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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7634501" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>You mean like Martin Rees "Just Six Numbers"? Yes, I've read that.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>My advice as a game master is never let a physicist assume anything about a fantasy universe works the way that they expect.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which assumes that the imagined universe even has relativity. I mean, I've already asserted that kinetic energy in this universe increases linearly rather than with the square of velocity, so not only are the fundamental constants probably different, the equations are likely different as well.</p><p></p><p>Even so, maybe if we were talking 5 km/sec, you'd have a point about relativistic effects being normal. 500 km/sec is not a speed which anyone encounters much in ordinary life. Do the math on a falcon diving at 200mph in this hypothetical world and I think you'll find the relativistic effects are still fairly trivial even for the falcon. </p><p></p><p>My general point is not that I'm an advanced AI in control of a giant starship that spends my spare time actually working out the physics of the imagined universe. My point is that D&D magic clearly is practical engineering in the science of the imagined universe. That is to say, magic works and is clearly knowable and repeatable within the universe. So what is called 'magic' is just a sort of science for a very different set of physical laws. A physicists understanding of this universe is clearly of little practical use in one that magic actually works, just as a wizard would find his knowledge of no practical use in this one. </p><p></p><p>This has the additional advantage of keeping high IQ physicists from trying to explain to you how the game universe works.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7634501, member: 4937"] You mean like Martin Rees "Just Six Numbers"? Yes, I've read that. My advice as a game master is never let a physicist assume anything about a fantasy universe works the way that they expect. Which assumes that the imagined universe even has relativity. I mean, I've already asserted that kinetic energy in this universe increases linearly rather than with the square of velocity, so not only are the fundamental constants probably different, the equations are likely different as well. Even so, maybe if we were talking 5 km/sec, you'd have a point about relativistic effects being normal. 500 km/sec is not a speed which anyone encounters much in ordinary life. Do the math on a falcon diving at 200mph in this hypothetical world and I think you'll find the relativistic effects are still fairly trivial even for the falcon. My general point is not that I'm an advanced AI in control of a giant starship that spends my spare time actually working out the physics of the imagined universe. My point is that D&D magic clearly is practical engineering in the science of the imagined universe. That is to say, magic works and is clearly knowable and repeatable within the universe. So what is called 'magic' is just a sort of science for a very different set of physical laws. A physicists understanding of this universe is clearly of little practical use in one that magic actually works, just as a wizard would find his knowledge of no practical use in this one. This has the additional advantage of keeping high IQ physicists from trying to explain to you how the game universe works. [/QUOTE]
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