Would you right now in real life rather have access to advanced scientific technology or High magic? Please follow up with your reasons why.
I'll bite, why not?
I think that in real life I'd like access to advanced tech. I'm going to assume access to tech beyond current Earth standards, at the levels of STNG. I would have regular access to foods or other items I wanted via replicators. If I want some fun, a holodeck could easily provide it, whether a fantasy I create or enacting a book I want to read. Travel can be instantaneous over short distances via transporter or relatively comfortable over long distances via warp-speed technology. If you think about it, that means I can get where I want, when I want, without much hassle, as well as have what I want. Most importantly, people could actually fix it if the replicator went down. High magic would have a great sense of wonder, but if it breaks down, I haven't heard of mages being able to fix their spells yet. So I'd take the science please :)
Would you right now in real life rather have access to advanced scientific technology or High magic? Please follow up with your reasons why.If the tech is sufficiently advanced, I won't be able to tell the difference.
Well played, sir. Well played.
I'm torn. Magic sounds great, but Tech progresses. I don't know if I'd rather be an archmage or have ludicrously advanced nanites at my disposal.
Depends upon what kind of magic would be at my disposal or what kind of technology. Magic that would allow me to travel between alternate worlds and build my own would probably Trump technology...
I'll take magic. Tech doesn't seem to be doing it for me.
Depends upon what kind of magic would be at my disposal or what kind of technology. Magic that would allow me to travel between alternate worlds and build my own would probably Trump technology...What about tech that would let you travel between alternate worlds and build your own?
Weren't you just saying something about 'sufficiently advanced'?
Depends upon what kind of magic would be at my disposal or what kind of technology. Magic that would allow me to travel between alternate worlds and build my own would probably Trump technology...What about tech that would let you travel between alternate worlds and build your own?
Highly improbable that the technology would allow the same width of selection of worlds as magic. Magical cosmologies tend to be wider in scope than those that are bound by scientific laws.
Advanced scientific technology.
Gives me a lightsaber and a millenium falcon.
Yes. It matters. The problem is the PRICE of getting what you want. If you want a magical solution to a difficult problem, you will need several thousands of GP worth of components. OTOH, if you want a scientific solution, you will need billions of dollars worth of transuranic isotopes, extremely well-calibrated instruments, accelerators big enough to require being made in space, and so on. Magic. Yes, there are weird side effects. But it will ALWAYS be cheaper. The main difference is not to the individual, but that the scientific ways are generalizable for the entire population. And I want my demiplane NOW.
I want both...I like gener mixing. :)
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If magic actually worked, by which I mean it had real and predictable effects, it would simply be another form of technology and we would understand it via science just like we do heat or magnetism. There is no choice to make.
I've got it.
Either Azgardian Magic/Tech combination or
Magic. I'd give myself all the fun magic tricks, but also expand my intellect far beyond what a normal human could. Then I could develop my own technology.
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I always differentiate tech and magic by the affects. I see tech as working 'within' this reality, and magic altering this reality. I personally would like to control the laws of physics, rather than execute what I can do within the restrictions of said physics, as amazing as they may be.
I always differentiate tech and magic by the affects. I see tech as working 'within' this reality, and magic altering this reality. I personally would like to control the laws of physics, rather than execute what I can do within the restrictions of said physics, as amazing as they may be.
That's true.
My biggest concern with magic over Technology is that magic tends to be viewed as stagnant whereas Tech is evolving every day.
Of course the static nature of magic has more to do with game mechanics and balance than anything else. If wish became as easy as a cantrip, for example, that Might somehow ruin game balance. Allegedly.
Now if magic were "real" i imagine a person or societies would over time figure out how to do things, better, faster, cheaper, etc.
If magic actually worked, by which I mean it had real and predictable effects, it would simply be another form of technology and we would understand it via science just like we do heat or magnetism. There is no choice to make.
The corollary to Clarke's Law is that any sufficiently well-defined system of magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Theoretically I can see a limit to what technology can produce in this universe. Even if we have come so far as to have tech that's would be unthinkable to people in our past and in the future we might have technology that's unthinkable to people living now. We watch sci-fi shows and think that someday we can achieve that, but sometimes I wonder if some of it might really be totally impossible to achieve in reality because of the laws of the universe we live in.
With magic being magic there is no limit to what it can potentially do. That's a potentially great advantage.
Still it seems like technology would be more convenient in a practical everyday sense even if it might be somewhat more limited. Tech is also easier for us as a whole to understand.
Oh, I wasn't planning on sharing so that last part is not a major concern. :-)
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Theoretically I can see a limit to what technology can produce in this universe. Even if we have come so far as to have tech that's would be unthinkable to people in our past and in the future we might have technology that's unthinkable to people living now. We watch sci-fi shows and think that someday we can achieve that, but sometimes I wonder if some of it might really be totally impossible to achieve in reality because of the laws of the universe we live in.
With magic being magic there is no limit to what it can potentially do. That's a potentially great advantage.
Doesn't this explain in a nutshell, the caster/martial disparity in D&D/PF. And in fiction/film/TV.
Mundane methods, no matter how advanced, will always be expected to adhere to a system of internal logic.
"You can't do that. It breaks physical laws of our universe."
Yet magic practitioners are given a free pass, to break not only the laws of our universe, but there are not even any consistently logical parameters applied to these magical methods, within the genre or format.
Beginners are expected to fart rainbows, and create matter from nothing. No initial legwork is required to set up the necessary conditions for magic to function. No understanding of the target/recipient is required, to formulate a tailored solution.
