Have you ever imagined what people in the mid-19th century would have thought if they had access to all the technology, digitization and computing we live with? Of course this would have seemed unimaginable or impossible. It’s like magic.
Well, the physicist and the writer had a similar thought Arthur C. Clark Mid-20th century (but adapted to the technology of its own time). This British man needed to make people see that science really has no limits and that in the future, it will achieve things that his contemporaries could not even imagine.
In this way, Arthur Clarke decided to establish a series of three designed guides Three Laws, tried to predict and explain how scientific development would be in the future. Although it seems almost out of fiction, at the time they were a Predicting how technological potential will benefit the future And they identified a pattern He believed in sciencePlacement as the key engine of change.
Arthur C. Who is Clark?
Arthur Clarke, born in 1917, was a British author and scientist who stood out for his works based on science fiction. Although he did not officially work as a scientist, Studied Physics and Mathematics It contains King’s College de Laundrettes, holds a degree in both and exhibits a keen interest in the study of astronomy and space. However, instead of staying in the laboratory and research-related fields, Arthur became Radar TechnicianHe later served the British Air Force in the development of defense systems World War II.
One of his first essays brought him a certain fame Extraterrestrial relays, from 1945, in which the author explained that the use of satellites facilitates communication around the world, positioning themselves in orbit around the planet and emitting and receiving different types of waves. Thanks to this publication, satellites moved into what became known as geostationary orbit Clark’s Orbit. Also, in the 1960s, his popularity was further enhanced when he became a commentator on the Apollo missions.
In his best works of science fiction, he presents his curious vision of the future Sentinel (1951), a novel that inspired the films A space odyssey oh Quote with Rama. He is a famous author, often compared to George Orwell or Isaac Asimov, and has an asteroid named after him. 4923 Clark And, even, with a dinosaur species nicknamed in his honor, the Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei.
CBS broadcast on July 24, 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission. Arthur C. Clark is first from the right.
Clarke’s Laws
Thus, throughout his life, Arthur Clarke published Three Laws He tried to put on the table the importance of science as a driver of development, as well as highlighting that technological progress would achieve goals that none of his contemporaries could have imagined. The first of them was published for the first time in the article The Perils of Prophecy: A Failure of ImaginationIn 1962. It is stated as follows: “When a famous but aging scientist says something is possible, he is surely right. If you say something is impossible, you are most likely wrong.”. In most cases, this indicates the fact that everything that now seems somewhat imaginary, at some point science may turn it into reality.
The second law was published in his work Future profiles (Future profilesIn 1973, it presents the following:The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to step beyond them into the impossible.”. With this statement, Arthur Clarke proposes that as long as research does not stop and scientists continue to work, science will continue to advance to change reality for the benefit of all citizens. Let’s just think about curing infectious diseases that are important while guaranteeing a certain quality of life, which 100 years ago seemed almost a dream.
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Finally, the third law, perhaps the most famous of all, proposes: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. With this statement, Arthur Clarke, of course, wanted to highlight that many things that have evolved throughout history would seem magical to people living in past centuries (for example, a computer to someone from the Middle Ages). It can also be interpreted as an invitation not to consider anything impossible and to reflect on the fact that, in fact, people do not do things by “magic”, but rather everything comes from practice.
