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I know, I know it would destroy the atmosphere. But I’m interested to see if JK Rowling has made a up a valid reason for a complete lack of computers in Hogwarts.

It’s always bugged me ever since I first read Philosopher/Sorcerer’s Stone when Harry was racking his brains for who Nicolas Flamel was.

I don’t care how magical things are. Instant search engine hit for Flamel. All potions, spells, history, quidditch matches, mail, the distribution of the daily prophet, everything. It would be easier to keep students out of the restricted section of an intranet library too! I don’t care how many invisibility cloaks you’re wearing.

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    They still use Owls instead of Whatsapp... – user931 Apr 14 '14 at 22:37
  • Exactly. I know this sounds a bit a lame...but science is beyond magic, folks. – Starkers Apr 14 '14 at 22:39
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    They don't us computers because they can't get WiFi to go through the stone walls. – Xantec Apr 15 '14 at 01:18
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    That would genuinely probably be the case actually. – Starkers Apr 15 '14 at 01:19
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    Over in the Adult Fantasy genre, in Fritz Leiber's 1952 novel Conjure Wife, a witch-against-witch war is decided when [spoiler] one side uses a computer to design a new spell. – user14111 Apr 15 '14 at 01:39
  • Wow.. That's great. Spell Algorithms! – user931 Apr 15 '14 at 05:39
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    Try doing some programming in Assembly. I still think it's magic. – jnovacho Apr 15 '14 at 08:43
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    Could it be that a society that removes children out of academic education at age 11 has a problem with computer literacy? Sorry, that's a touch facetious. However it is true that system admins don't grow on trees. They can hardly hire a muggle can they? – Nathan Apr 15 '14 at 10:22
  • @jnovacho assembly is straight forward really – Dreamwalker Apr 15 '14 at 12:35
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    @Dreamwalker: I will quote A.C. Clarke: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I know that ASM is easy, once you get into it, but I didn't make the leap yet, from ASM to silicone... – jnovacho Apr 15 '14 at 12:39
  • @jnovacho now the leap from ASM to what happens on the silicon gets complicated depending on the architecture and I will accept magic as well there see intel CISC to RISC :) (we are getting off topic a bit much now) – Dreamwalker Apr 15 '14 at 13:26
  • @NathanCooper While we don't see any mention of muggles being employed by wizards (that I recall), there is no reason why they couldn't. After all, witches and wizards have been known to marry muggles, which probably doesn't happen at least until after the muggle partner has graduated grade school, and possibly later. – Xantec Apr 15 '14 at 15:18
  • @Xantec, yes but with regard to Hogwarts. Given the secrecy? – Nathan Apr 15 '14 at 15:24
  • @NathanCooper There must be some time when parents visit the school, no? Parent-Teacher conferences? Graduation? If a muggle visits with another witch or wizard I would imagine they can get past the wards. – Xantec Apr 15 '14 at 15:28
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    @Xantec Good point. Muggle contractors seem feasible. Also, come to think of it, it's a possibility there could Squibs who got into IT. – Nathan Apr 15 '14 at 15:30
  • @jnovacho, deep magic executed by wizards, even. ;) – Brian S Apr 15 '14 at 16:27
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    I don't have the time to look for sources, but I do remember pretty clearly that radios and other muggle technology doesn't work well with magical interference. It's why video cameras, microphones, and the like don't work for Rita Skeeter on Hogwarts during Book 4; Hermione has to offer the reminder that, with so much magical interference no the grounds, electronics are right out. My guess is they work okay when used elsewhere, but not perfectly. – TylerH Apr 15 '14 at 20:01
  • If anyone wants some fun novels mixing magic and computation, Charles Stross explores it in his Laundry files – Brian B Apr 15 '14 at 20:02
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    Although it has no real relationship, in the Dresden Files this is handled quite nicely--whenever a wizard comes near advanced electronics they tend to self-destruct. Lets you keep the middle-age atmosphere (which is probably the real reason wizards don't use computers in HP) – Bill K Apr 16 '14 at 01:18
  • It is the other way around: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Gamification_Microsoft_Office_Assistant.jpg – user13500 Apr 16 '14 at 08:44

7 Answers7

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While looking up some information about this I stumbled across this... It's not entirely canon but it gives a good theory about why it is that wizards and witches might not use modern items.

From "When Magic Meets Muggle Technology" at Harry Potter Lexicon

Magic in the Harry Potter world is a power that wizards and witches are able to harness and control by some innate ability. Magical effects are often accompanied by lights, sparks, and sounds. The very first magical effect that Harry performed in his new world was shooting sparks out of his new wand at Ollivander's.

It seems to imply that magic effects the electro-magnetic spectrum in some way. Some serious energy is being dealt with. A similar thing happens when a nuclear device is exploded. A massive pulse of EM energy is radiated out all over the spectrum. Radios cease to work. Power lines arc. Telephones burn out. It is because of this chaos that nations spend millions installing infrastructure that is immune to this EM interference.

This might be why so many magical families are always baffled by Muggle technology, simply because such devices could not work well in conjunction with the magic they use in everyday life.

I also found this stating that there was a Computer in the Muggle Studies classroom. The wikia states that the devices do not work because they are powered by electricity.

