003 - [Audio]

[angleofscience]

[Shortly after this, Jetfire has been attempting to distract himself, having gone to the library but that's not exactly working, and all he can come up with?]

A question, if you will; what would be the difference between science and magic?

[He has accepted the possibility of more-than-natural... or supernatural/divine events, if barely, but that

Comments

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

what fuel2 iit, ii thiink.

audio

[angleofscience]

[... It takes a moment to figure out what is going on here (by a moment, we mean less than a second of processing the text) and making Jetfire able to reply. he's still confused, however. He's only just learned English, here.]

Fuels it? Hmm... different sources of energy? [He's not actually sure what those who think magic exist considers magic, but energy, being not necessarily easily visible, is the closest he can think of. But energy, however, still has a place in the natural world.]

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

2omethiing liike that, ii'm not really 2ure how iit work2, there wa2 no magiic iin my uniiver2e but there ii2 iin 2ome other2.

audio

[angleofscience]

As far as I'm aware... barring a particular instance or two, neither in mine.

[Is divine intervention and a mech seemingly powered beyond normal limits and possibilities the same as magic?]

Maybe it'll simply be impossible to answer correctly as the difference will lie in whether magic does exist in any given reality and the origins of it, as well as how it works, will differ between any reality with magic... Which are all obsolete when it comes to those that do not contain anything that could be considered 'magic'.

[He's only partially talking directly to you right now, Sollux. More like thinking out loud, but if you find it interesting...]

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

*Who knows? A lot of the tech and normal stuff Sollux is used to would be considered magic to other cultures. Especially when you get to the omnipotent guardians or the whole seeing the future thing.*

iif there are iinfiinate uniiver2e2 out there, then 2ome where magiic AND 2ciience exii2t mu2t be po22ible, that may be the only way to truely tell the diiference between the two.
what pa22e2 a2 magiic iin IB's uniiver2e miight not be magiic iin keva2'2 or anyone el2e'2, or "magiic" may ju2t be a word u2ed when guardiian2 or god2, or 2omethiing people don't know and/or under2tand at all, are behiind iit.

*That's alright, Jetfire, it gives Sollux something to think about.*

audio

[angleofscience]

Mmm, yes. Though, again... the difference, if there is one, would only be valid for that one universe.

[Which wasn't really what he wanted; this is exceedingly interesting, yes, but maybe he'd also tackled the question in an inefficient or even faulty way.]

Understanding would obviously be a great part of it. A repeatable phenomenon outside normal scientific parameters or natural laws must be understood too, not just repeatable, after all, if it's to be reproduced and not just considered an uncontrollable unknown phenomenon.

[You're giving Jetfire things to think on too, so maybe it evens out?]

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

hone2tly, ii'm not 2ure you could ever get a 2atii2factory an2wer two that que2tiion, not iif you want one valiid for every uniiver2e, your be2t bet ii2 two fiigure out how iit work2 iin any giiven uniiver2e or perhap2 how it work2 here.
not that ii have any iidea how iit work2 here.

diid you a2k for a 2peciifiic rea2on or are you ju2t tryiing two fiind 2omethiing two work on?

audio

[angleofscience]

I suppose the interestng thing, truly, would be the ability to compare between universes, the sources, the reasonings, the practices, and so on, but I am aware this would be... quite impossible.

It was more idle curiosity. Questions can lead to information, but even so, just asking can usually yield thought, if no result. I'm not sure I would further accept the existence of magic as anything but either a system of energy manipulation following rules, which would then make it a science, or a concept used by those who do not understand what they're dealing with.

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

be2t we can do ii2 a2k here, but that requiire2 other2 knowiing how thiing2 work iin theiir uniiver2e2.

*And he doesn't think highly enough of people here to assume they do.*

ii 2ee.

audio

[angleofscience]

Actual understanding and knowing, instead of rumours and assumptions? Yes, that might be harder to get hold of... And, as you said earlier, it would clearly be of more immediate use for us to find out how this place works, whether it is "magic" by whatever defition or system, or science.

[He'd definitely prefer the latter, since even a nicely-ordered system of energy-manipulation would raise questions he's not sure can be fully answered.]

text

[thii2ii22tupiid]

ii'm not 2ure how we'd go about doiing that, though.

audio

[angleofscience]

Depending on what measures are set up against them, or if my scanners could pick up anything at all, I have that possibility, but I could find nothing when I... ah, flew into the ceiling.

A longer period of stay, however much it displeases me to say that, would allow for more time for possible observations to form conclusions about... Or perhaps some angle to use to figure out how things work.

derp, forgot he was using [text]

[thii2ii22tupiid]

oh, you found that two, huh? you can't go pa2t the wall2, eiither, but that end2 much wor2e than hiittiing the ceiiliing.

ii don't have anythiing two mea2ure the2e thiing2 wiith, ii don't thiink there'2 anythiing here that can, unle22 2omebody brought 2omethiing.

[audio] haha, well, such things happen!

[angleofscience]

... A lot worse? Hitting the ceiling did nothing, but you're saying there's worse reprecussions from trying the walls? Are these the ones beyond the Keep? The physical ones which are visible?

[Jetfire frowned as he thought.]

Well, I'll attempt to see what my scanners can pick up, but if they pick up nothing, there's really only a few possibilities left; anything that could be measured in such ways are being supressed and hidden by some means, or it can be measured, but my equipment will not be calibrated for it... or it's truly something unknown, or unmeasurable.

[The last... was a frustrating thought.]

[text] its what i get for tagging without paying attention ^^;

[thii2ii22tupiid]

iit hurt2, iif you a2k me.

*Also he was flying upwards at high speed when he found it.*

iif you go pa2t the obviiou2 wall2 you diie, da2tan 2aiid he turned two du2t, ii'm not 2ure how iit work2 but 2omehow ii'm not 2urprii2ed.

ii would a22ume hiiden, but iit could ju2t be we don't know what two look for.

[audio] xD No worries. An extra comment in the inbox isn't gonna hurt me!

[angleofscience]

... [Excuse him as he pauses to abort the amused snort.] Ah, yes. Well, while it didn't hurt, I didn't have too great a speed when I flew into the ceiling either... luckily. If I had actually had anywhere near actual speed, or my boosters activated, I could well imagine the damage would have been worse.

[Which, well. Is a worry. He has no idea how to get repaired here if any of them gets seriously injured.]

I see. Of course the worst possible outcome is the actual outcome too. I don't see the reason for that... Surely a simple teleport would be enough?

[Of course, he knows you can't answer that, Sollux, but the idea is rather upsetting.]

Yes, I will start off working on the hypothesis than it's hidden from us, instead of anything more... supernatural, so to speak.

[Just because he's willing to be open to consider magic and supernatural causes, doesn't mean that's going to be his first assumption.]