Then again, I recently wrote “ Rejecting Some Science Fictional Ideas” suggesting that Clarke’s novel parallels our desire for religion.Īlthough it’s not perfectly clear in the movie, the novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, explains how an ancient alien intelligence interferes with the evolutionary development of prehuman hominids. But how many people would really want ancient aliens to provide our salvation? Personally, I find the idea insulting, and wondered why Clarke embraced such notions. I’m wondering if renewed interest in this novel is due to dire times? Certainly the 2016 election makes everyone feel humanity is too stupid to survive without help from higher powers. In 2015, the clock was moved up to 3 minutes till midnight. I think during all those years 2001: A Space Odyssey had lesser appeal. Did space travel and New Age philosophies give us hope?īy 1991 the Doomsday Clock had eased back to 17 minutes to midnight. The Doomsday Clock had moved back to 7 minutes to midnight. By the time 2001: A Space Odyssey came out, we were living in the Age of Aquarius, and the pop culture had become psychedelic. Is it any wonder that Clarke believed we needed to throw everything away on planet Earth and start over? In the 1950s, even the most hard-science SF magazine, Astounding Stories, had embraced ESP and psychic research. In 1953, when Childhood’s End was first published, the Doomsday Clock was at just 2 minutes to midnight. Science fiction is always about the present. We think science fiction is about the future, but that’s not really true. Did Clarke secretly want god-like powers? Don’t all kids who read superhero comics? It makes me wonder if Clarke was discontent with his era, and his puny physical form. Of course, Clarke’s first novel, Against the Fall of Night, is about humanity ten billion years in the future. I’ve always thought of Clarke as an engineer, but in Childhood’s End (1953) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), he’s a mystic. David Bowman? Did Clarke? This is his second novel where humans transcend their bodily form. Clarke wrote this story, and why it appeals to so many more people today. And it does explain the mysteries in the movie. Why? I have to assume that’s partly due to the lasting impact of the Stanley Kubrick film, but since I just reread the novel, I think it might be because of the novel itself. If you look at those lists you’ll see the story is gaining in popularity. It was on 46% of the lists it could have been on. 2001: A Space Odyssey did not appear on versions 1-3 of the Classics of Science Fiction, but recently popped up on version 4, with 17 citation lists. The novel 2001: A Space Odyssey was written concurrent with the film, and is not a novelization of the movie. Unfortunately, much of it’s audience left the show baffled, babbling about the trippy light-show, and the weird ending. 2001: A Space Odyssey gave science fiction recognition and class. Science fiction fandom was a tiny subculture. Science fiction up till then had been books and magazines that geeky introverts read, and science fiction films and television shows were aimed at adolescents (although many adults watched them). I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on Miami Beach, when it opened as a “road show” – we had to buy advanced tickets for reserved seats. I’m not sure younger generations realize what an event 2001: A Space Odyssey was when it first came out. Many, if not most, were baffled by the ending. When 2001: A Space Odyssey first premiered in theaters, film goers and critics were blown away. The Omega point of evolution is indistinguishable from God.The goal of evolution is pure disembodied intelligence.Ancient aliens left an interstellar subway for humans to use.Earth will be horribly overpopulated by the 21st century.Humans will invent artificial intelligence that surpasses our own.Ancient aliens put device on the Moon to let them know when we leave Earth.Humans travel to the Moon and planets in the near future.Ancient aliens nudged the cognitive evolution of early humans.Clarke.Ģ001: A Space Odyssey works a number of science fictional themes common for its time: Looking back from 2016, I realize it’s a story about the 1960s, and Arthur C. Back then, I saw it as a story about the future. I first read 2001: A Space Odyssey months after I saw Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece. I assumed future readers will look back on the 1960s in the same way I wonder about the 1860s while reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Clarke, I tried to imagine how people in 2116 would remember Clarke, and the year 1968. When recently rereading 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C.
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