Clarke’s First Law: Impossible Things

Science Fiction has a general and oft-ignored agreement that technology in a story should be plausible. Clarke’s first law, which states that:

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.

applies to science fiction stories and readers as well as elder scientists.

For example, uploading yourself into a digital environment and back again has been very popular in SF since the cyberpunk days of the 1980s if not before, but my understanding is that the chemical/biological process just don’t support the implied bandwidth. But maybe I’m wrong about that. Check out Elise Hu’s video in her new NPR segment called “Future You.”

The future may be closer than you think

Got Comments? Post them on the FB link here:
http://techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6948

Links/References: