Clarke's three laws

Clarke’s three laws are three guidelines pertaining to humanity’s attempts to predict and understand the future written by scientist, author, and futurist Arthur C. Clarke. They first appeared in two of his essays in the 1960s and 1970s and were later combined into a set of three thematically linked laws.

Background

Arthur Charles Clarke was born on December 16, 1917, in Minehead, Somerset, England. When he was young, he enjoyed studying the stars and perusing early works of science fiction. His fascination with space and science led him to join the British Interplanetary Society, a space advocacy organization that published an academic journal. He began writing his own works, both scholarly nonfiction and speculative fiction.

During World War II (1939–1945), Clarke served as a radar technician with Britain’s Royal Air Force. He used then-revolutionary radar equipment to observe and guide aircraft that would be otherwise obscured to the eye by clouds or precipitation. Clarke pursued a degree in mathematics and physics at King’s College, London, following the war and graduated first in his class in 1948. Resuming active participation in the British Interplanetary Society, he served twice as its president, departing from that post in 1953.

In 1956, Clarke pursued another great fascination, the oceans, when he moved to Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka. There, he worked extensively in diving exploration and oceanic research throughout the region. Clarke discovered in 1962 that he had contracted polio, a virus that could lead to serious physical disabilities. Polio greatly damaged his health and reduced his activity. By the late 1980s, he began using a wheelchair, which remained his primary means of transportation for the rest of his life.

Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, Clarke contributed heavily to several new technologies, notably communication satellites, that would revolutionize many human activities from sending messages to studying meteorology. Meanwhile, even as he helped to innovate real-world science, Clarke gained arguably greater acclaim for his postulations about the future of science and technology. His writings about future scenarios, in both fiction and nonfiction contexts, introduced many possibilities, often involving space travel, to the public consciousness and inspired the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), on which he collaborated.

Clarke received numerous awards and honors for his work. He received the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for popularizing science in 1961. In 1988, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in recognition of his lifetime of contributions to science and literature. Sri Lanka honored him with its highest national honor, the Sri Lankabhimanya award, in 2005. On March 19, 2008, Clarke died at the age of ninety, leaving behind a distinctive and lasting legacy across many fields.

Overview

In his hundreds of writings and other creations, Clarke introduced readers to a wide array of suggestions about science, forecasts of the future, and even standpoints on philosophy. One of his most lasting, popular, and often-repeated contributions to human thought is a collection of three guidelines that, he felt, describe approaches humans may take in attempting to predict the future.

The so-called “Clarke’s three laws” emerged from two of his essays. The first two laws originated in “Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination” (1962) and the third comes from a footnote in a revision of his essay “Profiles of the Future” (1973). Clarke’s readers and fans would later bundle these thematically related rules into the “three laws.” They have been quoted extensively in science, technology, literary, and philosophical contexts.

The first law, titled “Clarke’s law” by its namesake, states: “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.” This law supports Clarke’s largely optimistic viewpoint on science, discovery, and the future, leaning heavily in favor of the perspective that “anything is possible.” It also highlights some attitudes among scientists.

Like much of Clarke’s writing, the first law features a strong element of playful humor. In this case, Clarke borrowed the perspective of younger scientists by referring to scientists older than thirty years “elderly.” At the time he wrote this law, he well exceeded that age limit. He went on to jokingly explain that, to young scientists just out of college, scientists who had reached fifty or beyond were more trouble than they were worth and should be confined to administrative tasks far from the laboratory.

The second law states: “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” This law continues the optimistic tone of the previous one, suggesting that thinking, learning, and experimenting can perhaps continually push the boundaries of what humans consider real or possible. Doubtless, the history of invention is a constant process of forward-thinking people overcoming doubters and restrictive beliefs about what is impossible. In his writings, Clarke supports this assertion with a long list of examples of real-life technologies once dismissed by many as fanciful, such as photography, X-rays, and nuclear power.

The third and final law, and the most well-known and popular one, states: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” This law continues to explore the human relationship to progress and invention. It highlights how concepts of magic once served as explanations for many natural phenomena, making up for the vast shortage of valid scientific knowledge long ago. As science progressed, many ideas once considered purely magical—supernatural, inexplicable, or imaginary—eventually became real. This law challenges people not to dismiss seemingly unbelievable suggestions, but rather to consider whether someday they might become accepted or even commonplace, like countless advances have through history.

The third law has greatly appealed to many people in a variety of fields, from Clarke’s fellow scientists to generations of sci-fi fans, and many have created their own versions of the law. Some versions make serious points about psychology or science, while others playfully lampoon the “X is indistinguishable from Y” relationship.

Although the three laws were derived from two writings more than a decade apart and were not originally conceived as a list, Clarke embraced the development. He viewed it with his well-known good humor, noting that he would “modestly” end his list at three, since that quantity had proven “good enough for [Sir Isaac] Newton.”

Bibliography

“Arthur C Clarke.” The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, 2024, clarkefoundation.org/arthur-c-clarke-biography/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

“Clarke’s Laws.” PC Magazine, 2024, www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/clarkes-laws. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

Foglia, Efraín, Ferran Esteve, et al. “Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology Is Indistinguishable from Magic.” CCCBLab, 8 Nov. 2018, lab.cccb.org/en/arthur-c-clarke-any-sufficiently-advanced-technology-is-indistinguishable-from-magic/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2023.

Lu, Donna. “Clarke’s Three Laws.” New Scientist, www.newscientist.com/definition/clarkes-three-laws/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2023.

McAleer, Neil. Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography. Contemporary Books, 1992.

“Sir Arthur C. Clarke.” King’s College London, www.kcl.ac.uk/people/arthur-c-clarke. Accessed 23 Mar. 2023.

“Sir Arthur C Clarke: Ninety Orbits Around the Sun.” Arthur C. Clarke Website, arthurcclarke.org/site/clarke/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2023.