gonna refocus on D&D and gary gygax b/c i think there's an interesting way D&D serves as a "memetic bottleneck" here. little gary was into LARPing, pulp fiction, and wargames. idk anything about pulp fiction or wargames. let's click on wargames first
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gyga
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wargaming was invented in prussia and used for military training; attracted attention b/c they beat france in a war in 1870
h.g. wells "developed codified rules for playing with toy soldiers, which he published in a book titled Little Wars." adorable!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargame#W
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wow wait okay the full title of the book was
"Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books"
bruh now it's less adorable c'mon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wa
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ok now pulp fiction. this bit seems important: "During the economic hardships of the Great Depression, pulps provided affordable content to the masses, and were one of the primary forms of entertainment, along with film and radio."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_maga
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this is starting to feel like a huge topic. here's an incomplete diagram of the influences we've traced so far. i am still mostly drawn to understanding the D&D bottleneck, as the place where pop magic switches tracks from stories to games
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there's something you kill about the nature of magic by forcing it to fit mechanically into a game, tabletop or video or otherwise. the way it's usually done magic becomes something dead you control, rather than something alive you have a relationship to
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One way to get at the distinction: is magic something you use (LH), or is it something you relate to (RH)? In Young Wizards (RH), magic often uses the heroes. It has intentionality, and also a moral component. Compare to e.g. Harry Potter, esp. HPMoR (very LH).
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surprisingly rowling's conception of magic in harry potter is also mostly "dead," with the exception of whatever harry's mom did to protect him from voldemort, despite the fact that rowling's influences were very literary / mythological; no games, no pulp
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Pot
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magic-as-tool was probably already in the water by that point, even if she didnt consciously list it as an inspiration it was probably still hanging around
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also i dont think standard modern metaphysics allows for magic that isnt a tool
like, the assumption is that things happen in a repeatable manner, with effects having a clear cause such that they can be recreated in controlled circumstances
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the romantics talk about how science destroys magic, this might be true in a much more literal sense - science destroys the ability to perceive magic or to think of things in a magical way
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it's very weird b/c once you factor out the spirits and the demons and the gods you just have magic that works for literally no reason. no explanation of magic is ever given in harry potter or even slightly alluded to
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we dont really know why physics works either
im also thinking about the modern thread of gods being subject to physics, as opposed to creating physics
so, even given spirits and demons and gods, its not like they serve as *explanation*, because they arent responsible for magic
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