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Why is there an obsession with calling things "magical"? Technology is the opposite of magic. The word "magical" both creates unrealistic expectations and handw
by qq66 14y ago
Why is there an obsession with calling things "magical"? Technology is the opposite of magic. The word "magical" both creates unrealistic expectations and handwaves over all of the incredible technology inside.
- argumentum 14y agoI've ridden the board.. calling it magical is not a stretch.
- qq66 14y agoThe industry should use words like "brilliant" instead of "magical" to emphasize the skill and dedication required to create amazing products, instead of tacitly implying that they are outputs of inscrutable black-box processes. Kids who ride this skateboard realize that someday, they could engineer something even better than it.
- zekel 14y agoI'm not sure kids with imagination get stuck on semantics like that.
- qq66 14y agoWord choice absolutely does affect how people think. Terms like "intelligent design" exploit this by cloaking nonsense in the guise of logic, and if you explain to a kid that a lightbulb or an electric skateboard works by "magic" that's a lot less inspiring than saying "a kid just like you studied how things work and invented it."
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- nazgulnarsil 14y agoit encapsulates the ideal of making technology seamlessly integrate with our lives.
- tarice 14y agoNecessary quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke