[loup-vaillant]

Well, they are magic, in a sense: you scribble weird formulas on them, and that makes them do stuff. In every other way, it is not. Computer obey understandable rules. You don't need aracne knowledge to grasp the basics. It's not dangerous to know a little of the thing without dedicating your life to it.

Way less scary than actual magic.

[paulgb]

I agree fully. I think what's magical is that even though I understand computers at all these different levels, I'll never be able to hold all the parts in my head at once, so at any given time I'm left believing that some part of the system involves magic.

In another sense, I think there's "magic" in the sense of "wonder". Even knowing how some piece of technology works, I find myself constantly in amazement and wonder that it does work.