I actually really like this interpretation. What normally annoys me about fics featuring Arithmancy as the basis for magic is that they are usually written by some idiot who thinks taking a few math courses allows them to spout random math babble as an explanation for magic and have it make sense. They typically also feature a genius of a protagonist who can adeptly use Arithmancy to do previously unheard of things. SEE THIS FUCKING HORRIBLE FIC - it has a Hermione who's taken one year of Arithmancy and is smart enough to figure out how the Goblet of Fire's magic works as well as who the Champions are going to be.

Anyways. I think it would be interesting to read a fic (maybe even an original novel) using math/algorithms or programs as the basis for magic. Or a crackfic with Harry downloading MATLAB and raping the shit out of everyone. Specifically the chapter where he discovers the cumtrapz() function.

 

Spell creation goes something like this...

 

I like the programming idea, that is what I always associated this with. In fact I made a post regarding this sometime, wait...

and: http://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=18572

to quote:

I am still stuck on that bolded part though.

 

Because everyone auto-pulls and pushes to and from the "all magical spells" repository, duh.

In any case, what you posted really is just an analogy with random programming elements. It doesn't make much sense as an actual magic system IMO.

Edit:

Did you write that? If so, good work. I was amused.

 

I know that but I never liked this idea. The fact that a "repository" which is functional with this king of model already exists naturally is unlikely. If anyone can access it who can stop people from deleting all the spells?

It can be more likely that this "repository" is created managed by some body (unspeakables?) and each wand is linked to it when being made but then why doesn't that body removes the "dark spells"?

I know this is not convincing but the '"all magical spells" repository' idea never sat well with me.

 

What if every wizard has a personal library encoded onto their personal magical hard drive? They copy the coding (words, gestures) and paste them into their library of spells (practicing the spell somehow imprints it on their soul, which in muggle terms is like learning how to ride a bike or how to throw a punch). The Wand is basically a cursor, and the word is like runscript:.

Of course, for this to work there has to be a core coding language, say Enochian, that fundamentally warps reality by it being spoken, in a reproducible way. As soon as its reproducible, then you can begin building the equations of magic.

At this point it becomes alternate physics pornography, and 'magic' becomes 'science that the author can't be fucked to justify'.

 

This.

I think not following logic is an inherent property of the "working" of magic.

 

Spells are like the word "fuck".

You can use the word fuck in lots of sentences, but the actual meaning changes based on how it is said. So you can gesture between yourself and someone, asking "Fuck?" to query whether they would like to participate in fornication.

Or, you can angrily yell "Fuck!" while wiggling your hand back and forth while throwing your tool to the floor to show how frustrating the act of hammering your finger is.

The incantations are the rest of the words in the sentence while the wand gesture is the non-verbal communication. So instead of just saying "Fuck" you can make a swirl and point while shouting "Depulso" to shake a fist while snarling that "I'm a gonna fuck you up."

Rituals are about creating the background and props to make the use of "fuck" more meaningful - you can mime hammering your finger and shouting "Fuck!", but it is more effective to actually do so.

---------

Creating spells is then a matter of knowing what you want to express and using the verbal and non-verbal vocabulary to find the best way of expressing what you want. This takes experience, imagination and a confidence with "fuck". The spells created are like stage directions for other actors.

Other people learning to cast the spell are like people learning to speak a foreign phrase by rote. This is why with experience you don't need such large gestures or you can cast non-verbally- you find more nuances and get better at saying "fuck" with that meaning.

This is also how spells formed over time. With apprenticeships and long periods of saying "fuck" over and over wizards only needed general spells like vague stage directions. But over time they needed more and more complex stage directions with specific explanations of how to wave their wand and more and more specific phrasing.

So basically, magic is like acting. Really good actors only need slight changes in their face and can ad-lib their acting while students need specific guides as to how to act but tend to overact or miss important parts.

 

Well, to be fair, I've written alternate physics porn before and it's a lot fun when done right. I didn't do it all that well, but people like Patrick Rothfuss, Roger Zelazny, Brandon Sanderson, and John C. Wright certainly have.

