Yesterday, I started reading 'Time's Eye' – the first book of the 'A Time Odyssey' series written by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. I went to sleep after reading 22 Chapters, woke up, checked my emails and RSS feeds, and found out that Arthur C. Clarke passed away some time today at his home in Sri Lanka.
Arthur C. Clarke was one of the greatest scifi writers ever, his writing was an inspiration to millions. Besides his Odyssey, I read a lot of his short stories in the 80s. His three laws of prediction are almost as famous as Asimov's three laws of robotics, and the 3rd law is probably quoted the most:
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When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
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The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
I think I am jinxed, and should stop reading series that are not finished yet. But for now, I must move on to chapter 23 of Time's Eye.