Wizard Genetics

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 6438

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, naama_gat at h... wrote:
> 
> We have been told many times that wizardry excludes technology 

Not all technology. Hermione explained that electrical and electronic 
gadgets can't work at Hogwarts because the many strong magic fields 
around Hogwarts make the electrons go crazy, and I would imagine that 
the same applies to The Burrow and Malfoy Manor, 

but pinning up a hem with straight pins (as Madam Malkin does with 
Harry's new robe in Book 1, altho' I keep wondering why she doesn't 
hem by magic) is a technology, 

tying knots in string (to hold Lupin's suitcase together, thanks, 
Caius) is a technology, 

Muggle lock picking is a technology that Fred and George bothered to 
learn.

The students seem to all wear sneakers (trainers), and I am sure they 
tie their shoes the same way as Muggles, not by doing a Shoe-Tie 
Charm each time. They've been wearing those sneakers for years 
(okay, not the same pair for years) before they ever get a wand of 
their own.

> (and by implication, science) 

Harry wanted to buy a moving model of the Galaxy in a big glass bowl, 
and then never have to take another Astronomy class. They live in the 
same Galaxy we do, not in a geocentric universe with Platonic shells 
and Ptolemaic epicycles. Therefore the nature of their universe is 
the same as ours, therefore any truths that happen to have been 
discovered by Science are still true in their universe. They ALSO 
know some additional truths, related to magic, that we don't know 
about.