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Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sufficiently Advanced



The original:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)


Version 2:

Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from conspiracy.
Peter Boulding, internet post, 2008, re curious handling of the Ivins anthrax case.


[I received a comment that Peter was probably quoting Terry Pratchett; I haven't verified this, but it certainly sounds Prachett-like. Wikipedia quotes something very similar as Grey's law. This spot says it's Riddell's Law]

The picture above shows the perils of automated translation software. Or maybe it's an anti-Chinese conspiracy.

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