On 5 Mar 98 -itlon at 16:37 -itlon, Alandra said-itlon:
Does the presense of magic inhibit technology? For surely, necessity is
the mother of invention, and who needs to invent anything when you can
summon your local wizard?
Why should it? After all, if I were to introduce a sufficiently advanced
enough technology to a primitive culture, then those aborigines may perceive
it to be magic. It's all a matter of perception, and whether that perception
extends to metaphysical world or to the technological leap from the wheel and
lever to the pulley and resultant complex machines is not the issue.
As for the necessity, one may sum it up like this. Magic, in most fantasy
novels, is not a mass-produced affair. The appropiate analogy in "reality"
may be the transition from highly specialized bands of mercenaries serving as
the military might of a single feudal lord to the foot soldiers and standing
armies of viable governments. A wizard is a highly trained, incredibly
specialized (or, more likely, an incredibly special) individual; the catapult
technology, on the other hand, can be taught with relative ease (after one
has achieved a basic mastery over the even easier concepts of preceding
simple machines), and the resources to produce them are widely available.
The result is a cost-effective alternative.
But when, I think, the magic is extremely limited to few people, as in
the Belgariad, technology does advance. Now you could cite L.E.
Modesitt's Reluce and the Magical Engineer, and yeah, I guess that's an
exception. Consider, though, Xanth. Everyone has some magic power, or
properties. They thought cars were dragons, for crissake! You wouldn't
call them tech advanced, or for that matter, advancing. Why when they
can just go to the Good Magician?
Agree, disagree, modifications?
Precisely--the difference between a "pre"-technological and "a"-technological
society lies in the need for high technology. Pretechnology cultures have
yet to advance up the tool-using ladder, while atechnological cultures have
developed a successful alternative to high technology; or, they may have
placed limitations or outright forbade the permeation of technological
advances into their societies. The latter is a more frequent example from
our history, from the Ming Dynasty's disasterous cuts in their naval forces
(turning Asia into a power vacuum sucking in invaders by the scores) to the
Ottoman Empire. Normally, atechnological societies diminish and eventually
fade into obscurity. However, a society might survive if it hypothetically
acquired a means to flourish without technological advancement; this serves
as a basis for many fantasy novels embracing a wide-spread proliferation of
magic and magic users, as well as races exhibiting telepathic and
telekinetic talents.
-The Reverend Prez
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"The Badass Reverend Prez" | Author of Robotech:
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