Editing Clarke's three laws

{{short description|Axioms proposed by British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke}}
{{use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
British science fiction writer [[Arthur C. Clarke]] formulated three [[adage]]s that are known as '''Clarke's three laws''', of which the third law is the best known and most widely cited. They are part of his ideas in his extensive writings about the future.<ref>{{Cite book |title= The Physics of Invisibility: A Story of Light and Deception |url= https://archive.org/details/physicsinvisibil00beec_697 |url-access= limited |last= Beech|first=Martin |publisher= Springer Science + Business Media|year= 2012 |isbn= 978-1-46140615-0 |location= New York |page =[https://archive.org/details/physicsinvisibil00beec_697/page/n205 190]}}</ref>

== The laws ==
[https://www.newscientist.com/definition/clarkes-three-laws/ The laws] are:
# {{Anchor|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.
# {{Anchor|Clarke's second law}}The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
# {{Anchor|Clarke's third law}}Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

== Origins ==
One account stated that Clarke's laws were developed after the editor of his works in French started numbering the author's assertions.<ref>{{Cite book |title= The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When |last= Keyes |first= Ralph |publisher= St. Martin's Press |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-0-31234004-9 |location= New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/quoteverifierwho00keye/page/217 217] |url= https://archive.org/details/quoteverifierwho00keye/page/217 }}</ref> All three laws appear in Clarke's essay "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", first published in ''Profiles of the Future'' (1962);<ref>"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in the collection ''Profiles of the Future: An Enquiry into the Limits of the Possible'' (1962, rev. 1973), pp. 14, 21, 36.</ref> however, they were not all published at the same time. Clarke's first law was proposed in the 1962 edition of the essay, as "Clarke's Law" in ''Profiles of the Future''.

The second law is offered as a simple observation in the same essay but its status as Clarke's second law was conferred by others. It was initially a derivative of the first law and formally became Clarke's second law where the author proposed the third law in the 1973 revision of ''Profiles of the Future'', which included an acknowledgement.<ref>{{Cite book |title= The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths |last= Shermer |first= Michael |author-link= Michael Shermer |publisher= Henry Holt & Co. |year= 2011 |isbn= 978-0-80509125-0 |location= New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/believingbrainfr0000sher/page/358 358] |url= https://archive.org/details/believingbrainfr0000sher/page/358 }}</ref> It was also here that Clarke wrote about the third law in these words: "As three laws were good enough for [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], I have modestly decided to stop there".

The third law is the best known and most widely cited. It was published in a 1968 letter to ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' magazine<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Clarke|first=Arthur C.|date=1968-01-19|title=Clarke's Third Law on UFO's|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.159.3812.255.c|journal=Science|language=en|volume=159|issue=3812|pages=255|doi=10.1126/science.159.3812.255-b|bibcode=1968Sci...159..255C |s2cid=159455247 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> and eventually added to the 1973 revision of the "Hazards of Prophecy" essay.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible |last=Clarke |first= Arthur C.|publisher= Popular Library |year=1973 |isbn= 978-0-33023619-5}}</ref>

