Arthur C. Clarke’sthird law of predictionholds that “ any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic trick . ” The witching space - age design of Asgard in the young Thor movie seems to have taken its clue from this idea in a major way . Here are ten other stories where machinery seems to have merge with sorcery .
Art byJim burn mark
1.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur ’s Court , by Mark Twain
Mark Twain tell apart the story of an engineer who is carry back in time to King Arthur ’s court , and how he fool away them into believe he is a sorcerer . Hank Morgan uses his knowledge of engineering science and account to yarn-dye the people of mediaeval England . He promise an occultation , set of firework , and destroys Merlin ’s column with lightning and demolition armorial bearing .
2 . Dune , by Frank Herbert
The premise of the first novel in Herbert ’s renowned cycle of taradiddle about human race ’s distant , extragalactic nebula - spanning future is that humans have empty technology after a horrific Revelation require AI . In its spot , they have medieval - style “ guilds ” of witches , pilots , and other groups who have been genetically altered by the spiciness mishmash to do jobs that computers once did . The humans in the books have a very spiritual relationship to both the spice and the ways they are transmute by it . Though they are clear operate in a technological human beings of spaceship and intelligence explosions , most characters view themselves as part of a mysterious system .
3.The Steel Remainsseries , by Richard K. Morgan
This series , set up on a ringed planet on the cusp of an industrial revolution , get with groups of magic creatures battling each other in shadow realm . The main character is a legendary swordsman who fought courageously in a warfare against monsters , who after becomes the lover of an elf - similar creature who need him to a charming domain . But as the story develops , especially in the second novel , we realise that the “ magic ” is actually foreign technology that the planet ’s leaders are using to keep the populace enthralled by faith . And the ogre ? Those are aliens . The oracle ? AI . This is a case of a grim - technical school society mistaking engineering for magic .
4 . Assassin ’s Creed
The video game serial publication Assassin ’s Creed has a complex mythology behind it , including a number of engineering science that could be catch as conjuring trick . Most notable are the Pieces of Eden , include the Apple of Eden , and the First Civilization ( also known as Those Who Came Before ) . The First Civilization were an forward-looking race that created humanity and acted as their gods , until Adam and Eve stole the Apple of Eden , start the human insurrection . The technology that remains from that time dish up as the McGuffin in the games . As you recreate through the games you track down Pieces of Eden and slowly put together the blood of humanity , learning that it is n’t magic or religion , but science that formed the world as we know it .
5 . Futurama , “ Leela and the Genestalk ”
This Futurama episode plays on the old story of Jack and the Beanstalk . After Leela lead off turn into a calamary , Fry trades the ship for a smattering of magic beans that the trader claims will cure any ill . Resigned to her lot , Leela tells Fry that this is “ one of those rarefied job with no magical solution . ” Later , she find the fully grown beanstalk and decides to take a chance on magic , only to discover that the beanstalk was never wizardly , it was genetically direct by Mom .
6.The Lord of Light , by Robert Zelazny
Robert Zelazny ’s novel is localise in the far time to come where humans have begun using technology to do the Hindu organized religion . alternatively of croak , they use engineering science to change the awareness to a unexampled human or animal host . One division of hoi polloi have extra technical advances and the rest of society worships them as Supreme Being .
The book ’s orifice lines sum up the subject of the Word :
His followers call him Mahasamatman and said he was a idol . He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman , however , and called himself Sam . He never claimed to be a god , but then he never lay claim not to be a god .
7 . The Flying Sorcerers , by David Gerrold and Larry Niven
David Gerrold and Larry Niven ’s novel deals explicitly with the estimation of using science as magic . Purple , an spaceman / geologist / anthropologist , clangor lands on a naive world . Much like characters in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur ’s Court , Purple employ his cognition of advanced engineering to fox the mass into believing he is a necromancer . The book is written , rather humorously , from the perspective of Lant , one of the drawing card of the aboriginal company . We see firsthand how Lant and the other aborigine view Purple ’s technology as magic .
8 . The Prestige
In The Prestige , two stage magicians vie for audiences by using skill as illusion . All of their phase act are based on technology , they are illusions to fool the audience . The audience in the film believes wholeheartedly that the magicians can do real acts of magic , especially after after seeing Alfred Borden do a convincing teleportation magic called The Transported Man . Even his competition , Robert Angier , ca n’t image out how the whoremonger could have been done . In ordering to gain back the crowd , Angier enlists the assistance ofeveryone ’s favorite overdrive historical figure Nikola Tesla . Tesla creates a teleportation motorcar for Angier to apply in his act .
https://gizmodo.com/10-historical-figures-were-sick-of-seeing-in-science-f-1450157754
9 . Star Wars
We do n’t want re - arouse your Post - Midichlorian Stress Disorder ( PMSD ) , but what ’s canon is canon . In the original three Star Wars movie ( episodes 4 - 6 ) , the Force was a mystic power , kind of like the Hindu notion of the “ Brahman , ” a world essence that some group learn can be find only through self - noesis . In the 2d Star Wars trilogy ( episodes 1 - 3 ) , the Force is very distinctly a scientific phenomenon , canalise by some genetic handwavery shout Midichlorians . Lucas basically retconned a magical force into something scientific . This is actually improbably typical of these kind of stories , from Richard K. Morgan ’s work , to the Genestalk from Futurama . So you may have PMSD , but this plot swerving puts Star Wars neatly into the tradition describe by Clarke ’s third law of nature .
10 . Rendezvous with Rama , by Arthur C. Clarke
It ’s meet that we end this spot with one of Clarke ’s most memorable novels , about a mysterious , cylindric object that go along through our solar system of rules , leaving confusion in its wake . Though none of the characters in the book believe that the vessel is wizard , its technology is so incredibly innovative that they are unable to figure any of it out . It might as well be sorcery . We follow our characters as they search the ship , meeting life frame that could be livestock , aliens , or computer — who knows ? Clarke does an incredible job evoking a civilization that is clearly scientific , but whose rules are so opaque that humans simply can not count on any of them out .
Bonus Round : Green Lantern
The Green Lantern and other Corps ’ power rings come along to be wizard , but are really advanced technology . They require recharge , and are seen as a way of harnessing great power . In various stories the rings have been hack , reprogrammed , and used as communication devices . Unlike Thor , the other obviously witching / technological amusing book fibre , Green Lantern is not pull from the pages of mythology . So he ’s a staring example of a fictional character with in advance tech who seems to have magical powers .
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