Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Indistinguishable from magic

I love Clarke's laws, especially the 3rd:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.


Until today I never really thought of that it would seem so literal until I saw some new interface prototypes (via /.). Particularly the "3D Teleconferencing" which looked straight out of Harry Potter.

Next time I re-read Harry Potter, I'll try and imagine it as a sci-fi story filled with fantastic devices and genetically engineered creatures rather than magical. Right now I can't picture where that analogous fails. Perhaps one day Muggle will mean "non-technological folk".

1 comment:

  1. My favorite is "any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."

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