[FPSPACE] FW: Biology in Science Fiction - Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: Biology in Science Fiction <pkolm at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: Biology in Science Fiction <pkolm at earthlink.net>
>Subject: Biology in Science Fiction
>Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:32:28 -0500 (CDT)
>
>Biology in Science Fiction
>
>///////////////////////////////////////////

>Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)
>
>Posted: 19 Mar 2008 02:48 AM CDT

>http://sciencefictionbiology.blogspot.com/2008/03/arthur-c-clarke-1917-2008.html
>
>It was reported today that Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90. 
>Clarke wrote many science fiction classics: Childhood's End, Against the 
>Fall of Night, The Fountains of Paradise, Rendezvous with Rama, and, 
>perhaps the story best known even to non-science fiction fans, 2001: A 
>Space Odyssey.
>
>Unlike Clarke's other novels, 2001 was written with the specific purpose of 
>being adapted into a screenplay, starting from his short story, "The 
>Sentinel". Director Stanley Kubrick had significant input into the story, 
>but the novel was not completed before the screenplay, and differs in some 
>details from the movie version. Clarke's account of collaboration was 
>published in 1972 as The Lost Worlds of 2001. He describes the creative 
>process that lead to the scene with the monolith teaching pre-human 
>hominids how to use tools, which was inspired in part by the ideas of 
>anthropologist (and screenwriter) Robert Ardrey. He didn't stop there, 
>though, continuing to consult with both Kubrick and other anthropologists. 
>From Clarke's diary:
>October 2. Finished reading Robert Ardery's African Genesis. Came across a 
>striking paragraph which might even provide a title for the movie: "Why did 
>not the human line become extinct in the depths of the Pliocene? . . . we 
>know that but for a gift from the stars, but for the accidental collision 
>of ray and gene, intelligence would have perished on some forgotten African 
>field" True, Ardrey is talking about cosmic-ray mutations, but the phrase 
>"A gift from the stars" is strikingly applicable to our present plot line.
>[snip]
>November 20. Went to Natural History Museum to see Dr. Harry Shapiro, head 
>of Anthropology, who took a poor view of Ardrey. Then had a session with 
>Stan, arguing about early man's vegetarian versus carnivorous tendencies. 
>Stan wants our visitors to turn Man into a carnivore; I argued that he 
>always was. Back at the Chlesea, phoned Ike Asimov to discuss the 
>biochemistry of turning vegetarians into carnivores.
>
>November 21. Read Leakey's Adam's Ancestors*. Getting rather desperate now, 
>but after six hours' discussion Stan had a rather amusing idea. Our E.T.'s 
>arrive on Earth and teach commando tactics to our pacifistic ancestors so 
>that they can survive and flourish. We had an entertaining time knocking 
>this one around, but I don't think it's viable.
>Ultimately,  they went with tool use. Originally, the story had an alien 
>named Clindar who came, observed that Earth's hominids had the potential 
>for intelligence, and decided they were worth teaching. That chapter was 
>cut, but was resurrected in The Lost Worlds of 2001:
>It was a wonder they had survived, and their future did not look promising. 
>[. . .] But Clindar, with the experience of many worlds behind him, knew 
>that appearances could be deceptive. These unprepossessing near-apes had 
>one great advantage over all he other creatures of their planet. They were 
>still unspecialized; they had not yet become trapped in any evolutionary 
>cul-de-sac. Almost every animal could beat them in some respect - in 
>strength, or speed, or hearing or natural armament. There was no single 
>skill in which the hominids excelled, but they could do everything after a 
>fashion. Where the other animals had become virtuosos, they had specialized 
>in a universal mediocrity - and therein, a million years hence, might lie 
>their salvation. Having failed to adapt themselves to their environment, 
>they might yet one day change it to suit their own desires.Here's the 
>dawning of tool use as depicted in the movie version of 2001:
>
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>
>The use of tools allowed our distant ancestors to more reliably obtain food 
>and defend themselves, which in turn likely led to an increase in brain 
>size and increased intelligence**.  Several million years later, here we 
>are. Clarke makes clear in 2001 that our current state is not the end of 
>evolution. Astronaut David Bowman has an encounter with another monolith, 
>which molds his mind anew. Bowman becomes the Star-Child, returning briefly 
>to Earth to clear the skies of orbiting nuclear weapons before he explores 
>the universe. I like to think that's the direction evolution will take the 
>human race.
>
>R.I.P Arthur C. Clarke
>
>* There's an interesting article at Talk Origins about the inaccuracies in 
>Leakey's human ancestral tree as published in Adam's Ancestors in 1934. The 
>Smithsonian has a more up to date version.
>
>** See, for example Flinn MV, Geary DC, and Ward CV. "Ecological dominance, 
>social competition, and coalitionary arms races: Why humans evolved 
>extraordinary intelligence." Evolution and Human Behavior 26: 10-46 (2005)  
>(pdf)
>
>Tags:Arthur C. Clarke, 2001, evolution, hominids, anthropology
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