this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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Physics (mander.xyz)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)
  • Fireball? We have rocket launchers.
  • Lightning people? We have tasers.
  • Mind reading? Ok, I'll give you that.
  • Conjure familiars? Buy a dish washer or cleaner service or whatever.

Many of the fantasy powers can be done. It isn't a question of capability but of economics. The economics are ignored in most stories, no matter if it's fantasy or a real world thriller.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Conjure familiars? Buy a dish washer or cleaner service or whatever.

Also washing machines, robot vacuums, robot lawn mowers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Tasers and shooting lightning from your fingertips aren’t even close to the same thing

But the point remains that, yes, society can do a thing but the power of wizards in most fantasy stories largely comes from personal, internal, strength rather than the ability to leverage a vast web of engineers, laborers and infrastructure in the outside world

If someone dropped you in a remote area you wouldn’t just whip up a quick dishwasher to get a job done. The parallel between technology and magic as seen in most fantasy stories is weak at best