C. Clarke is an atheist.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. 1961
I’m sure we would not have had men on the Moon if it had not been for Wells and Verne and the people who write about this and made people think about it. I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books. 1975
friday night atheist arthur c clarke“Space is actually paying for itself in the communication and weather satellites. The money we have put into space has been returned many, many times over in the unmanned application satellites. Similarly, explorations of deeper space will eventually pay for themselves, too.” 1997
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