Wizard Genetics (long; OT and then not so OT)

[naama]

No: HPFGUIDX 6626

Before I begin, I want to apologize for not saying "Hi, everyone. I'm 
new to this group". I was so interested I just dived right in. So - 
Hi everyone, I'm new to this group.

Also, thank you Peg for the reference. It was undoubtedly the best HP 
review I've read.


> 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


Nonetheless, I still think that at least in the way we use the 
terms 'magic' and 'science' today, there is a very sharp divide 
between them. The technology examples that Rita gave in a former 
message (such as tying shoe strings) are what I would 
call "commonsense" technology. They don't involve knowledge of unseen 
powers and processes, which is precisely what science tries for. As I 
see it, the divide between science and magic is not so much in what 
they do differently, but in the different assumptions implicit in 
them. 
To do science you need to assume that if event A causes event B then 
event A will always cause event B. Without this assumption there 
would be no point in making experiments. Part of the magicality of 
the HP world is an inherent instability - like the chamber pots room 
that appeared and then disappeared. 
Another very strong assumption that a scientific world view has is 
that if event A causes event B then there is a continuity in space 
and time between event A and B (I've no idea what to do with quantum 
mechanics here, so please don't bring it up!). Magic, the way we use 
the term, precisely describes events whose causes are not, or don't 
seem to be, continuous in this manner - you yell 'Expelliarmus' and a 
wand, several feet away, flys away. 
So, science simply cannot recognize magic, and if it does manage to 
incorporate and explain a magical event, the event will immediately 
cease to be magical for us (see for instance the way we view magnetic 
force now that there is a theory describing it).
That is why a magic gene is a very incoherent concept for me. Just 
think of the consequences - if a magic gene existed, then you could 
find it, sequence it and replicate it . The logical step would then 
be that you would be able to splice it into a young fetus - thereby 
creating wizards through genetic engineering. Rather a fun concept in 
a way, but not very convincing, is it?

However, while writing all this serious (possibly boring) stuff, I 
conjured up two scenarios involving the magic gene:
 
The first is that the gene is indeed found and people and fetuses can 
be screened for it. Imagnie the uproar on CNN! doctors, scientist, 
clergymen, politicians, evangelists are interviewed on every 
conceivable aspect. "Muggles for Harry Potter" will become an 
organization for promoting the welfare of magic children. I 
particularly like to imagine the fix the fundamental christian right 
will be in - is it, or is it not, morally right to abort a fetus that 
has been detected with a magic gene (Satan's brood?) ? Weeping 
(blond) couples on Oprah will share with the public their terrible 
dilema.. and so on.

My second scenario is one where several Human Genome Project groups 
keep coming up with inconsistent data regarding a bizarre gene. At 
first it was located on chromosome I. Then two copies were found, by 
another group, on chromosome III. A group in France only found it on 
X. Also, its sequence changes slightly - in two experiments conducted 
by the same group!! Viewed in electronic microscope it tied itself up 
in a knot, and then changed to a lop-sided grin! The magic gene is 
indeed a magic gene.
In fact, the last scenario also provides an answer to the Creevy 
brothers question. The magic gene splices itself into common cold 
viruses and from there splices itself again, in a magical way, into 
people the virus infects. A brother will be more likely to be 
infected by his brother's viruses (and getting the magic gene from 
it) than stranges. Voila!

Bowing herself out,

Naama