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[poliphilo]

I poke a stylus at a screen- just the one prod- and I've bought a book. More than that- the book is already in my hands. The whole transaction took less than a minute.

And I didn't have to sell my soul to perform this magic- or burn aromatic gums or even say, "abracadabra".

Tell me, then, why I shouldn't believe in spirits- or other invisible and elusive things- when what I've just done- this magical action- conjuring a thing out of thin air- would have seemed utterly fabulous and inexplicable to the world I was born into- a mere 65 years ago.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

The difference between wifi, ebooks, electronic payments etc and ghosts or spirits is that though you don't understand how the book gets from the first draft on the author's computer to your ebook reader, technical geeks could explain every step of the process. However, at the moment we have no scientific explanation for what we call supernatural phenomena. That's not to say there won't ever be one, but until then, it's a case of believe rather than practical demonstration.