Bits and Pieces - December 1994 Bits and Pieces Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law tells us that Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic .
Technology can masquerade as the supernatural.
Now include the craft of prestidigitation in our definition of magic and we might say that magic is indistinguishable from advanced technology . What is claimed to be invention may really be illusion. Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen was an engineer in the court of Empress Maria Theresa. In 1770, guests gathered at her palace in Vienna to see his latest invention. Amid much fanfare, a stage-hand rolled out a chest with a chessboard on top.