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Re: Change (was: (TFT) Jobs table: ...)



On Sep 30, 2011, at 8:14 PM, raito@raito.com wrote:

Quoting gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net>:
I've a problem with magic as science. The two have nothing to do with one another historically, philosophically and mythically. It's like trying to
explain "miracle" with "science" and vice-versa.

Again, I disagree. Very much of modern chemistry has its roots in alchemy, for example.
Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

Also, Pythagoras (yep, the guy with the triangles) was big into mysticism. He wasn't unique in this regard, either. And remember how much the Church hated Copernicus? His theory that the earth wasn't the center of the universe directly threatened the Church's religious principles. There just wasn't much of a dividing line between science and philosophy (and therefore magic / occultism) in those days.

So... if you see a miracle, and you don't promptly start trying to figure out what caused it, and how it might be reproduced, isn't that kind of irresponsible? Think of the knowledge humanity could gain! :-)

Anyway, the point is that systems involving magic are basically a sub- set of science fiction. Pretty much all science fiction posits something; magic posits that if a person who knows what they're doing says a Word of Power and points their finger, they can make something explode, or turn invisible, or any of a number of other things. So, in that way, magic is no different than FT- JustPretendIt'sPossibleForAMinute-L travel. In settings with FTL, it's science. Why can't magic be science on Cidri? (At least to the extent that Cidri even has science - medieval society, see...)

By the way, does anyone else wonder why Cidri technology doesn't develop any further than it has? We get the lack of firearms (sulfur's hard to get), but what's keeping back the Industrial Revolution? No coal? Wizards being paranoid? Some kind of Mnoren-imposed glass ceiling? This question's probably been discussed somewhere in the archives, but I'm too lazy to go look right now...

- Meg Tapley
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