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Magic vs advanced technology is a common enough question in fiction that your readers will already be primed to wonder. I agree with Amadeus that the reference to "knobs" is, in and of itself, eno...
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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42867 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42867 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Magic vs advanced technology is a common enough question in fiction that your readers will already be primed to wonder. I agree with Amadeus that the reference to "knobs" is, in and of itself, enough to tip the reader off. **Magic wands don't have buttons.** What you want though is not just the reader thinking advanced technology but considering where the tech comes from. Is it from an older society? aliens? a parallel but unknown community (like the fairy world in _[Artemis Fowl](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249747.Artemis_Fowl)_)? So **reference the "devastating global war."** You might even talk about how someone invented something but it got taken away. **You don't need much here.** Let the reader have the thrill of figuring it out.