Ben (Berlin)

People keep saying "AI isn't magic, it's just maths" like this is some kind of gotcha. Turning lead into gold isn't the magic of alchemy, it's just nucleosynthesis. Taking a living human's heart out without killing them, and replacing it with one you got out a corpse, that isn't the magic of necromancy, neither is it a prayer or ritual to Sekhmet, it's just transplant surgery. Casually chatting with someone while they're 8,000 kilometres is not done with magic crystal balls, it's just telephony. Analysing the atmosphere of a planet 869 light-years away (about 8 quadrillion km) is not supernatural remote viewing, it's just spectral analysis through a telescope… a telescope that remains about 540 km above the ground, even without any support from anything underneath, which also isn't magic, it's just "orbit". Making diamonds and rubies by the tonne isn't a wish made to a magic djinn, it's just chemistry. Flying through the air, or to the moon, isn't a magic carpet, it's just aerodynamics and rocket science respectively. Reading someone’s thoughts isn't magic telepathy, it's just fMRI decoding. Knowing your location anywhere on the surface of planet, at any time of day or night, in any weather, isn't magic, it's just GPS. Forecasting the weather days in advance isn't the magic of divination, it isn't precognition, it isn't limited to the visions of prophets and oracles, it's just fluid dynamics simulations and Monte Carlo methods. A bracelet that can detect when you fall and summon help automatically isn't a guardian angel, it's just an Apple Watch with Fall Detection. Sensing through rock to find hidden water isn't dowsing or water divining, it's just geotechnical survey tools such as ground penetrating radar and electrical resistance surveys. Seeing someone's bones without flaying the flesh from them isn't magic, it's just an x-ray. Curing congenital deafness, letting the blind see, letting the lame walk, none of that is magic or miracle, they're just co