Poll of the Day > Would you exchange technology for magic?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Boom!!

A Genie appears.

"Sup, dude" says the genie (unless your a chick, then he says "Yo, Babe".

"I'm a Genie" (which was kinda obvious but whatever).

"I can totally transport you to a world where magic works but technology does not, just say the word".

You can ask questions before making the choice and the Genie will totally answer them.

So ask questions if you want, or just say yes, or no, if the answers don't matter to you.


I love video games, but I'd totally go for it.
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No. As cool as it sounds, technology already causes enough problems in the hands of the wrong people. Magic would be even worse.
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What counts as technology? Because technically everything is technology.
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What about a world where technology is magic and magic is technology?

How about a world where no one has technology but only I have magic

I'mma be merlin up in dis bitch
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I'd choose yes
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Depends on the extent of the magic. Magic as in, you can just snap your fingers and disease is cured? How about travel, are there magical travel spells that can move people and goods from place to place in an instant, or do I have to walk everywhere now because there's no cars? What about power, who controls the magic, is it like an authoritarian government, or is it like wild west anarchy where everyone has magic and there's no order? Are there different levels of magic, or does everyone have the same magical powers? Do you need to pay to get better magic, or do you learn it? Or is what magic you have based on just your genetics? So many questions...
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GameReviews posted...

Depends on the extent of the magic.

just assume magic and any extent to which something good or bad can happen

I'd say magic would be fun, but wars would be very scary and awesome
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Junpeiclover posted...

GameReviews posted...

Depends on the extent of the magic.

just assume magic and any extent to which something good or bad can happen

I'd say magic would be fun, but wars would be very scary and awesome

So if I just say "poof" the world explodes, and everyone can do that? Yeah, no thanks.
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GameReviews posted...

So if I just say "poof" the world explodes, and everyone can do that? Yeah, no thanks.

if that's your interpretation go for it. I would just assume magic like in blazblue (yea the world can go poof but there are people/limits established to prevent that)
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https://tapas.io/episode/475323

I'm assuming the world would be something like this. still has some technology, but it is magic based instead of science based.
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Yeah, magic would be learnable, in theory by everyone, but much like other studies your natural abilities would have an affect on how much and how complicated the magic you could learn would be.

Average people would be VERY limited in what they could affect, and how much power they could control.

The masses though COULD interact with other magic that was set up by specialists or "wizards" who have much stronger potential, which could allow you to for instance control magical carts to move around with etc.

Nobody would have the power to blow up the world, and even the strongest would only be able to possibly level a city at most (and that would wipe them out and make them completely vulnerable.

Things like flying though would be possible, teleportation as well, you could create things out of thin air (though it would require energy of some form, so transforming something would be far easier/safer).

There would be rules to magic, but society would not have developed scientific method so those rules would be mostly unknown (other then basic rules).
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wolfy42 posted...

Yeah, magic would be learnable, in theory by everyone, but much like other studies your natural abilities would have an affect on how much and how complicated the magic you could learn would be.

Average people would be VERY limited in what they could affect, and how much power they could control.

The masses though COULD interact with other magic that was set up by specialists or "wizards" who have much stronger potential, which could allow you to for instance control magical carts to move around with etc.

Nobody would have the power to blow up the world, and even the strongest would only be able to possibly level a city at most (and that would wipe them out and make them completely vulnerable.

Things like flying though would be possible, teleportation as well, you could create things out of thin air (though it would require energy of some form, so transforming something would be far easier/safer).

There would be rules to magic, but society would not have developed scientific method so those rules would be mostly unknown (other then basic rules).

So basically you're asking if I want to live in Harry Potter world. Pass.
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This world would be almost incomprehensibly different: no cooked food, no clothing, very primitive art, no agriculture, no shelter, no written language, and unlikely to have the sorts of societal developments that came along with those things - so perhaps no permanent settlements (though tribes might cluster around the best fruit trees), no states, no borders.
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I'll just use my magic to make technology work and have both.

wolfy42 posted...

even the strongest would only be able to possibly level a city at most (and that would wipe them out and make them completely vulnerable.

Oh cool, so mass shootings will go from a few dozen injuries and a couple deaths to entire cities at a time

not my ideal scenario
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nope

if magic isn't as prevalent as technology is today then quality of living would be like 1700s or worse

if it is as prevalent then anybody can cast fireballs and its like everyone has a gun
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no
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It depends on the magic.

And who inhabits this magical world.
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Nah. I'd take it if you said technology no longer further advances significantly but we get magic in return.

Mix the two and use the magic to make up for the loss as well as make life easier.
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But... A wheel is technology... A spear is technology...

You're going to have to be more specific about no technology.

Also, is the stuff simply not invented, or is it impossible? The latter means that physics would behave completely differently. It'd just be a mess.
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Sorry, I should have been specific, no advanced technology (no use of electricity pretty much, nothing post steam).

Even cars are in theory possible using steam or a combo of steam and magic.

Fire obviously works like fire.

Wheels work fine.

