Skip to main content
Changed concept to belief in
Source Link
jmoreno
  • 555
  • 2
  • 7

There are two aspects to your question. (1) could primitive people confuse technology for magic, and (2) could they correctly identify technology as science and not magic.

Assuming that they have the concept ofeven a half hearted belief in magic (believe that magic can exists, but have never seen it) then they could easily confuse tech for magic. A door that opens only for a given hand or at the command of it's owner, seeing things from far away, making images appear on glass (or even out of thin air!)..magic.

Could they correctly identify advanced tech as tech, even if they believe in magic? That would depend upon their ability to associate cause with effect. Science is the process of developing a verifiable explanation for a phenonema. Which basically means that a mechanical device could possibly be correctly cataloged, but electronic devices would be impossible to identify -- they would have no framework to place the effects in.

A glider is easy to identify as a device, the legend of Icarus is sometime before 650BC, from a glider to a plane with propelers is a short step, although how the propellers are powered would be difficult to imagine. Still, possible. A moving and talking holographic image? Ghost or magic, what other possible explanation could there be?

Glasses, amazing technology, hearing aide, magic.

In short, some things would be easily identified as advanced tecnology, some things would be all but impossible to imagine as anything but magic.

There are two aspects to your question. (1) could primitive people confuse technology for magic, and (2) could they correctly identify technology as science and not magic.

Assuming that they have the concept of magic, then they could easily confuse tech for magic. A door that opens only for a given hand or at the command of it's owner, seeing things from far away, making images appear on glass (or even out of thin air!)..magic.

Could they correctly identify advanced tech as tech, even if they believe in magic? That would depend upon their ability to associate cause with effect. Science is the process of developing a verifiable explanation for a phenonema. Which basically means that a mechanical device could possibly be correctly cataloged, but electronic devices would be impossible to identify -- they would have no framework to place the effects in.

A glider is easy to identify as a device, the legend of Icarus is sometime before 650BC, from a glider to a plane with propelers is a short step, although how the propellers are powered would be difficult to imagine. Still, possible. A moving and talking holographic image? Ghost or magic, what other possible explanation could there be?

Glasses, amazing technology, hearing aide, magic.

In short, some things would be easily identified as advanced tecnology, some things would be all but impossible to imagine as anything but magic.

There are two aspects to your question. (1) could primitive people confuse technology for magic, and (2) could they correctly identify technology as science and not magic.

Assuming that they have even a half hearted belief in magic (believe that magic can exists, but have never seen it) then they could easily confuse tech for magic. A door that opens only for a given hand or at the command of it's owner, seeing things from far away, making images appear on glass (or even out of thin air!)..magic.

Could they correctly identify advanced tech as tech, even if they believe in magic? That would depend upon their ability to associate cause with effect. Science is the process of developing a verifiable explanation for a phenonema. Which basically means that a mechanical device could possibly be correctly cataloged, but electronic devices would be impossible to identify -- they would have no framework to place the effects in.

A glider is easy to identify as a device, the legend of Icarus is sometime before 650BC, from a glider to a plane with propelers is a short step, although how the propellers are powered would be difficult to imagine. Still, possible. A moving and talking holographic image? Ghost or magic, what other possible explanation could there be?

Glasses, amazing technology, hearing aide, magic.

In short, some things would be easily identified as advanced tecnology, some things would be all but impossible to imagine as anything but magic.

Source Link
jmoreno
  • 555
  • 2
  • 7

There are two aspects to your question. (1) could primitive people confuse technology for magic, and (2) could they correctly identify technology as science and not magic.

Assuming that they have the concept of magic, then they could easily confuse tech for magic. A door that opens only for a given hand or at the command of it's owner, seeing things from far away, making images appear on glass (or even out of thin air!)..magic.

Could they correctly identify advanced tech as tech, even if they believe in magic? That would depend upon their ability to associate cause with effect. Science is the process of developing a verifiable explanation for a phenonema. Which basically means that a mechanical device could possibly be correctly cataloged, but electronic devices would be impossible to identify -- they would have no framework to place the effects in.

A glider is easy to identify as a device, the legend of Icarus is sometime before 650BC, from a glider to a plane with propelers is a short step, although how the propellers are powered would be difficult to imagine. Still, possible. A moving and talking holographic image? Ghost or magic, what other possible explanation could there be?

Glasses, amazing technology, hearing aide, magic.

In short, some things would be easily identified as advanced tecnology, some things would be all but impossible to imagine as anything but magic.