00:00:00
it feels like it's been a while since
00:00:01
I've really enjoyed a piece of high
00:00:04
fantasy which makes me sad because I
00:00:07
really used to like this stuff I do
00:00:10
still like the sense of wonder it
00:00:11
provides the ideas are still good the
00:00:13
stories are still interesting the more I
00:00:16
learn about magic and its history the
00:00:19
less I see it in these stories in fact
00:00:23
some of this stuff in a weird way makes
00:00:25
me feel something kind of opposite magic
00:00:29
as if the actual IDE a of this fictional
00:00:31
magic the fantasy we're all engaging in
00:00:34
is something completely different and
00:00:36
Magic is just this surrogate term we've
00:00:39
adopted to describe it to be honest
00:00:42
despite my history the whole idea of
00:00:44
magic systems has always felt just a
00:00:47
little dissonant to me it's almost as if
00:00:51
in the pursuit to systematize our
00:00:53
fantasies we sort of lost the concept of
00:00:56
what magic even means
00:01:01
[Music]
00:01:13
[Applause]
00:01:18
how do you define magic it's a
00:01:22
surprisingly slippery question some
00:01:25
people might say that seeing a rainbow
00:01:26
or watching the solar eclipse feels
00:01:28
magical others might think of magic
00:01:30
tricks like pulling a rabbit out of a
00:01:32
hat if you practice Voodoo you might
00:01:34
wear a gre gre amulet for protection or
00:01:36
luck maybe when you think of magic you
00:01:39
think of spirits or fairies or demons
00:01:41
beings whose very existence would
00:01:43
challenge our understanding of
00:01:45
reality these are all very different
00:01:48
things they're also all magical in
00:01:52
practice it's sort of hard to describe
00:01:54
magic as any one thing people just tend
00:01:56
to use the word in a lot of different
00:01:58
ways still although the definition may
00:02:01
be a little diffuse I do think you can
00:02:03
try to understand what people mean by it
00:02:06
from what I've seen there really appear
00:02:08
to be three major applications for the
00:02:10
term first there's magic as phenomenon
00:02:14
otherwise known as the supernatural
00:02:16
Spirits fairies demons some people
00:02:19
believe in them many don't so far it's
00:02:22
not really a scientific thing there's no
00:02:24
empirical evidence you can't really
00:02:26
study it in the way you would need to so
00:02:29
if you assume that it does exist anyway
00:02:32
that puts it into this interesting
00:02:34
territory something that can ostensibly
00:02:36
be observed but not demonstrated or
00:02:39
explained materially this can even be
00:02:42
applied to things that are by and large
00:02:44
known to be real if you didn't know how
00:02:46
electricity worked in a very literal
00:02:48
sense lightning might appear to have
00:02:50
about the same veracity as a fairy or a
00:02:53
demon observable but non-replicable and
00:02:56
therefore non-empirical to anyone who
00:02:58
isn't there for the event itself self
00:03:00
magic as
00:03:03
phenomena second there is of course
00:03:06
magic as practice that is when humans
00:03:08
attempt to interact with the
00:03:10
supernatural think spells divination the
00:03:13
use of Arcane tools like gre gre amulet
00:03:16
whether or not you believe these things
00:03:18
actually work people still do them they
00:03:21
practice them this sort of magic can
00:03:24
even be seen in the foundations of
00:03:25
Science in 1602 Alchemists wrote of the
00:03:28
bolognia Stone a rock that they could
00:03:30
make glow in the dark Lawrence prce a
00:03:33
modern chemist followed the 17th century
00:03:35
alchemical recipe to make the bolognia
00:03:38
stone and he found that the recipe
00:03:41
actually worked Prince with the context
00:03:44
of modern science knew the stone is
00:03:46
barite and that it glowed because a
00:03:48
chemical reaction caused the copper ions
00:03:50
in it to release energy to Wilhelm
00:03:52
homberg The Alchemist who authored the
00:03:55
original recipe The Rock's luminance was
