Arthur C. Clarke & Roger Ebert Chat About Artificial Intelligence

In March of 1997, film critic Roger Ebert interviewed author Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey." The interview was featured at "Cyberfest ‘97,” a gala celebration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In "2001: A Space Odyssey," the evil computer "HAL" is said to have been born in Urbana in 1997. The gala event marked HAL's fictitious birth, and celebrated the U of I's contributions to the revolution and evolution of computing

[@peter5.056]

i miss both of these people immensely. ebert's cancer is visible, clarke is very elderly; they both know death is near, but they soldiered on till the end. quite inspiring to witness!

[@PaddySlattery]

I love that fact that Roger used the book 2010 to prop up his phone! Subtle and brutal all at once.

[@MegaBoilermaker]

If you listen to Artur Clarke's accent then you will know where the American accent comes from. He and I come from the same part of the UK.

[@Berniewahlbrinck]

Is this some kind of joke? How can such an amazing interview have only 4000 viewers?

[@dnw009]

I doubt this is the only publication of the video since he has been dead since 2008. So likely more people viewed it then just those that saw this video.

[@chucktaylor4958]

I just saw it. Give it time.

[@paulembleton1733]

There’s a lot. Clarke and Heinlein asked about moon landings very uplifting.

[@dbadagna]

It still isn't well known that some of the very earliest examples of science fiction were actually written by women, and long before Jules Verne or H. G. Wells; an example is Margaret Cavendish's "The Blazing World" (1666).

[@irlserver42]

Lel, fucking video phone...

[@federicozimerman8167]

2023 and there isn’t anything like HAL. Today artificial intelligence is an advanced word processor….

[@reinforcedpenisstem]

Cyberclism

[@wilhelmhesse1348]

Wow this is one of the most amazing interviews I've ever watched... Soul catcher- a programme that stores human intelligence, emotion, spirituality to basically create an identical copy of another human being. Time probes- Guardians of the Galaxy 1 had a teaser on these, now that is mind blowing and Mr Clarke here was really ahead of his time on these and many more ideas. The ending however is a bit of a dissapointment can't hear what they are saying.

[@veehope2702]

Such a shame he wasn't cryopreserved. Such a loss to humanity, the absolute master of Sci-Fi.

[@markboz3366]

"I don't think any trilogy should have more than four volumes" A dig at or a nod to Mr Adams?

[@Muonium1]

what an incredible gem in the rough this is to find. never seen this interview before!

[@zebonautsmith1541]

It's now January 2024 and ChatGPT is talking to me full screen with a beautiful voice from my Television assisting with multiple queries, 28 years later. (but we still don't know if there is life on Mars)

[@john-martin]

The star child looking at the audience at the end of 2001 is to signify the audience looking into the mirror at ourself, as if the audience is the star child.

[@noseonscent1935]

Good Ole Big Brother 'splaining things away with Satellites above the moon at a full stop, and seagulls to the great Arthur C Clarke. Nice to see he had 6 or 7 sightings. Bravo old boy!

[@chucktaylor4958]

Clarke was a great scientist and visionary.

[@trulygodsgrace]

Oh, cosmologist, not cosmetologist. Makes more sense now.

[@gordons-alive4940]

Impressive interview by Ebert. He's knowledgable enough to ask some sensible questions about science and science fiction.

[@retinaofthemindseye]

This interview shows very clearly how Arthur Clarke is much better as a question poser than a question answerer. He is not a scientist, he is a poet who opens up those infinite spaces of speculation in which we can lose ourselves but also find ourselves.

[@socialhermit1512]

Arthur C Clarke invented the Communication satellite. He also studied science at degree level.

[@seanmurphy6481]

At 9:38 where he holds up that floppy disk and describes something of that size being capable of storing our bodies, minds, emotions, etc. seems reminiscent of storing LLMs like Llama 3 8B (or something equivalent) on something like an SD card with the technology we have today. Of course, you may question the "bodies" part like "How can you fit a body on a SD card? Lol. That's not possible." But if you've seen startups like Covariant, their model RFM-1, is a small 8B model like Llama 3 8B that they trained on robot actions - the key enabler for controlling actions of a robotic body. That in a way is like putting a body, or a way to control a body, in a medium like off a SD card.

[@camo_for_cocktails]

Maybe Clarke became more persuaded that the “ Time Probe” was a closer possibility when he co-wrote “The Light of Other Days” about quantum tunneling.

[@captur69]

I like the dig at Americans , I think its a higher percentage really...and the rest believe in countless gods ,that's somehow going to save them from something, somewhere 🤔....sapiens are weird...

[@bobbastian760]

We didn't get flying cars, we got microchips, which are FAR FAR more important.

[@paultaylor7947]

I have experiences when i am lying in my bed that someone is occupying my body and even grabbing me but i am not sure if its god as i fight to release myself to regain control on awakening

[@mickythetabby7345]

Wow he seen everything and everyone on this country 🇱🇰

[@Giskard1000]

What an awesome man he was, and such an incredible mind.

[@QESPINCETI]

Video should be called "Hidden in Plain Sight"

[@magg93]

I am intelligence

[@ELIOSANFELIU]

He was a powerful weapon:He destroyed line's time¡¡¡He was able to see future¡¡

[@Torcher75]

Seems like the UPLOAD is gonna be a real thing any time soon :)

[@dnw009]

The starting framework and things of it surely, but fully uploading is a far fetched idea still to this day.

[@CandidDate]

How will you know you're dead?

[@boliusabol822]

That's amazing they apparently werent in the same room. (see end when interviewer put the phone down!).

[@ingemar_von_zweigbergk]

4:06 that's my question also.