Magick, Technomancy and Witchcraft
In General
"Still there are moments when one feels free from one's own
identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such
moments, one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet,
gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the
eternal, the unfathomable: life and death flow into one, and there is
neither evolution nor destiny; only being." -Albert Einstein
Technomancy is often called the magical art related to use and
manipulation of technology; The "machine magic". Modern Technomancy,
however, deals less with this aspect of magick and more with the actual
"How Does It Work" aspects of science and magick combined.
Magic involves the manipulation of forces which cannot be
explained by science. But once an event, which was once thought to be
magic can be explained, it then becomes scientific fact. This has
happened countless times in human history.
The mystery of magic is unknown to most of the population. The
knowledge is possessed by only a select community. But isn't science
also like this? Technology is everywhere, but most people have no idea
how things work. Look at your computer. Sure you can surf the Web and
perform all kinds of miracles with it, but do you really know how it
works? Probably not.
Magic can be manipulated in everyday life. Remember
superstitions like throwing spilled salt over your shoulder? These are
actually a form of folk magic. And we also take science for granted
every day.
Some Fundamental Principles
"Magic is a primitive form of science; where there are no scientific
resources, people will use magic to explain phenomena." - Bronislaw
Malinowski
Let us consider the fundamental principles. Technomancy is
about modification of physics. The very essence of magic is that it
makes the laws of physics work differently for limited time, thus
making things interesting.
The prime concept is just that: glitches. To make catapult
malfunction, you need to make its parts move in unexpected manner. To
make a computer stop working, you need to turn a conductor (power cord,
preferably) into nonconductor.
Technology College is related to the Movement College, Making
and Breaking College (and for higher technology, Electricity College,
which in turn is a part of the Air College).
At it's very basic level, Technomancy is defined as:
M = E ( D + R ) - O
Magick = Energy x (Distance & Resistance of target) - Outside Influence and energies.
Basics of Technomancy
In order to understand how and why a Technomancer accomplishes
what he/she does, it first becomes necessary to understand the basics
of both Magick and Science.
What is magic?In Action, Magic is the art of manipulating
reality through the force of directed will.
As Doctrine, Magic is the discipline of mastering one's thoughts,
ideas, emotions and physical movements such that certain actions,
words, or thoughts have a power in reality. The discipline is more
important than its effect.
What is it for? Magic is an art of self-transformation. High
magic is for those who wish to transform themselves into better
individuals. Low magic is for those who want worldly power. The
definition of high and low or dark and light has many detractors, in
effect all acts of magic are similar, but the dividing line here is
intent. If the intent is positive, that is, the magic you perform is to
manipulate reality to serve humanity, it is good magic. If it is
selfishly created to serve oneself, it is not good.
What is science?Science is essentially a method of studying a
set of information (or, to be technical, "data"). This method of
studying data (called, for obvious reasons, the "Scientific Method")
can be applied to virtually any body of knowledge. For example, the
science of languages is known as linguistics, and the science of
knowledge is known as epistemology. (Talk about heavy-duty terms!). The
point is, the word "science" does not refer only to specific
disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, but to any set of
material studied using a set of guidelines known as the scientific
method.
Science does not set out to prove anything. Rather, science seeks to
classify and explain the world about us (and beyond) and to test the
validity of our classifications and explanations by trying to disprove
them.
So knowing this, how can Magick and Science work together?
All
things in the universe, have an innate magick. Energy, be it Odic
Force, Life Energy, Electricity or Molecular Kinetic Energy, is present
in everything that exists. Just as Life Energy can be manipulated by a
Witch, to determine the course or flow of the power, so too can the
Force or Energy of a non-living thing. (though generally not to the
extent that Life Magick can alter the course of probabilities,
Technomancy can often be used as a conduit for such energies.)
For example, if two witches are in an internet chat room and one
mentions what a hard time she is having and asks the others to pray for
her, most witches would light a candle or say a ritual or some other
such basic "good luck - good health" type of spell. Now, as is the case
with most magick, the closer your proximity to the intended recipient,
the better the chances of the spell having the desired effect.
A Technomancer, could use the flow of energy across the internet to
transfer the spell energy directly to the recipient, as opposed to
sending it out into the universe where it may or may not reach it's
final destination unchanged or with the full intensity and effect.
