Scientific Definition
Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Plain-English Definition
Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Feynman Explanation
Today's miracle is tomorrow's API call.
Core Principle
Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Strategic timing depends on knowing where on the magic-to-infrastructure curve you are.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Today's miracle is tomorrow's API call.
Examples
- Generative AI looked like magic in 2022; was infrastructure by 2025.
- Strategic timing depends on knowing where on the magic-to-infrastructure curve you are.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Forecast technologies as 'how soon does this become boring?' not 'how impressive is this?'
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Forecast technologies as 'how soon does this become boring?' not 'how impressive is this?'
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.
The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.
We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.
Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.
Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.
What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.
A finite set of well-defined instructions for solving a problem or performing a computation.
Every model simplifies reality; some are still useful.
Researchers favor conclusions aligned with their school, team, or sponsor.
Using personal stories or isolated examples instead of evidence.
Claiming something is true or better because most people believe it.
Assuming something is true because it is probable or possible.