Indistinguishable from Magic

technology can play another, equally important role: help people experience magic.

Different people find different things magical, and Small Apps allow Magicians to focus on creating magical products tailored to small niches.

At its best, technology can do the same. We need new apps and products and experiences not just to feed Moloch and grease the wheels of capitalism, but to feel like we’re living a life in which surprise and delight and mystery are possible.

Rocket launches are big, once-in-a-while events, but technology can create more quotidian magic, too. Jumping into a chat room with my friends on AIM when I was younger was magical. Meeting someone at a party in college and coming home to the Friend Request on Facebook was magical. Pulling up all of the world’s music on Spotify from my phone for th... See more

I’ve been using Arc for a couple of months, and I don’t have a better way to describe it than “magical.” It’s lighter and faster than Chrome. Ctrl+T feels like a superpower. Screenshots are built in natively and just work without eating all of my data. Downloads appear where they should, and images automagically get saved to an easy-to-find Library... See more