A buddy from my MMORPG pointed this El Goonish Shive strip out to me. Apparently other people have also concluded that suddenly dumping magic on the general population willy-nilly might lead to undesirable results. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
(For anybody wandering in: I’m referring to my Fermi Resolution post-apocalyptic fantasy novels. Not grimdark! Not a heroic trilogy! Just fun! You can find them here.)
(Performs the sinus salute)
That black market is not small, and comprises a significant percentage of the economy of several African nations. Not to mention Latin America, or the Afro-Caribbean.
You might be able to suppress the transmission of knowledge at the local Bell, Book, and Blacklight over the *very* short-term. (And completely ignore the existence of the Botanica that have sprung up in areas of Hispanic immigration, out of cultural blindness and a willingness to make the bit work.)
But once Haiti becomes an interdimensional gateway to Hell…
Willing suspension of disbelief is frigging OVER.
Might not the same be truthfully said with any notable advancement of technology though? I seem to recall that both the Industrial Revolution and the computer revolution caused some serious side effects and dislocations. Can it be shown that the introduction of morally neutral and effective magic into our universe would have any greater effect than those did or that nanotech becoming both common and practical might?
Another question that comes to mind is, what sort of magic and how potent are we talking about. Rune spells from Runequest 2 where you have to pray 6 days straight after casting a 3 point Rune spell with a relatively trivial effect would probably matter less than if the publishing of a Reed Chalmers and Harold Shea paper led to full fledged Wish spells from AD&D being able to be cast on whim by anyone with a 2nd grade education.
“There,s no way to give…. catastrophic consequences”
Spoken like an English Lord – i.e. more interested in preserving his own inherited privileges than in trusting his fellow man.
And we all know how that ends – with lost colonies.