Don’t you sometimes wish you lived in a different age?  Sure, live in the twenty-first century has it’s perks, we have ready access to clean water and medical care, we have special equipment that allows us to speak with people who are far away with no noticeable delay.  And in addition to that we also have the internet, a truly prodigious invention that allows up to access all sorts of porn information in a matter of minutes. Don’t you sometimes think that we take all of this for granted?

I mean, if someone told our great-grandparents about the television they would have been flabbergasted.  Sending pictures and sound through wires?  Surely you jest!  Likewise our parents would’ve scarcely believed that that one day we’d have little phones that we could carry around everywhere we went and that eventually they’d evolve into cameras, diaries, videogame systems and music players that can fit into your pocket.  They probably would’ve felt the same way I did about the ‘flying car’ when I was younger.

Take a moment, step back from the screen and look around in the room you’re in.  If you’re like me, you have a TV in there, maybe a fan or A/C, a variety of lights/plugs and maybe even a clock.  Do you have any idea how these things work?  Do you understand your beloved A/C quickly cools down a room (and what the hell that big box it’s connected to on the outside is for)?  How about how a camera is able to capture an image in an instant, or even simpler things, like how a can of air freshener keeps the good smell on the inside until the button is pressed.  And for that matter, how come the ‘good’ smell inside the can doesn’t go bad after a couple of days?

I have the answer, but you’re not going to like it.  It’s magic.

Ok strictly speaking the things I’ve just listed don’t really qualify as magic, since magic is also “anything alleged to exist that is not explainable by any present laws of science” And I’m sure there are people (somewhere) who know how an A/C works, or how air freshener stays fresh but that’s not my point.  At least I don’t think so.

Another of the definitions of magic is, according to dictionary.com, something that possesses distinctive qualities that produce unaccountable or baffling effects.  Clearly no one truly believes in magic tricks anymore, save for gullible children and silly peasants, thanks to all of mankind’s advances and science but I wish it weren’t so. In a world were everything has a rational and readily-available explanation there is no room for wonder, and isn’t that just a little sad?

I’d like to put it to you (just for a moment) that magic is real, all around us and we can all harness it’s power. And not just in videogames.

“Magic” isn’t some game that spotty teenagers play, or something impossible like creating ice…

oh, ok.

Well, what about a way to instantly create fire?

…fair enough.

What about a method to easily lift heavy objects?

…of course.

I could keep going on with this but I think my point is made.  We can control “magic”, but most people don’t know exactly how it works.

There are barriers that modern magic/science still hasn’t overcome of course. Things like finding a cure for cancer, hangovers and women’s headaches still elude us but I’d probably postpone all that research by years if I could get a flying car made.

The flying car in my mind represents a strange combination of magic, science and romanticism.  It’s been promised to us for decades now, and no one seems to be working on it.  To be honest this isn’t surprising at all, when you consider that we live in a world that has had flight for over a hundred years, and yet we still don’t know exactly how it works.  Seriously.  No one is sure how planes stay in the air.  Do the wings push the plane up?  Does the air pressure keep it from dipping down? No one knows for sure.  Keep that in mind the next time you’re waiting at the airport.

Look, how fitting.  The 'quote of the day' of the day I posted this is: 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."