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Post by eightyfour on Feb 4, 2009 8:03:58 GMT
518I love the "zoop!" sound effect! ;D
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Post by edzepp on Feb 4, 2009 8:09:01 GMT
So what's that saying about science and magic? Because I think Tom did it again.
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Post by ferrusdominus on Feb 4, 2009 8:16:59 GMT
Psycher + Tech Nerd =  |
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Post by eightyfour on Feb 4, 2009 8:28:25 GMT
So what's that saying about science and magic? Because I think Tom did it again. Which one do you mean, since both versions kinda apply: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (the original "3rd law" of Arthur C. Clarke ) or "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" (rephrased by Agatha Heterodyne)  |
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tetsamaru
Junior Member
Aspiring Manga-ka
Posts: 95
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Post by tetsamaru on Feb 4, 2009 8:40:34 GMT
That you can combine the 2 together to get an awsome effect. Thats what it means.
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Klex
Full Member
[REDACTED]
Posts: 170
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Post by Klex on Feb 4, 2009 8:52:16 GMT
How can we rage, when it was science all along !
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Post by edzepp on Feb 4, 2009 9:13:40 GMT
So what's that saying about science and magic? Because I think Tom did it again. Which one do you mean, since both versions kinda apply: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (the original "3rd law" of Arthur C. Clarke ) or "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" (rephrased by Agatha Heterodyne) I dunno. Let's see how this develops. |
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Post by versasovantare on Feb 4, 2009 10:17:00 GMT
I wonder if they deliberately made the program look somewhat etheric to mislead Renard?
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Post by Count Casimir on Feb 4, 2009 11:22:14 GMT
I wonder if they deliberately made the program look somewhat etheric to mislead Renard? Interesting thought, but I don't think it would really make a difference. It's not like he can do anything about it either way, really. I'm on the Arthur C. Clarke side of things at this point. Computers that appear magical are totally awesome. Of course, this ALSO means that Anja is a beautiful nerd girl. Nerds around the world rejoice! And then despair, because Donald already found her and it doesn't look like they're having any problems. Also, hi everybody! Geez, how long has it been since I last posted? |
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Post by fuzzyone on Feb 4, 2009 11:36:32 GMT
She's a Science Teacher, Count. She already was Beautiful Nerd Girl. And Frisky Beautiful Nerd girl, if the start of S1 chapter is any indication. Despair indeed, that there are so few like that.
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Post by penguinfactory on Feb 4, 2009 11:57:24 GMT
Well, looks like we were way off with the meaning of the symbol.....
This clarifies things quite bit, as I had always thought that Anja's "magic" interfered with the science-vs-magic thing going on between the Court and Gillitie (the Blinker stone still seems to be firmly within the ehteric realm, though). Who wants to bet Eglamore's magic swords are actually light-sabers?
Also, you totally know Kat is going to end up using same magic-computer-powers as her mother.
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Post by Midnight Meadows on Feb 4, 2009 12:54:52 GMT
Hoo boy, that's pretty snazzy.
I wonder what language they coded this "program" in....
E++?
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Post by todd on Feb 4, 2009 12:58:09 GMT
A computer program being transmitted through a pendant to prevent a body-snatching "demon" from using his powers in the outside world does seem close to magic. But Anja's probably got an explanation for that as well.
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Post by cenit on Feb 4, 2009 14:35:06 GMT
...and just gonna go with "wha the...."
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Post by Fhqwhgads on Feb 4, 2009 16:29:42 GMT
This sort of puts me in mind of Zelazny's second Amber series, where the guy built an AI that could only operate in a realm where magic worked.
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Dominic
Junior Member
touched by his funk
Posts: 65
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Post by Dominic on Feb 4, 2009 17:36:29 GMT
The pendant being linked to a computer I can deal with, that's just downsizing and way power-upping existing technology. It triggering something like this, mmkay. The question remains - how is the computer able to create a visible and rather pretty forcefield like that? As others have said, it's still damn magical to me. Can't expect you to have worked all that out, Tom. It's not scifi, otherwise we'd maybe end up with something like a Heisenberg compensator and we really don't need more of that. As for the language used: Who cares, it's all about the API |
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Post by UbiquitousDragon on Feb 4, 2009 19:21:56 GMT
Perhaps it was Python, if xkcd is anything to go by. (I know nothing about programming except what xkcd has taught me ...) Also I like the fact that this suggests spells and programs are interchangable--I mean what are spells but just weird ritual programs? Ingenious. (That possibly sounded better in my head) |
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Post by fjodor on Feb 4, 2009 19:25:47 GMT
If you can master etheric science, you can build an etheric computer. And etheric computers happen to be able to use wireless/remote interfaces to react with day-to-day matter. It's quite simple really.
No more puzzling than the effect of two particles being linked, independant of the distance between them. Or the fact that protein strings at one point started copying their molecular structure. We call it life, but you can also call it magic. Labels do not change reality after all.
