We are living in an ever-increasing sci-fi age. Many of the events happening today would be incomprehensible to those who lived just a few centuries earlier. When calculating time on a cosmic scale, a few hundred years is nothing. Time is flowing at an exponential pace. Where it leads is anyone's guess.
I'm suddenly reminded of a random Star Trek episode that showcases this exact idea. Season 3 Episode 4.
After accidentally violating the Prime Directive, Picard and his crew are seen as gods to the native people of the planet they are studying. It goes so far as for the captain to get shot with a bow and arrow just to prove he is not some immortal mythical being. The last thing Starfleet wants is a bunch of planet-bound cultures being twisted into new religions and unpredictable behavior spurred by their own actions. Often times a policy of non-interference is best.
Cryptography injects itself even more into this concept. With your magic words private key one can unlock data (and even money at this point) that no one else on the planet can, even though everyone on the planet technically has access to said coded information.
It's a very strange thing to think about and try to wrap your brain around. Many more people use cryptography (and technology in general) than those who actually understand it. In fact, many science fiction writers like Issac Asimov make predictions in their work that foretell of a time where no one understands the technology they are using.
It takes so many people of varying disciplines to create a single product that no one actually fully understands the end result. Eventually during a Galactic recession after such a Golden Age even the people who built the old technology still being used wouldn't even exist anymore.
In this scenario no one would understand the technology they are using or how to create copies of it. Scaling up always has it drawbacks. This could easily be the end result of centralized technological advancement, especially when considering corporations keeping their trade secrets from the rest of the world in order to turn a profit.
Even in some of the Final Fantasy video games armor and weapons are infused with magic and labeled as such. The concept of technology being linked with magic is an old one, as the difference between the two lies simply in the understanding of the beholder.
As we forge deeper and deeper into a period of exponential technological gains, I can only but assume that this concept will become more and more relevant over time.
Even now with BIPS protocol we can memorize 12 words
and transfer money directly into our own memory banks.
