nPostednon December 16, 2013
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Key Points
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Henwas a true prophet.
Henwas a true prophet.n
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nAnprophet sees what will happen in the future. Most people who are saidnto be prophets are either fakes who tell people what they want tonhear, for money—you know, you will be rich, you will be famous, younwill travel far and live long and yadda yadda yadda—or they arenreligious folks who say great truths such as we should all be kind tonone another. But some prophets are just terribly good at thinkingnabout what technologies might be invented someday, and how suchntechnologies will change the world. And when they write those thingsndown, and 50 years later those things actually happen, everyone says,n“He’s a prophet!” or “She’s a prophet!”
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ArthurnC. Clarke wrote science fiction and science fact books and storiesnand articles. He predicted personal computers and the internet.n He thought up an iconic computer (AI) character, HAL, who malfunctionsnand then takes drastic steps to continue to carry out its programmedndirective. He thought up geo-synchronous communication satellites,nwhich orbit the earth at exactly the right height and speed to remainnstationary relative to the earth. (That’s how we have cell phones andnsatellite TV and so forth!) n
ArthurnC. Clarke wrote science fiction and science fact books and storiesnand articles. He predicted personal computers and the internet.n He thought up an iconic computer (AI) character, HAL, who malfunctionsnand then takes drastic steps to continue to carry out its programmedndirective. He thought up geo-synchronous communication satellites,nwhich orbit the earth at exactly the right height and speed to remainnstationary relative to the earth. (That’s how we have cell phones andnsatellite TV and so forth!) nn
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nClarkenwrote about space travel and space mining and a space elevator and anglobal library and a few things that have happenednand a lot of things that haven’t happened, yet, but still might.
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nHerenis a video of Clarke making some predictions way back in 1964. Whichnparts of his predictions are correct, and which might happen somedaynbut haven’t yet?
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nCheckn out some of Clarke’s science fiction. Childhood’s Endn is recommended for teens.
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nCheckn out Clarke’s three laws:
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n1.n When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something isn possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states thatn something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
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n2.n The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is ton venture a little way past them into the impossible.
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n3.n Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable fromn magic.
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Clarken emigrated to Sri Lanka and did a great deal of undersea diving. Hen loved the ocean! He even did some underwater archeology, uncoveringn a sunken Koneswaram temple!n
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the invention of the transistor
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n Kazakhstan’sn Independence Day
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nBeethoven’sn Birthday
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nMargaretn Mead’s Birthday (scrolln down)
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nAnniversaryn of Boston Tea Party
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nDecembern holidays
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nDecembern birthdays
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- Historicaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn holidays
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in January
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