• Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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      3 hours ago

      While it helps the ritual it isn’t strictly required, so it can be easier for an apprentice to achieve.

  • bss03@infosec.pub
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    8 hours ago

    When we figure out how to manipulate elctro-weak at scale, it will be magic.

    Electro-mag is pretty crazy already, I agree. The ICP can’t even figure out how they work.

      • bss03@infosec.pub
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        4 hours ago

        When the environment is energetic enough, the electromagnetic force and the weak force unify into the electroweak force. The weak interaction controls radioactive decay.

        We can control electromagnetic force “at scale”, IMO. It’s not freely, but we have networks of electromagnetic systems that span continents.

        If we could control the weak force at the same scale… I’m not sure what wonders we might unlock. At the very least, I imagine we could “clean” instead of just “contain” radioactive waste, at least low-level stuff.

        • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          If we had control over the weak force:

          • We can likely turn elements into other elements at will
          • We can manufacture safe decay sources for a new class of nuclear energy
          • We can probably create safe “decay batteries” tuned to their specific use cases. Batteries that last for tens of thousands the lifespan of current chemical ones.
          • Potentially engineer with neutrinos. Imagine communication via neutrinos, you could transmit straight through the earth.

          I mean, with control over matter like that, at the scale of electricity, Star Trek matter replicators would be a thing.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    While I fully agree, I thought the distinction was unbreakable rules.

    The laws of physics can’t be broken, even, under any circumstances, everywhere, at any time.

    Whereas magic is more like there is an exception to every rule kind of deal. It’s far more like software, as in it’s mostly fully logically consistent except for random spots where devs took some shortcuts to make life easier.

    • oo1@lemmings.world
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      3 hours ago

      I don’t think magic is objective; I think it is in the eye of the beholder.

      If the audience don’t understand it, or can be distracted from seeing the truth of it, it’s magic or a miracle or whatever to them. And the magician - if they know what they’re doing - can wield power over the rubes.

      So before you understand - say, magnetism - better, lodestones can be seen as magical or heaven-sent.

      There’ll be physical phenomena today like ‘spooky action at a distance’ or something where even quite learned observers might not 100% know the laws of physics. Some exploit of that can appear as magical until the laws are figured out and well communicated.

      If it turns out that the underlying laws are stochastic rather than deterministic, then there’s always going to be some grey areas i think.

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      I think the “exception to every rule” part is really dependent on which type of magic the writer is using. Many writers do establish hard rules for their magic. In those cases, it’s less “magic is the exception” and more “magic is engrained into the laws of physics.”

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    For me, the weirdest thing is that when a charged particle moves through a magnetic field, it experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of motion; this results in the particle tracing out a curved path through the field. Like … what the actual fuck? Why in hell would the universe be this way?

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Why in hell would the universe be this way?

      Bcz it’s a simulation, or god is fucking with us. Who knows which one it is 🤷‍♀️

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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    15 hours ago

    Said it before and I’ll say it again: just because you understand the magic doesn’t make it any less magical. A wizard may know the ins and outs of their spells, but they’re still spells. Our entire universal is fucking magical, we just happen to have a decent understanding of why (some) of it functions the way it does. Jiggle a quark here and another may jiggle the same way somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, that’s fucking wild and magical and incredible, and just because we have some level of understanding behind the mechanics doesn’t make it not magic. It just makes it a hard magic system.