I don't believe in Supernatural but Anne's work seems possible

[Magicjax]

This is just something I've been thinking about. In fact I had a discussion about this the other day with a friend of mine. I know it's going to be a little "out there" though.

I don't believe in anything "Super Natural". I'm not religious, I don't believe in ghosts, big foot or the loch ness monster. I don't believe anyone can read minds or have telepathy. I also don't believe anyone has ever spoken to the dead.

Now before anyone jumps on me. My intention is not to turn this into any kind of debate. But here's what I find kind of strange and hard to explain. I do believe most of the things in Anne's work is theoretically possible. I just don't associate them with anything "Super Natural" So, let me try to explain what I mean by all this.

Take the talents for example. Well, just one aspect of it such as the ability to communicate with others with your mind. First of all the "technology" is already being worked on to allow that. This of course will be with the aid of computers but "thought controls" already exist. We've got videos games and I even read something about a wheel chair that's controlled by the mind of the person.

Obviously this technology will eventually allow people to speeck with their minds. This is obvious because if you can move something with your mind then you can move it to point to a letter or number. It just requires the right software to make it work for that purpose.

When I think about this I think about about how our brains work. I know there's more to it then this but in a nut shell it's like circuits and electricity. All the right connection and the right chemistry. So a transmitter and a receiver is made of the right connections and circuits. So with that in mind I think our brains have the "Material" and theoretic possibility to form some kind of transmitter and receiver. I know this is all very simplified as I explain it but I hope this is understandable.

I do not feel we have the ability to do anything like this today. But I do think it's with in the realm of possibility.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is the way I see it some things that are known as "super natural" today are possible. Just not in any kind of spiritual way. It will be a learned science so to speak.

Just a thought to ponder.

Ron Jaxon

[Lily]

I quite agree with you
And I think that is why I like Anne's books so much - they are so believable.

Magicians who do impossible tricks are frustrating though
GRRRR!! You KNOW it's a trick! And you can't see through it!!!
VERY frustrating!

And I dare say - that's the whole idea!!!

welcome Magicjax

[Magicjax]

Thanks for the welcome.

Well, different people have different types of mind sets (And they alter by their moods too). Some people view magic as something to analyze and try to work out. Others tend to view it as a form of entertainment that they come along for the ride on so to speak. Kind of like a movie or a story teller and make them see things that they know aren't going by what they've learned and known. Kind of like seeing Luke use the force. We know it's not possible in our world, but in theirs it is. So it's an adventure of "What if" or "What would it be like".

A good magician leans toward that "Let me take you on an adventure" state of mind. Great magicians can put people in that state of mind with good presentation skills.

As for me when I'm performing. I have my good days and bad days in that. LOL

Ron Jaxon

[Lily]

Ah! So it's the Force you are using? A Jedi Master even!

[jube]

Be one with the force (something along those lines) said Yoda so are you Yoda?

How about just taking a zen moment to think about it all?

Reality and the believable are what you make of it..go for it.

I'm just having a "moment in time"

[Magicjax]

Funny, I use the "Luke Skywalker using the force" metaphor sometimes in my magic lectures. The point I make with it is that it's possible to make our audiences wonder if we're using "real magic" but at the same time not acting like we're "know it alls". In other words imagine if someone could "Use the force" but they are clumsy. Such as making something float to your hand but you miss it. Or using "The force" to make an object come to life in a humorous way like it's a puppet. The bottom line I try to express is "Magical and entertaining" as opposed to "Look what I can do and you can't".

Anyway. Sorry. This isn't a forum for magicians. That just came to mind as I read your reply's and thought I'd share.

Ron Jaxon

[eann]

Anne always says she uses science, not magic.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Magicjax

Funny, I use the "Luke Skywalker using the force" metaphor sometimes in my magic lectures. The point I make with it is that it's possible to make our audiences wonder if we're using "real magic" but at the same time not acting like we're "know it alls". In other words imagine if someone could "Use the force" but they are clumsy. Such as making something float to your hand but you miss it. Or using "The force" to make an object come to life in a humorous way like it's a puppet. The bottom line I try to express is "Magical and entertaining" as opposed to "Look what I can do and you can't".

Anyway. Sorry. This isn't a forum for magicians. That just came to mind as I read your reply's and thought I'd share.

Ron Jaxon

I've come across a few with that I wish I could explain better.

Two book come to mind "zen hugs" on getting your show as magical and entertaining and rest of the has gone between on me.

[D. M. Domini]

Somewhere else on this board, I and someone else went into a big long discussion about types of talent, and we covered some ideas that your post here reminds me of. I'll have to dig that thread up; it's probably over a year old at this point.

But yeah--it's really quite fascinating how we're inventing technology to do these "magical" things. Have you read the Crystal Singer books too? One of the things I noticed was that Killashandra, upon becoming a Singer, promptly orders a whole slew of things for her new quarters from the Ballybran equivalent of amazon.com or overstock.com, and had them mailed to her. The catch? Book was written decades before online shopping existed.

I suppose it's only logical that if we can think something up magical, we may try later on to replicate it with technology. And because our brain is our source of thought and action, it's only natural that the technology we develop serves similar functions to telepathy and telekinesis in the books, and there's some parallels between what a writer might create, and what a scientist and engineer actually does create.

[StevenB]

Arthur C Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. We just need to wait a couple of thousand years and the phemonena described by Anne could be commonplace.

[P'ter]

One of the sad things about Ballybran is that, despite the Singers' epicurian love of food, nobody cooks.

[Hans]

Replicators my boy, replicators. Sheer magic!

[kevia]

Originally Posted by P'ter

One of the sad things about Ballybran is that, despite the Singers' epicurian love of food, nobody cooks.

Except that, in Crystal Singer, "Lanzecki knew a great deal about food and promised her (Killashandra) that one day he would personally prepare a meal for her from raw produce to finished dish."

[P'ter]

The problem with replicators is that they produce each item EXACTLY as the original.

Human workers (especially cooks) are always mutating the recipe

[Hans]

Mutilating the recipe?

Oh, mutating

But P'ter, imagine a steak done to perfection, EVERY SINGLE time you have one...

(and in this case perfection means: how YOU want it to be at the time of that particular order!)

[Brenda]

But what if the machine doesn't know how to make Tea?