Science as Magic (or Religion)

It was Arthur C. Clarke who proposed, as one of his three 'laws', that a civilisation, coming into contact with science and technology far in advance of them, would view such technology as magic. This idea is hardly a novel one, and anyone who has read the tragic tale of Cortez and his small band of conquistadors overcoming the mighty Aztec empire will clearly see its antecedents. The Aztecs, unable to comprehend Spanish technology such as guns, came to view the conquistadors as reincarnated Gods with predictably disastrous consequences for themselves.

The supposedly opposing poles of Science and Magic has long provided a powerful theme for Science Fiction and Fantasy writers. A pioneer in this, aided by the fact that she was working in both the Science Fiction and Fantasy fields, was Andre Norton, most notably in her Witch World series of novels.

In those novels, a technologically advanced civilisation, fleeing some kind of self-generated catastrophe that has made their homeworld uninhabitable, enters a much more primitive world through a portal, seeking to use their more advanced technology to subjugate the native inhabitants and claim it for their own. However, they are opposed by a matriarchal society whose leaders are witches and able to harness magic (actual magic, not the science in disguise variety).

A new and novel treatment of this ongoing theme is Sharon Shinn's Samaria series of novels, particularly her second novel, Jovah's Angels. In a marvelous twist of irony, she takes the two typically opposing poles of science and mysticism and welds them together in one sure stroke. Our modern scientific way of thinking is perceived to have been borne out of the enlightenment, which involved a total rejection of mysticism and religious dogma. But what if science were the source of mysticism and religion?

In Samaria all beings worship the god Jovah (the parallel with Jehovah is not coincidental). A special group of beings with wings - Angels - are given the task of ensuring society in Samaria is harmonious. These angels can intercede with Jovah by 'praying', for example to change weather patterns, ask for seeds to be sent down and even medical supplies in times of plague or illiness.

However, Jovah also demands obedience from its subjects as any good god would. To prove that the peoples of Samaria still live in harmony, a Gloria must be sung every year led by the Archangel and his Angelica or spouse, with representatives from each of the many races that live on the planet. Three specially appointed prophets 'speak' to Jovah and intercede with him in some long forgotten tongue using some special device.

Shinn's genius is that Jovah is no god but is the computer of the interstellar ship that brought the original colonists to Samaria. The prophets use a simple keyboard to correspond with the God, and the Angels' - beings created through genetic engineering at the dawn of Samarian colonization - prayers are picked up by Jovah's long range sensors where the computer triggers the necessary responses. Control of the weather is enabled through influencing the planet's upper atmosphere, seeds and medicines can be released and dropped from the ship's massive storage hangers, and if the Samarians choose to disobey, the ship's lasers can smite a mighty hole in the planet below.

This is Clarke's third law brought to spectacular life, and Shinn's strong characterization, and utilization of biblical terminology lends the first two books in the series a really strong feel. The implications are strongly felt but neatly sidestepped. Alleluia, despite the realization that everything she believed and worshiped if not quite a lie then is undoubtedly drastically wrong, decides to hide the truth. Samaria cannot know because the implications would be immense - and catastrophic.

Still, given the slow rise of technology (which the original settlers had renounced as being the root of evil), there will eventually come a time when the peoples of Samaria will begin to question the mythology and religion they held so blindly. More fundamentally, it would only take the first telescope pointed up at the Samarian night sky to reveal the orbiting spaceship and raise fundamental questions that will not be left unanswered.

A long running jibe at the irrationality of religion is to posit that there is a giant teacup orbiting the outer edge of the solar system, and that it will eventually bring out the annihilation of the earth. For the people of Samaria, it is a spaceship not a teacup. Perhaps, mankind should not be so quick to laugh, and as we continue to peer out into the darker reaches of our universe, we might just find some hint as to the beginnings of our creation. Now that is a kind of faith in itself.