On Democratizing Magic

 On Democratizing Magic     

 

I propose ‘democratizing magic’ as a trope fit for several genres: superheroes, fantasy, science fiction. A story with this trope subverts and transforms its genre. A story democratizes magic this way:

1. There are superpowers, poorly understood, which a few wield to dominate the many. The superpowered fight among themselves, with collateral damage; more oppression for the normals.

2. A low-powered superhero, alienated by low rank, teams up with rich and/or smart normals to investigate the science of superpowers.

3. Montage sequence of labs, experiments, chalkboard scribblings, an ‘aha!’ moment, gizmos and tests. The team solves the superpower riddle through the power of technobabble.

4. They invent super-tech, which gives superpowers to anyone who uses it. These are civilian powers; no knife claws or laser eyes or invisibility or other weapons; but they do include shields, invulnerability, and healing touch.

5. They finance mass-production of super-tech. It sells well. The superheros and supervillains hear about this, and don’t like it. Only they, the elite, should have the powers, for if everyone has the powers, then it isn’t “super”. They stop their endless internal quarrels to focus on their real enemies: the People.

6. Conflict! Pow! Zap! At first the People lose ground, then they master their new powers, and push back.

7. Victory for the good guys! Superpower to the People!

8. A bad guy darkly hints that now that everyone has the powers, their troubles have just started... cue the sequel teaser trailer!

The sequel world will not be in the same genre. No longer will a lone vigilante save the day: instead it will be a super-policier, with super-cops taking down super-crooks; then the super-judge must make a super-ruling setting a super-precedent.

Or it can be a super-worker’s stuggle. He can fly to work, then fly to the store, but the work doesn’t pay enough for what he wants from the store. Then he joins a super-union, they have a super-strike, and after super-struggle, they get a super-raise. 

Or it can be a super-rom-com. Super-he gets super-klutzy courting super-she. There are many possibilities. Just because you can fly or lift ten-ton weights or heal by touch won’t solve life’s problems, just raise the stakes.

          An example of a story democratizing magic is “The Psychohistorical Crisis”, a science-fiction novel by Donald Kingsbury. It is a tribute to Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy. In the Foundation galaxy, the scientist Hari Seldon writes down the equations of “psychohistory”, a deterministic science of historical prediction. These equations have a flaw: Seldon’s Paradox, which states that any psychohistorical prediction, if known by the population being predicted, sets into motion psychohistorical forces that negate the prediction. The psychohistorians solve Seldon’s paradox by making psychohistory a cult secret.

          In Kingsbury’s tribute novel, the psychohistorians have long been in charge. This makes psychohistory itself the source of power; inevitably forces arose, seeking to discover psychohistory’s secret equations. The outcast rebel psychohistorian Eron Osa finds a mentor, under whose protection he reformulates psychohistory as a probabilistic science of negotiation, knowable to all, and beneficial to all who know it. Seldon’s equations leak, galactic order starts to unravel, and Eron Osa challenges the psychohistorical old guard to a prediction contest. In the contest, the old methods predict inevitable galactic catastrophe. It hints that the new methods will predict a galactic Golden Age for all who use its methods. Then the book ends, on the cusp of psychohistory getting democratized.

          I would like to read many more stories democratizing magic. I think that the times call for such stories.

          For instance, if J.K.Rowling wanted to democratize Hogwarts magic, Hermoine’s the Witch to do it.

          Or in the Star Wars universe; I propose “Force of the People”. In it, midichlorians do indeed give you Force powers. A Jedi trainee runaway falls in with group of outcasts. They clone vats full of his midichlorians, and sell Force shots. The Jedi and the Sith hear of this, and don’t like it. Their Force troops advance at first, but then are pushed off-planet by the Force of the People. A Death Star shoots at the planet, whose collectively-raised Force Shield catches the blast, then shoots it back at the Death Star, vaporizing it.

          Or in any superhero universe. Use your own characters. I envision a comic; its rebel low-rank superhero is Working Joe; he teams up with supervillain Dr. Diablo and tycoon Big Boss. Their respective superpowers are, respectively, super-productivity, evil-genius smarts, and tons of money. They invent and market the Adeledicnander Transmodulator, which gives its wearer Working Joe’s civilian superpowers. Their motives are varied. Big Boss is in it for the money; Dr. Diablo wants revenge on both superheros and supervillains; and Working Joe is in it because it’s the right thing to do. Each of them thinks the other two’s motivations are crazy, but none the less they cooperate enough to found the Transmodulator Corporation.