Re: virus: Sham(an) again

Kirt A. Dankmyer -- aka Loki (dankmyka@wfu.edu)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 16:08:43 -0400

>Arthur C. Clarke, Granddaddy of SF, proclaimed that 'Advanced technology
>would appear as magic to the civilization without it' or something to
>that effect. He was thinking about what we would look like to
>Neanderthal, for instance, if we could meet, or what an extraterrestial
>would look like to us if they came on down....

The phrasing I've always heard is "Sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."

As someone who works in computers, I see this every day. People who don't
understand computers often have a near-superstitious attitude toward them.
I try to dispel this by reminding people that programs are written by
humans and denigrating Microsoft. ;)

>Thus the monolith and the Great Alien Presence in 2001.
>
>My variation of this would be that the unexplained is always magic to the
>ignorant....

Like I said. ;)
-Kirt

--
Kirt A. Dankmyer <dankmyka@wfu.edu> --- Academic Computing Specialist
http://www.wfu.edu/~dankmyka/ -- (910) 759-4202 -- PGP public key available.
For the Snark _was_ a Boojum, you see. --Lewis Carroll