Theories?

[fusangite]

I am going to be running a campaign within a city involving science vs. magic. I was needing any and all information on theories disproven (or still shrouded by mystery) over the years by science.

Redwing, you really need to clarify this question. I'm assuming you are asking about pre-modern scientific worldviews but I can't really ascertain from your question whether this is precisely what you mean.

In the European context, there are four main pre-modern scientific worldviews:
- Aristotelian
- Neoplatonist
- Epicurean/Atomist
- Stoic

In the early modern period, there is also the addition of the Hermetic system which some still seek to classify as really a neoplatonist extension.

The science/art of alchemy was generally an aristotelian worldview but as time went on, neoplatonist and hermetic ideas did permeate it.

The Islamic world largely worked with the Aristotelian system. There is additionally the Chinese systems which I don't understand that well but did also give rise to the practice of alchemy -- but using a five-element system as opposed to the Aristotelian four-element system.

Given the actual availability of resources on these various points, I'd recommend you work with the Aristotelian system because it is by far the most well-documented school of thought (as it was the most popular system of thought in medieval Europe). There is also the advantage of the fact that the Aristotelian system is clearly and directly connected to a science of alchemy and a science of medicine, both of which use the four-element theory.

All this stated, I suggest that what you really need to do is go to your library and get a survey text on the history of science, hopefully one which starts in either the Babylonian or Classical period (1000 or 500 BC).

 

[Privateer]

Huh? That's a proven scientific fact. You see, the universe expands constantly, right? So, to maintain density, new matter is constantly created. Most of that is hydrogen, but something heavier appears every now and then. Ever wondered why you always clean dust even though noone puts it back on the cupboard? Or why you're cleaning your room and you keep finding trinkets which you can't remember ever seeing? That's because they didn't exist until some days ago.

I see we've got another Pratchett paraphraser here...

Isn't the example given by him paper clips? I have the same problem, but I'm always finding pennies. Pennies... and old CDs. I've always got to find out what the CDs are, too; takes too much of my time, but I feel odd if I don't know what something is, y'know? Darn universe, always getting in the way of a good time...

On Topic: Perhaps things such as the combining of skeletons to create a "mermaid" or the Piltdown (sp?) Man.

 

[Comert]

Check out the computer game Arcanum. You should find many ideas related to your theme in that game.

 

[s/LaSH]

Do viruses come from outer space? (Like all other life, just a couple of days ago instead of a couple billion.) If so, what parts thereof?

Bird Of Paradise: It has no feet and never lands. (Later proven to be a well-made forgery by Indonesians, but still cool. Imagine the idea applied to Rocs.)

Dinosaurs: Did they survive? (Some think so. In a D&D world it's almost a given, so it's not so cool.)

Cryptozoology: An actual division of zoology today, dealing with hunting down species that have not been verified by 'established science'. Previous cryptos include mountain gorillas, giant pandas and the coelacanth. I read a book on it once; I remember the Mongolian spitting worm, which sounded quite nasty.

Arthur Conan Doyle: Most people know The Lost World, but fewer know the other Professor Challenger stories. Highlights for this purpose include The Poisoned Ether and The Lands Of Mist. Go find a collection and read them.

Madness as demonic possession, or Moon-inspired mind control (from whence we get the word 'lunatic').

Lamarckian evolution: A giraffe has a long neck because many of its ancestors stretched their necks up into the trees. A blacksmith's son has stronger arms because his father exercised those muscles more. (Replaced by Darwin's theories, which is a pity.)

What about a game that drives its players to violent madness? (Of course this sounds familiar, but statistically speaking (ergo scientific) it's completely wrong, even the opposite of the truth.)

Finally, the Spice Girls were best friends and wrote their own songs. Think of the possibilities for wrongness...

 

[ninthcouncil]

Acupuncture does have scientific validity as a form of massage

Homeopathy also has some scientific validity if viewed purely as 'Herbal remedies' - science just goes about isolating the active ingredient

Ghosts etc have not actually been disproved (they just have not been proved)

As WayneLigon has noted, this isn't what homeopathy is - it theorizes is that very small amounts of active ingredient, even immeasurably so, continue to have an effect. This isn't science, it's sympathetic magic, even if its apologists like to quote half-digested quantum physics in support of their beliefs.

If homeopathy were valid, all the worlds water would be poisonous, given the amount of pollution it's been in contact with.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

The ghost-pain effect is actually frequently a lot nastier than "the brain sends impulses to something thats not there, gets confused, and invents pain".

Its most commonly suffered by those who've lost a limb through trauma, and manifests mainly as a memory of the limb. Of course the strongest and most recent memory of that limb is generally the point at which it was destroyed...

Sufferers also frequently report that they can specify the position (and sometimes altered shape) of their phantom limb.

The earlier poster is remembering the same treatment I saw on a TV program, involving a mirrored box; the treatment is designed to produce a "new" memory of the limb as being normal and comfortable, through repeated use. Apparently it works pretty well.

There was also a woman who used digital image manipulation to produce images representing the phantom limb. Sufferers said this helped a lot too, mainly as people could then understand why they had pain from such mangled phantom limbs. Those images were pretty disturbing...

My personal preference for D&D magic and technology coming together would be... Photography.

I'm thinking in terms of its interaction with Scry, the ethereal or astral planes, illusions, polymorphing, auras etc. Could open up aspects of fantasy that aren't covered very often, without adding too much tech (old B&W photography doesn't need much above basic alchemy once you've stumbled on the right chemicals...)

 

[tarchon]

Anything about Tesla

Yeah, AC power and AND gates have long since been debunked.

 

[redwing]

Thank you for all your helpl. This was more than I was expecting. All these ideas have helped in some way. I have done research on most that I did not know or was a little familiar with.

One I couldn't find was rational magic. It has intrigued me. I have heard of it before. Using numbers for magic. How does this supposedly work?

 

[Magius del Cotto]

A personal favorite of mine is mixing magic and science; IE, powering a suit of power armor with a magical power-sink. IMO, magic and science are opposite sides of the same coin; anything science can do, magic can do just as well, and vice versa. Imagine the characters shock the first time they're fired at with a rocket propelled fireball, or when the enemy mage starts chanting and they hear the BFG pointed right at them (which they just hit with an EMP) charging up...
Of course, that could just be my evil side speaking...