Thursday, February 07, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke and the lingua franca of the future

Who rules the moon controls the earth, it is true, but only to some extent - as Arthur C. Clarke pointed out once, control of GEO is even more important as telecommunications determine which culture achieves hegemony through linguistic dominance.

Hegemony is such a good word and reminds me that I am thinking of calling my WAC-6 paper "Prolegomena to space archaeology" because prolegomenon is an excellent word too. I think of them in the same breath as both are Ancient Greek words that have survived in English two and bit millennia later. But would such a title sound too arcane?


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:24 pm

    "Prelude to Space Archaeology" would be better, as a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 "Prelude to Space"

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  2. Always wonderful to hear from you, Steve. I will consider that: it has a nice symmetry.

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