I was very saddened today to hear that the great science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke passed away today at his home in Sri Lanka. For those who are not familiar with him, he was part of the classic sci-fi triumvirate of Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein. He also wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, invented the communications satellite, and is largely responsible for the American lunar exploration. He was a real inspiration to me as a youth, and his book The City and the Stars remains one of my all time favorites.
I had a couple videos I wanted to share.
The first is a farewell address from him earlier this year: (Link via YouTube)
The second is a demonstration video of one the most advanced robotic AIs yet produced. While Clarke was more concerned with exploration than robotics (that was Asimov's gig), his HAL 9000 remains one of his most well-known legacies. I'm sure he was quite excited by the development of this amazing machine: (Link via Youtube)
As an addendum, the Big Dog robot is being developed as an automated packbot for the US Army. The angry buzzing sound comes from its two-stroke on-board gas engine. This will eventually be replaced by advanced battery power. You can find out more about it at the Boston Dynamics webpage. (Link via Boston Dynamics)
No comments:
Post a Comment