What is "Magic?"

[Wizard]

So, one of the nice things about being a missionary is that you have a lot of time to think when you're traveling and you've already talked to everyone on the bus/train.

One thing about which I thought a lot was magic, and why didn't God create a world in which we had magic, because it would be so cool? Thinking about this, I realized that he has.

1. "Magic," if it exists, must obey some sort of law, or it doesn't exist. If there's nothing you can say about it that's reliably true, then there's no way to describe it, and, effectively, it doesn't exist.

2. Therefore, magic follows law. The only problem with this is that our definition of magic is an effect that breaks natural laws. Therefore, "magic" is the force that follows natural laws that we don't understand, and therefore appears to be magic.

My favorite is when people watch a magic show, and say, "It's a trick." Well, of course it's a trick. Natural laws hold true. If you see someone do something "magical," then that just means you don't understand the laws upon which it is predicated.

3. So, by definition, if you want to do something that appears magical to you, you must do something that creates an effect that shouldn't happen by your knowledge of the laws of the universe. This is really hard to maintain, because although I don't understand all the laws that operate my computer, extended use creates the law in my head that "computers can do this," and now I don't see it as "magical" anymore.

4. Indeed, if you want things to continuously seem "magical" to you, they must be unreliable, or their glitter will fade.

5. If you don't mind the tradeoff of gaining greater reliability (by learning the laws) but losing the "magical" tint as far as you are concerned, it is possible to perform "magic" for other people by using your greater knowledge.

6. Indeed, knowledge becomes the only real power here, because although, say, a wizard, may understand how to cast a spell, if he doesn't understand why it works, he won't be able to cast spells if some agency changes something. For instance---I am able to speak Korean (now, anyway). But I don't understand how my brain is and was constructed, and therefore should I end up in a car accident and suffer a brain injury that hurts my language skills, I won't be able to fix my brain---because I didn't make it in the first place.

7. One way to obtain a relatively steady flow of "magical" seeming effects is to ask a favor of someone with greater knowledge. The ultimate form of this is prayer.

A tip for magic-using players

If you are somewhat sad that eventually all the "magic" feel will seep out of your wizard of cleric, one way to continuously seem magical to other PC's is to constantly vary your spell list. I understand this is impossible for sorcerors, but that's the price they pay, I guess.

The role of faith

Some effects require some action or cooperation from the one seeing the effects. For instance, a toddler with a stomachache can be helped by Pepto-Bismol. There is a law---drinking Pepto-Bismol can relieve stomach distress. But does the toddler know this, or has he even heard of Pepto-Bismol? No. (Hence, many toddlers resist the stuff, as I know from personal experience). However, were a toddler to act in faith that his parent knew things he didn't know and meant him well, he would (in faith) drink the stuff---and discover that it is a magic potion to cure a stomachache! Therefore, "magic" sometimes requires obeying others when we don't understand the reason for the commands; in fact, especially when we don't understand. If you want to see magic, you must exercise faith.

[Wizard]

I have thought a bit more about this, and wanted to make three short addendums ("addendi"?).

1. Some (including myself!) will make the point that the toddler only thinks the Pepto-Bismol is magic, while it is in fact not. The only thing that can qualify as "real" magic, in this view, is nothing short of a fifth fundamental force, apart from the day-to-day combination of gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and the electromagnetic force. Hence, in fantasy novels and settings, we often find magic treated as its own force, usually the result of one single phenomenon. Words and phrases like "powerfully enchanted," "a nexus of magical energy" (see?), "The Force is strong with him" (not fantasy, but close enough).

I don't know if there's a force like that out there. I've seen things I consider miracles, but my knowledge of science is limited to the point that it's very easy for me to accept that God did them with his all-encompassing knowledge of everything rather than some "extra" force. I don't know.

2. There are two ways to learn, and they've been given different names through the years: faith and works, trust and skepticism, schooling and experience.

It's the difference between:
1. Believing that the earth moves around the sun when your teacher tells you.
2. Making a lot of measurements and performing the necessary calculus to prove it to yourself.

The advantages of the first method is that it is usually quicker by far, especially for abstract concepts. Looking at the dungeon map the guy in the tavern sold you is way quicker than hacking through every monster and dodging every trap to make a map that's "100% proven." And it's much less painful to simply believe the wizard who just cast identify when he tells you that you're holding a potion of cause critical wounds, rather than calling his bluff and drinking it to make sure. Even game mechanics reflect this: consider the difference in cost and time between researching a spell for yourself and learning from it another wizard's spellbook (see the SRD link in my sig).

The advantages of the second method are that we usually remember lessons of experience better, and we shorten the distance between observed results and us believing something.

Other wizard casts spell and sees that it works--->gives it to me--->I believe that it works

vs.

I cast a spell and see that it works--->I believe that it works.

This is basically the scientific method and it's responsible for a society filled with contrivances which I'm sure a D&D character would consider magic. But it does have some important drawbacks---we can never be completely sure that we have arrived at absolute truth. It's inherently an iterative process, with rudimentary models followed by more complex and accurate ones. If you don't believe me, do a little research into the history of atomic theory, and you'll see that the theorists of each generation got a little closer, step by step.

3. Magic in the Real World
Knowledge disparity, or a gap between your knowledge and the knowledge of others, is the principle thing here. There are two ways to accomplish this---by greater absolute knowledge (the mad scientist's route), or deception (the stage magician's route). The first increases the disparity by increasing one's own knowledge while the second increases the disparity by decreasing the knowledge of others.

One of the problems with the second route is that you can't be honest, and so comes the "trick" stigma. The magical effect can only take place under conditions in which the audience is in the dark to something. As soon as the audience realizes that you don't actually possess any added knowledge, you're labeled a liar (because you are) and they're disenchanted.

But the first approach is different. You can be completely honest, because truth is on your side. You have in actuality discovered some new truth that people don't generally know.

Often, to warn against the first brand of magic, we quote sayings like, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," or "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." But this is only half the story. While this kind of thinking protects us from pop-up ads and con artists, it was not the kind of thinking that led to nuclear power, microwave ovens, and mass production of the automobile. Because sometimes your company has a picnic, and hey, lunch is on the corporate tab.

There's no such thing as a free lunch---unless there is!

[TheUdjat]

Good to see you pop in again, Wizard. I've enjoyed your musings here about magic, though I admit I still have nothing insightful to add. But it's interesting.