AI is Magic: Resisting the Pull of the Wizard's Ritual
· 25 min read
Clarke's third law says a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Anthropology has a working definition of magic that goes further than that line, and the definition fits how millions of people use AI models in 2026. A person appeals to a force they cannot examine, in words they choose carefully, for personal gain, and the outcome sometimes ends badly for them or the people around them. That shape shows up across three areas: what magic actually is, why societies eventually banned it, and what separates someone who can only cast spells from someone who understands the mechanism.