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0 / 28 Fotos
Clarke’s third law
- Clarke’s third law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." It was coined by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who's best known for writing the novel and co-writing the screenplay for '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968).
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1 / 28 Fotos
Clarke’s third law
- The law doesn't help you predict anything. But for scientists and inventors, it’s a promise that if you work hard, you get to be a magician.
© Getty Images
2 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- Often shortened to "The Three Laws" or "Asimov's Laws," they're a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story 'Runaround.'
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3 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- They're the laws that the robots in Asimov's fictional universe are programmed with. The first law states that "a robot may not harm a human or allow a human to come to harm through inaction."
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4 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- The second law states that "a robot must obey orders unless those orders conflict with the first law." And the third one says that "a robot must protect its own existence unless that conflicts with the first or second law."
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5 / 28 Fotos
Betteridge’s law of headlines
- Named in 2009 after British technology journalist Ian Betteridge, there are several different variations of Betteridge’s law of headlines. But the principle is the same: if a headline is phrased as a question, the answer is "no."
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6 / 28 Fotos
Betteridge’s law of headlines
- It's based on the assumption that if the answer was a confident "yes," they would have presented it as an assertion. But by presenting it as a question, they're not accountable if it's correct or not.
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7 / 28 Fotos
Occam’s razor
- Occam’s razor is the principle that if you're explaining something, you should make the minimum necessary number of assumptions. This means that the simplest answer is usually correct.
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8 / 28 Fotos
Cunningham’s law
- Cunningham’s law states that the best way to get the right answer on the internet isn't to post a question, but rather the wrong answer.
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9 / 28 Fotos
Cunningham’s law
- The idea is that individuals online are often unsympathetic to questions, especially if they find them stupid. But people are much more likely to feel the need to correct a wrong answer instantly, thus giving the right answer.
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10 / 28 Fotos
Dunbar's number
- Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people one can keep stable social relationships with. No precise value has been used for Dunbar’s number, but 150 is a commonly cited approximation.
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11 / 28 Fotos
Campbell’s law
- Developed by social scientist Donald T. Campbell, this law states that "the more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."
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12 / 28 Fotos
Goodhart’s law
- Another version of Campbell’s law is Goodhart’s law, which says that "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
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13 / 28 Fotos
Dunning–Kruger effect
- Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which individuals with low abilities suffer from illusory superiority. They tend to rate their own ability much higher than average.
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14 / 28 Fotos
The Pareto principle
- The Pareto Principle is the idea that 80% of the output in a particular situation comes from 20% of the input.
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15 / 28 Fotos
The Pareto principle
- For instance, in a noisy group of people, 20% of them will be making 80% of the noise. Or, in a call center, 20% of the salespeople produce 80% of the sales.
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16 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- Probably the most famous of all the eponymous laws, Murphy’s law is the simple rule that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
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17 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- It was named after Captain Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981 in 1949. The project was designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.
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18 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- However, the message behind it is more positive than one might assume. Because even if something might go wrong, you still need to have backup and safety measures in place.
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19 / 28 Fotos
Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy
- Suggested by American scientist Jerry Pournelle, this law states that "in any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely."
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20 / 28 Fotos
Sturgeon’s law
- Sturgeon’s law is the idea that 90% of everything is crud. It's usually used when criticizing modern popular culture.
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21 / 28 Fotos
Sturgeon’s law
- For example, if you thought that all summer blockbusters weren't good, you might think that 90% of all blockbuster movies ever made weren't good either.
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22 / 28 Fotos
Sagan standard
- The Sagan standard is a phrase that states that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." It was named after science communicator Carl Sagan, who used it on his television program 'Cosmos' in 1980.
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23 / 28 Fotos
Littlewood’s law
- Littlewood’s law states that in the course of any normal person’s life miracles happen at a rate of about one per month.
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24 / 28 Fotos
The Peter principle
- Named after educator Laurence J. Peter, this principle states that "managers always rise to the level of their incompetence."
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25 / 28 Fotos
The Peter principle
- The idea is that people are promoted based on how well they're doing their current job, not how well they might perform their future job. Then they stop being promoted once they can no longer do their job well.
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26 / 28 Fotos
Hick’s law
- Hick’s law describes the time it takes for a person to make a decision based on the number of possible choices. Sources: (Medium) (Oxford Royale Academy)
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27 / 28 Fotos
© Shutterstock
0 / 28 Fotos
Clarke’s third law
- Clarke’s third law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." It was coined by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who's best known for writing the novel and co-writing the screenplay for '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968).
© Getty Images
1 / 28 Fotos
Clarke’s third law
- The law doesn't help you predict anything. But for scientists and inventors, it’s a promise that if you work hard, you get to be a magician.
© Getty Images
2 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- Often shortened to "The Three Laws" or "Asimov's Laws," they're a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story 'Runaround.'