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Post by warrl on Feb 4, 2009 21:32:42 GMT
There aren't many computers capable of running this program. We don't know if Anja is aware of why the computer she built can run it, or if she just luckily grabbed a CPU with the extra part www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=222We know she didn't put 2 and 2 together regarding her workshop basement though... The extra part, by the way, is in effect a blinkerstone tuned to computer CPU frequencies rather than human thought frequencies. The process of making them and hooking them up is one of the places where magic's resistance to analysis really comes to the fore.... |
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Post by agasa on Feb 4, 2009 21:36:34 GMT
I think that the "patterns" of the program are really a visual representation of the program flow. a Really Improved version of your usual program Flow chart. Also about the program: the mind generates etheric power, particularly the mind of psychics. Old times wizards, and also gods, use this power melding and it using solely their will. this way is powerful and effective, but it necessitates a lot of training, or natural skill in case of gods, to do it for complex stuff, like binding spells. Now, our beloved Anja has the computer doing the hard melding part for her. She supplies only the raw power and possibly some finishing touch: and the pendant, acting somewhat like the "lens" that is the blinker stone, transfers this power to the computer, and back, in its perfected state. Now that i think of it: could it be that the experiment on the lake was something like this, only on a really, really, REALLY BIG scale. Tell me what you think about this ideas.  |
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ding
Full Member
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Post by ding on Feb 5, 2009 0:40:35 GMT
The fact that a computer program can hang in space before their eyes would lead me to believe the court and forest occupy an artificial framework. A program needs an engine to run, and it so happens people occupy it as well. Remember Kat's hissy-fit when those robots moved sans servos? www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=435This also implies that characters need not be robots to be artificial. They can be programs. Less Ghost in the Shell, more Matrix, or Count Zero if Matrix is too mainstream for you. ;D Ubergeek time: The difference between softly spoken magic spells and scripting language scripts is that the nature of one is known in technological terms, while the other is understood in mythological terms, absent a technological understanding of the engine those spells activate. Perhaps the end of ethereal science is to understand that ethereal engine scientifically. Of course, that's explaining away fantasy with science fiction. What would be the purpose of such a framework? It's an experiment to find meaning in an amoral universe, of course! If that were true, perhaps all of the gods and mythical creatures are programs as well... Thinking Annie needs to speak with Zimmy, next... perhaps Gamma "gopping" Kat's visage in Power Station is foreshadowing... |
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Post by King Mir on Feb 5, 2009 1:25:35 GMT
Well, looks like we were way off with the meaning of the symbol..... Not really. I said it was a ward to keep Rey in his cage. Apparently it's a very fancy ward. |
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Post by jercos on Feb 5, 2009 1:46:21 GMT
Obligatory "I AM OUTRAGED", but all is forgiven, because it's still pure awesome.
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Post by mudmaniac on Feb 5, 2009 3:34:24 GMT
Its would be awesome to have seen the Donlans developing the program. The "debugging", where bugs could literally be the stuff outta Zimmy's head.
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ecomono
Junior Member
like tuning in a radio
Posts: 83
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Post by ecomono on Feb 5, 2009 7:39:25 GMT
The question remains - how is the computer able to create a visible and rather pretty forcefield like that? Simple. They just do a buffer overrun that goes past the physical end of the computer's memory and into free space. It's the same principle that gives MISSINGNO. its powers. |
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Post by Goatmon on Feb 5, 2009 9:26:22 GMT
The fact that a computer program can hang in space before their eyes Well, a computer program is just lines of code, not a visual puzzle. Mind you, Anja just told us that the pendant is a link to the computer, not just the program itself. I say this, because I think what we're seeing in the comic looks more like a magical projection of a computer circuit or motherboard, and only that; a projection. From there, there's really... any number of possibilities. All this really means is that there are ways to channel a computer's functions into a magic spell. I'm guessing the processing power of a computer, channeled properly, enables a magician to perform spells too advanced to perform manually. |
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Dominic
Junior Member
touched by his funk
Posts: 65
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Post by Dominic on Feb 5, 2009 9:37:21 GMT
The question remains - how is the computer able to create a visible and rather pretty forcefield like that? Simple. They just do a buffer overrun that goes past the physical end of the computer's memory and into free space. It's the same principle that gives MISSINGNO. its powers. I think you just broke my head. I played Pokémon Yellow and Silver for several years and I've never heard of this utterly confusing glitch. |
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Post by Goatmon on Feb 5, 2009 10:08:10 GMT
Again; this is assuming the computer does all the work, and that it is not just being used as a tool that assists Anja with binding Reynardine.
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Post by mudmaniac on Feb 5, 2009 11:16:14 GMT
I think you just broke my head. I played Pokémon Gold and Silver for several years and I've never heard of this utterly confusing glitch. I think this glitch was only on the original pokemon RED and BLUE for the old GAMEBOY. Don't think it propogated past that. Got it to happen on my old cart. |
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Dominic
Junior Member
touched by his funk
Posts: 65
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Post by Dominic on Feb 5, 2009 12:42:27 GMT
Whoops, that was supposed to be Yellow and Silver, and the glitch apparently did show up in Yellow.
Okay, back on topic >.>
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