Chadbourn and Rickman again

I took my magic/technology wibble over to the forums at markchadbourn.com, and got a response from the great man himself. He says that it's man-made things that are failing, as opposed to "natural" things; to which I have pointed out that swords still seem to work okay, as do lanterns. The discussion, I hope, goes on.

I tend to feel that nature, by nature, includes us and what we make and do. A lot of which might be inimical to some parts of nature, but so is a forest fire or a tornado. Other parts of nature, the ones we don't tend to coo over like cockroaches and bluebottles, love us and our nasty habits. The only difference between a stile and an electronic ticket gate is one of degree, but we view one as Natural and Nice and the other as Technological and Nasty. Especially if we can't afford a ticket.

I'm not indulging in special pleading for Man the Polluter, as such. I'm just saying that the popular view is basically wrong-headed. We talk about being "one with nature" and think that means giving up computers and cars and DVD players and getting our own milk direct from the cow. We play with utopian dreams of pastoral bliss just like Marie Antoinette and her ladies. Whereas if we looked for better, non-hurtful ways to have the things we want, instead of telling ourselves we don't really want them because they're Eeevil, we would be far more likely to make some progress here while keeping nature reasonably happy.

But back to the false opposition. Oops, gotta go, Next post...

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Okay, where was I?

Oh yes. I know why the concept of magic-only-works-if-technology-doesn't arose. Game balance. I don't know if it started in a game, but that's the basis of it, I'm certain. If we could do all these neat technological things *and* magic as well, it wouldn't be *fair* on some cosmic level. Which works, I suppose, if you believe in a universe that runs on that kind of "fairness," where if someone can run faster than someone else they have to be blindfolded while they do it.

The discussion does indeed continue on the other forum...

And of course I'm not belittling what stevieannie and tattercoats and others are doing by way of being green. It isn't something I could do, but then again, neither is just about anything worthwhile. Maybe that's why it doesn't feel, to me, like the way forward for people in general, any more than the way the world is going does. And I certainly don't have a third way to advocate. I just feel that the artificial dichotomy we've created between the kinds of things we do now (technology, bad) and the kinds of things we did two hundred-plus years ago (natural, good) is preventing us from following the logic to the kinds of things we should be doing in the next two hundred years (both, better). Starting tomorrow, for preference. Like Paul said, a world that runs on love *and* science, technology *and* magic.

I had more, but it's gone. Doubtless it will re-emerge in another context.