== Variants of the third law ==
The third law has inspired many [[snowclone]]s and other variations:
* {{anchor|Shermer}}Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.<ref name="Gooden2015"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Shermer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Shermer |date=January 2002 |title=Shermer's Last Law |url=https://michaelshermer.com/sciam-columns/shermers-last-law/ |url-access= |magazine=[[Scientific American]] |volume=286 |issue=1}}</ref> ([[Michael Shermer|Shermer]]'s last law)
* Any sufficiently advanced act of benevolence is indistinguishable from malevolence<ref>{{cite book | last1= Rubin | first1= Charles T. | author-link1= Charles T. Rubin | editor1-last= Chadwick | editor1-first= Ruth | editor2-last= Gordijn | editor2-first= Bert | publisher= Springer | title= Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity | date= 5 November 2008 | isbn= 978-904818005-9 | page= 149 | url= http://www.abolitionist.com/transhumanism/transhumanist.pdf | chapter= What is the Good of Transhumanism? | access-date= 17 October 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141016064821/http://www.abolitionist.com/transhumanism/transhumanist.pdf | archive-date= 16 October 2014 | url-status= live}} Rubin is referring to an earlier work of his:<br />{{cite book| last1=Rubin | first1= Charles T. | author-link1= Charles T. Rubin | editor1-last= Kingsley | editor1-first=Stuart A. | editor1-link= Stuart Kingsley | editor2-last= Lemarchand | editor2-first= Guillermo A. | title=The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum II: 31 January – 1 February 1996, San Jose, California, Band 2704 | date= 1996 | chapter=First contact: Copernican moment or nine day's wonder? | series= Proceedings of SPIE – the International Society for Optical Engineering | publisher= [[SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering]] | location= Bellingham, WA | isbn= 978-0-8194-2078-7 | pages= 161–84}}</ref> (referring to [[Artificial intelligence#Malevolent and friendly AI|artificial intelligence]])
* {{anchor|Grey}}Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice<ref name= "Gooden2015">{{cite book | title = Skyscrapers, Hemlines and the Eddie Murphy Rule: Life's Hidden Laws, Rules and Theories | first    = Philip | last = Gooden | date = 2015 | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing | isbn = 978-1-47291503-0 | page = 83}}</ref> (Grey's law)
*{{anchor|Sterling}}Any sufficiently advanced garbage is indistinguishable from magic.<ref>{{cite web | author=John Brockman | title= 2004 : WHAT'S YOUR LAW? | url= https://www.edge.org/responses/whats-your-law}}</ref> (Sterling's corollary to Clarke's law) This idea also underlies the setting of the novel [[Roadside Picnic]] by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, in which human ''stalkers'' try to navigate the location of an alien "visitation", trying to make sense of technically advanced items discarded by the aliens.
*{{anchor|Sterling}}Any sufficiently advanced garbage is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abdel-Salam |first1=Sami |last2=Brewster |first2=Mary |last3=Bratina |first3=Michele B. |last4=Bradley |first4=Katie |last5=Perone |first5=Julie |date=2020-09-03 |title=Generation Rx: A Preliminary Study of College Students and Prescription Drug Abuse |url=https://doi.org/10.37576/abuse.2020.011 |journal=Abuse: An International Impact Journal |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=26 |doi=10.37576/abuse.2020.011 |issn=2633-8742}}</ref>

== Corollaries and follow-ups ==
[[Isaac Asimov]]'s follow-up to Clarke's First Law: <blockquote>"When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervour and emotion – the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |title=Asimov's Corollary |url=https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v052n02_1977-02/page/n103/mode/2up?q=%22the+lay+public+rallies%22 |journal=[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]] |publication-date=1977 |issue=February 1977 |pages=104}}</ref></blockquote>A [[wikt:contrapositive#English|contrapositive]] of the third law is "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." (Gehm's corollary)<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine= The MT Void |volume= 23 |number= 19 |date=5 November 2004 |last1= Leeper |first1=Evelyn |author-link1= Evelyn C. Leeper |last2= Leeper |first2=Mark |title= Correction |publisher= Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society |url= http://fanac.org/fanzines/MT_Void/MT_Void-2319.html |access-date= 2015-11-29 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041229021232/http://fanac.org/fanzines/MT_Void/MT_Void-2319.html |archive-date= 2004-12-29 |url-status= live}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|List of eponymous laws}}
* {{annotated link|Three Laws of Robotics}}
* {{annotated link|Niven's laws}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|40em}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Clarke's_three_laws.ogg|date=2019-12-07}}
* [https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.sf.misc/c/LTn-gC0iJ4s/m/_CZYqBBSGOQJ The origins of the Three Laws]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120106080242/http://www.edge.org/q2004/ "What's Your Law?"] (lists some of the corollaries)
* [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/dlnw.htm "A Gadget Too Far"] by [[David Langford]], at [[Infinity Plus]]

{{Arthur C. Clarke}}{{Portal bar|Science Fiction|Technology|Science}}

[[Category:Adages]]
[[Category:Arthur C. Clarke]]
[[Category:Technology folklore]]
[[Category:Technology forecasting]]
[[Category:Principles]]