Sunday, March 3, 2013

Quantum Mechanics and Magick

So one thing I think any religious system needs to be aware of is the possibility of surprises challenging its assumptions and assertions.  One area in which I've always wondered if Wicca and other magick oriented systems may run into issues is that of science demonstrating that magick is impossible.

An old habit of the religious has been to leverage science as a tool to prove the viability of its particular assertions or at least provide space for it.  This has often been problematic in terms of deterministic science.  If every causitive agent has a determined effect that can be calculated based on initial conditions.

When I set out to find this I had to temper my expectations.  I'm not a physicist (though I know one quite well), but I very much respect what physics says versus what we wish it said.  So I must admit I figured what I'd find out there is a lot of pseudo-theory, very light on actual scientific understanding.  So I was surprised to find this article: http://www.ecauldron.net/quantummagick.php .  I don't know enough about the math or the theory to know if it makes any sense whatsoever, but it passes the basic understanding test in that it doesn't violate rudimentary concepts of quantum theory.  Unfortunately beyond that I'm star-struck by the math in it. In my line of work, algebra and set theory gets you pretty much everywhere you need to go.  But I'm very much pleased to see that someone has actually put some thought into really putting this to the test versus hoping that waving magic science fingers is enough to carry it through.

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