>>'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
>>magic.'
>>
>><If anyone who can tell me who said that, I will be very grateful>
>
>I believe it was Sir Arthur C. Clarke, though I have often seen it
>attributed to Heinlein. Conversely, I believe it was Heinlein who
>admonished one never to attribute to malice that which can be
>adequately explained by stupidity, but that homily is often laid at
>Sir Arthur's door. :) I know for a fact that it was Clarke; what I don't know for certain is when or where or in what context it was said (I think I read once that it had something to do with either Childhood's End or Rendezvous with Rama, but I could very easily be wrong on that score). (And I did also think of this when I read the initial post, but I was interrupted mid-post by my roommate, who needed the phone line and the computer, although not for the same purpose.)
On stupidity, I much prefer Einstein's comment:
"Only two things are infinite: the universe, and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
One last thing... I think of UF as a fantasy with lots of sci-fi trappings, not unlike Star Wars (and UF has been more consistent in the quality of the non-core stories, due in no small part to the lack of involvement of the inexplicably employed Kevin J. "Hack" Anderson).
-- Sean --
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
"It's not easy being green." -- Kermit the Frog