Technology and Magic

Technology and Magic

First, I must persuade you that there is no such a thing as the “supernatural”. Perhaps you are already persuaded, but let’s go over a simple demonstration.

If we define “nature” as all that exists, then something which is not part of nature does not exist. End of the demonstration.

Also, if we define “science” as the study of nature, then by definition everything that exists can be studied by science. There is no place for a God who created nature from outside, and there is no place for a “spirit” or “immortal soul” beyond the domain of science. Of course one can always think of a God and an immortal soul existing within nature. However, these would not be the God and the soul described by religion but rather natural phenomena, perhaps beyond the grasp of current science, but in principle understandable by tomorrow science. If something is understandable in principle, sooner or later it will be understood.

I just said that everything is understandable in principle. Of course, this does not mean that everything is already understood.

Throughout the history of science, respected scientists have stated that science had already uncovered the answers to all fundamental questions, and that there was nothing left to discover. They have always been proven wrong.

For example in 1900 Lord Kelvin, one of the most important physicists of his age, stated that there was almost nothing left to discover in physics. The only significant puzzles that remained to be solved, according to Kelvin, were the black-body radiation problem and the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887. And after only a few years, the solutions to these two little puzzles spawned, respectively, relativity and quantum physics: the two most radical scientific paradigm shifts of the 20th century, whose implications have not yet been completely digested even today.

This shows that in science and technology there is always room for new unexpected discoveries and new engineering achievements that were considered impossible by previous generations. We should always bear in mind the immortal words of Shakespeare: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”, and the three laws of prediction formulated by Sir Arthur C. Clarke:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Lord Kelvin was “a distinguished but elderly scientist” in the sense of the first law. Consider now the third law. It is clear that our technology would have been seen as magic by the contemporaries of Leonardo. Think of it: A few centuries ago, sending a letter used to take months. Now you use a magic pocket device to talk to people at the other side of the planet whenever you want. You watch people living far away on a magic screen. You can send instant letters, receive instant replies, and have instant access to all global and local news worldwide. You can be everywhere on the planet in a few hours.

Magic.

The first part of Clarke’s first law, “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right”, is very important. Many scientists and engineers have proposed “impossible” theories and engineering devices that have been proven, or built, by later generations. These scientists had intuitions that could not be proven or built at their times. Leonardo’s aircraft sketches would not have been able to fly (the knowledge needed to design a flying machine was just not available at his time), but this does not lessen the value of Leonardo’s insight that a device conceptually similar to his own sketches would, someday, fly.

What magic can the future bring? Remember that if you can imagine it, then it is not magic in the sense of Clarke’s third law. A magical technology is something you cannot even begin to imagine. Perhaps bending and deforming the Universe? This would be a very useful trick: according to one of theories that I will describe in a later chapter, the resurrection of the dead can be technologically achieved only if our Universe is “closed” (a Universe that expands until a certain point and then begins shrinking to end in a “Big Crunch") and not if our Universe is “open” (a Universe that continues expanding forever). Since the most recent cosmological observations seem to favor an open Universe, it would appear that this particular resurrection mechanism is not viable.

But instead of an open or closed cosmological model, I prefer a model based on the future magic described by Ray Kurzweil: “So will the Universe end in a big crunch, or in an infinite expansion of dead stars, or in some other manner? In my view, the primary issue is not the mass of the Universe, or the possible existence of antigravity, or of Einstein’s so-called cosmological constant. Rather, the fate of the Universe is a decision yet to be made, one which we will intelligently consider when the time is right”.

Someday in the future history of the universe intelligent life, comprising many evolved lifeforms hopefully including ours, will acquire the capability to do cosmic, megascale engineering at the grandest level. Getting started on this cosmic path is one of the objectives of “Transhumanism”.

Posted by G.P. on 11/26 at 10:00 AM
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