The Dresden Files > DFRPG
Magic and Technology
rdonoghue:
The rub is "like". :)
Yes, absolutely there is some similarity, but this is an area that it's very, very hard to get hard and fast with. Butters has some excellent theories, but they also don't account for why Harry is more likely to jam an automatic than a revolver, despite the fact that the automatic may be a simpler machine. Go figure.
Now, that said, Butters is definitely on track of some interesting stuff, and there's a lot that can be done with it, but it is, at best, pseudo-science. Even if Butters were the most brilliant researcher on the planet, his sample pool is remarkably small and his control group nonexistent. Were one a cynic, one might point out that Butter's conclusions are remarkably similar to a lot of superstition (i see something, I explain it in the terms I know and understand!).
Given all that, the real answer is that the interaction of magic and technology works exactly the way Jim needs it to at any given moment, and when it is inconvenient or problematic, it's magic. All author's cheat, like this, Jim just has a better excuse.
So, this becomes an area where we need to separate the needs of a game from those of, say, an official fan guide. If we provide an answer to this which is concrete (such as yes, it's a lot like EM, and can be dealt with) we have just cascaded headfirst away from the world of the books because as soon as that door is opened, a whole lot of mess comes through.
As such, in terms of the game, the explanation will err on the conservative side.
In terms of private theories of explanation on the books, I've got little to say - the range of possibilities is far wider than mere EM and far more interesting, and I encourage people to run with it as far as they can. That is, however, a different set of needs.
-Rob D.
M T Fierce, h.d.:
--- Quote from: rdonoghue on June 16, 2006, 02:20:57 AM ---they also don't account for why Harry is more likely to jam an automatic than a revolver, despite the fact that the automatic may be a simpler machine. Go figure.
--- End quote ---
One of the unusual things Harry said regarding technology and magic was its timeline; wasn't it things built after World War II (the event of which there's been some mentions here and there of having a significant magical component) that had a problem? That suggests something there in that event, or a magical "lag" before catching up to the delicacy of technology, or even opening up a whole new type of magic that wizards can't tap into (technoshamanism, anyone?)
finarvyn:
I think that it may come down to the type of technology, not just technology itself. Think about what was developed right around WWII: the computer.
Computers (and similar technology) tend to be pretty fragile. For example, if you take a computer disk (or 8-track tape or cassette tape) and put it on your stereo speaker it will lose quality. Why? Because the information is stored magnetically and stereo speakers contain electromagnets. (DVDs shouldn't have this problem because they are laser/optical in nature rather than magnetic.)
If magic is somewhat electromagnetic, then any technology based on this could have problems. If you read about thermonuclear devices, you may have heard about the EMP that could destroy most of our technology if a nuke goes off nearby. An "EMP" is an "electromagnetic pulse" and it could crash computers, make cars not start, kill most phone systems, and other similar effects. The reason is that the EMP would be a huge surge of electromagnetism that would short out electric computer chips and the like. Older cars (such as the blue beetle) wouldn't have so much of this type of technology and therefore might be safe.
Magic could be like this, only on a smaller scale.
(Usually I charge for physics tutoring, but today is freebie day. ;)
johntfs:
Maybe the reason that more modern appliances tend to malfunction around magic that their magic is more sensitive.
Quantum theory's initial concept was that conscious observation impacts the physical world on at least the quantum level. Almost anything to do with electronics especially requires quantum physics to function.
If Clarke's maxim is "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Then Dresden's maxim might well be "Any sufficiently reliable magic is indistinguishable from technology."
Maybe the main reason our technology works is that we as conscious, sentient people believe that it will. Whenever locally stronger magic is present, it tends to "jam" that magical signal on which our technology depends. Thus, computers, electronics, even relatively complicated mechanical devices like guns malfunction around strong enough magic.
iago:
Well, here's a tidbit that came up as we were researching the RPG (by which I mean, coming up with tough questions and asking Jim about them) -- the cutoff for what technology functions reliably around a wizard is different from wizard to wizard. Harry's cutoff is around about World War II, for example, but Ebenezar's is even older than that. That truck Old Eb drives around is really, *really* old -- vintage, one might even say.
This suggests that, what we're missing in the discussion here is the idea that -- at least to some extent -- the wizard's own conception of technology, perhaps at a subconscious level, plays into what gets accidentally hexed around him. Or -- given that Ebenezar's very likely quite more powerful than Harry -- that it's power level that reaches further back along the technological advancement track.
Regardless, what it does say fairly clearly to us is that the hexing of technological devices is clearly, irrefutably not *exclusively* one of electromagnetism.
Calling it an EMP is, I think, putting the cart before the horse. Seeing a correlation between electronics getting shorted out and magic being used, and saying, well, EMP shorts out electronics -- that's not quite right.
Instead, it's more that electronics are 1) Newer, and 2) More complex than non-electronic devices, so they're more vulnerable. That just means that they're what gets hexed with a higher frequency -- but that's not the full data set, and the EMP theory misses a significant portion of the cases not covered.
The breakdown of complex *mechanical* functions is where it becomes something more like "the ghost of the wizard's subconscious wreaking psychokinetic havoc" or some other mumbo-jumbo-like phrasing.
What's an unanswered question -- and one I am not yet strongly motivated to "research" -- is whether or not this is a sort of sliding scale based on what the current idea of "modern" is. Wizards have been around a lot longer than technology, and certain technologies were new at one point or another. When complex, gear-and-spring-driven watchwork was first invented, was that vulnerable to hexing so long as it was considered to be a "modern" innovation? That's the sort of question someone might need to invent their own answer for if they were doing a Dark Ages take on the Dresden Files.
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