Magic as Technology

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I've said it before: I dislike it in settings (role-playing and literary) where magic becomes so common as to the point when it begins to feel (to me) mundane. This is one of my issues with the magic item progression in D&D 3.5; this is one of my issues with the Forgotten Realms setting. Eventually, the PCs become so loaded down with magic items that it becomes like, "Oh... another +1 short sword... well... I guess we can throw it in the bag of miscellaneous cap and sell it later."

I think the root of my dislike for that trait in settings boils down to this: When I think of magic, I think of something which is supposed to be fantastic and wondrous. When magic becomes so common as to be "junk we'll sell later," then it robs magic of something of that wonder and fantastic-ness.

And that brings me to something else I find I dislike in settings: When magic is used to emulate modern technology. Here's an example: Once I was in an Ars Magica campaign. And in this campaign (as is usual for Ars Magica) we all were new mages that came to live in this wizard enclave. Anyway, we were receiving a tour of the enclave from the PCs who ran the place and one of the things they showed us is a "washing bowl that has a 'create water' enchantment on a pipe above it, such that the magic can be turned on or off by turning a knob. When you turn on the enchantment, water pours from the pipe into the bowl. When you turn the enchantment off, the water stops." In essence, what you had was a magical version of a modern sink with running water. This bugged me. Something about the 'wondrous, rare, special thing' the PCs had (a.k.a. magic) was reduced to the mundane turning the sink on and off. This type of thing also bugs me sometimes in Eberron and other faux-modern-ish fantasy settings.

But I came to a realization a while back: It only really bugs me when magic emulates modern technology. There are settings like Spelljammer or Starshield where you have magical inter-solar space ships and wands of lightning bolt that act like laser guns. Magic acting as sci-fi technology doesn't bother me in these settings. I fact, I think magical space ships are kind of cool (and consequently they have a small presence in Trystell). So why should magic emulating a modern sink bother me when magic emulating a blaster pistol does not?

I think it has to do with the thematic role sci-fi technology plays in settings versus modern technology. In science fiction it is usually the technology that sets the setting apart from mundane modern society (ok... sometimes sci-fi uses aliens or psionics or pan-optic dystopian societies to set itself apart, but that's not really relevant to the point I'm trying to make) and that allows the sci-fi characters to do the fantastic, wondrous things they can do (Star Trek-style teleportation; bestowing sentience to computer programs; flying with a jet pack). Thematically, science fiction technology is that wondrous, fantastic thing, as is magic.

technology is common (as any Federation ship can beam people up or out in Star Trek and any major-world Traveller ruffian will have access to a So here's the obvious follow-up question that did not occur to me until I sat down to write this: If you dislike magic being so common in fantasy settings that it becomes "junk we'll sell later," and you feel that science fiction technology fills the "fantastic wondrous" thematic niche along with magic, then why are you okay with science fiction settings where the sci-fi blaster pistol?

My answer at this point is: I'm not sure. I'm not going to commit myself to an explanation of why yet. But here's a thought: There's more of a distinction between what's fantastic and what's not with magic than there is between what's fantastic and what's not with technology. In fantasy, a wand's usually either magic or not magical, with little in-between. You know, it either throws fireballs or doesn't. On the other hand, with technology there's a large gray area. Are James Bond Q-Department gadgets fantastic technology? What about near-future ladar communicators? Because of this distinction (or lack thereof in sci-fi) it may just makes it more painfully obvious [in fantasy] to the subjective observer when the fantastic is being made mundane. In the case of magic when something fanatic is being treated as something mundane there is a more obvious distinction, than where in sci-fi when it is less painfully obvious (and thus less prone to the emotional 'this bugs me' response is less apparent).