“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
“There is no technological magic bullet that will make the government as smart as it is powerful.”
From Terrorism & Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil (Palgrave, 2003) http://www.jimbovard.com/Epigrams%20page%20Terrorism%20&%20Tyranny.htm
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American journalist 1956Related quotes
Rati Tsiteladze (1987) Georgian Filmmaker
As quoted in Rati's personal diaries http://www.ratitsiteladze.com
“It is not that there is some magic technology. It is what are you going to do with it?”
Hal Abelson (1947) computer scientist
Source: mitcet http://www.edpath.com/mitcet.htm
“Any technology that does not appear magical is insufficiently advanced.”
Gregory Benford book Foundation's Fear
This is derived from the third of Arthur C. Clarke's three laws : "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." There are other variants which had inverted this including one known as Gehm's corollary http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/cyc/l/law.htm, published several years earlier : "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." The earliest variant seems to be "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." It has been called "Niven's Law" and attributed to Larry Niven by some, and to Terry Pratchett by others, but without any citation of an original source in either case — the earliest occurrence yet located is an anonymous one in Keystone Folklore (1984) by the Pennsylvania Folklore Society. <br class="br">Foundation's Fear (1997)
“Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.”
Larry Niven (1938) American writer
Anonymous saying, this is an inversion of the third of Arthur C. Clarke's three laws : "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." It has been attributed to Niven, and even called "Niven's Law" by some, and to Terry Pratchett by others, but without any citation of an original source in either case, and the earliest occurrence yet located is in Keystone Folklore (1984) by the Pennsylvania Folklore Society.
Misattributed
“Money equals power; power makes the law; and law makes government.”
Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer
Source: Red Mars (1992), Chapter 6, “Guns Under the Table” (p. 394)
Olly Blackburn Film director and screenwriter
[Eye for Film, Giving British films some Punch, http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature.php?id=545, Amber, Wilkinson, 18 July 2008, 23 February 2012, www.eyeforfilm.co.uk]
“Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)
On Clarke's Laws
Source: Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible
Theodore Kaczynski book Industrial Society and Its Future
"Technology Is A More Powerful Social Force Than The Aspiration For Freedom", item 125
Industrial Society and Its Future (1995)