En cours de chargement...
Le nouveau livre de Miguel Bonnefoy, doublement primé !
20,90€
Dimensions of Arthur C. Clarke
Edition en anglais
4,99 €
E-book - ePub
Résumé
Science fiction is replete with brilliant crackpots, some of whom are crammed full of cracked genius. A few only appear cracked because the broken lens of our mundane myopia distorts their image. Occasionally, an SF writer survives the near sighted negativity of various vested interests and ascends to prophetic status. Arthur C. Clarke is our contemporary, secular Elijah. Let's open the doors of our visionary perception, give him a seat at the table, and consider how he has wondered the Earth.
The world first began to wonder about this country boy from Somerset in southwest England in 1945. As an officer in the RAF during the War, he had already been involved in testing the first to be developed, radar talk-down equipment. The importance of aerial communications well established in his mind, he extrapolated a nobler use for the V2 rockets that rained down on Britain. Clarke reasoned that artificial satellites could be launched using slightly larger rockets, and then parked in geostationary orbits high above the Earth.
Such an arrangement would solve a basic problem in the use of radio signals, which propagate in a straight line. Instead of flying away from the curving Earth at a tangent, they could be reflected from orbiting satellites to receivers situated beyond the horizon. His 1945 paper titled "Extra Terrestrial Relays" first proposed the underlying principles of our current satellite communications system.
We now take for granted instantaneous, global coverage of politics, sports, military carnage, natural disasters, and cultural events. Worldwide telephone service uses the same system to bounce voice and computer data wherever required. The information revolution has invaded our homes, and lives, on the wings of Arthur Clarke's vision. He is the number one prophet of the postmodern age. Having reached the age of thirty, discharged his military obligations, and established himself as an innovative genius, Clarke decided to have some fun.
He focused on writing science fiction and took up scuba diving.
The world first began to wonder about this country boy from Somerset in southwest England in 1945. As an officer in the RAF during the War, he had already been involved in testing the first to be developed, radar talk-down equipment. The importance of aerial communications well established in his mind, he extrapolated a nobler use for the V2 rockets that rained down on Britain. Clarke reasoned that artificial satellites could be launched using slightly larger rockets, and then parked in geostationary orbits high above the Earth.
Such an arrangement would solve a basic problem in the use of radio signals, which propagate in a straight line. Instead of flying away from the curving Earth at a tangent, they could be reflected from orbiting satellites to receivers situated beyond the horizon. His 1945 paper titled "Extra Terrestrial Relays" first proposed the underlying principles of our current satellite communications system.
We now take for granted instantaneous, global coverage of politics, sports, military carnage, natural disasters, and cultural events. Worldwide telephone service uses the same system to bounce voice and computer data wherever required. The information revolution has invaded our homes, and lives, on the wings of Arthur Clarke's vision. He is the number one prophet of the postmodern age. Having reached the age of thirty, discharged his military obligations, and established himself as an innovative genius, Clarke decided to have some fun.
He focused on writing science fiction and took up scuba diving.
Fiche technique
- Date de parution : 17/12/2014
- Editeur : JPCA
- ISBN : 978-1-311-46529-0
- EAN : 9781311465290
- Format : ePub
- Caractéristiques du format ePub
- Protection num. : pas de protection
À propos de l'auteur
Biographie de Steve Lehman
I grew up in the American Midwest but have spent most of my adult life in Canada as a teacher of writing and English literature. Enlightened ideas of education where I work at John Abbott College in Montreal have given me the freedom to create curriculum, enough time to practice my own writing, and the ability to arrange sabbatical excursions. I have also been able to teach for varying periods of time in California, Saudi Arabia, Austria, and South Korea.The most important literary influence on my thinking has been William Blake. He was a renegade poet and visionary artist who lived in England during the early years of the industrial revolution. Blake all but equated creative imagination with God, and the mythological figure that represents this energy in his work is called Los. In a flash of youthful exuberance, I came to see myself as Los Layman, using a variant spelling of my last name.
Later, I decided it should be Los Laymen to be more respectful of Spanish grammar and less egotistical. Blake's idea was that no individual can possess the creative imagination. The spirit migrates among people and from one generation to the next with unfathomable caprice. Writers can only troll the shoals of language in hopes of periodic visitations from Los who lurks eternally in the depths.
Du même auteur
Dimensions of Arthur C. Clarke est également présent dans les rayons
Dimensions of Arthur C. Clarke
4,99 €