Polite Fiction

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
~Arthur C. Clarke

I recently learned how to do some really nifty card tricks. I was truly amazed when I first watched them performed. Now that I know how the trick works it’s a bit of a downer. It’s kind of like learning Santa isn’t real or the Easter Bunny really doesn’t hide eggs. Of course I was relieved to learn the Tooth Fairy wasn’t real. Seriously, who wanted some trippy flying lady with a fetish for teeth sneak into your room?

I use to believe in Superman and I use to look up towards the cityscape in hopes of seeing Spider Man swing from building to building. I use to pray hard for something, anything magical to happen to me. I wanted to be vindicated in my belief that magic was real, that it was around us. Nothing…Magic died when I was young.

In another time I might have fostered my faith in magic well into adulthood. We still see it today in parts of the world where technology had not cut out the longing for something unexplainable and the capacity for genuine awe. I now need proof. I need tangible evidence that I can see, hear, taste, smell, and then corroborated by a team of independent scientists.

I miss believing in something that can’t be explained. It’s a loss that I look back on with regret. It is what leads me to my fascination with science fiction. I’m drawn to it because of the possibilities technology may one day bring. It may not be the same as believing in magic but it satisfies my optimism that there will be new horizons.