I worked with Arthur C. Clarke at the very beginning of my career. He’s most famous for saying, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Magic isn’t such a bad thing.

And we certainly have plenty of advanced technology around. Advanced in the sense that we can’t be bothered to take the time to understand it.

A friend showed me his electric water bottle. A tiny USB charged battery is in the lid. “It gets rid of the impurities.”

I wondered–where do the impurities go?

It’s probably a more powerful placebo if you simply accept that something magical is happening inside the bottle, but no, it doesn’t get rid of the impurities. There’s a chance that it creates a light that kills some microorganisms, and there’s an even better chance that in New York, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about, battery or no battery.

Perhaps it’s more useful to say, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is worth understanding.”

If we understand it, we can use it well. We can improve it. We can share it with confidence.

AI, rice cookers and vaccines are not magic. They’re understandable technologies we can learn about and improve.

October 5, 2024