This of course, is a very low level use of Technomancy and many
TechnoPagans (those witches who hang out online) are already aware of
the ability to achieve this, just not the reason why it works. And as
we all learned in school at one time or another, the best way to find
out how something works is to Hypothesize, Experiment and reach a
conclusion. So, in order to accomplish our goals, we must first learn 2
things:
The Basic Principles of Magick and The Basic Principles of Science
Basic Principles of Magick
To understand how magick can even be considered to be real, one must
understand physics. All objects are comprised of atoms, be it living,
or inanimate objects. Atoms are comprised of a nucleus, and electrons
which orbit the nucleus. How is it then, that some objects are hard,
and others are soft? It all has to do with how the atoms bond together,
as well as the specific atoms in question. Bonding occurs when
electrons from one atom, are shared and exchanged with electrons from
another atom. Since atoms are basically free floating, and electrons
are shared with other atoms, everything in the known universe are
linked together by a common theory - Electron bonding. Humans share
their atoms with every object or life form that they come in, or close
to, contact with. The exchange of electrons is a form of energy. Since
magick is the act of manipulating and working with the energies in
nature, all one has to do is tune themselves into this concept just
presented. Using ones mind to control matter is magick. Hence, we get
the term "It's all mind over matter." Items used within magick are
tools used as a means of making focusing much easier. The flame of the
candle is used to help fix a gaze, so one can have a clear mind.
Principle of Affinity
The Principle of Affinity is the study of methods for creating
attraction or affinity between entities. It causes object to want to
behave like other objects or be in close proximity of them. Examples
would be spells of attraction, location and spells for luck or wealth.
Principle of Disparity
The Principle of Disparity describes the action of making aversions
between entities, such as spells of protection and warding, where one
attempts to keep something or someone away from them.
Principle of Melioration
The Principle of Melioration describes efforts to make a thing more of
what it is -- improve it or increase it. Plant Growth spells,
blessings, healing and similar spells use the Principle of Melioration.
What is a Spell?
Spells, are somewhat like prayers and are used to create needed change
in one's own life or the life of a loved one. But while prayers are a
petition to an external Deity to create the change, most Witches
believe that Deity is present in everything, including ourselves.
Spells, then, are the channeling of our own divine selves, our own
energies, to create the change.
Spells such as those which use love magic to gain the attention of a
specific individual, or curses, are considered "manipulative". Many
Pagans believe that anything manipulative-that goes against the free
will of another-is considered wrong, and that the responsibility for
their actions will lie with them.
Laws of Magick
This emerging tradition holds tightly to the principles of the Law: What you put out comes back threefold.
Energy is the central theme of this tradition. It flows and returns,
constantly giving shape to our world - the world that we create.
Therefore, whatever you put out is energy and truly will return.
Energy is constantly moving, it moves through us, is in us, we are a
part of it as it is a part of the all. Thus, we are Energy, Energy is
Life, and Life itself is the Divine.
Every bit of energy that we "conjure" up, effects us - once as we think
or feel it, once as it effects others, and once again as it comes back
to us in the guise of their reactions to us. But moreover, it continues
to come back to us as those we touch interact with others, who interact
with others, and when those "others" eventually interact with us, we
feel the effects of the energy we once put out, come back to us yet
again. It is rather like Chaos theory that states that a butterfly
flapping his wings in the rain forest may cause a tornado in Africa -
the smallest change in one instance can have unforeseen repercussions.
However, by controlling our thoughts and being in touch with ourselves,
we have the chance to control and focus the energy that we put out.
General Scientific Principles
Upper/Lower Limits
- An upper limit is a figure for the absolute highest possible value of a
given figure (ie- the figure cannot possibly be higher than this limit, but
it can be much lower). As an example, if a matter/antimatter reactor
consumes 100kg of antimatter, then an upper limit for its energy output
would be 2·100·c² = 1.8E19 joules. In other words, it is physically
impossible for a matter/antimatter reactor to produce more than
1.8E19 joules from 100kg of antimatter fuel. In fact, the costs of operating
the reactor and various process inefficiencies would most likely reduce such
a reactor's true power output dramatically, usually to a small fraction of
the upper limit.
