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Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three laws:- 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.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
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 revised edition of Profiles of the Future (1973), Clarke acknowledged the Second Law and proposed the Third in order to round out the numbers, adding "As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there."
Other writers have since proposed corollaries (not all of them actually corollaries, technically speaking) to Clarke's laws:
- Isaac Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's First Law: 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. ("Asimov's Corollary", F&SF, Feb. 1977)
- Gregory Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. ( Foundation's Fear, 1997)
Alternative version: Benford's Modified Clarke Law: Any technology that does not appear magical is insufficiently advanced.[1]
- Raymond's Second Law: Any sufficiently advanced system of magic would be indistinguishable from a technology.[2]
- Sterling's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced garbage is indistinguishable from magic.[3]
- Langford's application of Clarke's Third Law to science fiction: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device. ("A Gadget Too Far", New Worlds 2, 1992)
Sometimes referred to as one of Clarke's Laws is Amara's lawAmara's law is a maxim stating: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. It was put forth by Roy Amara of the Institute for the Future. It is sometimes called Saffo's law or Clarke's that "We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run." which was put forth by Roy Amara of The Institute for the Future .
1 Unrelated topics
- Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of RoboticsIn science fiction, the Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three laws written by Isaac Asimov, which most robots appearing in his fiction have to obey. They state that: # A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to co
2 External link
- The origins of the Three Laws
- Humorous corollary to Clarke's Third Law (from the web comicWeb comics are comics that are available on the web. Many of these web comics are exclusively published online, while others are published on paper but maintain a web presence or archive, for either commercial or artistic reasons. Web comics run the gamut FreefallFreefall is a popular webcomic written and drawn by Mark Stanley, which began on March 30, 1998. It is a humorous science fiction story cataloguing the misadventures of the starship Savage Chicken and its crew: Sam Starfall, a lovable two-timing con artis)
- "What's Your Law?" (lists some of the corollaries)
- "A Gadget Too Far" at Infinity Plus
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