

Life is all about killing the magic - micaelwidell
http://www.micaelwidell.com/p/19/

======
tel
If anything I've learned that the fastest way to discover just unboundedly
large amounts of magic is to try to kill that of it which you know.

Fields don't die---they deepen fractal-like.

~~~
JacksonGariety
I agree with this.

The author said he has learned everything about computers and the magic is
gone, because it understands them.

Is this really possible? The world of computers and the internet is so deep,
it seems like someone could study for their whole lives and never fully
understand it all.

~~~
fragsworth
> Is this really possible?

Yeah, you can definitely understand computers to the point that nothing about
them is really mysterious. It takes a while, but lots of people have done it.
There might be lots that you aren't aware of - but none of it will come as a
surprise once you've learned how it all works.

I guess at some fundamental level, though, it's based on (quantum) physics,
and lots of that is still mysterious to us. But that's way deeper than
anything you come across with computers.

~~~
tel
I suppose this is true, so long as you're talking about the physical artifacts
that we've created as a society. I think it's importantly less true if you
begin to ask questions such as why this particular machine is so powerful,
what it's limits are, and how its operation relates to other things.

Perhaps I misspoke in saying that seeking to eliminate the magic is enough.
You have to follow more threads than the ones that originally lead you into
the wings.

------
freyrs3
If you think you've learned everything about a field, you've just scratched
the surface.

~~~
dchichkov
That is, unless you do have a good general knowledge of the field, up-to-date
with recent research and have publications of your own.

~~~
friedliver
I can see why one would think they know everything about a field just because
one "has a good general knowledge of the field, up to date with recent
research, and have publications of your own" for the following fact (noted by
Donald Rumsfeld)

"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are
known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't
know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we
don't know."

------
codex
The downside of attempting to kill all the magic in the world is that, should
you ever succeed, you will be so bored you will want to die. I was never so
happy as I was as a child, when everything was fresh and new. I try keep a
little bit of magic unknown still. Fortunately that's pretty easy to do in
today's world.

------
Choronzon
If understanding computers kills the magic then someone has completely missed
the point. Computers are a tool to be used,not a mystery to be solved,and
there is plenty of magic using them to explore to build and to solve actual
mysteries.

If you understand a hammer and chisel fully it does not make you Michelangelo.

------
reedlaw
Why not try the opposite approach? That is, try to find magic in everyday
things.

------
Tichy
If he knows all there is to know about computers, perhaps he can tell us
whether P = NP.

~~~
vinceguidry
Most computer scientists feel that P != NP and it's just a matter of figuring
out a way to prove it.

~~~
m0th87
Then it's a good thing computer science isn't driven by feelings.

~~~
vinceguidry
You'd be surprised by how much of it (mathematics) is. You obviously can't
prove anything with gut feeling, but you can sure find things to prove with
it.