- A lower limit is a figure for the absolute lowest theoretically possible
value of a given figure. As an example, if a 1kg block of steel is heated
from 300K to 400K with no other changes, the change in its enthalpy is
roughly 60kJ. It is impossible to heat it thusly without expending at least
60 kJ, because the energy state of the system has increased by 60kJ.
In reality the energy expenditure will be higher due to process
inefficiencies, and perhaps much higher.
Efficiency
The laws of physics, particularly the Second Law of Thermodynamics, prevent
any process from ever being perfect. Nothing is 100% efficient anywhere in the
universe. Nothing can be measured or controlled to 100% exact precision. No
process can occur in zero elapsed time. These concepts are simple, easily
understood, and obvious to any scientifically trained person. However, since
most trekkies lack scientific training and more importantly, they lack the
scientific mindset, they seem unable to grasp these simple concepts.
Trekkie "analyses" of their technology invariably include
phrases like "perfect targeting", "instant reaction",
"100% efficiency", etc. even though any such assumptions inevitably
lead to highly unrealistic upper limits rather than reasonable estimates.
Force, Energy, and Power
The concepts of force, energy, and power are fundamental building blocks of
science. No one can claim to have even a remote familiarity with science unless
he or she has a firm grasp on these concepts- anyone without a firm grasp
on these concepts cannot understand the more complex scientific principles.
Force: the Physics definition of Force (as opposed to the various
unscientific colloquial definitions of force or The Force) is defined in
Webster's New World Dictionary as "the cause, or agent, that puts an object
at rest into motion or alters the motion of a moving object." That's
probably as good as definition as any- a fundamental concept like force is
difficult to define accurately without resorting to equations or circular
definitions involving synonyms. In equation format, F=ma as implied by Newton's
Second Law of Motion. In other words, the amount of force required to accelerate
an object is proportional to the rate of acceleration multiplied by the mass of
the object.
Energy
Definition:
Energy is perhaps the most fundamental concept in science. All events
and processes can be analyzed strictly in terms of energy balances,
from obvious examples like power plants, drive motors, and
refrigeration systems to less obvious examples like the biological
processes in the human body and the severity of collisions. Energy
balances can be used to determine whether a process is possible at all,
and the extent to which a process is reversible. Energy can take many
forms- mechanical, kinetic, electrical, thermal, electromagnetic,
chemical, entropic, etc. A full description of all the various types of
energies and the various methods by which they can be related to
various situations and processes is obviously beyond the scope of this
document. However, we can say that the units of energy have the
dimensions of force multiplied by distance, although there are many other ways
to combine units to result in energy.
The First Law of Thermodynamics: This law is the most fundamental
concept of physics: it states that the total amount of energy in a closed
system is constant. A more popular way of describing it is to say that energy
can neither be created or destroyed, but I personally prefer the former
definition. The meaning is the same in either case, but it is important to
remind people of the importance of the closed system in energy
analyses.
Energy Balances: Basically, energy balances involve "before and
after" states of energy. An example is a 10kg block of steel resting on
the ground compared to the same block suspended 10m above the ground. The
suspended block has ~981J more potential energy than the block sitting on the
ground, so at least 981J of energy will be required to go from one state to
the other. The height change cannot be accomplished without adding 981J
of energy (in some form or other) into the system because that would mean that
some of its new potential energy came "out of nowhere", a clear
violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics. If far more energy is
poured into the system (say, 2kJ), then the excess energy must go somewhere-
the block has only gained 981J of potential energy, so the extra 1019J must
become something else, eg. thermal energy in the steel or the surrounding air.
Note: it is perfectly possible to expend energy without adding energy
to your intended target: if you push against a concrete wall with all of your
might, you will expend large quantities of chemical energy within your body
without adding any significant energy to the wall. This is not a violation of
energy balances or the First Law of Thermodynamics- you expended energy in
your body, but you never added any energy to the wall. In the overall scheme
of things, chemical energy was transformed into thermal energy in your body
but no mechanical energy was added to the system.
