Harry Potter/Headscratchers/Universe: Difference between revisions

*** *Waves Occam's razor threateningly* Wizards are resistant to mundane deaths. Wizards are powerful enough to do stuff like nukes, but don't because the Ministry has Charms to detect such spells and punish them (hinted in DH). Magically-hidden places cannot be damaged by Muggles.

**** Occam's Razor? Ooh, that's easy. ''Lily and James didn't drive.'' They weren't likely to be out anywhere that they could be involved in a car crash. Just like someone who spends their whole life in Florida isn't likely to die in a blizzard or avalanche. Much more simple than Wizards being resistant to mundane deaths.

* I can't remember what book that the statement comes from, but at one point, it's mentioned that "technology" does not work at Hogwarts, or anywhere that is particularly magical, and breaks down. Harry at one point draws attention to his wristwatch, which has stopped working as a result of this "magical interference," if you will. I found this to be a really lazy bit of writing, as it raises the question of "what exactly constitutes 'technology?'" Aside from the batteries, a wristwatch is entirely mechanical in its construction, IE, it's just gears turning against other gears. The process by which batteries produce energy is also a fairly simple process, which is why you can power a lightbulb using a potato or an orange, so both instances in this case of "magical interference" are retarding basics of machinery, essentially causing the laws of basic physics and chemical reactions to stop working. Let's suppose for a minute that it's not the mechanical processes of a wristwatch (the gears and such) that are being retarded, but the chemical process of the battery that are, as to assume the former is insinuating that magic somehow causes basic mechanics to break down, the implications of which this troper would rather not think of, as he prefers to retain his sanity (his most conservative estimate is that every simple machine would spontaneously stop working, meaning doors, locks, wheels, pulleys, levers, [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|and the human skeletal system]] would stop working). So, as stated, let's assume magic causes batteries to stop working. Batteries work, in laymen's terms, by transferring negatively charged particles and positively charged particles, and utilizing the reactions of them migrating across from one location to another. Because we're assuming that magic retards this process, it is also assuming that magic causes particles to either lose their charge, or renders the physical properties of this process obsolete; it basically means that it causes the process of producing any form of energy to stop working. The implications of this are also not too pretty. This troper estimates, again, at its most conservative implications, that all life in the universe would simultaneously cease to exist.<br />Now, I know what you're asking. What does this have to do with anything? So Rowling decided to not research the implications that making magic subvert basic laws of chemistry and physics would have, namely that most likely the world would implode or something due ''en masse'' violation of the laws of physics? Big deal, [[A Wizard Did It|a wizard literally did it,]] and we're talking about [[MST3K Mantra|a series with wizards and elves in it]]. Well, here's the thing. [[It Just Bugs Me]] because it shows that Rowling was a lazy writer by putting an arbitrary label on "technology," while ignoring the question of "what constitutes technology?" Or, claiming "magic" causes it to not work, by virtue that it's magic. [[It Just Bugs Me]] because it shows that Rowling decided to be lazy, and rather than exploring the very cool idea of how modern technology and magic might have evolved alongside each other, maybe even get into the idea of how eventually the dichotomy between magic and technology may someday be indistinguishable, we're instead given a huge [[Hand Wave]] by having the series pretend Muggles and things to do with Muggles don't exist unless the plot needs them to for a few minutes. It was a cop out, and not a very well written one, in my opinion.

** I suspect that Harry's watch was digital.