Shermer's Last Law
Encyclopedia
Shermer's last law is:
It's Michael Shermer
's modification of the third law of Arthur C. Clarke
's famous three laws
. It was first mentioned in Shermer's column Skeptic in the January 2002 issue of Scientific American Magazine
.
Shermer formulated his law to point out that if we were to make contact with an Extraterrestrial intelligence, they would probably be vastly superior to us. Because on an evolutionary
time scale, an Extraterrestrial intelligent species that's only slightly ahead of us biologically could be millions of years ahead of us technologically.
"Any sufficiently advanced ETI is indistinguishable from GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
."
It's Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
's modification of the third law of Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's famous three laws
Clarke's three laws
Clarke's Three Laws are three "laws" of prediction formulated by the British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke. They are:# When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right...
. It was first mentioned in Shermer's column Skeptic in the January 2002 issue of Scientific American Magazine
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
.
Shermer formulated his law to point out that if we were to make contact with an Extraterrestrial intelligence, they would probably be vastly superior to us. Because on an evolutionary
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
time scale, an Extraterrestrial intelligent species that's only slightly ahead of us biologically could be millions of years ahead of us technologically.