[js8]

A tangent, but Clarke was slightly wrong. Magic is not just indistinguishable, but it actually IS advanced technology.

In fantasy worlds, wizards spend years studying arcane phenomena, refining them into somewhat easily and reliably usable spells and artifacts, which can be used by general public. (Don't believe depictions of magic in video games, they simplify all the annoying little details.)

The above paragraph is actually true about our world, we just happen to call these people scientists and engineers, not wizards.

[KineticLensman]

Gandalf wasn’t a technologist.

(Edit) and his magic wasn’t remotely Vancean

[p_l]

He wasn't a technologist by the standards of his family, but it's somewhat implied in Silmarillion that the magics of Valar are intertwined with their understanding and knowledge of the world.

[KineticLensman]

Yes, but in the Legendarium, the Valar were innately ‘magical’ creatures created by a supreme being, not people who studied spells

[actionfromafar]

This is true, but the practical LLM wrangling seems less technological than I think any tech I have seen until now.

[znkr]

I worked in image processing for some time, it’s very similar

[lesserknowndan]

Whoooosh

[actionfromafar]

Subspace whoosh. Or more seriously, I think OP was going for a corollary to how stories about dragons aren’t false, they are more than true because they teach us the dragon can be slain. The same could be said for magicians - the stories are more than true because they tell us the complexity and arcana can be tamed. (Also note how many of the magic stories warn of unintended, unforeseen consequences resulting from unintended interactions between parts. (Sourcerers apprentice.) This should ring true for anyone in programming.)