Nanotechnology is the umbrella term encompassing any science concerned with the manipulation of matter at a molecular or atomic scale, almost as if using individual atoms as tiny little legos. 

People with this Idea

	Title	Author	%	Category	Thoughts
	Nanotechnology	thekid12		Belief	Idea Group:  Nanotechnology Idea Category:  Belief nanotechnology is the future. if you can't imagine it just read The Diamond Age

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Technology as Magic

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."  --Arthur C. Clarke  

Science and Technology

Technology is influence over ourselves and our environment, provided by our understanding and manipulation of that which we can influence.  

Fire, in and of itself, is a natural chemical reaction which happens to certain substances given certain conditions.  Fire became technology when humans learned to influence and create it.  Fire was 'harnessed' by our understanding of it and our abilities to manipulate some of the underlying factors.  

Magic and Spirituality 

Magic is influence over ourselves and our environment, provided by our understanding and manipulation of that which we can influence by supernatural or metaphysical (mystical) means. 

So, right from the get, these two definitions are almost synonomous.  The difference is only really how much we (think) we know about a given situation.  

Exerting Influence 

They both come down to will.  Both technology and magic are attempts to influence reality based on our will.  We want something to happen, and by flexing our various (sometimes metaphorical) muscles, we are able to exert our will (in varying degrees of success) over the universe (or some smaller part of it).  

Science and magic can be thought of as the same thing, in this regard.  Frequently things which aren't understood (or quantifiable) are thought of as magic, but science and technology can't explain all of the things we have observed, either.  

Over time, the divides between the scientific (empirical, technological) camps and the spiritual (religious, mystical, magical) camps has widened dramatically.  Now, many scientific minds scoff at the idea of supernatural, spiritual or magical phenomena, and as such, I believe that they are closing their minds to possibilities of mutual coexistance.  

I don't feel that science and spirituality have to be mutually exclusive fields.  In fact, I believe that they are actually two sides of the same spectrum--namely, that of trying to understand reality and exert influence over that reality.