General Anime Discussion: After War GADam X

[LurkerInPlayground]

Except Alchemy was real, and magic isnt. So no, its its own thing. In China and the Middl East, it was definitely regarded as a science.

While both those cultures almost arrived at the discovery of modern scientific practice, neither really could go much further than the idea of philosophical naturalism.

As for the Middle East, I could point a finger at a certain very prominent . . . uhhh . . . movement, for retarding progress.

You'll note that Chinese cultural bias tends to see the world as composed of dispassionate energies. This is an improvement over typically "Western" views that were more likely anthropomorphize everything they didn't understand. (Not that the "East" didn't have it's share of paternalistic spirits and gods.)

The problem is that the superstition remains superstition and the culture tends to be obssessed with the notion of internal and external harmony in one form or another (i.e. Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, the concept of Chi, Feng Shui and so on). However, "balance" is more an ideal than a fact of the universe. Notably, the classical Greeks also seemed to make the same mistake of confusing the two. (Wizard of Earthsea beats this theme to death with a stick.)

You can also tell a lot about a person by how they like their magic portrayed in fiction. People who think that "A" is "A" are among the more boring examples of this. (Alchemy is alchemy and not magic just because my words say so.)

The other boring permutation of this is when magic is literally just contemporary technology. Except it won't be called technology, because technology is a "sciency" thing used by course and common spirits who are blind to the infinite beauty of the universe. But the magic is just as bland, accessible, commonplace and safe as cellphones; though nobody seems to notice the irony.

Then there's White Wolf "Mages." Magic or "Magick" works exactly the way the metaphysician thinks it should. That is to say: White Wolf is inordinately fond of pretentious sophistry.

I've also concluded that the latter two examples are likely to indicate white guilt.