Science vs. Magic has more to do with how a situation is analyzed, rather than exactly how the special effects work. Scientific reasoning is based on observable data, hypothesis, and experiment to derive causality. Magical reasoning is more about a spiritual connection to the universe on an individual level; for instance, the classic example of a Magical Sci-Fi story is Green Lantern.

I have no idea how you came up with this horseshit, and if you have any actual canon examples feel free to back it up. However, I suppose it's as valid an interpretation as any. It sounds suspiciously like the explanation for Naming in The Name of the Wind.

 

In canon the fact that you can have non-verbal spells means that saying the actual incantation isn't all that important. You have to know the spell and be practised with it enough to know how it works before you can learn to cast non-verbally, but once you've learnt the ability (become more used to using "fuck") you can apply it to others.

You often see in canon experienced wizards like Dumbledore use only the slightest flicks to do what takes others the whole swish and flick or even more complex gestures. This means that again, the actual gesture isn't all that important. Once you have experience with "fuck" you don't need to use as many words to get your point across.

Heres the thing- magic cannot be like programming because spells don't need all the parts to be done and some can be done slightly differently. It would be like trying to call

Code:

func_Stun(30,TARGET_POINT);

by using

Code:

stun(some)

So either they are all based on intention and the different parts are just placebos, or the different parts such as the gesture and incantations are just guidelines to get you used to saying "fuck" correctly.

 

I'll get in here before Taure does, because nobody wants a tl;dr on this again.

Non-Verbal Incantations are still incantations, they're just spoken in your mind instead of out loud.

 

Except of course, that Dumbledore could be casting a completely different spell from most people.

People try to also explain away the need for Latin names. I wonder if it's possible that Latin is a special language and that it's intrinsic to casting magic? After all, we haven't seen any wizarding societies that don't use latin.

 

Scrib, we haven't seen any non-European wizarding societies. Kinda hard to judge based on that alone.

 

Anyway, there are plenty of non Latin spells. Avada Kedavra, for example, is from Aramaic

 

Last I checked Bulgarian isn't a language that evolved from Latin and Krum cast Crucio by saying... Crucio. Then again he was Imperiused at the time so maybe his casting was effected by Barty Crouch and his choice of language.

 

No. Creating a series of sound waves that we interpret as the word is a non-factor, the word as a concept is. He can cast it silently or verbally, but he needs the word and the wand movement.

First: Dumbledore is a statistical anomaly by any measurement- he's a genius casting with The Elder Wand, which overpowers every spell to come out of it. Second: We have no demonstrable data on what constitutes a 'flick of a wand'. Quite likely it was an artifact of Rowling's writing to describe how easily someone cast Spell X.

Actually, you really have no evidence as such for either of your options. There's no hard description of a real magical system in canon beyond Word + Wand = Controlled Magic Effects. Frankly, the story is better off for it; we don't need to know what exactly separates a curse from a hex or why a Stunner affects you if it only hits your foot. However, accidental magic seems to suggest there's a connection between emotion and magic, perhaps as a motive force. The Patronus and the Cruciatus seem to back this up, but the Imperius doesn't.

Taure's essay on one theory of how magic works in canon can be found in the Library, I believe. Read it, think it over, and then start talking about how Magic cannot be like programing. Seriously, 'cannot' is a poor word to describe limits of Magic.

 

Which is my point. We can't be sure that "European" magic (with wands and gestures) is universal. It's quite possible that that kind of magic only works with Latin (and in one case Aramaic, yet another reason to hate that spell) incantations. There's no need to go Dresden Files on us and try to explain if off when we've seen no evidence that it can or needs to be.

For my money this can create a much more diverse world.

EDIT:And that's assuming that there /are/ non-European magical societies.

 

Didn't Bill Weasley have a South American penpal?

 

Not to mention the trip to Egypt that the Weasleys took, which definitely had a magical society since they were talking about curses on tombs and whatnot.

 

The idea that there are muggle-borns but no magical societies outside of Europe is mind-boggling.