random thoughts of a gardener

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19061

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> > Instead of either of these, they've always been
> > more or less the same - wizards are far less numerous, but somewhat
> > technically advanced compared to their Muggle neighbours.  But
> > mediaeval wizards have mediaeval-type spells, for instance.
> 
> I think that the wizard world is far less advanced than the Muggle
> world.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of "what would happen if I did
> this?" thinking in the wizarding world and that question is behind
> many scientific and technical advances.

To be fair, the answer to "What would happen if I did this?" tends
to be more dramatic for wizards than for scientists, not counting
Alfred Nobel, Edward Teller, and the operators of Three Mile Island
and Chernobyl.  After over twenty Terry Pratchett books, _his_ wizards
still don't get the message, bless 'em.

There's a good deal of progress in magic, though.  Wolfbane Potion
is a medical advance within living memory.  Quidditch brooms are
technically better each year.  _Someone's_ doing research -
for that matter, Newt Scamander is the wizarding David Attenborough -
but IRL that happens in universities and in industry, not in secondary
schools.

Wizards don't seem to be at much of a disadvantage to their neighbours 
in terms of standard of living.  And magic doesn't stop them getting
normal jobs, unless _all_ magic interferes with technology.  There are
opportunities in telephone call centres where a funny taste in clothes
shouldnt be a disadvantage, and Sirius Black can be a motorcycle
courier -

I haven't seen a personal computer, a microwave oven, or a TV or VCR,
but otherwise they don't lack much that I personally own, I think.
(Broomstick trumps micro scooter?)

> Actually, the curriculum at Hogwards reminds me of PG Wodehouse's
> school stories where the boys study the classics and don't have much
> to do with maths or hard sciences.  

I've only read one of those, where they didn't study anything much,
they just sat around in each other's studies and talked about sports.
(I always understood that you had to go to university to do that.)
I think the hero sneaked out of school to compete in a boxing match.
Hogwarts students _work_, especially Hermione.

Robert Carnegie
Glasgow, Scotland

"I read them all when I was seven and I hated them" - unnamed American
office worker on the Harry Potter books (www.dilbert.com, List of
Stupid Things Overheard)