Stephen A. Lawrence
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:30:53 -0700
OrionWorks wrote:
There's a popular NewAge saying which proclaims that we create our own reality. I suspect most who ponder the ramifications of the NA phrase take the meaning metaphorically, perhaps in the same vein as reading certain passages from the bible, particularly Genesis. Others are beginning to ponder the ramifications of wondering if there might actually be more to this NA meaning. Back in the 1970s, the pre-NewAge author, Jane Roberts, was one of the first to explore the ramifications in a series of alleged channeled writings - the Seth Material comes to mind. NewAge mumbo-jumbo set aside, I suspect aspects of these ramifications have been explored in certain SF novels.
"Waldo" and "Magic, Inc", both by Heinlein are probably the best known. If you've ever heard someone refer to a remote manipulator as a "waldo" then you've heard of the first of these.
The Childe cycle of Gordon Dickson explored a chunk of the idea in "Necromancer" but Dickson dropped it later on in the series (it makes for a rather hard to manage world).
"The Practice Effect" explores a cute variation on it; can't recall the author.
Many, many other books have touched on the notion that belief can make it so.
It's an easy proof that in an infinite universe there's a world where magic works. Sadly, it's an equally easy proof that you could never find such a world even if you had interstellar teleportation so you could visit lots and lots of star systems in hardly any time.