I Remember Babylon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"I Remember Babylon"
Author	Arthur C. Clarke
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Published in	Playboy
Publication date	May, 1960

"I Remember Babylon" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It was first published in the May 1960 issue of Playboy and reprinted in the 1962 collection Tales of Ten Worlds.

[edit] Plot summary

The story takes the form of a non-fiction article by Clarke in which he warns the people of the United States of America that the Chinese are planning to launch a communications satellite for the purpose of broadcasting an uncensorable mix of pornography and communist propaganda directly to American citizens.

While the eventuality mentioned in the story never materialised, it was one of the earliest popular depictions of the possibilities inherent in satellite TV, a subject also featuring in other Clarke works of both fiction and non-fiction — to which some credit is due for the idea having eventually become a reality.