Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Clarke said not that long ago that 2001: A Space Odyssey - oft cited as an over-optimistically named novel - really did come to pass, and to a far greater extent than he had expected. But because we used robots, instead of human beings, nobody noticed...