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

However, it is Arthur C. Clarke, a British writer and scientist, who has written three laws that try to predict and explain how scientific advances will be made in the future , in such a way that today it will be seen as something that belongs to science fiction.

For him, words like ‘impossible’ or ‘unthinkable’ were just illusory limitations, since science, whether human or alien, will advance anyway, even though we with our current mentality cannot even imagine it.

Next we will see Clarke’s laws , besides explaining the importance of this very particular English writer.

Who was Arthur Clarke?

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2009) was a British writer and scientist who, with his great capacity for inventiveness and imagination, made predictions of what the future of humanity would be like and, also, what the civilizations of intelligent extraterrestrial species might be like.

Speaking very briefly about his life, we can say that since he was a child he showed interest in astronomy, even making his own maps of the sky using an improvised 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 around the world, orbiting our planet and emitting waves instead of sending information by cables. It is this article that gave him great fame, naming the geostationary orbit after him as ‘Clarke Orbit’.

He is considered one of the great writers of science fiction , at the height of great names such as 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 expressed his particular vision of the future, being the author of books such as *The Sentinel* (1951), a book that inspired the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Stanley Kubrick, and Rendezvous with Rama (1972).

Clarke’s Laws

There are three laws that Clarke postulated, making a kind of prediction of how technological progress would occur in humanity. These laws, which might seem quite obvious in the world we live in, with all kinds of technology advancing and updating at a dizzying rate, were something that ordinary people were unable to conceive of during the first half of the 20th 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 essay Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination (1962). This law says:

“When a scientist, now old and famous, claims that something is possible, he’s probably right. But when he says it’s impossible, he’s probably wrong.

Nowadays, many scientists, like the case of Michio Kaku or the late Stephen Hawking, agree with this law . It is believed that most of the inventions of science fiction are possible and will one day become reality.

The paradox of this is that, in addition to agreeing with this law, Stephen Hawking was an example of when a very famous scientist erred in assuming that no concrete scientific advance would be made. A few years ago, in 2013, the Higgs boson was discovered, a particle that Hawking defended would never be found, and if it were, this particle would have unimaginable destructive power.

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

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 little more dynamic than the previous one, which postulates:

“The only way to find the limits of the possible is to go beyond those very limits, and into what we believe to be impossible.

More than a law, this postulate is an invitation for 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 in an airplane, maintaining a video call while being separated by half a planet, or treatment for cancer.

3. Clarke’s Third Law

But the best known of Clarke’s laws is his third and final law, formulated much later than the previous two. With surprising confidence for a person of his time, Clarke stated:

“Any technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic.”

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

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

Once his third law was passed, Clarke stopped saying anything new about this issue. The scientist was modest, and considered that if three were enough laws for Isaac Newton, three would also be enough 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.