2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Mind boggling in places

In the introduction to the Science fiction classic, the author talks about his relationship with one of the best film directors of all time:

-          Stanley Kubrick

They have been discussing the plot, the script for what would become one of the best films of all time.

There are some major themes and aspects about this look into the future that have stunned me and these would be:

-          The anticipation of what space travel would look like, before any space ship would take passengers into the stratosphere and beyond

Aside from some details that have proven wrong- 2001 after all was not the year that would provide us with all the news from the book- it is startling to see how accurate the author was on a number of issues.

The politics of the future are guessed with acumen- except again for some points- Soviet Union for one-and I am very impressed with the anticipation of the misbehavior of the Chinese –who are so naughty in the South China Sea, harassing the Philippines, Vietnam, their Japanese neighbors and many others.

They have not started selling cheap nuclear weapons, as mentioned in The Space Odyssey, but we need to wait and see.

There is an incident which is attributed to them, in the first place, when scientists working on the Moon find a strange object buried deep and appearing to need the sunlight in order to operate and start sending messages.

But the unidentified structure is tested and it is found to be many millions of years old, dating in fact from before the time of the ancestors of man, so the Chinese are no longer suspects, in an enigma that puzzles the Moon community and researchers elsewhere.

What is more astounding is the fact that the monolith that needs the sun to operate had been buried, but they finally understand it:

-          It works as an alarm system that is triggered off when someone brings it to the surface and the light makes it function

I have been amused and stupefied by the description of space travel, which includes sauces that keep the food in the plate, at zero gravity and a toilet that starts moving, when a passenger is using it, so that substances do not start flying around.

There is a group of humans working on the moon, where they even have signs from the Earth to laugh at the fact that they have no Zoo and other amenities.

There are a few children and when one is asked about her desire to visit the Earth, she is not really interested.

-          She was born on the Moon

Then there is H.A.L., the infamous computer that starts doing crazy things, in spite, or because of near perfect design.

This A.I. system is way more intelligent than human beings and is programmed to let them win in a percentage of mind games which It – or should I call it Him? - would win outright in normal circumstances.

There is the question of Emotional Intelligence, a concept that Daniel Goleman has demonstrated is more important than IQ.

And there are concerns about A.I., raised among others by the reputable Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk.

With computers able to learn by themselves, through a phenomenon called “deep learning” and driverless cars, we might worry, even if most of the results are positive- the cars that Google worked with had no accidents, up to the point where humans started driving and then some incidents took place.

Having said that, there are errors and speaking of Elon Musk, one driver was recently killed in a Tesla car, where the automatic pilot was on.

Another aspect that interested me in 2001 was the discussion about the aliens and their possible look:

-          Some argue that they need to resemble us, with two legs, two hands and so on

-          Another group thinks that they would have little biological support and they point out to the progress made by man in replacing limbs and using technology within the body

-          With little to no dependence on biological parts, these beings might live forever and be pretty much…God-like

Arthur C. Clarke also writes about the limit imposed by the speed and light and the fact that in the future this barrier might be proved wrong.

There might be wormholes to be used in an alternative universe and the tremendous, scary distances between planets and other constellations might be surmountable

Fascinating.