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Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

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Famous Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

“A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible-indeed, inevitable-the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody.”

YearsMadeStatesEarthAmericaPoliticsNationsUnitedUnited StatesCommunicationPeriodsHundredYears AgoInevitableTransitionElectricBloodyUnited States Of AmericaUnited NationsSatellitesTelegraph
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“It will be possible in a few more years to build radio controlled rockets which can be steered into such orbits beyond the limits of the atmosphere and left to broadcast scientific information back to the Earth. A little later, manned rockets will be able to make similar flights with sufficient excess power to break the orbit and return to Earth. (1945) [Predicting communications satellites.]”

YearsLittlesAbleEarthScienceLeftBreakInformationCommunicationReturnLimitsRadioFlightAtmosphereSufficientControlledExcessRocketsOrbitSatellitesPredicting
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“One orbit, with a radius of 42,000 kilometers, has a period of exactly 24 hours. A body in such an orbit, if its plane coincided with that of the Earth's equator, would revolve with the Earth and would thus be stationary above the same spot on the planet. It would remain fixed in the sky of a whole hemisphere ... [to] provide coverage to half the globe, and for a world service three would be required, though more could be readily utilized. (1945) [Predidicting geosynchronous communication satellites]”

IfsWorldWholeBodyWould BeEarthScienceThreeHoursHalfSkyPlanetsCommunicationPeriodsSpotsPlanesFixedGlobesCoverageOrbitSatellitesHemisphereStationaryRadiusEquator
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“Trying to predict the future is a discouraging and hazardous occupation. If by some miracle a prophet could describe the future exactly as it was going to take place, his predictions would sound so absurd that people everyone would laugh him to scorn. The only thing we can be sure of about the future is that it will be absolutely fantastic. So, if what I say now seems to you to be very reasonable, then I will have failed completely. Only if what I tell you appears absolutely unbelievable have we any chance of visualizing the future as it really will happen.”

PeopleIfsTryingSeemsHappensSoundChanceLaughingMiracleAbsurdFantasticProphetReasonableOccupationPredictionsUnbelievableScornDiscouragingVisualizing
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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“I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development. I think that religion may be some random by-product of mammalian reproduction. If that's true, would non-mammalian aliens have a religion?”

IfsThinkingMayPlayEvilInterestingRolesChildhoodParticularProductsDevelopmentSpeciesContactAliensSuspectsInteresting ThingsReproductionNecessary Evil
Author:Arthur C. Clarke
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