00:03:58
magical whether they believed it was due
00:04:00
to magic or science both Prince and
00:04:03
Holberg got the same result from the
00:04:05
same recipe to one it was science to the
00:04:09
other it was magic in either case we
00:04:12
have this perception of magic not just
00:04:14
as a thing that might exist but as a
00:04:17
thing that you do magic as
00:04:21
practice third and perhaps most common
00:04:23
of all people love to use magic as a
00:04:28
metaphor even if we know barite can glow
00:04:30
because of a chemical reaction it still
00:04:33
looks magical doesn't it I mean glowing
00:04:35
rocks aren't exactly something you see
00:04:37
on the nature trail a inspiring
00:04:39
occurrences still feel like magic even
00:04:42
though you may otherwise feel like you
00:04:45
understand them you can pick up a book
00:04:47
and learn all about electricity and a
00:04:49
lightning storm can still fill you with
00:04:51
a sense of wonder you might say that it
00:04:54
feels magical to you even if you don't
00:04:56
mean it literally I think sneakily this
00:05:00
is how Arthur C Clark used the word in
00:05:01
his famous quote any sufficiently
00:05:03
advanced technology is indistinguishable
00:05:06
from Magic the intended sentiment is of
00:05:09
course that anything which appears to be
00:05:10
Supernatural or impossible will
00:05:12
inevitably one day be understood but the
00:05:14
use of the term magic here paints a
00:05:17
picture of those things which are by his
00:05:19
Reckoning actually perfectly rational as
00:05:22
impossible to distinguish from the
00:05:25
supernatural he's saying that despite an
00:05:28
implicit basis in ality they might yet
00:05:31
appear to be impossible and wondrous
00:05:34
that a thing doesn't actually have to be
00:05:37
Supernatural to feel like it is Magic as
00:05:43
[Music]
00:05:44
metaphor there is a secret fourth
00:05:48
application of the word the way the term
00:05:50
magic is used in Fantasy is just
00:05:53
generally very different from any of
00:05:55
this it has almost nothing to do with
00:05:58
the veracity of the actual event or your
00:06:00
belief in it it really has more to do
00:06:03
with the
00:06:05
text in lord of rings Frodo can use the
00:06:08
one ring to turn invisible if someone
00:06:10
put on a ring and turned invisible in
00:06:12
real life I mean we'd have to ask some
00:06:15
questions about that that could throw
00:06:17
our entire understanding of physics into
00:06:19
question or at least create some kind of
00:06:21
rush to understand this weird Rings
00:06:24
mechanisms in a fantasy book we just
00:06:27
accept that this is something the ring
00:06:29
can do
00:06:30
It's Magic we're okay with that the term
00:06:33
people tend to use for this kind of
00:06:35
thing is suspension of disbelief this
00:06:37
idea that you can just ignore the
00:06:39
logical implications you don't have to
00:06:41
get how things like magical rings work
00:06:43
in real life because this isn't real
00:06:46
life it's fantasy you can enjoy the
00:06:49
fantasy without having to question it
00:06:51
but tolken himself had a very different
00:06:54
perspective on this Middle Earth with
00:06:57
all its locations and histories and
00:06:59
characters and languages is what he
00:07:01
liked to call a secondary world within
00:07:04
the universe of Lord of the Rings magic
00:07:06
rings do exist we don't contemplate them
00:07:09
as impossible because in the story
00:07:12
that's just not the case tolken didn't
00:07:15
consider this suspension of disbelief he
00:07:18
considered it secondary belief you buy
00:07:21
the fantasy within this setting you
00:07:24
believe that a magical ring exists and
00:07:26
that it can turn you invisible
00:07:30
this idea like much of what tolken
00:07:32
thought of has become shall we say
00:07:36
endemic to the high fantasy genre
00:07:39
there's this pervasive sense that every
00:07:41
secondary World in modern fantasy has to
00:07:43
be believable not just engaging as per
