In the wake of the arrival of an asteroid in September 2077 which causes catastrophic natural disasters resulting in massive loss of life, a distant early warning system called Spaceguard is implemented to ensure the earth is never caught off-guard again. The job of Spaceguard is to peer far into space so that any incoming body can be detected in time for preparations to be made to deal with the potentiality. In the year 2131, an object originally misidentified as an asteroid is revealed by closer scrutiny to actually be a spaceship. Any spaceship which could be confused with an asteroid from such a great distance is by definition gargantuan to the point of being almost beyond belief. Which can only result in one thing, of course: a mission to investigate more closely this thing which is unprecedented in the annals of humanity.
The primary theme of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama has to do with the nature of the inexplicable. Because humans only possess the power to understand things relative to their comparison to something else, many concepts which are accepted theoretically are impossible to fully comprehend in any literal way. For instance, one can be told that a ship is thirty-four miles long, but because no actual ship ever built is even remotely that massive, it is impossible to conceive of such a ship in an authentic way.
The majestically mammoth spaceship that gives the novel its title is proof of the existence of an alien life form that nobody on earth is prepared for because it is unlike anything that even fiction has ever given them. At first, earth’s greatest astronomers cannot even apprehend that Rama is something which has been constructed rather than organically coming into existence. And even once they do realize it is not an asteroid as originally assumed, this information does absolutely nothing to further understanding of it. The point being made is that despite living in a futuristic world where technological advancements make life among the characters almost completely unrecognizable to the world inhabited by readers, Rama is something so far off the spectrum of expectations that it will permanently defy explanation until it becomes a tangible reality. The thematic point of the novel is that Rama begins as a mystery, and it leaves as a mystery. And that describes the story covered within the narrative as well. That experimental nature of the story was enough to earn the author some major awards for just the effort, if nothing else.
But there is something else going on in the book besides that Big Idea that everyone immediately latches onto. And that something else is becoming with every passing day more relevant to society than the awesome wonders of the inexplicable. There is running almost silently through Rendezvous with Rama a rendezvous with our near-future rather than the perhaps quite-distant-future of first contact with an alien life form whose mysteries we cannot penetrate.
The events of the novel mainly take place around 2130 C.E. By this point there have been, obviously, fantastic advances in technology. This is a story featuring, among other things, low-gravity skybikes, holograms, robots, stereogram projections and a host of other cool techno stuff that will all likely come into being at some point in the future. The novel is peopled by characters who have come to deal with such technology as being just another part of their lives. In addition, this futuristic vision of society is one in which polygamous sexuality has become the norm and old-fashioned love-based monogamy is the alternative lifestyle. One would therefore naturally assume that those characters operating in a world of advanced technology and significantly altered social norms might be people one would find interesting. That is not the case, however. In fact, even among the most glowing of reviews of this novel one is likely to find complaints about the lack of interesting characters populating it.
The names alone indicate what seems to be a purposeful lack of charisma among then narrative's population: Bill Norton, Laura Ernst, Jimmy Pak. The closest a character even gets to having a memorable name is Boris Rodrigo. The only thing interesting about Boris, however, is that he defuses a bomb and even then, he actually uses 20th century wire cutters to get the job done. Ultimately, this novel tells a story about really cool technology being used by people who do not seem all that cool.
The increasing reliance upon technology for people to interact socially, do their jobs, travel, communicate across vast distances and everything else related to existence within a culture has had the tangential effect of diminishing many of the things which make people interesting. It makes perfect sense when you begin to view it historically and within the present context. For instance, look at the difference between handwritten letters and instant messaging technology. Anyone who has ever read any random compilation of handwritten letters can tell you they are works of art compared to the most eloquent instant messages ever sent. Part of the divergence is because writing a letter is an investment. One had the limitations of ink and paper and stamps and time and so would want to make sure they extricated the fullest possibilities available. On the other hand, if you forget to say something in a text you just send another one right away without worrying about running out of resources. With this lack of investment comes a shrinkage of interest and a subsequent reduction in personality. The more aspects of one’s life that are controlled by technology, the less people put of themselves into that action.
Of course, another explanation could simply be that Clarke just isn’t that good at creating interesting characters. But there seems to be a reoccurring theme that goes hand in hand with his stories about futuristic societies grown dependent upon technology. That theme comes to dominate this particular story. When placed into the context of social media posts that reveal a depressing lack of interesting qualities about those who engage it the most, this theme starts to become even more dominant because at this point Rendezvous with Rama is starting to look extraordinarily prescient on the part of the author. A story that was once almost solely fascinating as an exhibition of the inexplicable has transformed into a fascinating document correctly forecasting how humanity itself is being fundamentally changed by technological advancements.
