Clarke's 3 Laws of Technology and the Future

Isaac Asimov, George Orwell, Herbert George Wells and many more science fiction writers have captured, in his works, dystopian worlds, in which almost paranormal and unthinkable phenomena fill the pages of his books.

However, it is Arthur C. Clarke, British writer and scientist, who captured three laws that tried to predict and explain how scientific advances would take place in the future, so that today at the time it would be seen as something typical of science fiction.

For him, words like ‘impossible’ or ‘unthinkable’ were nothing more than illusory limitations, since science, be it human or that of the aliens, it will advance anyway, although we with our current mentality cannot or To imagine.

Next we will see the laws of Clarke, in addition to explaining the importance of this very particular English writer.

• Related article: "Artificial Intelligence vs Human Intelligence: 7 differences"

Who was Arthur Clarke?

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2009) was a British scientist and writer who, with his great inventiveness and imagination,

made predictions of what the future of humanity would be like and, also, what could be the civilizations of intelligent extraterrestrial species.

Speaking very briefly about his life, we can say that since childhood he showed interest in the astronomy, getting to make his own maps of the sky using a makeshift and homemade telescope. During World War II he became a radar technician, serving in the British Air Force and contributing to the development of a defense system.

At the end of the conflict he wrote an article called Extra-terrestrial Relays (1945), in which he explained how artificial satellites could facilitate communications throughout the world, orbiting our planet and emitting waves instead of sending the information through cables. It is this article that gave him great fame, naming the geostationary orbit in his honor as the ‘Clarke orbit’.

He is considered to be one of the great writers of science fiction, at the height of big names like Isaac Asimov, creator of the three laws of robotics or George Orwell, who predicted how new technologies could end up controlling public opinion. In his works he reflected his particular vision of the future, being the author of books such as * El sentinel * (1951), a book that inspired the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Stanley Kubrick, and Appointment with Rama (1972).

Clarke's Laws

There are three laws that Clarke postulated, making a kind of prediction of how technological advancement would occur in humanity. These laws, which although they may seem quite obvious to us in the world in which we live, with all kinds of technology that goes advancing and updating in a dizzying way, it was something that ordinary people were unable to conceive during the first half of the twentieth century. But Clarke was no ordinary person.

1. Clarke's First Law

Throughout his works he formulated his three laws, which became famous with the passage of time. The first law made its debut in the rehearsal Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination (1962). This law says:

"When an elderly and famous scientist claims that something is possible, he is probably correct. But when he says that it is impossible, he is most likely wrong. "

Currently, many scientists, such as the case of Michio Kaku or the late Stephen Hawking, agree with this law. Most science fiction inventions are believed to be possible and will one day come true.

The paradox of this is that, in addition to agreeing with this law, Stephen Hawking was an example of when a very famous scientist errs in assuming that no concrete scientific breakthrough will be achieved. A few years ago, in 2013, the Higgs boson was discovered, a particle that Hawking defended is not would find, and if it were, this particle would have a destructive power unimaginable.

Almost seven years have passed and, so far, such a particle has not been shown to be a weapon of mass destruction, nor have there been any worrisome incidents.

• You may be interested: "13 technological and digital tools for psychologists"

2. Clarke's second law

Clarke's Second Law appeared in a revised edition of his book Profiles of the future (1973). This law is a bit more dynamic than the previous one, which postulates:

"The only way to find the limits of what is possible is by going beyond those very limits, and entering what we believe is impossible."

More than a law, this postulate It is an invitation for the research not to stop, for science to continue trying to describe reality in the best way and to modify it according to the general interests.

There are many things that until relatively recently seemed impossible, such as flying by plane, have a video call being separated by half a planet away or the treatment for the Cancer.

3. Clarke's third law

But the best known of Clarke's laws is his third and last law, formulated much later than the previous two. Surprisingly confident for a person of his time, Clarke stated:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

In saying this, Clarke I had to keep in mind that any civilization, be it the human of the future or one of extraterrestrial origin. These civilizations may have had enough time to have developed technology that, even for us in the decade in which we live, would seem to us something typical of a book by J. K. Rowling.

Also, if we see ourselves, we can understand that, if we could travel to the past and teach the people of the Middle Ages our electronic devices, surely they think they are witchcraft, no matter how much scientific explanation that we would say. Even When television was invented, not more than 80 years ago, there were those who were convinced that inside that device were tiny people, which could not be art of electricity and a screen with lights.

Once his third law was postulated, Clarke stopped saying any news on this question. The scientist was modest, and considered that if three were sufficient laws for Isaac Newton, three would also be sufficient for him.

Bibliographic references:

• Clarke, A. C.; (1989). Appointment with Rama. Barcelona: Ultramar Editores. ISBN 978-84-7386-190-8.
• Clarke, A. C. (1951) The Exploration of Space. New York: Harper & Brothers
• Clarke, A. C. (1962) Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible (1962) New York: Harper & Row
• McAleer, N. (1992). Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography. Chicago: Contemporary Books. p. 100. ISBN 0-8092-3720-2.
• Clarke, Arthur C. (1984). "The Sentinel". Heavy Metal. Vol. 7 no. 10. p. 57.
• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 101. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.