In John’s fine WSJ article on Arthur C Clarke, he refers to the “blend of science and mysticism” to be found in Clarke’s best books. In a fascinating piece over at the Atlantic, meanwhile, Reihan Salam notes that Clarke was no great fan of religion. I didn’t know that, but I cannot say that I’m terribly surprised, even if the vehemence of Clarke’s language on the topic seems a touch obsessive. Salam concludes as follows:

Clarke all but worshipped advanced technology, and his novels were a mash note to heroic humans who transformed the world in a spirit of fellowship and boundless curiosity.But as a later generation of science fiction novelists and philosophers are asking now, what happens when the machines we create surpass us in raw intelligence and even creativity? Clarke dreamed up HAL, the intelligent computer at the heart of 2001, without considering that HAL, in a very real sense, rendered humanity obsolete. What is humanity’s purpose in a world made by HAL? What Clarke failed to understand about the supposed “mind virus” of religious belief is that it answers exactly this question — it grounds human dignity in transcendent truth. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.

That’s a thought-provoking analysis, although why humanity has to have a ‘purpose’ escapes me. We just are. As for human dignity being grounded “in transcendent truth,” well, lets say that I feel a sneeze coming on.