Real-world magical traditions have laws, limitations, drawbacks and repurcussions, which their practitioners are taught.
Want to scry on someone? Have you got a part of their flesh? No? Then why are you wasting my time? Who is it? You don't even know their name? Are you stupid? You expect me to just cast my mind out into the ether, and give you information on 'that guy what we saw yesterday'?
Yet that's the way it's allowed to play out in D&D/PF, with infallible results. Having a focus should be the immutable essential before you even begin, not something that turns a sure thing into a formality.
"I cured that guy."
"How do you know? Did you even diagnose what was wrong with him?"
"Don't need to. Just used remove disease."
"Then how did you know what didease to combat?"
"Don't need to know. Just used remove disease."
"How do you know he's cured? Shouldn't you examine him?"
"Don't have any ranks in Heal."
"But you're our healer."
"But I just 'magic it better'."
Theoretically I can see a limit to what technology can produce in this universe. Even if we have come so far as to have tech that's would be unthinkable to people in our past and in the future we might have technology that's unthinkable to people living now. We watch sci-fi shows and think that someday we can achieve that, but sometimes I wonder if some of it might really be totally impossible to achieve in reality because of the laws of the universe we live in.
With magic being magic there is no limit to what it can potentially do. That's a potentially great advantage.
Doesn't this explain in a nutshell, the caster/martial disparity in D&D/PF. And in fiction/film/TV.
Mundane methods, no matter how advanced, will always be expected to adhere to a system of internal logic.
"You can't do that. It breaks physical laws of our universe."Yet magic practitioners are given a free pass, to break not only the laws of our universe, but there are not even any consistently logical parameters applied to these magical methods, within the genre or format.
Beginners are expected to fart rainbows, and create matter from nothing. No initial legwork is required to set up the necessary conditions for magic to function. No understanding of the target/recipient is required, to formulate a tailored solution.Real-world magical traditions have laws, limitations, drawbacks and repurcussions, which their practitioners are taught.
Want to scry on someone? Have you got a part of their flesh? No? Then why are you wasting my time? Who is it? You don't even know their name? Are you stupid? You expect me to just cast my mind out into the ether, and give you information on 'that guy what we saw yesterday'?
Yet that's the way it's allowed to play out in D&D/PF, with infallible results. Having a focus should be the immutable essential before you even begin, not something that turns a sure thing into a formality."I cured that guy."
"How do you know? Did you even diagnose what was wrong...
That settles it then. I wish to break the laws of the universe and not merely bend them. I'd want to be a high mage over a super scientist.
Edit: Of course I wouldn't complain about having either.
For the record people, I'm not referring to society having tech or magic. I mean you, right now, IRL.
Clearly tech is better for society as a whole, but who cares about them.
*waves hand dismissively*
Where's my pet Balor to bring me scones?
Would you right now in real life rather have access to advanced scientific technology or High magic? Please follow up with your reasons why.Technology is democratic. Anyone can operate a car by turning a key, or create light by flipping a switch Magic is inherently feudal. The few who command it's secrets generally choose to lord it over those who don't.
This also applies in settings where technology has regressed to the point where it becomes magic to the general population.
So it all depends on what kind of society you prefer being lived under, assuming you're not one of the priviledged elite.
Can I opt to just be a member of the privileged elite?
Magic. Presuming the setting is not like Dresden Files, where magic and technology are inherently antipathetic toward one another, magic will eventually wrap around into technomancy, thus giving a magic-user access to all the benefits of technology as well. I've yet to hear or see any examples of tech being used to control magic in the reverse.
Can I opt to just be a member of the privileged elite?Would you right now in real life rather have access to advanced scientific technology or High magic? Please follow up with your reasons why.Technology is democratic. Anyone can operate a car by turning a key, or create light by flipping a switch Magic is inherently feudal. The few who command it's secrets generally choose to lord it over those who don't.
This also applies in settings where technology has regressed to the point where it becomes magic to the general population.
So it all depends on what kind of society you prefer being lived under, assuming you're not one of the priviledged elite.
If only, Ross. If only.
I've yet to hear or see any examples of tech being used to control magic in the reverse.
I'd argue that magic items that anyone can use are an example of technology being used to control magic.
If you want a more rigorous definition of technology (i.e. looks like technology as we know it), clockwork constructs. Or someone would make a prayer wheel machine that actually prays.
Or if you want examples from fiction, I can argue that a lot of sci-fi tech works this way - You invent an impossible substance (element-99, element zero, kryptonite, Nth metal, dilithium, vibranium, uru, Cavorite, wonderflonium, twing, I can go on), with impossible (and therefore magic) properties, and then base all of your impossible technology around the use of the unobtainium.
50 bonus points to anyone who can name the origin of all those substances.
Touche
Asgardian Magic ( marvel comics) is not technology despite what the thor movie said
That's true. I like the movie explanation that it is merely 'sufficiently advanced' technology better.
* ... nooooooo! Never heard of it.
From Larry Niven's Known Space series, a creation of the Pak. He's invented lots of forms of unobtainium over the years, but most of them are just impossibly strong (scrith, GP Hull material, hullmetal, Sinclair Molecule Chain), but twing has some really fantastic properties (in addition to being impossibly strong).
The Core. *shudders*
Look, whatever makes me live forever without aging and helps me pick up chicks gets my vote.
Pfft. No elerium-115? No zrbite?
Look, whatever makes me live forever without aging and helps me pick up chicks gets my vote.
Science or magic can help you "pick up chicks," though the line between ethical and unethical can be exceedingly gray.
That's ok I'm ethically colorblind.
Whichever one gets me giant robots the fastest.