Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three lawss:
- 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.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Other writers have since proposed corollaries to Clarke's laws:
;Isaac Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's First Law (not actually a corollary, strictly speaking):When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion — the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.
;Gregory Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law:Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.