Day 243 - EOM August version

 Today is the 5th day of the 35th week, the 31st day of the 8th month, the 243rd day of 2023 [with only 115 shopping days until Christmas], and:

• Eat Outside Day
• Independence Day - Malaya from the UK in 1957, Trinidad and Tobago from the UK in 1962, and Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991
• International Day for the People of African Descent - actually this is all of homo sapiens, neh? 
• International Overdose Awareness Day
• Love Litigating Lawyers Day
• National Diatomaceous Earth Day - all hail the diatom
• National Matchmaker Day
• National Trail Mix Day
• Thoughtful Thursday
• We Love Memoirs Day
• World Daffodil Day
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 17m 20s of light travel time from Earth 

Quote of the day:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

~ Arthur C Clarke

Sometimes Google doesn't work.  There is a passage in a book that I have read that has stuck with me through the years that goes roughly something like this  " Land an airplane near a native village and they will just look at it, because it is so alien that it is beyond their comprehension.  But the same natives will be laughing and pointing at the mule-drawn cart, marveling at the ingenuity of the person who thought that one up".  

That passage and the quote above always comes to mind when we get into the magic VS science argument in the never-ending debate of "is it fantasy or is it science fiction?"  To the unvitiated, spells and tech seem to have an awful lot in common as both involve specialized learning, dedicated materials, clear expectations of the outcome, and only work under certain conditions - and they don't always work

So, if we lived in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, instead of being stuck here in the Muggle version of reality, kids would still have to go to school and study, adults would still have to go to work,  income inequity would still be a thing, and talent would not be universal.  In short?  we would still be 'people' and live in an ordinary world.  Likewise?  if we were suddenly transported to the 24th century of the Federation, we would be in the exact same place vis-à-vis everyday 'real life'.   They may have dispensed with money, but they still have an economy and not everyone is zooming around in space ships, most are still cogs in the wheel.  And in both scenarios, there are those who resent their standing in their world, and that resentment can turn to bitterness and even violence and looking for someone to blame   And there would be prejudice and scapegoating and politics....

And so here we are, living in interesting times, suffering through self-induced climate change, and in the midst of a culture war.  The tough part is knowing that we can't fix things with the wave of a magic wand.