Final words from Arthur C. Clarke(iht.com)

7 pointsby dingosavor 18 Jahren5 comments

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/20/opinion/eddas.php?page=1

1 comments

Ah yes, the old "attribute everything to the guy who just died" routine. A classic. I'm sure nobody else would have thought of geostationary satellites. Oh wait, that's right, someone else did, and Clarke just put them in a book 17 years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_satellite#History

pgvor 18 Jahren

You know, till now I had believed the story that Clarke invented the geosynchronous orbit.

Shows you how much things have changed. Ten years ago that reporter would have gotten away with this. Now he looks like a fool.

DanielBMarkhamvor 18 Jahren

Like a lot of things, somebody else thought of it, but Clarke put popularized it. I'd argue Clarke's job was more important.

Same goes for a lot of songs. Great song writers write a lot of stuff, but until some half-rate performer popularizes it, it's just notes on a page.

For that matter, same goes for good ideas. Lots of folks have them. Takes something special to take an idea and put it into millions of minds.

Clarke was the man. He didn't do everything, but eulogies are made to evoke fond memories, not get translated verbatim into a history book.

mattmaroonvor 18 Jahren

Eh, I don't know. You have the guy who thought it up (which seems like the easy job, as someone else surely would have thought of it soon after), the guy who wrote about it in a book, and the guy(s) who made it happen.

Only the third truly impresses me.

daniel-cussenvor 18 Jahren

Reminds me of a song the Flying Burrito Brothers wrote, that the Rolling Stones made famous: "Wild Horses." I'm not sure the Rolling Stones changed that much, either.