There are those who aim at darts or fairground rifles, there are those for history. How much the novelist Arthur C. Clarke served in the first place is something that, as far as I know, has not been revealed. What is not in much doubt is his talent for the latter.

The author throughout his life guardinspired story 2001: A Space Odysseygave ample evidence of his ability to predict time; but he rarely hit the target as accurately and accurately as he did in 1974 when he answered questions from a reporter from ABC television who challenged him to think. What would the world be like in 2001?.

– With 2001 projected us into the 21st century—the journalist starts in a room filled with walk-in closet-sized computers. I brought my son, Jonathan, who will be my current age in 2001. Maybe it’s better suited to this world you’re trying to describe.

Once upon a time…

It is not easy to predict what the future will be like 30 years from now. Clarke could only shrug, pinch the boy’s cheek, and smile for the camera… just with optimism, but with direct clarity through the mists of the Cold War.

He preferred the latter.

Clarke, in 2001, when people own computers computers smaller than the muttering cabinets that surrounded him during the interview. And it goes one step further: He envisions that these teams will connect and play a key role on a day-to-day basis, both personally and professionally.

“You will be able to get all the information you need for your daily life: bank statements, theater reservations… All the information you need for your life in a complex modern society will be in a compact format in your own home. It will have a screen like a TV and a keyboard,” says the author. He comments on a statement that is uncannily similar to what we know as Of course he doesn’t say so; But the similarity is striking.

In the early 1970s, when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were just two teenagers, and Xerox PARC was shaping the Xerox Alto computer, Clarke thus envisioned personal computers and Web-like use. The day was sure that they would eventually become an everyday instrument:

– He’ll take it too lightly. phone like us. He explains by looking at the boy.

His answer seems to haunt the reporter, who, nearly a third of a century later, asks one of the great debates still going on today: How do computers and their possibilities affect society? Do they unite us as individuals or do they separate us? To what extent is there a risk that we become overly dependent on computers?

Clarke admits that we may “somehow become more dependent”, but she clarifies: “It will also enrich our society because it will make it possible for us to live. where we want“.

“Any manager can live anywhere in the world and still do business with such a device. That’s great. It means we don’t have to be stuck in cities. We can live in the country or wherever we want. And go on. have full interaction with people and other computers,” said Clarke. reflects another almost prophetic nod to the benefit we derive from telework today, and particularly as a result of the pandemic.

The 1970s interview wasn’t the first time Clarke had hinted at her subtle ability to predict her time. Some time ago, in 1964, he had drawn something very similar to the internet in a documentary. The author had already pointed out and warned of how transistors and satellite communications would change our understanding of space. stunning clarity:

“These will enable a world where we can be in instant contact wherever we are. Even if we don’t know their true physical location, we will be able to communicate with our friends all over the world. Maybe 50 years from now. It’s possible for a man to run his business from Tahiti or Bali as well as London. ‘ says the novelist, before realizing how this will affect medicine and even predict future 3D printing.

Not bad, considering that it will take the young researcher Tim Berners Lee twenty-five years to prepare for CERN his report on the hypertext transfer protocol, the seed of what will eventually become the World Wide Web.