Talk:Clarke's three laws

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Langford reference

In the interests of accountability, I am going to credit "Clarke's Third Law for Science-Fiction Writers" to David Langford (rather than, as the anon. contributor has done, to Clarke himself), on the grounds that

I have found no other reference to Clarke having said it; and
I have found a reference to Langford having said it under circumstances that suggest he made it up.

If you find an earlier reference than mine, feel free to correct me. --Paul A 01:30, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Redundant

So, we have both

Raymond's Second Law: Any sufficiently advanced system of magic would be indistinguishable from a technology.

...and...

Terry Pratchett refers to the law in his Discworld books by having wizard Ponder Stibbons state that "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."

Seems like it's stating the same thing twice, no? Perhaps these should be combined somehow, or at the very least, placed next to each other in the list. Rhomboid 00:33, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)

"Seems like it's stating the same thing twice, no?" No. Raymond's formulation is more precise, and, to be blunt, shows signs of having had some thought put into it, whereas "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology" is a rather obvious joke that was around years before Pratchett used it. That said, I agree that they're too similar to really be listed separately. --Paul A 03:12, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Apology

A retroactive apology for the admittedly vain addition of my corollary to the list, removed by Mdob. Sorry! -- Ben 10:43, 15 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Slashdot pastische

Another parody has appeared as a sig on slashdot :

Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality

Should I add it ? (I can trace the origins... maybe...) (note : sorry, forgot to sign in...) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.79.66.137 (talk) 17:31, 23 January 2006

Incorrect ref for "Any sufficiently familiar technology is indistinguishable from nature"?

Latest comment: 28 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion

"Any sufficiently familiar technology is indistinguishable from nature" has been linked to https://aeon.co/essays/in-solarpunk-cities-of-the-future-tech-follows-natures-lead which quotes "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from nature. – from ‘The Deepening Paradox’ (2011) by Karl Schroeder⁠. There's no mention of familiarity in that page. It looks like the correct reference for the quote re familiarity could be here: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/11228413-to-reverse-arthur-c-clarke-s-famous-adage-about-magic-any Please go ahead and swap that in if you agree and there's nothing more solid. U89djt (talk) 14:10, 27 May 2026 (UTC)Reply

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