>>>>>>>>>No matter how brilliant a man, s/he can't be a good president if s/he is not God fearing. I think Sarah Palin can be a good U.S. president...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I think they need to believe in magic as well.
>>>>>>>you mean sufficiently advanced technology?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Any sufficiently advanced civilization, no longer believes in magic.
>>>>>
>>>>>That's a subjective statement and not necessarily true.
>>>>
>>>>I just threw that in because it's a clever quote I read in a sci-fi novel years ago. It's irked me for almost as long, that I can't remember the author. It might have been Paul Preuss, who was an occasional collaborator of Clarke's.
>>>>
>>>>As for its veracity - why do you think it might not be true?
>>>
>>>OK, let's add Clarke to the mix:
>>>
>>>Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ...
>>>
>>>:o)
>>
>>Ah, but that was exactly the point of Preuss's Rejoinder (if indeed it was his).
>
>:o) It doesn't necessarily mean that magic doesn't exist - only that what was thought to be magic is something explainable - magic under a different name :o)

My impression is that magic is something that requires belief - if you don't believe something is magic, then it isn't - by definition. So, although Preuss's Rejoinder doesn't disprove Clarke, it essentially renders it moot.