MAGIC
(1)[Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)].
magic
(2)Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
"TTY echoing is controlled by a large number of magic bits." "This routine magically computes the parity of an 8-bit byte in three instructions."
magic
(3)magic
(4)Compare wizardly, deep magic, heavy wizardry.
For more about hackish "magic" see Magic Switch Story.
magic
(5)magic
the attempt to activate supernatural or spiritual agencies in order to attain a specific outcome by ritualized means. Magic is not always readily distinguished from religious activity (see RELIGION), and in operation is often associated with it. However, an activity is usually identified as magic by its more instrumental, often more immediate, concern with the achievement of specific ends. In functionalist terms (see MALINOWSKI, 1948), magic is employed in situations where effective technologies to achieve the desired end are lacking. Thus the social function of magic is to allay anxieties and fulfil the need to do something, and it can also be cathartic (see also WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY, SHAMAN).In its broadest sense, magic is not only a feature of so-called ‘primitive societies’, but is also operative in modern societies, e.g. confidence in various pseudosciences, such as astrology, and in the survival of superstition. The interpenetration of‘true’ technologies and ritualized magical activity can be seen as a pervasive feature of social activity, present even in modern medicine In all discussion of magic there is the difficulty that, since the distinction between empirical science and non-science is never a straightforward matter (see SCIENCE), the distinction between technology and magic is correspondingly blurred. It is the case that many of the users of magic do not operate with a sharp distinction between the natural and the supernatural. Thus magic is often an observer's concept rather than one shared by participants.
)
Magic(k); Magician
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)"Magick" is an old spelling of "magic" and is used by many modern occultists to differentiate the parapsychological form from the stage conjuring variety. There are many definitions of magic. Some of them are:
Creating your own reality.
A seemingly unnatural happening brought about by human means.
Words and actions affecting physical reality. "The science or art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will." (Aleister Crowley) "The projection of natural energies to produce needed effects." (Scott Cunningham) "Making something happen that you want to happen." (Raymond Buckland)
Events normally happen following a course of cause and effect, although we are invariably unaware of this principle as life flows by in a seemingly haphazard manner. However, if this flow—this seemingly disorganized pattern—can be interrupted and changed to make an event take place when and where we want it, then "magic" has been done. We are making something happen that we want to happen.
Scott Cunningham says there are three main sources for magical energy: personal power, Earth power, and divine power. Personal power is that which resides within each and every one of us, empowering our bodies and sustaining life. This power can be aroused with the right stimuli, directed to achieve some purpose, and released to that end. Earth power is within the planet and may be reached through any number of means: stones, trees, plants, wind, fire, water, and so on. It, too, can be aroused, manipulated, and directed to achieve desired ends. Divine power is the driving force that works through the other two. It is universal power coming from what we perceive as deity and acting through our bodies or through the Earth.
Cunningham makes the point that magic is not supernatural. It is occult, meaning hidden or secret and known only to the initiated, but it is also natural. Its workings may not yet be known, understood, or even labeled by science, but that does not mean it does not exist.
Anyone who practices magic is, by definition, a magician. It should be stressed that a magician is a practitioner; in other words, he or she is not necessarily connected with any religious beliefs or worship. It is not necessary to become a Witch, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, or follower of any other religion in order to be a magician and practice magic. Whether or not one believes that the power behind magic comes, ultimately, from deity is immaterial; magical rituals do not have to be done as part of religious rituals.
There are many different ways of working magic and as many different types of magician. There is "Low" and "High" magic, imitative or sympathetic magic, Ceremonial Magic, folk magic, and magic for health, wealth, love, power, and protection. Generally, magic can be divided into positive and negative, although some small actions may fall somewhere in a gray area between the two (see Binding). Some magic can be potentially dangerous to the practitioner because of entities or spirits conjured, while other magic is totally benign, drawing only from natural forces within.
Magic can be done by individuals or by groups. Most Ceremonial Magic is done by an individual, while most Witchcraft magic is done by groups (covens), but there are exceptions to both of these. In Ceremonial Magic, the magician may take days or even weeks preparing for the ritual. All the instruments needed are carefully prepared to an ancient formula. The time and place of performing the ritual is determined and, again, carefully prepared. The power is drawn down by using the Names of Power: powerful names that can be used to force the spirits to do the magician's will.
In Witchcraft, the work to be done is carefully planned out, with the objective clear in everyone's mind. Then the power necessary to work magic is drawn from the bodies by raising them to a state of excitement, or ekstasis—a "getting out of oneself." This may be achieved by dancing, singing, chanting, scourging, sexual activity, or other ways. When sufficient power has been raised, it is sent out, directed to achieve the desired result. In some Wiccan traditions, each individual sends the power as and when ready. In other traditions, the power is sent by the individual witches into the body of the High Priestess, who then projects the total.
In Hedge Witchcraft, Wort Cunning, and many forms of folk magic, there is less emphasis on the drawing down of power and more on imbuing charms, amulets, or talismans with the power to do the work.
