ABSTRACT
Looking ahead must be done with humility, recognizing that for most of us it is a hard thing to do well. Arthur Clarke, the distinguished engineer (he was the first to propose stationary orbit satellites) and science fiction writer, addressed this issue in his 1962 book Profiles of the Future: an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. He points out the difficulty even the most distinguished people in a field have of accurately seeing what is coming down the road. He gave several examples and proposed the Three Laws that are still quoted today: (1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist says that
something is possible, (s)he is almost certainly right. When (s)he says it is impossible, (s)he is very probably wrong.
