Tag Archives: Star Wars

Why are people so ready and willing to accept magical thinking? – Quora

“Magical thinking” may be out of place in the hard sciences, but Scientists tend to forget – not everything in this world is Scientific. The most obvious example of which is Art – by which I include literature, music, film & theatre, and just about everything we do for cultural and aesthetic reasons.

In order to appreciate a work of Science Fiction, one has to has to have a Magical Thinking mindset, not a Scientific one, because the plot necessarily requires a suspension of disbelief. The same could also be said for horror fiction, fantasy fiction, etc


It is also necessary to accept Magical Thinking in order to appreciate history itself, since as late as the middle of the twentieth century, the Arts were given greater emphasis in education than the Sciences. There was indeed a time when it was thought that you could get farther in life with a knowledge of the works of (e.g.) Shakespeare than of Isaac Newton. This is not necessarily the view of modern education, but if you didn’t actually realise this then you would fail to understand the decision making processes of the world’s most influential people of the comparatively recent past.

Finally of course, Magical Thinking is a requisite for understanding actual magic. 😉


Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to Why are people so ready and willing to accept magical thinking? – Quora

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Star Wars and Astral Projection

I’m going to come right out and say it: I am a Star Wars fan. What’s more, I saw the recent installment The Last Jedi and I enjoyed it immensely. I want to use this blog post to address criticisms which have been levelled at the director Rian Johnson, I believe have been made unfairly.

Specifically the finale of movie, in which the rebels have been all but wiped out, at the last moment see Luke Skywalker walk through the door come to save them for one last time. He then goes out to have a confrontation with the enemy forces whilst giving the Rebels time to make their get away.

Only it’s not actually him. In plot twist we discover he’s doing a force projection of himself, and in reality he hasn’t left the planet on which he’s been all this time.

Now some fans have criticised the director Rian Johnson on the grounds that this somehow spoils the movie and spoils the characterization of Luke Skywalker. However I say this. Firstly, astral projection is a thing in real life, so it is not unreasonable to suppose that it can exist in the Star Wars universe.

Secondly I believe that Luke Skywalker specifically did this for two reasons. Firstly to humiliate Kylo Ren, and secondly to demonstrate the awesome power of the Force and consequently give up to his friends and allies.

Hence in the third movie, if Rey ever doubts that she is worthy, she will have plenty of people who witnessed Luke’s actions to remind her that she is a powerful Jedi – just like astral projectors in real life!

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