Consider it a steampunk world pretty much with nothing that uses electricity working, but instead there is magic.

Magic is everywhere (much like electricity is avaialble everywhere here), but can be used and shaped by individuals on the go.

Some things we can't do with current tech would be possible (anyone with say slightly above average intelligence could fly for instance), some things we can do would not (no internet for instance, no telephone system like we have etc).

Magic could allow for some things being VERY different.

Those who are fairly smart can alter matter from one form to another, so gold would not be a good source for wealth anymore (instead crystals that focus and/or store magic are the basic currency...since they are not easily created by magic and generally use more magic to create then they are worth).

The poor, in general, are those with low aptitude for magic, lower IQ basically, so it's not as much of a social or hereditary thing as we have. Wealth can be accumulated and there are wealthy families, but hard work and skill can lead anyone to wealth eventually (which in theory could happen in our world but doesn't always).

Magic can also heal wounds (completely), and even reduce how fast you age naturally (or reverse it slightly) although it is very expensive/difficult. This could easily lead to those with very high magical ability taking advantage of MANY people with less ability in order to gather enough magic to live forever or at least a very very long time.

Tons of new abuses of power will show up, identity is hard to prove (Since magic can change your form), and while laws exist, there is certainly more chaos in general, because magic is inherently more chaotic then science.
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Magic and technology are one and the same.
If you don't understand how something occurs, it's magic.
If you do understand, it's science.
If you apply that understanding, it becomes technology.

Basically a world of magic would be a world where no one understands anything and when they think they do the thing changes how it works just to throw them off.

Solid no!
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Magic and technology are one and the same.
If you don't understand how something occurs, it's magic.
If you do understand, it's science.
If you apply that understanding, it becomes technology.

Basically a world of magic would be a world where no one understands anything and when they think they do the thing changes how it works just to throw them off.

Solid no!

Metal Gear Solid 4 was bad.
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Take me to Hogwarts!
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so things will be like the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYqahxqhBzg
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Lord of the Rings here I come
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LemonDestroyer posted...

Lord of the Rings here I come

There are only a few wizards in that universe. You'd basically live in the middle ages and almost no magic
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JOExHIGASHI posted...

LemonDestroyer posted...

Lord of the Rings here I come

There are only a few wizards in that universe. You'd basically live in the middle ages and almost no magic

I'll be one of the wizards though

I could smoke some pipe weed with Gandalf
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BlazeAndBlade posted...

so things will be like the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYqahxqhBzg

I have owned like 3 copies of the game (original on disk, then got it later digital, then was part of an rpg bundle on GoG.

Still never got more then a tiny bit into it though sadly.
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wolfy42 posted...

"I can totally transport you to a world where magic works but technology does not, just say the word".

So its all stone age land?

I'd rather have Shadowrun World but without all the horrible shit happening.
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BlazeAndBlade posted...

so things will be like the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYqahxqhBzg

#killallgnomes ?
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magic (in fiction) is just technology that almost no one understands. technology is better.
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Sahuagin posted...

magic (in fiction) is just technology that almost no one understands. technology is better.

You mean science that nobody really understands.
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I would because electronics and computers never work right when I use them. I think I emit some kind of weird EMP from my brain
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By "no technology" we can probably just say "nothing more advanced than Rome made, except some of it is probably enchanted with spells now."

Which may very well still mean flying ships if there is suitable magic around to keep wooden vessels in the air. And while they never really made many of them or use them for too much, they technically did invent a a fair number of interesting mechanical gizmos, even including a basic steam engine. So allowing that, we can probably allow for the existence of the occasional tinker who has some relatively "advanced" mechanical technology that is really cool looking but of fairly limited use (i.e. custom made stuff by the tinker to do a specific thing like open and close a gate at set intervals, or automatically shove something off a stove after a set amount of time, or, well, a clock tower).


The nature of the magic is also pretty important, as well as just being really interesting to consider in general.

if we go with a logical form of magic, like what may exist in some jRPGs, then it is a fairly versatile force which can generally be used for a lot of things, but for which you can predict and study its uses, just like you can study and learn about how electricity works and the things you can do with it. Such settings typically treat magic as not being unlimited too, such that you need to rest to recover mana (or for non-living beings, channel mana into a crystal/throw solidified mana into a furnace so that it has some power to run off of). This type of magic is the most compatible with technology. And indeed, some of the technology that world develops as it progresses will likely incorporate it, just as some of our technology uses electricity. Unlike us though, they would be able to use electricity and/or magic, and this could have some really interesting repercussions once they hit industrialization.


The other alternative is magic which doesn't really follow any proper logic or rules. Think Harry Potter, a setting where the magic doesn't make any real sense and is wildly versatile in very specific ways depending on what exact words you say while performing certain movements with a piece of wood that contains some hair or a feather from some magical creature inside it. The sky is pretty much the limit with this sort of setting, and indeed if video games were something that would make you potentially reconsider getting whisked away to most places, then Harry Potter's world would be a fairly good destination for you on account of just how advanced magic has gotten.
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If you really think about it, electricity is really a form of magic. It's a form of magic that is logical and we understand, but it is a force that is around us (once we learned how to generate and transport it) that we can use to cause many things to happen.

