I was watching a presentation about science, magic and quantum mechanics (much more interesting than it sounds), and it gave me  a couple of things to ponder.  He makes the argument that science actually makes the universe more magical, not less so.  Here’s an example.

Any time you look out a window anywhere on the planet, you are looking at something magical.  It doesn’t matter where you are.  That window is framing a view containing more life than the entire known universe.  That is magical.  Think about it for a moment.  If you make a pinhole in a piece of paper and set it on your table, the piece of table you can see through that hole contains more life than the rest of the known universe.

The next time you start thinking your life sucks, remember that your one life is more than there is anywhere else in the known universe.  The simple fact that you have a life is amazing enough.  The most miniscule, inconsequential microbe is infinitely more than we have found anywhere else we have explored.  Your life is exponentially greater than that of a microbe so you are by the simple fact of your existence, a truly magical wonder.

This is the magic of science.  Magic is just another way of explaining the world around us.  If a person from a non-technological society saw an aeroplane, they might easily ascribe it’s ability to fly to magic.  I understand how the shape of a wing creates lift, but that doesn’t undermine my sense of wonder.  Rather I am amazed at the process required for anyone to figure it out.

That to me is where the magic lives.  It lives in that spark of understanding.  That moment when someone looks at something they have seen a hundred times and for the first time see it in a new way.  It is in the intuitive leap.  That moment when we understand something we have never understood before.  That is magic.

Science is just another way of reaching that moment.

That’s something that makes me think.

Cheers, Winston