[HPforGrownups] Re: Wizard Genetics

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 6473

naama_gat at hotmail.com wrote:

> > Science aside, genetics seems far too mundane a way
> > for wizarding abilities to be handed out.  It would be
> > simple to run a test on every baby to check for the
> > wizarding gene (although this is a possibility -
> > parents are told at the birth that their child is a
> > wizard, and this is why none of them seem upset about
> > letting their children go off to Hogwarts.)  However,
> > I seem to remember Colin Creevy saying that his family
> > was shocked to find out that he was a wizard, so this
> > seems unlikely.
> >
> > Sarah
> >
> I must say I agree with you. We have been told many times that wizardry excludes technology
> (and by implication, science) so it would be an obvious fallacy to subsume wizardry and its
> causes under science.

Hmm.  Again, I would say that wizardry doesn't so much EXCLUDE technology as it is an
alternative technology (wasn't it Arthur C. Clarke who said that at a sufficiently advanced
level technology is indistinguishable from magic?).  For a clearer explanation of what I mean,
I refer people, for the umpteenth time, to one of my favorite critical essays about the HP
books (sorry if I'm becoming a bit repetitive in doing so):

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0001/reviews/jacobs.html

Peg