Arthur C. Clarke Predicted GPS and Satellite TV in 1956 [Image Cache]

In August of 1956, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote a letter to his friend Andrew G. Haley. In this letter, he predicted-with uncanny accuracy-the GPS and satellite TV systems of today.

Here\’s the letter as transcribed by the folk of Letters of Note:

Aug 56

Dear Andy,

Odd that we should always have crossed within the post!

I am afraid that I am too much out of touch with current communication theory and method to provide much of value for you. (In any event, all my war-time experience was in radar, not radio.)

As you can know, my main interest in this subject is within the use of satellite relays, which I believe may revolutionise the pattern of global communications. To the correct of my knowledge, I was the first to indicate this possibility (see \” Extraterrestrial Relays\” , Wireless World, October 45). By another odd coincidence I\’ve just sent my agent an editorial on these lines, entitled \” The Billion Dollar Moon\” , giving my latest view on this subject. My general conclusions are that perhaps in 30 years the orbital relay system may take over the whole functions of existing surface networks and provide others quite impossible today. As an example, the three stations inside the 24-hour orbit may supply not only an interference and censorship-free global TV service for an analogous power as a single modern transmitter, but may also make possible a position-finding grid whereby anyone on the earth could locate himself by way of more than one dials on an instrument concerning the size of an eye. (A development of Decca and transistorisation.) It may even make possible world-wide person-to-person radio with automatic dialling. Thus no-one on earth need ever wander away or become out of touch with the community, unless he wanted to be. I\’m still occupied with the social consequences of this!

But as for details of frequencies and powers, I\’ll ought to leave that to the experts to determine; I\’ll get on with my science fiction and wait to claim \” I told you so!\”

Sincerely,

(Signed, \’Arthur\’)

Arthur C Clarke

P.S. Any chance of seeing you in London? I leave for N.Y. on 28 August.

I think he earned that \” I told you so\” by now, no? [Letters of Note via Dvice via Boing Boing]

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