Tuesday, February 13, 2001

On Magic Tricks and Science

In a weird way, magic tricks and science are related.  But they are not related in a bad way, certainly not for the purposes of my essay.

Why do people seem to think that knowing more about a subject reduces its complexity [[[attractiveness, wonder]]]] and [[[interest]]] ?
Gazing in wonder and curiosity...

I think that knowing more about a topic makes it increasingly more fascinating.  I *like* finding out how magic tricks work.  To me that makes watching a magic trick even more fun.

I think it's a matter of interpretation.  It's all about how you perceive the information that you take in.

For some reason, some people seem to think that learning about the world and about the universe somehow destroys the magic and the mystery.  For example, they think that learning about science/evolution/etc. means that they should stop believing in a deity.  To me, that sounds incredibly juvenile and simple-minded.  Do they really think that these two world views are so incredibly, insurmountably opposed to each other that they cannot exist in the same space?

To me, learning about science makes me *more* spiritual.  I remember being in high school AP biology class, and we were studying blastula formation.

Why do you think that that diminishes the excitement?
spellbound, spellbinding

Special effects in movies are also fun to learn about. ______]]]]]

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