In <58...@apple.Apple.COM> fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes:
>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, >the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got >it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track >it down....
-- -- Paul Robichaux | Disclaimer: These are my opinions, not robic...@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov | NTI's or NASA's. "And the knowledge that they fear / Is a weapon to be used against them" - Rush
Got a question for all you sf buffs out there, and this seems like the place to post it.
Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track it down....
In article <58...@apple.Apple.COM>, fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes: > Got a question for all you sf buffs out there, and this seems like the place > to post it.
> Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology > is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, > the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got > it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track > it down....
Mr. Clarke (spelled with a silent 'e') is the source you're looking for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Russell D. Campbell : The Breakfast of Champions isn't | | rca...@cac.washington.edu : cereal, it's the competition! | | (206)543-0846 @UW in Seattle : - David Lee Roth | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | Anyone can have an opinion, but very few people ever bother to | | educate themselves before expressing one. | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <58...@apple.Apple.COM> fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes: >Got a question for all you sf buffs out there, and this seems like the place >to post it.
>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, >the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got >it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track >it down....
It was Clark. I don't know where it's from though. I'd guess some non-fiction article of his.
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgr...@eros.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\ | "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving | | the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the | | Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." | | <John F. Kennedy; May 25, 1961> |
Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track it down....
I am pretty sure that this was said by Arthur C. Clarke. I am also prett sure it should be a FAQ, if it isn't already.
One printed source of the quote is: Arthur C. Clarke, "Report on Planet Three", Harper and Row, 1972.
The chapter forward indicates that it is taken from a speech to the American Institute of Architects, given in May 1967.
"Clarke's First Law: 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.
Second Law: The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Report On Planet Three, pp. 129-130.
In article <58...@apple.Apple.COM> fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes:
>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, >the book title, year it was printed,
Arthur Clark said (wrote) it. I'm not sure of the book, but `Childhood's End' comes to mind.
Tom Kuchar kuc...@buast7.bu.edu Department of Astronomy Boston Univerity
In article <58...@apple.Apple.COM> fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes: >Got a question for all you sf buffs out there, and this seems like the place >to post it.
>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, >the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got >it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track >it down....
Sorry I can't give an attribution, but my quotes directory has:
Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic. -Arthur C. Clarke
My collection also has this quote, attributed to "Anonymous":
Any sufficiently clumsy magic will have the appearance of technology. -- Gary Benson -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-...@fluke.com_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Once established, it has prospered and spread, even in the face of determined opposition from the computing establishment. We feel sure that the UNIX system is a computing phenomenon whose full influence has not yet been experienced. -John Lions, 1979
In <1991Oct30.232802.13...@tc.fluke.COM> i...@tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) writes:
>>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >>is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name, >>the book title, year it was printed, and any correction to the quote if I got >>it wrong. I suspect Niven, Clark, or Asimov, but haven't been able to track >>it down.... >Sorry I can't give an attribution, but my quotes directory has: > Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic. > -Arthur C. Clarke >My collection also has this quote, attributed to "Anonymous": > Any sufficiently clumsy magic will have the appearance of technology. >--
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" is A.C.Clarke's third law - the others being: 1) If an elderly and distunguished scientist says something is possible, it almost certainly is. 2) If an elderly and distunguished scientist says something is impossible, it probably isn't.
I don't think the 'Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic.' is Clarkes, but I may be wrong.
Malcolm.
-- Malcolm J. Harwood Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester, England Email: harwo...@uk.ac.man.cs.p4
In article <harwoodm.688906...@p4.cs.man.ac.uk> harwo...@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Malcolm J. Harwood) writes:
>"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" >is A.C.Clarke's third law - the others being: > 1) If an elderly and distunguished scientist says something is possible, > it almost certainly is. >2) If an elderly and distunguished scientist says something is impossible, >it probably isn't.
Not quite. The three listed in my copy of _Report on Planet Three_ (Anyone remember this one? ;-) are...
1) If an elderly and distinguished scientist states that something is possible, he is quite probably correct. If said elderly and distinguished scientist states that something is impossible, he is quite probably incorrect.
2) A sufficiently advanced technology is industinguishable from magic.
3) The only way to define the bounds of the knowable is to go beyond them into the unknowable.
>Malcolm.
-- Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) tkog...@triton.unm.edu Nervous observer of the "Grand Startrek reorg" of Oct '91 R.I.P Gene Roddenberry. I may not have agreed with everything you said, but you will be missed...
In article <1991Oct30.232802.13...@tc.fluke.COM> i...@tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) writes: >In article <58...@apple.Apple.COM> fl...@apple.com (Charles Flaig) writes: ... >>Who originally came up with the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology >>is indistinguishable from magic"? I would like to find out the author's name,
... A. C. Clarke. But Barry Gehm is responsible for observing the contrapositive: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficient."
&y&a -- Andrew Allen Anda, (University of Minnesota: a...@cs.umn.edu) Computer Science Dept., 4-192 EE/CSci Bldg., 200 Union St. S.E., Mpls., MN 55455
