Network Dictionary - Magic Hand Wave
23 October, 2008 by Greg Ferro Print Posting
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of The Future”, 1961 (Clarke’s third law)
Refers to those times when a colleague says “let me fix that” and proceeds to issue a string of commands on the keyboard (thus waving hands about) and then says “there you go”.
I call this the “magic hand wave”. This was picked up by management in some companies and is now the standard term for describing “technical work”.
In discussion, “John can do his magic hand wave, and that work will be complete”.











