Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three "laws" of prediction: Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (born 16 December 1917) is a British science-fiction author and inventor, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A prediction is a statement or claim that a particular event will occur in the future in more certain terms than a forecast. ...

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Origins

Clarke's Law, later the first of the three laws, was proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in the essay "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", in Profiles of the Future (1962). The second law is offered as a simple observation in the same essay; its status as Clarke's Second Law was conferred on it by others.

In a 1973 revision of Profiles of the Future, Clarke acknowledged the Second Law and proposed the Third in order to round out the number, adding "As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there." Of the three, the Third Law is the best known and most widely cited. Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ...

Clarke's Third Law codifies perhaps the most significant of Clarke's unique contributions to speculative fiction. A model to other writers of hard science fiction, Clarke postulates advanced technologies without resorting to flawed engineering concepts (as Jules Verne sometimes did) or explanations grounded in incorrect science or engineering (a hallmark of "bad" Science Fiction), or taking clues from trends in research and engineering (which unfortunately dates some of Larry Niven's best novels). Speculative fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. ... Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

But in novels such as The City and the Stars and the story The Sentinel (upon which 2001: A Space Odyssey was based) Clarke goes further; he presents us with ultra-advanced technologies limited only by fundamental science. In Against the Fall of Night, the human race has mysteriously regressed after a full million years of civilization. Humanity is faced with the remnants of its past glories: for example, a network of roads and sidewalks that flow like rivers. Although physically possible, it is inexplicable from their (and our) perspective. Explaining the "how" of such a technology would be distracting, and far from the point of the story. (Imagine detailing how radios work while relating the events of World War II to a Stone Age artisan.) Clarke's Third Law explains the source of our amazement as our limitation, rather than the impossibility of the technology. The City and The Stars (1956) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. ... For other works called The Sentinel, see Sentinel. ... The City and The Stars is a science fiction novel by Arthur C Clarke. ... Stone Age fishing hook. ...

References in other works

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• Isaac Asimov wrote a corollary to Clarke's First Law, stating

  "When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right."

• Larry Niven, in discussing fantasy, wrote "any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." This is sometimes known as "Niven's Law" even though it is not on the list known as "Niven's laws".
• Dave Lebling also wrote in the 1986 interactive fiction game Trinity, "Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology."
• Terry Pratchett refers to Niven's inversion of the law in his Discworld books by having wizard Ponder Stibbons state that "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." Furthermore, in another Discworld work, The Last Hero, Leonard of Quirm is working on the Discworld's first (non-magical) flying machine, and states that he has no use for artisans who have "learned the limits of the possible."
• In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Where No One Has Gone Before", an engineer comments on an advanced alien's technology with "You're asking us to believe in magic." The alien (known only as "Traveler") replies, "Yes, I guess from your perspective it does seem like magic." Picard is enlightened. A few years later in "Who Watches the Watchers?" after viewing Federation technology, a primitive society thinks Captain Picard is able to perform magic.
• In the first non-Asimov Foundation novel, the emperor declares, "If technology is distinguishable from magic, it is insufficiently advanced." This is a paraphrase of Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law, "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
• In Part Three of the Doctor Who story "Battlefield," the Seventh Doctor asks Ace if she remembers Clarke's Law (that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic) and explains that the same can be held true in reverse (any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology) while justifying the possibility of a dimensional spaceship which has been grown, not built.
• In Superman Returns, Lex Luthor is twice heard saying, in reference to Kryptonian technology, that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
• A character in S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire describes a certain technology as "Something so far beyond ours we can't understand it, and it looks like magic."
• The narrator in Dean Koontz's novel The Taking quotes Clarke's third law more than once. She also says that the reverse may be true: in an age when faith in science is ascendant, supernatural phenomena may be mistaken for advanced technology.
• In the online webcomic Freefall, a third corollary is introduced by one of the main characters, Florence Ambrose: "Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who do not understand it."
• In the online RPG Kingdom of Loathing there is an enemy named the MagiMechTech MechaMech. The description of this monster states that it is made of magic and technology, but since the significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic it is impossible to discern how much of each is present. There is also a clockwork sword, which sometimes states: "Something inside your clockwork sword goes *click*, and it begins to vibrate, healing you. Somehow. I guess it's true what they say about sufficiently advanced technology."
• The television series Stargate SG-1 uses Clarke's third law as its central theme. The advanced Goa'uld race uses technology in the guise of magic to conquer and enslave humans.
• The television series Babylon 5 features an enigmatic group known as the "Technomages". Operating in the 23rd century, they openly admit that their "powers" are based on technology, but live by the very principle of Clarke's Law that their advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic; as a result they act much like classical wizards. One technomage tries to relate this by saying that a space station in deep space could only be explained to primitive people in terms of magic, and similarly their technology outstrips that of other contemporary spacefarers enough that it seems like magic.
• In Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe series of novels, a character quotes an alien adage that "Any sufficiently antique technology is indistinguishable from magic.".
• In Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, Jack Shaftoe remarks to Enoch Root "They cannot see the string at this distance, and suppose you are doing some sort of magick", who responds "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a yo-yo."
• A practical demonstration of the Third Law (despite pre-dating it by several decades) can be seen in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, when the protagonist uses, in sequence, a touch of astronomy and some applied chemistry to appear a great and powerful wizard, able to trump the petty magics of Merlin.
• Dilbert author Scott Adams complains that, "in my house, any sufficiently advanced technology is broken, and no one knows how to fix it."[1]
• A quest in the computer game expansion The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal involves reactivating an ancient piece of technology that controls weather to simulate magically controlling it.
• Robert L. Forward's book Indistinguishable from Magic draws its name from Clarke's third law, and the laws are stated in the book's foreword.
• The band Yello in their song Beyond Mirrors on an album Pocket Universe cite "According to Arthur C. Clarke any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."'