Power: Power is the rate at which energy is expended. A knowledge of both
power and energy output is required to determine the destructive power of a
weapon, because a small amount of energy can be released at a very high rate,
thus resulting in a large power output, or a large amount of energy can be
released at a very low rate, thus resulting in a low power output. In either
case, the destructive capabilities of the weapon would be far lower than a
high-power, high-energy weapon. A high-power, low-energy weapon will simply not
be able to do a lot of work on its target, so the power level is only impressive
from a mathematical standpoint. A low-power high-energy weapon may be able to
perform a lot of work on its target, but if the power level is extremely low
then various energy-dissipation mechanisms will come into play, preventing the
energy from concentrating in a single location to the point where it can be
dangerous.
Newton's Laws of Motion
- Inertia: "Every body persists in its state of rest or of
uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that
state by forces imposed on it."
- Force and acceleration: "The rate of change of momentum of
a body is proportional to the resultant force acting on the body and is in
the direction of that force." This law is often expressed as the
resultant equation, F=ma.
- Action/reaction: "To every action there is always opposed
an equal reaction; or, the mutual attractions of two bodies upon each other
are always equal, and directed to contrary parts." This concept is
very poorly understood by a large number of people. Let's suppose your mass
is 70kg. As you sit in your chair under 1g conditions reading this page, you
are therefore exerting roughly 690N of force upon the chair. The direct
implication of Newton's third law is that the chair is exerting 690N of
force back up against your posterior. Similarly, when an aircraft
moves through the atmosphere at constant speed, its engines push it forward
with (for example) 250kN of force. The aerodynamic drag of the aircraft must
push back with the same force.
Gravity
Newton's law of universal gravitation is as follows: "The force
between any two particles having masses m1
and m2 separated by a distance r is an
attraction acting along the line joining the particles and has the magnitude F=Gm1m2/r2
where G is a universal constant having the same value for all pairs of
particles." The value of G has been experimentally determined (see
the Constants
page), and r is the distance between the two particles.
The above equation is often applied to large objects by idealizing those
objects into point-masses where the entire mass of the object is considered to
be located at its center of gravity. Note that this idealization is invalid
when one object is inside another (eg- a small object buried deep
within the Earth), but it can be used when the objects are separate.
The gravitational potential energy can be determined by integrating the
gravitational force equation from r to infinity. The result is that the
gravitational potential energy of one object with respect to another works out
to U=-Gm1m2/r.
The negative sign is not a mistype; the potential energy is zero at
infinite distances and decreases as the separation distance decreases. This is
not intuitive but many scientific concepts are not instantly intuitive,
in spite of Federation cultists' concerted efforts to rewrite science to
conform to their intuitive beliefs. As the distance decreases, the potential
energy must also decrease. If the sign were reversed, we would find
that the potential energy would continually increase as the two objects
approach. In other words, the potential energy of an object falling toward the
Earth would increase as it falls! This is obviously a ludicrous solution, so
hopefully it should be obvious why the sign is negative.
A common exercise is to determine an object's escape velocity from a
celestial object such as a planet, moon, or star. Escape velocity is defined
as the velocity at which an object's kinetic energy is equal to the magnitude
of its gravitational potential energy. In other words, 0.5mv²=GmM/r where m
is the small object's mass, M is the celestial body's mass, and r is the
initial distance between their centers of gravity. We can easily rearrange the
equation to find that v²=2GM/r; note that the escape velocity is
independent of the smaller object's mass. For an object on Earth's surface, we
can easily substitute G=6.67E-11, M=5.97E24, and r=6.37E6 to find that
v=1.12E4 m/s.
Another exercise is to determine the binding energy of a system of
particles. The basic
principle is that the binding energy of a system of particles is equal to the
sum total of the magnitudes of the gravitational potential energy existing
between any two particles in that system. For a system of only three particles
A, B, and C, the binding energy would be the sum total of the magnitude of the
gravitational potential energy between A+C added to the potential energy
between B+C added to the potential energy between A+C.
Relativity
The 20th century Earth scientist known as Einstein was the first of his
species to strike upon two concepts:
- The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames. No preferred
inertial frame exists.
- The speed of light is the same in all inertial frames.
