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 [...]

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First published:
June 23rd, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hAwvJDRKWFibjxh4e/it-isn-t-magic

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“‘It isn’t magic’” by Ben (Berlin) 04:26 Share

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

Shownotes Transcript

“‘It isn’t magic’” by Ben (Berlin)