Logically, magic is not (necessarily) incompatible with science (depending on flavor of magic). And if you were to define magic as “a way of getting things done by way of puzzling rituals”, I’d pretty much have to say that makes science a branch of divination with more note-taking than usual.
The really unfortunate part is that our science and/or technology is fast approaching the point where it *is* indistinguishable from magic for the vast majority of people. And even those of us who consider ourselves more or less “in the know” are still regularly confronted with techno-thingies that steadfastly refuse to perform their function unless the appropriate deity is propitiated by some form of blood sacrifice… maybe. You guess which deity. At that point, magic would actually be more useful, assuming that it scrupulously followed known rules!
Dr. Lee needs to do Twilight Sparkle Cosplay sometime.
If Skin Horse ever gets animated, Tara Strong would fit right in as Lee’s voice.
How about Michelle Ruff as the voice of Mell in an animated Narbonic?
For that matter, how about Crispin Freeman as Tip?
Logically, magic is not (necessarily) incompatible with science (depending on flavor of magic). And if you were to define magic as “a way of getting things done by way of puzzling rituals”, I’d pretty much have to say that makes science a branch of divination with more note-taking than usual.
To borrow a quote from another webcomic: “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!”
I prefer the quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”.
“Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don’t understand it.” -Florence Ambrose (Freefall comic)
“Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.”
Do you then consider the wheel to be “insufficiently advanced”?
The really unfortunate part is that our science and/or technology is fast approaching the point where it *is* indistinguishable from magic for the vast majority of people. And even those of us who consider ourselves more or less “in the know” are still regularly confronted with techno-thingies that steadfastly refuse to perform their function unless the appropriate deity is propitiated by some form of blood sacrifice… maybe. You guess which deity. At that point, magic would actually be more useful, assuming that it scrupulously followed known rules!
Example: the Florida DEO web site! 😉
Neat how Dr. Lee *isn’t* mad science, but still managed to create both Unity and Nick.