The time of working magic is always important. In such forms as Ceremonial Magic and even candle magic, the time to work may be carefully established through the use of tables or by following set formulae. In most folk magic and that of Wicca, a more general approach involves simply working positive magic in the waxing phase of the Moon and negative magic (i.e., magic to be rid of something, be it an unwanted suitor or a bad cold) in the waning phase.
Green, Marian: Natural Magic. Element Books, 1989. King, Francis: Ritual Magic in England (1887 to the Present Day). Neville Spearman, 1970. Kraig, Donald Michael: Modern Magick. Llewellyn, 1988.
What does it mean when you dream about magic?
Magic has both positive and negative connotations. Positively, magic may represent a creative mind that will “magically” achieve just what the dreamer is hoping for. Alternatively, black magic is a symbol for evil, and for getting what one wishes through underhanded “tricks.”
magic
Magic
active area
The active area is the top part of the chip where all the action takes place. It contains the layers of transistors, resistors and interconnection layers that make up the circuits and perform the actual computing. Although the thickness of the entire chip is only about 1/30th of an inch, the active area is just a few micrometers. See chip, half-adder and Boolean logic.Entirely Magical
No man-made object is more incredible than the chip. Today's state-of-the-art CPUs and SoCs contain billions of transistors, many millions of which are simultaneously switching their state from on to off and off to on every second. In fact, so many transistors are changing at the same time that, in total, there are quadrillions of transistor state changes taking place every second. Think about that number... quadrillions of changes every second for hours on end in absolute digital perfection. See transistor and SoC.
 |
| A Digital Miracle |
|---|
| When people look at a chip package, they see an object the size of a cracker, but its active area is thinner than a postage stamp. Chip packages can be as large as this example or as small as the tip of a lead pencil (see microcontroller). See Boolean logic and chip package. |
Android Magic
The second generation Android phone, introduced in Europe in 2009. See Android.magic cookie
A small data file passed from one program to another and sent back without change. Typically used in Unix systems, a magic cookie may be an identification token or password that activates a function. The "magic" implies some obscure data known only to the software and not the user. The Web cookie term was coined after magic cookie. See cookie.Magic Mouse
A multitouch mouse from Apple. Introduced in 2009, Magic Mouse has no buttons or wheels. Its entire top surface is touch sensitive, allowing it to respond to gestures for scrolling in all directions. It also functions as a regular click mouse. See Magic Trackpad. |
| It's Magic! |
|---|
| Scrolling is done by sliding a finger over the mouse in the appropriate direction. There is no scroll wheel, and the surface accepts one- and two-finger gestures. (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.) |
magic number
In programming, a magic number is a constant value used to identify a file format, protocol or error code. In many file formats, the first few bytes identify the file; for example, "PK" in ZIP files and the hex values "F8 D8" in JPEG files.Certain communications protocols use a magic number, such as the hex values "63 82 53 63" at the start of every DHCP packet or "FF 53 4D 42" at the beginning of every SMB request. See DHCP and SMB.
Magic Constants
The term also refers to fixed values in a program that are never expected to change. For example, an algorithm involving playing cards might frequently use the magic constant "52" without jokers or "54" with jokers (or "51" and "53" for offset addresses).
Magic
witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment; rituals connected with belief in a person’s ability to influence people, animals, natural phenomena, and imaginary spirits and deities by supernatural means.
Like other phenomena of primitive religion, magic arose in the earliest epoch, when human beings were powerless in the struggle against nature. Magic rituals, which are prevalent among all the peoples of the world, are extremely varied. Generally known, for example, are “wasting disease” or “curing” through an enchanted potion, ritual bathing, anointing with holy oil, and wearing of talismans. Magic rituals were performed at the time of plowing, sowing, and harvesting, as well as to call forth rain or to guarantee success in the hunt, in war, and other pursuits. Often rituals of magic combine several forms of magical methods, among which is incantation (casting a spell). The origin of each form of magic is closely bound up with the specific conditions of the practical activity of the people.
In class society, magic rituals lose their primary significance in contrast to more complex forms of religion, with prayers and the propitiatory worship of high deities. But here, too, magic is also retained as an important component of many of the rituals of every religion, not excluding even the most complex—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and so forth. Thus, in Christianity important roles are played by magic rituals (anointing, extreme unction, pilgrimage to “holy” curative springs, etc.) and the magic of the weather and of fertility (public prayers for rain, blessing of the harvest, etc.).
Magic is divided into two types—black (the appeal to evil spirits) and white (appealing to pure spirits—angels and saints).
The magical perception of the world, in particular the notion of the universal similarity and interaction of all things, underlies the oldest doctrines of natural philosophy and of diverse “occult sciences,” which spread in the late classical and medieval eras (for example, alchemy and astrology). In large measure, the rudiments of experimental natural science were still developing at that time in close connection with magic, a fact that was reflected in many works of scientists of the Renaissance era (G. della Porta, G. Cardano, Paracelsus, and others). Only as science developed further were elements of magic in it overcome.