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The Age of Magic

We all have heard the saying that to any sufficiently primitive culture, any measure of technology appears to be magic. At what point does a technologically advanced society realize that it has begun to enter into the Age of Magic?

If you were born in the early part of 1900, then you would have seen some largely fantastic advances that would appear magical to any primitive culture. Yet, even throughout the last 100 years, all that we've seen are advances on our mechanical technology. Whether it is the mechanical control of electrons through an NP junction, or the mechanical scattering of electromagnetic waves, these are just advances on the mechanical.

Reading through Science today, I found a perspective on negative index of refraction materials (10.1126/science.1136481). What the heck is that, you say? Check this out:

http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/16/5/3

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10816.html

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=7492

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/315/5808/47

The Science article shows how these metamaterials are formed in real-life, not in computer simulations. Their structure is nano in scale, of course, but they are no more complicated than a simple square of wire with another square of wire embedded in it. Or better yet, just a fishnet of nanowire with a well-designed dielectric spacer. While simple in design, these metamaterials are capable of hiding objects from detection, yes even from RADAR. As the technology is perfected for visible light, there is no doubt that you will be able to purchase a cloaking "cape" that is able to hide your appearance (but not your existence).

As our technology continues to be reduced into the nano-scale world, more and more will it appear to be magical. While we won't be invoking any spells, per se, we will be making use of devices that will appear magical to us. Already we have micro-scale steam engines and lethal nanoized chemicals that can kill pathogens and other microorganisms and yet do not affect larger, more complicated organisms (EcoTru from EnviroSystems, Inc. - www.ecotru.com).

These negative index of refraction materials remind me of the Synthetic Aperture Radar developed by Dr. Edward Fenimore of Los Alamos National Laboratory. SAR is just a disk of material that has a pattern of "punch holes" in it that are designed to improve the focus of an image. The SAR works with any kind of EM-radiation, even visible light. The magical physics of the SAR are in its geometry, just like the NIMs.

Cosmic geometry. Maybe the Masons had the right idea thousands of years ago and have been waiting for the rest of us to catch-up.

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