From these two basic postulates the entire field of General Relativity
appeared. Numerous conclusions were drawn about the relationship between
matter and energy based on the above two basic postulates, such as the
following:
- Matter-Energy equivalence: E = mc². This formula
describes the relationship between energy and mass- if a given amount of
mass is completely converted to energy, it will release a quantity of
energy equal to its mass multiplied by the speed of light squared, which
is 9E16 m²/s².
- Mass dilation:
This formula describes the relationship between rest-mass and true mass,
as velocity increases. For a 1kg object traveling at 0.99c, its
relativistic mass will be more than 7 kg.
- Time dilation:
This formula assigns quantitative values to the basic concept that
"moving clocks run slow". As speeds increase, the perception of
time's passage slows down. An observer traveling at 0.99c would experience
the passage of 0.14 seconds for every second that passes from the point of
view of a stationary observer.
- Length dilation:
This formula describes the increase in length associated with increasing
speeds. In other words, a fast object becomes longer and conversely, a
fast-moving observer will perceive slow-moving objects to be shorter. An
observer traveling at 0.99c would perceive a 1m long object as being only
0.14m long.
- Kinetic energy: The kinetic energy of an object moving at
relativistic speeds is (m-mo)·c². If
one substitutes the mass increase equation into that formula, it can be
determined that when v is small, the equation simplifies to the classical
equation, KE=0.5mv². For a 1kg object traveling at 0.99c, Newtonian
physics predicts a kinetic energy of 4.41E16 J, while general relativity
predicts kinetic energy of 5.48E17 J, more than 12 times larger. Note that
this is actually higher than the energy yield that would come from
annihilating the 1kg mass entirely into energy.
- Momentum: The momentum of an object moving at relativistic
speeds is calculated by simply substituting the relativistic mass into the
classical p=mv equation. A 1kg object traveling at 0.99c will have 2.97E8
kg·m/s of linear momentum according to Newtonian physics and 2.11E9 kg·m/s
of linear momentum according to general relativity.
Philosophy
The philosophy of science is a subject for much discussion and a real
discussion is beyond the scope of this document. However, the basic philosophy
of science is that it exists to describe the physical universe. The key word
is "describe." It does not exist to promulgate belief systems,
support or deny any particular set of beliefs, or create technology. Its
profound impact on society and technology is a side-effect, not its
intended purpose.
The basic scientific method is quite simple: analyze measured data,
formulate theories which fit the data, and then perform experiments designed
to disprove the theories. If those experiments fail to disprove those
theories, the theories gain weight. Notice here the important distinction
between failing to disprove a theory and proving the theory. It
is impossible to prove a scientific theory.
Suppose we have numerous theories which we have failed to disprove, and
which fit the facts. How do we choose between them? We use Occam's Razor,
which states that when faced with numerous theories that all fit the facts,
the simplest theory will always be the correct one. This may sound like an
arbitrary decision, but it is not: this is the way the universe works. Without
Occam's Razor, we could potentially generate an infinite number of theories,
of progressively increasing complexity, to explain any given phenomenon.
Process Analysis
Anyone wishing to maintain any
remote adherence to science must remember that science and engineering are
both based on the measurement of results, not discussion of process.
Without measured data, scientists would never be able to sort nonsensical
theories out from valid theories. Energy balances, for example, are entirely
based on the measurement of energy states before and after a process, rather
than examining what happens inside the process itself. If we wish to
understand the process, we always perform the energy balance first, and
then attempt to derive any process analysis from that foundation.
If we were to analyze automobile engines based on their intake manifold
fluid mechanics, fuel delivery system design, crankshaft geometry, camshaft
profile, lifter design, valve geometry, air intake system design, fuel
consumption, combustion chamber geometry, spark timing, etc., we would be
expending an incredible amount of effort in a hopelessly futile endeavor.
Depending on the set of assumptions and approximations we use, we would be
able to arbitrarily calculate any of a wide range of horsepower figures,
particularly if we base our analyses on superficial diagrams and descriptions
(like the information in the TM) rather than complete engineering
specifications. Even with complete engineering specifications,
automotive engineers never know how powerful an engine will be until they
actually hook it up to a dynamometer and measure its horsepower. Measurement
of results rather than discussion of process; that is how it is done in
the real world, and for good reason.
If one wants to generate realistic lower limits for any given
technology, they need to perform energy balances to determine what they have
and have not accomplished.
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