Reuters North American News Service, December 16th, 2007
COLOMBO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Turning 90 on Sunday, British
science fiction writer and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke has
three birthday wishes: For E.T. to call, for man to kick his
oil habit and for peace in his adoptive Sri Lanka.
Marking his "90th orbit of the sun", the prolific author
and theorist who was one of the first to suggest the use of
satellites orbiting the earth for communications, would like to
be remembered foremost as a writer -- and predicts commercial
space travel will one day be commonplace.
"If I may be allowed just three wishes ... I would like to
see some evidence of extraterrestrial life. I've always
believed that we're not alone in the universe, but we're still
waiting for E.T. to call us or give us some kind of sign," he
said in a video posted on Web site www.youtube.com.
"Secondly, I would like to see us kick our current
addiction to oil and adopt clean energy sources," he added.
"Climate change has now added a new sense of urgency... We
can't allow coal and oil to slowly bake our planet."
And thirdly, he turns to Sri Lanka, where he has lived for
the past 50 years, written many of his more than 80 books and
received the Indian Ocean island nation's top civilian honour
in 2005 for his contributions to science and technology and his
commitment to his adopted country.
"I've been living in Sri Lanka for 50 years, and half that
time I've been a sad witness to a bitter conflict that divides
my adopted country, and dearly wish to see lasting peace
established in Sri Lanka as soon as possible," Clarke said.
Around 70,000 people have been killed since 1983 amid a
civil war between the state and Tamil Tiger guerrillas, which
continues to rage, with well over 5,000 people killed since
early last year alone in near-daily land and sea battles,
bombings and air raids.
Born in England in 1917, Clarke first came to the island in
the 1950s for scuba diving and said he became a resident after
he "fell in love with the place".
In the 1940s he forecast that man would reach the moon by
the year 2000, an idea experts dismissed as rubbish. When Neil
Armstrong landed in 1969, the United States said Clarke
"provided the essential intellectual drive that led us to the
moon".
He has written more than 80 books, including "2001: A Space
Odyssey" and 500 short stories and articles, and says his mind
continues to roam the universe as much as it did as a young
space cadet in the 1920s and 1930s, despite the fact he is now
wheelchair-bound.
"The golden age of space is only just beginning," he said.
"Over the next 50 years, thousands of people will travel to
earth orbit and then to the moon and beyond. Space travel and
space tourism will one day become almost as commonplace as
flying to exotic destinations on our own planet."
(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
