# Technology Indistinguishable From Magic **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624 "2005-10-24T04:38:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/21 "2005-10-25T08:26:22Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > I also think that Mozart and Beethoven would probably think that an iPod Nano was about the most amazing (not magical, these were brilliant people) thing they could imagine. If you could make it so that Beethoven could _hear_ the iPod, he’d probably think it was the most amazing thing in the world even if you could only play Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits. 😃 And—it’s not exactly my field of expertise, but…are there any bioengineered organisms from recent years that are really obviously “unnatural,” even without looking at their DNA? (The only things I can think of are that glowing tobacco plant and rabbit, but as I remember, you needed a chemical catalyst and a blacklight, respectively, to make 'em look anything but ordinary.) ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/22 "2005-10-25T08:49:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Something astonishliingly like the Internet as we have it appeared several times in science fiction before computers. And _Ender’s Game_ predicted the Straight Dope Message Board. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/23 "2005-10-25T18:49:01Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > If you could make it so that Beethoven could _hear_ the iPod, he’d probably think it was the most amazing thing in the world even if you could only play Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits. 😃 Well to be fair, Beethoven didn’t begin to go deaf until his late 20s. I would, of course, show it to, say, a 25 year old Beethoven. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/24 "2005-10-25T19:13:01Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > The thing is, the best CGI looks absolutely real. WE know it’s not, because we’ve come to understand that real-looking things may not be so any more. Ah, OK. When you say CGI, you mean Jurassic Park and LotR. I was thinking more in terms of Toy Story and Finding Nemo. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/25 "2005-10-26T02:42:27Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I remember reading a piece written in the mid-1980s which speculated that if you took a PC back in time and showed it to the brightest minds of the 1930s/40s (Einstein, Bohr, etc., etc.) wouldn’t be able to guess when it was made, because it so far outstripped anything they had of that era. I [started a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=286203) about nearly the same scenario about a year. I find speculating about using time travel to spook the natives way too amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624/26 "2005-10-26T02:55:19Z")
> [@Catalyst](#): > > I [started a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=286203) about nearly the same scenario about a year **ago**. I find speculating about using time travel to spook the natives way too amusing. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-indistinguishable-from-magic/327624.md?page=1)