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Worldbuilding

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't think your pen example is a good one. A quill that does not use any ink sounds like a neat little enchantment. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2024 at 7:06
  • $\begingroup$ @lidar I have no doubt people would wonder at it and think it amazing... but they undestand the concept of a writing instrument. Compare that to setting up some seismic sensors, some weather equipment, etc., along with that ear piece and going into business predicting natural events. I don't believe there's a comparison. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2024 at 7:09
  • $\begingroup$ oh it definetly won't turn you into a prophet, but a small-scale folk magician that can sell wards against fouling teeth and gets hanged the first time a cow stops giving milk? I do think so and thats still magic. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2024 at 7:17
  • $\begingroup$ Hmm. You redefine "magic" to mean, not anything supernatural, but more like "anything I don't understand". And then you assert that if a primitive person was presented with something he didn't understand, he would conclude that it was something he didn't understand. Well yes, by definition. But that's not what we normally mean by "magic". By that definition, cell phones are "magic" to most people in the world today. The behavior of your girlfriend or boyfriend is "magic" if you don't understand their motivations. Etc. You've redefined the question into a tautology. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 4, 2024 at 12:58
  • $\begingroup$ @Jay The supernatural is nothing more than something we don't understand. The moment we decide that "magic" is something that we can use but can never be understood, we've created a definition that's more suitable to Dungeons and Dragons than it is reflective of actual history - and it's actual history that we're talking about. People used to believe frogs didn't exist until they popped up out of the mud. Was their belief in magic false simply because it tuned out to not be supernatural? I can list a number of beliefs in magic historically that proved to be explicable today. ... (*Cont.*) $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 5, 2024 at 5:13