I always heard this one as “Any technology that’s distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.” It’s a bit more useful as a motivational formula for people developing things than the other formulations. ;-)
“Any technology that’s indistinguishable from magic will be impossible to fix when it breaks.” could be useful for me to avoid the things such people develop.
“Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!”—Agatha Heterodyne / Cinderella (explaining what Niven meant), Girl Genius
I always heard this one as “Any technology that’s distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.” It’s a bit more useful as a motivational formula for people developing things than the other formulations. ;-)
-- Barry Gehm
Personally, I think this one is more accurate:
-- Florence Ambrose
“Any technology that’s indistinguishable from magic will be impossible to fix when it breaks.” could be useful for me to avoid the things such people develop.