Let's take a step in an equines shoes for a moment. There's no denying that our tech is beautiful, but look at what the ponies have done with magic, I'm not even going to mention an example, because Lauren Faust (back when the show was firmly in her grasp) purportedly told her underlings to mentally write off any tech they used as built by "some unicorn technician". This is fascinating, because we see complex machines in the show, a commonly listed example are the arcade machines that foals were seen using that one time.

In stories, I love it when the author describes magic as being like computer code, because it makes a lot of sense, and also explains why starlight, who somehow associated cutie marks with her loss of friendship, is so good with it (some of the 'smartest' people are often the most oblivious).

But this opens up some possibilities, like parallels between our complex mechanical tech, and their magical tech. It's important to note that both use science as we know it (rigorous testing and sweaty innovation), but one uses transistors and computer programs, while the other uses precise focusing crystals and lines of thaumatic programs etched on crystal plates (or something like that )

What I'm asking isn't that we compare their tech to ours (though that isn't out of the question), or try and find which is better, just that we stop to think about what they can and may have actually done, remember, ponies aren't idiots, they're as creative as we are. Just imagine if alchemy and crystal programming (scrolling?) were legitimate fields

5570264
Using projectors to create instant magic circles.

ponies aren't idiots

I dispute that.

5570264 Using magical constructs as satellites and other complex technological devices?

5570269
Well, Cheerilee is apparently teaching high level calculus to middle schoolers.

5570276
Calculus isn't actually difficult, though. Compared to all the ways in which they act stupid, I'm pretty sure that takes a back row.

5570266
Ooh, though that creates other problems, what if someone created a spell to create two magic circles, then automatically cast a spell in each circle? They could work like a DoS attack, clogging up the local magical field.

5570269
I can't refute that.

5570272
basically, yeah. Like a giant crystal with microscopic engravings that give it virtual eyes, antennae, etc. To us it would just look like a shard of crystal mysteriously floating in space, until we analysed it.

5570276
5570281
Back in my day, we had no prune juice. So when mathematicians got constipated, they had to work the logs out with a pencil.

5570276 Stupidity manifests in allowing yourself to be taught calculus

5570328
Or they could lure you into a room with no flat surfaces to prevent you from using them.

5570332
That's the beauty of engraved crystals, they could potentially work outside the sphere. Unless the room was made of iron, then you're fucked.

5570328
Too bad that pun doesn't work in German, or I'd totally steal it.

5570340
No, what I mean is that without a flat surface to project the circle onto, someone too reliant on the projectors would be helpless.

5570342
In nature, there are no flat surfaces - and any kind of angle would distort the circle into an oval. If those require the least bit of precision, that seems like something that defeats itself.

5570347
I was going to mention that a magic circle wouldn't necessarily have to be on a solid surface, but I figured an imperfect magic circle would also be plausible.

5570347
5570354
Good points.

5570354
Considering how much of a big deal most settings make out of the fact that magic whatevers need to be drawn exact, that seems like something that really shouldn't work pretty much by default, though.

5570361
Archmage: "Remember, compasses, protractors and straight edges are a mages best friend."

5570362
I have a few reproductions of medieval grimoires lying around here somewhere that I bought in a clearance sale once... and those magicians sure take their scribbles seriously, I'll tell you that.

(Disclaimer: No liability for spontaneous possession of computer systems caused by displaying this demonic glyph.)

5570361
Sure, but the fact that magic circles work at all is a testament to their apparent flexibility. I'm not denying that near-perfection is key, just that absolute perfection is absurd based on what we see in fiction.

5570276
Except A) That wasn't high level and B) that was a joke in-universe.
5570281
Agreed. The worst parts are just tedious.
Now Differential Equations on the other hand....
5570269
He forgot about idiot savants.

5570364
lol.

5570733
Genuine 17th century black magic. That thing is historical.

5570264
Man I remember when I did a page on this subject matter, it quickly devolved into a mess of arguing about what constitutes magic.

Magitech is something of always found interesting in Scifi and fantasy, in fantasy it gives those in the setting access to complex machines that in our own world were at best only in the conceptual stages or extremely rare for the given time period.

5570837 GDI just builds regular orbital death cannons.

But that's okay because they only use it to create Tiberium detonations which kill millions in the second world: just remember that they're the good guys.

5570738
History is so cool.

5570264
Necroing the thread.

Magi tech is a concept I'm rather fond of with a scifi-science fantasy setting. There's something about proper magitech that just makes your jaw drop. True magitech is where the line between science and magic is so blurred it becomes hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.

5662800
Neo, the line doesn't exist. Science is the study of reality. If magic is real, then why not have a scientific field studying it? The biggest mistake people make is thinking there would be a separation at all.

5664311
"Magical thinking is a term [...] denoting the fallacious attribution of causal relationships between [unrelated] actions and events. In anthropology, it denotes the attribution of causality between entities grouped with one another (coincidence) or similar to one another."

Scientific definition of magic. Magic can never be a scientific field because, by definition, it is the misattribution of unrelated events to one another.

5664319
Fair enough, I wasn't really using magic's official meaning, just the meaning given to it in the show. They seem to call 'manipulation of a certain force' magic, the problem is the name, why call something magic if it can be studied?

5664337
Local linguistic tradition would be a reasonable enough excuse, if you wanted to go that way, the same way chemistry is derived from "alchemy" both in subject and in name. If it can be systematically studied, it's by definition not actually magic, so that's really the only thing they could really be doing.

5664360
"Hold on while I just science this spell"
I wish more works would just call it thaumatology (or the like).

5664368
If I ever get around to writing my story, I plan to call dedicated spellcrafters "thaumocompositionists."

5664376
Call me a hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophiliac, because I just drained my jock

5664409
TMI, dude. Way TMI.