Saturday, March 05, 2005

Fact and science fiction

Tucker is reading Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two. Early on, there's a passing reference to "the '05 tsunami." Well, they are in Hawaii not Sri Lanka (where Clarke actually lives and works). Still, as Tucker points out, he was only six days off.

Writing about "once and future tsunamis" on his foundation web site, Clarke downplays the prophetic aspect of science fiction. "Contrary to popular belief, we science fiction writers don’t predict the future--we try to prevent undesirable futures."

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