00:07:47
suspension of disbelief but actually
00:07:50
believable it has to make sense the
00:07:53
audience shouldn't question its
00:07:55
rationale a fantasy world should be
00:07:57
logical to the point that you can allow
00:07:59
yourself to believe in it which
00:08:01
ironically doesn't really leave much
00:08:03
room for belief does
00:08:06
it you might have heard of hard and soft
00:08:09
magic systems these were popularized by
00:08:11
Brandon Sanderson who probably doesn't
00:08:13
need an introduction he's the most
00:08:15
successful living fantasy author in
00:08:18
addition to his actual books he's known
00:08:20
for a sort of literary theory he
00:08:22
invented I mean you're watching a video
00:08:24
with the term magic system in the title
00:08:26
right now there's just about zero chance
00:08:28
you haven't run across it at least some
00:08:29
of his ideas before he's important to
00:08:33
understanding the profile of modern
00:08:34
fantasy
00:08:35
magic according to Sanderson hard magic
00:08:38
is defined by rules and structure the
00:08:41
story explains to the reader how the
00:08:42
magic Works in Patrick gras' King killer
00:08:45
Chronicle for instance sympathetic magic
00:08:47
is a practice that can be studied
00:08:49
magicians can manipulate energy by
00:08:51
psychically binding one object to
00:08:53
another they have diagrams and
00:08:55
measurements for it it has an intricate
00:08:57
set of rules which it obeys
00:09:00
soft Magic by contrast exists without
00:09:03
explanation in Lord of the Rings we know
00:09:05
Gandalf is magical but we don't have any
00:09:08
explanation for how his magic operates
00:09:11
in sanderson's words soft magic leaves
00:09:13
room for others who want to preserve a
00:09:14
sense of wonder in their books there's
00:09:17
also sanderson's famous three laws of
00:09:19
magic which detail all the ways he
00:09:21
believes magic can be used to enhance a
00:09:23
story according to these even soft magic
00:09:26
has a set of rules to follow he gently
00:09:28
advises against allowing characters to
00:09:30
interact with it for instance and if
00:09:32
they do says that it should hinder them
00:09:34
more than help them soft magic is in his
00:09:37
words for visuals and Oban not for plot
00:09:41
sanderson's goal here he says is to help
00:09:44
authors tell better stories these rules
00:09:47
will according to him result in more
00:09:49
interesting plots and more fleshed out
00:09:52
worlds this is where you really start to
00:09:54
see that fourth application of the term
00:09:56
magic emerging not magic is phenomenon
00:09:59
or practice or metaphor magic as a plot
00:10:03
device I do like some of the ideas
00:10:06
Sanderson articulates in his essays it
00:10:08
sounds fun for instance to come up with
00:10:10
all the different costs associated with
00:10:12
using magic Sanderson himself enjoys
00:10:14
using these laws as to many other
00:10:16
writers his books are popular for a
00:10:19
reason it's also just not
00:10:23
magic this conception of magic this
00:10:26
usage of the term it's almost Direct
00:10:29
opposite all our applications and
00:10:31
understandings of magic in real life in
00:10:33
the real world the uniting tether of all
00:10:35
the different use cases for magic is the
00:10:38
unknown it has to be believed in even if
00:10:41
there's no proof that it even exists
00:10:44
fantasy magic systems tend to do the
00:10:46
opposite of that on a textual level they
00:10:49
are a way of rationalizing the unknown
00:10:52
there's always some authorial conceit
00:10:54
some guideline to follow even for the
00:10:56
most mysterious and unexplained
00:10:58
phenomenon
00:11:00
in the pursuit to create that belief in
00:11:02
a secondary World it seems a lot of
00:11:04
writers are forgetting how belief Works
00:11:07
in this
00:11:09
one I need to say this very
00:11:13
directly magic is not fiction around the
00:11:17
world for thousands of years human
00:11:19
beings have been practicing magic in
00:11:21