So really if you switched technology for magic, you would just be changing the base source of magic.

In this case electricity is out, and a general pool of power that individuals can directly interact with is in.

I would say that laws still apply to magic use, and that every individual has a different capacity (or capacitor) for holding magical energy within themselves and shaping it.

On top of that, every individual has different potential as far as how complex magic they can create (Their ability to use and shape the magic).

Now simple spells could be practiced and learned over time by anyone with enough capacity to cast them. In addition, spells can be created in advance needing only a spark of magic to activate or run them, allowing average people to use items (like cars for instance, or a phone system, or an elevator etc). This would allow most of the "technological" advances and items we currently use today, to still work with a new magic based system.

The "dangerous" individuals would be the genius or near genius with high capacity for magical storage, but they would be rare. Such individuals would not only be able to store large amounts of magical energy, but would have the mental capacity to quickly create their own spells and shape that magical energy in a way they desire.

Now, it makes sense that ways of storing magical energy could be created (Crystals and what not) that allowed those with a small capacity for storage, but a high ability to shape magical energy, to use a larger pool of energy. This would allow many more people to create complicated spells, or things like cars, planes etc for the masses to use.

Really though, look at electricity from the viewpoint of someone from the distant past, wouldn't it look like magical energy to them, with defined laws and requirements to use it?

So, in a way, doesn't magic really exist already?
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MMmmm... tough one. Anyone can use technology, but y'all forget if magic existed, there would be muggles. Not everyone would be able to use magic.

RedPixel posted...

MMmmm... tough one. Anyone can use technology, but y'all forget if magic existed, there would be muggles. Not everyone would be able to use magic.

No muggles really except for a very rare few with no capacity to store magical at all, or a lack of sufficient intelligence to use it at all (in which case they couldn't use technology either and would need to be constantly taken care of in either society).

Those with no capacity to store energy could still use crystals that store energy generated by others to opperate common magical items (toasters, ovens, tv's, cars etc) but they would be VERY reliant on someone providing that energy. It would be like someone in our world needing to carry a battery around that they had to plug in to use anything run by electricity!! It would be a VERY rare case though, much like someone being born blind and deaf in our world, with a similar outcome.
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Magic doesn't require constant maintenance so I think this question is a no brainier.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Magic doesn't require constant maintenance so I think this question is a no brainier.

I'm an IT guy. Shit. I'd be out of work! Lol

Nah, you'd just be a wizard instead.

It would be your job to fix/re-enchant the magical items that, due to old age or wear and tear, have starting behaving erratically. Like that enchanted teacup set that has started filling itself with water from the koi pond and once brought the owner a cup of water with a frog in it instead of the tea it was supposed to get. Man, that was such a perfect combination of horrible and hillarious. But yeah, seriously. Fix their damn tea cup.
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Sounds like the plot to The Longest Journey: Two worlds, one magic and one technology.

Given how the story line in that game works out though, I'll go with technology. The magic world gets FUCKED OVER in that series.
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43 posts and now a single
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"?
Really?

And setting where a magic vs. technology world happens and technology wins, it is because the magic of the magic world wasn't actually all that great.

Case in point, World of Warcraft's Azeroth would completely stomp the real world unless we went full nuclear on them. Every piece of equipment a half-decent soldier has is enchanted with a fair amount of magical energy, and heroes of both the Horde and Alliance regularly survive being shot with thousands of bullets, giant beam cannons, shrapnel grenades, other magical attacks, being crushed by giant tentacles, etc. And they survive this when in many cases those same attacks also come from weapons enchanted and enhanced with lots of magical energy as well. Oh, and they don't even get scars or other permanent injuries from it, due to how ludicrously powerful the healing magic of that world is. Heck, even if we did manage to kill a couple, they can resurrect them.

This is before we worry about things like the Forsaken, who basically have weaponized a host of agents that make nerve gas or mustard gas look like a walk in the park. Partly due to them being based on magical plagues. We also aren't worrying about Old God nonsense, or Draenei/Legion magical interstellar spacecraft or how cheaty the Legion in general tends to be as a potential invasion force if we allowed them to participate in our little war-scenario.

Edit: On the plus side, we would probably shoot down all those horribly designed gunships they use. Seriously Azeroth, the Helicarrier is not a viable platform for a battleship.

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knivesX2004 posted...

43 posts and now a single
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"?
Really?

Thought about posting that. But why bother?


Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
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At least people have to be smart to abuse technology.

jamieyello3 posted...

At least people have to be smart to abuse technology.

*points to North Korea*
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Also, any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

See: The Marauder's Map, modern Final Fantasy airships, etc.
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I'd have to "try out" the magic world for an extended period of time first to see if the myriad implications are to my liking.

Otherwise I'd have to tell the genie "no". Though with curiosity world gnaw at me for probably the remainder of my life.
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