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> Childhood’s End was Arthur C. Clarke’s masterpiece, published in 1953, chronicling the arrival of benevolent Overlords who bring many of the same conveniences

> Childhood’s End was Arthur C. Clarke’s masterpiece, published in 1953, chronicling the arrival of benevolent Overlords who bring many of the same conveniences now delivered by the Keepers of the Internet to Earth. It does not end well. Uhhhh, it didn’t end well because (in the book) humanity was doomed to evolutionarily tear itself apart, and the Overlords knew this. Seems pretty disingenuous to use that fictional scenario not ending well in this context.

DKnoll 8y ago
Yeah, I don't get the link to Childhood's End at all. He should have gone with Terminator but I guess he was looking for a more sophisticated reference. As an aside, to anybody reading this that enjoys science fiction: read Childhood's End. It's my favourite book.
- tnecniv 8y ago
  Really great, short read!
bencollier49 8y ago
Actually, it would be a fantastic comparison if the author had explained it. It's almost as if he heard it somewhere else and repeated it verbatim (which is exactly the case, he's quoting someone else's essay without fully explaining or possibly comprehending it). The internet presents us with a similar existential threat to human identity as in the book. Like the masks hiding a higher intelligence at the end of the Difference Engine, the apotheosis of the internet threatens to rob us of our individuality but offers the chance of the development of a higher form of consciousness, like the Overmind in Clarke's book. But this article went in a different direction.
ngmc 8y ago
> Uhhhh, it didn’t end well because (in the book) humanity was doomed to evolutionarily tear itself apart Yes and no. Humanity ends as something else takes its place. Quoting from the book (haha of course I just pulled this up on my Kindle): But there is one analogy which is–well, suggestive and helpful. It occurs over and over again in your literature. Imagine that every man's mind is an island, surrounded by ocean. Each seems isolated, yet in reality all are linked by the bedrock from which they spring. If the ocean were to vanish, that would be the end of the islands. They would all be part of one continent, but their individuality would have gone. Telepathy, as you have called it, is something like this. Swap "telepathy" with "telecommunications" and the analogy is–well, suggestive and helpful. The book is one of my favorites. Lo and Behold is also worth a watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_and_Behold%2C_Reveries_of_the_Connected_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_and_Behold%2C_Reveries_of_t...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

DKnoll 8y ago

Yeah, I don't get the link to Childhood's End at all. He should have gone with Terminator but I guess he was looking for a more sophisticated reference. As an aside, to anybody reading this that enjoys science fiction: read Childhood's End. It's my favourite book.

tnecniv 8y ago
Really great, short read!

bencollier49 8y ago

Actually, it would be a fantastic comparison if the author had explained it. It's almost as if he heard it somewhere else and repeated it verbatim (which is exactly the case, he's quoting someone else's essay without fully explaining or possibly comprehending it). The internet presents us with a similar existential threat to human identity as in the book. Like the masks hiding a higher intelligence at the end of the Difference Engine, the apotheosis of the internet threatens to rob us of our individuality but offers the chance of the development of a higher form of consciousness, like the Overmind in Clarke's book. But this article went in a different direction.

ngmc 8y ago

> Uhhhh, it didn’t end well because (in the book) humanity was doomed to evolutionarily tear itself apart Yes and no. Humanity ends as something else takes its place. Quoting from the book (haha of course I just pulled this up on my Kindle): But there is one analogy which is–well, suggestive and helpful. It occurs over and over again in your literature. Imagine that every man's mind is an island, surrounded by ocean. Each seems isolated, yet in reality all are linked by the bedrock from which they spring. If the ocean were to vanish, that would be the end of the islands. They would all be part of one continent, but their individuality would have gone. Telepathy, as you have called it, is something like this. Swap "telepathy" with "telecommunications" and the analogy is–well, suggestive and helpful. The book is one of my favorites. Lo and Behold is also worth a watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_and_Behold%2C_Reveries_of_the_Connected_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_and_Behold%2C_Reveries_of_t...

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]