© Getty Images
3 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- They're the laws that the robots in Asimov's fictional universe are programmed with. The first law states that "a robot may not harm a human or allow a human to come to harm through inaction."
© Shutterstock
4 / 28 Fotos
Asimov’s three laws of robotics
- The second law states that "a robot must obey orders unless those orders conflict with the first law." And the third one says that "a robot must protect its own existence unless that conflicts with the first or second law."
© Shutterstock
5 / 28 Fotos
Betteridge’s law of headlines
- Named in 2009 after British technology journalist Ian Betteridge, there are several different variations of Betteridge’s law of headlines. But the principle is the same: if a headline is phrased as a question, the answer is "no."
© Shutterstock
6 / 28 Fotos
Betteridge’s law of headlines
- It's based on the assumption that if the answer was a confident "yes," they would have presented it as an assertion. But by presenting it as a question, they're not accountable if it's correct or not.
© Shutterstock
7 / 28 Fotos
Occam’s razor
- Occam’s razor is the principle that if you're explaining something, you should make the minimum necessary number of assumptions. This means that the simplest answer is usually correct.
© Shutterstock
8 / 28 Fotos
Cunningham’s law
- Cunningham’s law states that the best way to get the right answer on the internet isn't to post a question, but rather the wrong answer.
© Shutterstock
9 / 28 Fotos
Cunningham’s law
- The idea is that individuals online are often unsympathetic to questions, especially if they find them stupid. But people are much more likely to feel the need to correct a wrong answer instantly, thus giving the right answer.
© Shutterstock
10 / 28 Fotos
Dunbar's number
- Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people one can keep stable social relationships with. No precise value has been used for Dunbar’s number, but 150 is a commonly cited approximation.
© Shutterstock
11 / 28 Fotos
Campbell’s law
- Developed by social scientist Donald T. Campbell, this law states that "the more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."
© Shutterstock
12 / 28 Fotos
Goodhart’s law
- Another version of Campbell’s law is Goodhart’s law, which says that "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
© Shutterstock
13 / 28 Fotos
Dunning–Kruger effect
- Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which individuals with low abilities suffer from illusory superiority. They tend to rate their own ability much higher than average.
© Shutterstock
14 / 28 Fotos
The Pareto principle
- The Pareto Principle is the idea that 80% of the output in a particular situation comes from 20% of the input.
© Shutterstock
15 / 28 Fotos
The Pareto principle
- For instance, in a noisy group of people, 20% of them will be making 80% of the noise. Or, in a call center, 20% of the salespeople produce 80% of the sales.
© Shutterstock
16 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- Probably the most famous of all the eponymous laws, Murphy’s law is the simple rule that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
© Shutterstock
17 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- It was named after Captain Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981 in 1949. The project was designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.
© Shutterstock
18 / 28 Fotos
Murphy’s law
- However, the message behind it is more positive than one might assume. Because even if something might go wrong, you still need to have backup and safety measures in place.
© Shutterstock
19 / 28 Fotos
Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy
- Suggested by American scientist Jerry Pournelle, this law states that "in any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely."
© Shutterstock
20 / 28 Fotos
Sturgeon’s law
- Sturgeon’s law is the idea that 90% of everything is crud. It's usually used when criticizing modern popular culture.
© Shutterstock
21 / 28 Fotos
Sturgeon’s law
- For example, if you thought that all summer blockbusters weren't good, you might think that 90% of all blockbuster movies ever made weren't good either.
© Shutterstock
22 / 28 Fotos
Sagan standard
- The Sagan standard is a phrase that states that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." It was named after science communicator Carl Sagan, who used it on his television program 'Cosmos' in 1980.
© Shutterstock
23 / 28 Fotos
Littlewood’s law
- Littlewood’s law states that in the course of any normal person’s life miracles happen at a rate of about one per month.
© Shutterstock
24 / 28 Fotos
The Peter principle
- Named after educator Laurence J. Peter, this principle states that "managers always rise to the level of their incompetence."
© Shutterstock
25 / 28 Fotos
The Peter principle
- The idea is that people are promoted based on how well they're doing their current job, not how well they might perform their future job. Then they stop being promoted once they can no longer do their job well.
© Shutterstock
26 / 28 Fotos
Hick’s law
- Hick’s law describes the time it takes for a person to make a decision based on the number of possible choices. Sources: (Medium) (Oxford Royale Academy)
© Shutterstock
27 / 28 Fotos
These famous 'laws' are not on the books but rule the world
How much do you know about these rules?
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You've probably heard about Murphy's law, but what about other eponymous laws? An eponymous law is a principle or rule named after a particular person. Sometimes named after the individual who coined the law, in other cases it was named after the work or publication of an individual. They often have a backstory of great significance.
From Murphy's law to the Pareto principle, let's check out some notable eponymous laws that rule the world in this gallery. Click on!
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