"It makes sense to me? But maybe there should also be space for something more... magical?"

"Maybe this should be like, the mainstream way of doing magic? Like with folk medicine? It's mostly superstition but then you find out that willow bark works because it contains... something?"

"I don't know, it feels really neat to have magic as programming, but it also feels... reductive" 

"Salicin," Hammond supplies. "It's a precursor to acetylsalicylic acid, which I think people around here use for pain relief. It doesn't work very well on walruses on account of our delicate skin."

He relates this with the air of someone repeating rote facts while his attention is elsewhere.

"And I do see what you mean, I'm just trying to think how to phrase my natural follow-up question ..."

He drums his tail in thought.

"Earlier you made the comparison of spell diagrams being used as a kind of mnemonic, to guide the creation of the spell — how would you feel about a system where there are multiple competing kinds of mnemonics, such as different kinds of rituals, some of which are programming-flavored and some of which are more esoteric?"

"Yeah, I think that works. Like you have wizards and witches and sorcerers and it's all magic but with different flavors."

He nods.

"Excellent. Alright ..."

"What are some things that you think magic should definitely be able to do?"

"Fireballs! Teleportation! Flight!"

"I want to say 'control Time and Space' but I think that could create paradoxes?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by 'control Time and Space'," Hammond replies. "For one thing, there are some models of time-travel where paradoxes — except for pre-destination paradoxes, which I don't think should count — are impossible. The 'the past was always that way, and when you go back in time you will turn out to be making it be that way' model. Or the 'traveling to the past creates an entirely independent timeline' model, which also avoids paradoxes like that."

"If you could pick a particular way for time-travel to work (which you can), would you want to extend your answer?"

"Oooh, like the Asimov story! I love that. It means that you can go back in time but only to change things you don't already know to be different. I reeeeeeeally dislike the independent timeline one. It means that in your original timeline you just disappear, and all your friends and family mourn you. Terrible. Horrible. The worst."

Hammond diligently records this.

"Alright — what should magic definitely not be able to do?"