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Shortcut: WP:WIN Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, also an online community. ... Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920?[1] – April 6, 1992), IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American Jewish author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... Nivens law was named after science fiction author Larry Niven, who has periodically published them as how the Universe works as far as he can tell. ... Dave Lebling, ca 1985 Dave Lebling (born 1949) was an interactive fiction game designer, or implementor, at Infocom. ... Zork I is one of the first interactive fiction games, as well as being one of the first commercially sold. ... Trinity is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and published in 1986 by Infocom. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]) is an English fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series. ... Cover of an early edition of The Colour of Magic; art by Josh Kirby Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which are in turn standing on the back of... Ponder Stibbons is a wizard in the fictional universe of Terry Pratchetts Discworld series. ... This article is about the fantasy novel. ... Leonard of Quirm is a fictional character in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... Where No One Has Gone Before is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ... Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional human Star Trek character portrayed by actor Patrick Stewart. ... Who Watches the Watchers is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on October 16, 1989. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Doctor Who (disambiguation). ... Battlefield is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 6 to September 27, 1989. ... -1... Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... For the video game of the same name, see Superman Returns (video game). ... Lex Luthor is a fictional supervillain owned by DC Comics and the noted archenemy of Superman. ... Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe. ... Stephen Michael Stirling is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. ... Dies the Fire is a post-apocalyptic 2004 novel by alternate history author S. M. Stirling. ... The Taking is a 2004 novel written by Dean Koontz. ... First impressions: Florence (left) meets Sam and Helix for the first time. ... Kingdom of Loathing (KoL) is a humorous, browser-based, multiplayer role playing game designed and operated by Asymmetric Publications, including creator Zack Jick Johnson and writer Josh Mr. ... Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... A Technomage performing a spell on the series Babylon 5. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... The Baroque Cycle is a series of books written by Neal Stephenson and published in 2003 and 2004. ... Jack Shaftoe is a fictional character featured in the novels of Neal Stephensons The Baroque Cycle. ... Enoch Root (Enoch the Red) is a fictional character from Neal Stephensons novels The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. ... A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... Dilbert (first published April 16, 1989) is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. ... Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal was the first expansion for Bethesda Softworks The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. ... Robert Lull Forward, commonly known as Robert L. Forward, (August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer. ... Yello is a popular Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. ... Pocket universes are a type of very small parallel universe sometimes found in science fiction and fantasy. ...

See also

• Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
• Sturgeon's Revelation
• Grey's Law
• Adages named after people
• First contact (anthropology)
• SETI
• Futures studies

Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920?[1] – April 6, 1992), IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American Jewish author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ... Sturgeons Law is an adage derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon: Nothing is always absolutely so. ... Hanlons razor is an adage which reads: Also worded as: // According to Joseph Bigler,[1] the quotation first came from a certain Robert J. Hanlon as a submission for a book compilation of various jokes related to Murphys law published in 1980 entitled Murphys Law Book Two... This is a list of adages named after people (eponymous adages). ... First contact is a term used to describe a first meeting of two previously unknown cultures. ... This article is about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. ... Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow’s reality. ...

External links

• The origins of the Three Laws
• "What's Your Law?" (lists some of the corollaries)
• "A Gadget Too Far" at Infinity Plus
• Corollary in "Free Fall"