Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws of Prediction

Arthur C. Clarke was a British writer and wrote three "laws" about predictions. They are as follows:

1. 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.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

My summary of the first point is, "the future is possible", "don't discount the future", or perhaps "".

My summary of the second point is, "Don't give up until you try. Then try harder."

My summary of the third point is, "technology is magic."

Source (Wikipedia)

Bonus Quote: "Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy." - Arthur C. Clarke

Out of the ~100 more quotes I read by him, here are a few more that stood out:

• Interesting: "One of the biggest roles of science fiction is to prepare people to accept the future without pain and to encourage a flexibility of mind. Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories."
• Enjoyable: Clarke's Law of Revolutionary Ideas: Every revolutionary idea — in science, politics, art, or whatever — seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases:
  • (1) "It's completely impossible — don't waste my time";
  • (2) "It's possible, but it's not worth doing";
  • (3) "I said it was a good idea all along."
• Sounds Good: "I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy."

=]
~ Simply Advanced ~

ps - My own quote is "Don't be stuck in a paradigm. Facts change." =b

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The Basic Laws Of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla

According to Carlo M. Cipolla, there are five basic laws surrounding human stupidity.

I just learned about these laws within the past week. And I especially liked the definition of stupid for the third basic law.

1. Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person will be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

As a bonus, here is a TEDx video titled, "Think Stupid" which talks about stupidity and creativity and how they are both related. Ex: Some people can come up with "stupid" ideas that I never would have thought of.

~ Simply Advanced ~

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Inertia Dampeners

Re: Designing inetia dampeners.

First version would just be changing forward velocity to rotational energy. Or somehow, by moving forward, we could store a negative rotational energy. When stopping, apply a positive rotational energy and overall, not feel the effects of slowing down.

Most people who have heard of inertia dampeners may think of space ships in tv shows and movies. But, I want to apply inertia dampeners to vehicles here on Earth. For example, a car crash would be significantly less fatal if the effects of gravity and Newton's Laws of Motion weren't in play.

(I like to believe that technology and knowledge will eventually allow for great [current-]physics-law breaking.)

~ Simply Advanced ~

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