Is Magic Possible?

[cyborg_cinema]

...To call something supernatural just because we don't yet know how/why it works, acts that way...

...Sleight of hand card tricks are magic—the craft of the deft magician—as if a card materialized out of thin air. Another example: ritual magic of a medium who conjures a spirit. Couldn't magic be anything unexplainable that mystifys us?

 

[SkepJ]

...Sleight of hand card tricks are magic—the craft of the deft magician—as if a card materialized out of thin air. Another example: ritual magic of a medium who conjures a spirit. Couldn't magic be anything unexplainable that mystifys us?

No, sleight of hand card tricks are just that, sleight of hand. I prefer to call "magic" of this type illusionism. Why? Because they're not really doing what it looks like they are. Just because you can't tell somebody is lying to you doesn't mean they're telling the truth.
Except they don't. It's a con. I very much dislike these people for preying on people's gullibility and emotional weakness. Illusionists in entertainment, such as David Copperfield or David Blaine don't tell people they're for real, because they aren't. Illusionism is just for fun, like watching special effects in a movie.

You can define magic what you will. Magic means supernatural to me. Supernatural in my worldview isn't real. If we can detect something, it's physical. If we can't detect something how do you know it exists?

 

[kyektulu]

SkepJ we also have no conclusive proof that there is a deity out there (call 'him' God or whatever) but millions of people believe 'he' exists and I wouldnt define them as gullible.
Sometimes it is better not to know these things faith is a powerful thing and it would be terrible for mankind to lose this quality.

 

[SkepJ]

SkepJ we also have no conclusive proof that there is a deity out there (call 'him' God or whatever) but millions of people believe 'he' exists and I wouldnt define them as gullible.
Sometimes it is better not to know these things faith is a powerful thing and it would be terrible for mankind to lose this quality.

Hoo boy! I'm going to let this one go because I didn't come here for yet another debate on faith and gods like I have elsewhere. I'm all about freedom to believe what one wants, as long as it doesn't hurt or is forced on any one else. I personally just lack faith and am a much more happy and a better person because of it. Seeking truth over what just feels good to believe is one of my goals.

 

[kyektulu]

Good choice I dont want a god-debate either I was just raising a point.
Im not religious either.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I'd have to say your point is no point at all, Ky (can I call you that? It's a bit shorter to type). Lots of people have believed lots of strange things over the years - belief alone doesn't make it so. Having said that, I'm not going to enter into a god debate either.

 

[kyektulu]

I am not saying that belief alone makes the supernatural real knivesout, I was just saying that if people want to believe in such things it doesnt make them gullible!

Its ok to call me Ky most people do anyway.

 

[cyborg_cinema]

..."magic" can also be based on perspective(e.g. the period of history—or prehistory—when the label was applied). Literature and recorded history have carried some of that "magic" through the centuries, to get mixed in with supernatural phenomena of today—which may not be considered "supernatural" in 500 years.

 

[kyektulu]

Yes you raise a good point cyborg_cinema.
What about magic existing today, the use of witchcraft and such, is magic a real phenomenon in your opinion?

 

[cyborg_cinema]

Can charms, spells and rituals of medieval times produce supernatural effects? How much of that is merely folklore passed down through the centuries?

The art of fortunetelling is "magic", but there are plenty of quack dial-a-psychics—and mediums—out there.

Psychic mediums may call up spirits on a nightly basis. Are such conjured spirits really the disembodied spirits of former loved ones, or something else? We have much more awareness of the material realm than we do the spiritual realm. But even basic human perception can be questioned, according to philosophers. Deception is just as possible as misinterpretation—both are more likely than what most of us agree upon today.

"is magic possible?" is a big question, and there is a lot of distortion.

 

[Leto]

Magic as such no. It's just a name for science we don't yet understand.

 

[dragula_66]

I saw a show on New Zealand television recently (on one of our top curent affairs shows), campbell live, incase any kiwis are on this site, that reviewed witchcraft in New Zealand. For the most part it looked like a lot of diluded people pretending (or at least trying) to perform certain rites, but i found i kind of interesting, although i did not believe any of it for a second. It was to steriotypical, e.g. women dancing and chanting in a forest at nite etc... i mean thats fairly boring, 'been done', kinda stuff.

However i kindof believe in magic, especially when im high hehe, but even when straight, it seems to me that there are a great many thngs in our present and past that cant be explained by anthing else. and to be perfectly honest, why should'nt we believe in magic? There is no proof saying it doesnt exist, but on the other hand, scientists are proved wrong allllll the time!!!!!!!!!!

anyone agree?

 

[kyektulu]

I totally agree with you Dragula, well said.

 

[Chabio]

Magic is Black matter... for now.
It is a word that is used to label the unexplained, until a more precise word can be found.

 

[Tau Zero]

Is there magic? It's simple enough to prove. Have someone who claims to be capable of magic do something under controlled conditions.

If they can, there's $1,000,000 US dollars awaiting them. James Randi http://www.randi.org/ has that money set aside for anyone who can demonstrate any paranormal capability in their labs.

Do you have paranormal or magical capabilities? Then the money's yours for the taking. Just show them waht you can do.

The money is still available. Case closed.

 

[weaveworld]

This sounds really corny...

But you could say that magic is all around us, life, etc, just up to you the way you use it.

 

[j d worthington]

It depends on what you mean. As Plato insisted (and probably all those before him for a very long time): define your terms! If we're talking that sense of the mystical and the magical in an emotional reaction to certain phenomena or an overall experience of life, then yes, magic is all around us. If we're talking something that transcends "natural" law, i.e., physics, then once you start investigating, there has yet to be a single claim that can stand up to scrutiny. This does not invalidate anyone's feeling that they have encountered magic; it brings it down to an epistemological rather than an ontological difference.

That said, I'm in agreement with most of a scientific bent: I'm open to evidence that this is wrong, but it's going to have to be put through the same severe scrutiny as any other claim before I can accept it as fact. Until then, it remains a wonderfully powerful emotional response to something that I treasure, but I see no reason to accept it as part of actual entity.

 

[genisis2]

Is there magic? It's simple enough to prove. Have someone who claims to be capable of magic do something under controlled conditions.

If they can, there's $1,000,000 US dollars awaiting them. James Randi http://www.randi.org/ has that money set aside for anyone who can demonstrate any paranormal capability in their labs.

Do you have paranormal or magical capabilities? Then the money's yours for the taking. Just show them waht you can do.

The money is still available. Case closed.

Randi is amazing. Ive seen this guy disprove so many charlatans in the past.
As for me I do not believe in magic of any kind but thats just my opinion and for those who do I would never to impose my beliefs on your faith in this matter. I do believe that all supernatural and occult do have scientific explanations.

 

[star.torturer]

a am the magic man the magic man of the underworld

 

[Philip Harris]

Not sure if anyone is still looking at this thread but I believe that we are on the cusp of a new age of magic-but of a different or rather explained in a different way. "In you mind" is where magic works and it DOES work-it is now called creating your own reality. "What The Bleep Do We Know" is worth watching to see how old and new magic REALLY works.