tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467119.post2658029857841290227..comments2023-10-24T10:09:22.146+01:00Comments on The Yorkshire Ranter: Appreciating ClarkeAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153530634675543954noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467119.post-20411763700184865672008-03-22T21:33:00.000+01:002008-03-22T21:33:00.000+01:00ejh, I think you mean 3001: The Final Odyssey.ejh, I think you mean <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3001:_The_Final_Odyssey" REL="nofollow"><I>3001: The Final Odyssey</I></A>.hardindrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05275899305949454964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467119.post-43000698010916842142008-03-22T19:55:00.000+01:002008-03-22T19:55:00.000+01:00There's a paragraph on one of his novels, can't re...There's a paragraph on one of his novels, can't remember which one, in which it turns out that nobody is black or white any more because nobody's cared about that for generations past and everybody's mixed-race as a result. I suppose it would be possible to view that as bizarre and naïve optimism. But it would also be possible to view it as a statement Clarke would have known was optimistic - but he felt it an optimism worth airing.<BR/><BR/>I was reading your posting and suddenly remembered, almost vividly, sitting in my mother's car, maybe thirty years ago now, and, while wwaiting for her to come out from a meeting, listening to a Radio Four adaptation of <I>Childhood's End</I>. You know - all the libertarians on the internet, spending all their time trying to think of ways to close down everything that's not privately paid for, they must really hate Radio Four (even though it must have provided a good part of their educations). Well - Clarke, presumably, wouldn't have blamed the internet for the people who make use of it. I think he conceived of technology as a tool of liberation, but not, perhaps, of liberation from one another. But then, he'd be a product of postwar optmism, along with most of the things which are most valuable about Britain. While they last.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.com