real life and they still do today during
00:11:25
China's Shen Dynasty people interpreted
00:11:27
Omens by burning animal bones inscribed
00:11:29
to symbols ancient Egyptians used
00:11:31
protection amulets both for the living
00:11:33
and the dead medieval European leech
00:11:36
books describe ways of curing disease
00:11:39
through magic people everywhere still
00:11:42
practice astrology follow superstitions
00:11:44
and cast spells it's part of life I'm
00:11:48
not saying that the Supernatural is real
00:11:50
I'm also not saying that it isn't that's
00:11:52
a personal matter for you to ponder what
00:11:55
I am saying is that unlike science
00:11:57
people don't practice Magic
00:11:59
to explain the
00:12:02
unknown what is or isn't magical is
00:12:04
subjective there's no real way to tell
00:12:06
if your horoscope actually offers real
00:12:09
premonitions casting a dowsing spell may
00:12:11
help you find your keys or maybe you'll
00:12:14
just chance across them soon after pure
00:12:17
coincidence the Alchemists didn't know
00:12:19
about the chemical reactions that caused
00:12:21
the bolognia stone to grow science seeks
00:12:25
answers through figuring out how things
00:12:27
work once you can prove how the
00:12:29
supernatural works it becomes natural it
00:12:33
exits the domain of magic and enters the
00:12:35
domain of
00:12:37
science even with an understanding of
00:12:39
science many people continue to use
00:12:41
magic anyway they engage with it because
00:12:44
they believe it can help enhance their
00:12:46
lives maybe they find it spiritually
00:12:48
fulfilling or practical or maybe magic
00:12:51
is just fun for them science is perhaps
00:12:56
our best way to form a unified
00:12:57
understanding of the world it helps
00:12:59
clarify the mysteries of the
00:13:01
universe it equips us with useful
00:13:04
knowledge it's concerned with
00:13:06
objectivity what we can prove to be true
00:13:09
magic on the other hand is all about
00:13:13
subjectivity it's not concerned with
00:13:15
what is explicable objective true it
00:13:19
concerns only what you believe you can
00:13:22
observe the chemical reactions that
00:13:24
cause barite to Glow you can even know
00:13:26
how it works whether or not it's m magic
00:13:30
depends on your own personal
00:13:32
perspective in other words magic is real
00:13:36
as long as you believe that it
00:13:40
is of course we don't exactly live in a
00:13:42
world amicable to that kind of belief
00:13:45
these days it's a pretty vulnerable
00:13:47
thing to do it takes a leap of faith to
00:13:50
put your trust into the unknown it is
00:13:53
anathema in post Enlightenment Society
00:13:55
to Simply accept something you don't
00:13:58
understand without trying to understand
00:14:00
it at all objectivity is reliable you
00:14:04
don't need to leave when you have
00:14:05
evidence of how the world Works instead
00:14:08
you can safely cross a bridge from the
00:14:10
unknown to the known you don't have to
00:14:13
accept not knowing I think this is why
00:14:17
magic systems don't feel magical to me
00:14:20
there are magic systems that I really
00:14:22
like and many of them give me a sense of
00:14:24
wonder and amazement with all the rules
00:14:27
and structure in a literary Magic system
00:14:29
we can have incredible worlds full of
00:14:31
Fantastical things but they very rarely
00:14:35
come close to Magic they rarely ask for
00:14:38
that kind of belief in a fantasy story
00:14:41
you can have a secondary belief like
00:14:43
tolken said a sort of surrogate for real
00:14:47
belief you can just create a whole other
00:14:49
world where things that would be
00:14:50
impossible in this one are accepted as
00:14:54
truth in this secondary world you never
00:14:57
have to decide if the one ring is really
00:14:59
magical there's no Leap of Faith No
00:15:02
pressing unknown to put your belief in
00:15:05
the real world just isn't like that the
00:15:09
efficacy of science can trick you into
00:15:11
thinking Humanity has some strong grasp
