I feel like Clarke’s third law is a really good filter of nerds.
Like, magic in fiction is awesome because it’s open-ended. It puts
any sort of worldview in a suspension of wonder. It’s like the Force
before you heard about midi-chlorians. There’s no broader account of the
fundamental nature of magic because magic has no fundamental nature.
Clarke’s third law, however, gives an account of its fundamental
nature, and one that’s ultimately physicalist. It gives nerds the
terrain for their own fantasies but robs magic per se of its
wonder, its potential to upturn our fundamental understanding of the
universe. It’s just another technology, a tool - not a window to a world
larger than our own, unbound by the constraints of our mundane
being.
Put another way (IMO), once the supernatural becomes reliable, consistent and explainable, it ceases to be supernatural. It’s just natural. Albeit, the understanding of the natural world has now changed.
Icarus, even despite supposed naturally crafted wings, ultimately has supernatural flight. It’s mysterious, mythical, unverifiable and simply serves as a fable by which we make a moral point. The Wright brothers just figured out how to fly.
delighted to see the mention of the second-best HP fic ever* is heavily downvoted
* the best HP fic ever is, of course, Harry Potter Becomes A Communist
I feel like Clarke’s third law is a really good filter of nerds.
Like, magic in fiction is awesome because it’s open-ended. It puts any sort of worldview in a suspension of wonder. It’s like the Force before you heard about midi-chlorians. There’s no broader account of the fundamental nature of magic because magic has no fundamental nature.
Clarke’s third law, however, gives an account of its fundamental nature, and one that’s ultimately physicalist. It gives nerds the terrain for their own fantasies but robs magic per se of its wonder, its potential to upturn our fundamental understanding of the universe. It’s just another technology, a tool - not a window to a world larger than our own, unbound by the constraints of our mundane being.