A short clip on YouTube from 1964 shows science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke sharing his thoughts about the future. His words and ideas may have been too difficult to comprehend during his time but they hold ground today. One may see that his words began turning into a reality at the change of the millennia in 2000. The internet, digital communication, and global connectivity are key ideas Clarke shares in this clip.
He refers to the future as the “day after tomorrow” and imagines a world in 2000 – which is 36 years ahead of his time. “I think it will be completely different it may not even exist at all,” he said. Nineteen years earlier, the US dropped the atomic bomb on Japan to create havoc and send a message to the world. Clarke also shares the reference to the same by saying, “I’m not thinking of the atom bomb… I’m thinking of the incredible breakthrough which has been made possible by developments in communications particularly the transistor and above all the communications satellite. These things will make possible a world in which we can be in instant contact with each other wherever we may be, where we can contact our friends anywhere on Earth, even if we don’t know their actual physical location.” Was Clarke referring to the Internet when he said, “a world in which we can be in instant contact with each other wherever we may be”?
What Clarke said next did come true in 2020. He said, “It will be possible in that age, perhaps only 50 years from now, for a man to conduct his business from Tahiti or Bali, just as well as he could from London.” He was referring to the concept of staying connected and to working no matter where one may be in the world. This came true with the advent of the Internet and when communication tools such as e-mails and video conferencing were invented. Moreover, his thoughts resonated with those who worked from home during the lockdown due to the pandemic in 2020.
He further talks something about skills development that is particularly true for the freelancing industry of the world. He said, “In fact, if it proves worthwhile almost any executive skill, any administrative skill, even any physical skill could be made independent of distance.” He went on to add, “I am perfectly serious when I suggest that one day we may have brain surgeons in Edinburgh operating on patients in New Zealand.” Clarke’s prediction became true 37 years later in September 2001 when Dr. Jacques Marescaux (a French surgeon) in New York, performed a cholecystectomy on a 68-year-old patient living in France. This operation was called Operation Lindbergh.
When discussing the future, Clarke said, “When that time comes the whole world will have shrunk to a point and the traditional role of the city as a meeting place for man would have ceased to make any sense. Men will no longer commute they will communicate. They won’t have to travel her business anymore, they’ll only travel for pleasure.” Clarke’s statement is pretty much true in our world today when business meetings are held online.
What Clarke said further in the clip was erringly true to how digital and social media have turned the world into a global village. He said, I only hope that when that day comes and when the city is abolished, the whole world isn’t turned into one giant suburb.”
Scifiers explores science fiction narratives that enliven our imagination and compel us to think about the “what-ifs” of creative world-building. It is on a mission to discuss ideas about sci-fi in its various forms that keep the genre in a state of continuous expansion.
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