00:15:13
on how things work but that simply isn't
00:15:17
true reality is still mostly unknown and
00:15:20
part of science is going forward knowing
00:15:23
full well that your current
00:15:24
understanding may prove to be entirely
00:15:26
wrong later the more we learn
00:15:29
the less we know the less we know the
00:15:32
more Darkness there is to superimpose
00:15:35
our beliefs over the ultimate ironic
00:15:38
conclusion of scientific Pursuit is that
00:15:41
the universe is fundamentally magical to
00:15:45
believe in magic is to accept this
00:15:47
Cosmic tension to reach into the dark
00:15:50
and interact with it before empiricism
00:15:52
ever gets there magic systems break that
00:15:55
tension we can escape into a world where
00:15:58
we never have to worry about an unknown
00:16:00
beyond the author's intent where the
00:16:03
unknown Can Be Tamed and made rational
00:16:07
where it operates by rules and authorial
00:16:09
conceits where it never has a chance to
00:16:12
make you feel vulnerable no uncertainty
00:16:16
no need to believe no matter what
00:16:19
happens within the story we accept that
00:16:22
it can happen we understand that
00:16:24
magicians in the king killer Chronicles
00:16:26
study sympathetic magic we understand
00:16:29
that the one ring can turn verto bagin
00:16:31
invisible these things are not questions
00:16:35
they are known you are asked to believe
00:16:38
in nothing except for the
00:16:41
text the Paradox of magic systems is
00:16:45
that they are the fantasy of a
00:16:48
world without
00:16:52
magic remember that Arthur C Clark quote
00:16:55
about sufficiently advanced technology
00:16:56
being indistinguishable from Magic
00:16:59
it's a good metaphor it actually
00:17:01
describes how I feel about a lot of
00:17:02
things in life computer programming is
00:17:04
one of those things that I've been
00:17:05
interested in for a long time but always
00:17:08
seemed so complex it might as well be
00:17:10
some kind of magical Arcana people who
00:17:12
can grasp that stuff have always kind of
00:17:14
seemed like Wizards to me but not so
00:17:17
much lately our sponsor brilliant has
00:17:20
really helped to demystify a lot of it
00:17:22
for me I've actually been using
00:17:24
brilliant for a little while now to
00:17:25
learn about programming I used to just
00:17:27
think of this stuff as impen Cascades of
00:17:29
mathematical formula and cryptic
00:17:31
progressions of code but now it's really
00:17:34
just a thing I do it was easy honestly
00:17:37
it started me off with some simple
00:17:39
digestible tasks and explained each step
00:17:41
in detail so I knew exactly what I was
00:17:43
doing and why which really made
00:17:46
programming feel like something I could
00:17:48
do made it accessible to me in a way
00:17:51
that it never seemed to be before and
00:17:53
Brilliant has a whole course on
00:17:55
programming with multiple levels that go
00:17:56
far beyond the fundamentals so there's
00:17:58
still a lot of room for me to grow
00:18:00
actually when I'm done with programming
00:18:02
I think I'm going to spend a little time
00:18:04
on the data analysis stuff or maybe the
00:18:06
maths logic I don't know there's a lot
00:18:09
on brilliant but it's all just as
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accessible as the programming stuff so
00:18:14
I'm pretty much excited to try it all
00:18:16
every course lets you start at your own
00:18:17
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00:18:19
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00:18:22
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science feeling like unknowable Mystic
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Rune scrolling this is your chance to
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demystify it I hope you'll give it a try
00:19:00
anyway that's all for this one thanks
00:19:03
for watching and keep making stuff up
00:19:05
I'll see you next week bye
00:19:11
[Music]
00:19:23
[Music]