Computers are one of numerous devices that do not work in magical environments such as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry because they are powered by electricity.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 28 - (The Madness of Mr. Crouch)

Direct quote from the book :

Harry had such a bad case of Twitchy Ears, he had to hold his hands clamped over them as he walked away from the class.

"Well, Rita's definitely not using an Invisibility Cloak!" Hermione panted five minutes later, catching up with Harry and Ron in the entrance hall and pulling Harrys hand away from one of his wiggling ears so that he could hear her. "Moody says he didn't see her anywhere near the judges' table at the second task, or anywhere near the lake!"

"Hermione, is there any point in telling you to drop this?" said Ron.

"No!" said Hermione stubbornly. "I want to know how she heard me talking to Viktor! And how she found out about Hagrids mum!"

"Maybe she had you bugged," said Harry.

"Bugged?" said Ron blankly. "What. . . put fleas on her or something?"

Harry started explaining about hidden microphones and recording equipment. Ron was fascinated, but Hermione interrupted them.

"Aren't you two ever going to read Hogwarts, A History^"

"What's the point?" said Ron. "You know it by heart, we can just ask you."

"All those substitutes for magic Muggles use - electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things - they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air."

Mark Rogers
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    Pretty cut and dry :) – Starkers Apr 15 '14 at 00:51
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    Admittedly this is answering why computers can't be used at Hogwarts, not why computers (or various sorts of technology) are not used by wizards in general. There's probably no reason why they couldn't be operated away from heavy magic use, if it weren't for the extreme sense of conservatism and social inertia exhibited by the wizarding community - witness the complete inability of most wizards to admit that Muggles might have figured out a better way to do something. – user1787 Apr 15 '14 at 03:44
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    @user1787 The second sentence of the question is "But I'm interested to see if JK Rowling has made a up a valid reason for a complete lack of computers in Hogwarts." I'd say this answer pretty well covers that, though I guess it uses a little bit of hand-waving by boiling it down to simply "there's too much magic in the air [at Hogwarts]". – user Apr 15 '14 at 07:39
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    You could also assume that "pure" magic families do not use muggle devices because they too use magic a lot. – DoctorWho22 Apr 15 '14 at 12:52
  • I have little to add to this excellent answer from a canon point of view, but if you're interested in a tremendously well-written exploration of what happens when science is introduced into the world of Harry Potter, you might enjoy http://hpmor.com/ – scubbo Apr 15 '14 at 13:47
  • So with all this broad spectrum EMP associated with magic, why don't we have a higher than normal incident of radiation poisoning and/or cancer among witches and wizards? Or is there a magical cure for that as well? –  Apr 15 '14 at 16:04
  • If it is because of emp associated with it, perhaps those with the genes to be able to perform magic are more resilient to that sort of "magical" radiation. – DoctorWho22 Apr 15 '14 at 16:53
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    @Michael Not all radiation is dangerous. It very much depends on the wavelength and such. All electronic devices emit radiation. Hell, even light and such are radiation. In the mid-twentieth century, ignition systems in gasoline engines caused radio sets to crackle and tv sets to show stripes on screen. It wasn't dangerous to us though. – Doc Apr 15 '14 at 18:44
  • @Doc right I understand that, but it seems it would have to be quite intense to prevent modern electronics from functioning. of course, we can only speculate whether rad hardened military hardware would continue to operate in the presence of magic, and if so, why wizards wouldn't use that... –  Apr 15 '14 at 19:03
  • The thing is Michael is that they were baffled by muggle technology, would wizards and witches know to use rad hardened military stuff? Would that even work even with magic present? Essentially it's a supernatural force vs a scientific force... The only thing that we know is that all sorts of stuff that run off electricity and such doesn't work while magic is around it. – DoctorWho22 Apr 15 '14 at 22:48
  • It doesn't explain why they can't use strictly mechanical devices... – Valorum Apr 16 '14 at 22:11
  • @Richard like what sort of devices are you talking about? – DoctorWho22 Apr 17 '14 at 02:30
  • @doctorwho22 - well, ballpoint pens instead of quills, for example. – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 04:38
  • @Richard I would think that they don't use mechanical devices such as those because of tradition, also most wizards as far as we see are usually not too knowledgeable about even mundane muggle devices (for example I believe Ron's father was intriuged about "Rubber Duckies"). – DoctorWho22 Jun 10 '14 at 00:20
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A common theme in urban fantasy is that arcane magic does not work well with technology. There are three main reasons -

  1. Hubris. Those Muggles or non-magic-users simply do not understand what WE know. This can be a culture-mindset, or an issue of mind-inertia. Magic users have a tendency to live longer than Joe Average, so change happens equally slowly due to the power of curmudgeon-ism.
  2. Need - Magic users have different needs and desires than Joe Average. Certainly the Knight Bus and the Hogwarts Express are not the most efficient forms of transportation, but when you can create a flying ______, Portkeys, can Apparate or use the Floo network, there's no need to pour research into understanding a subway system, or internal combustion engine. Why think about electronic messaging when you can enchant paper to fly directly to them? If your newspaper could update itself like the Daily Prophet, would you care about the evolution of hypertext protocol?
  3. Power - Modern Technology & arcane power traditionally don't work together because of 'science' - similar to static or other electric shocks, anything containing microchips simply cannot compete with raw power . Hermione mentions that electricity doesn't work in Hogwarts because of the "Magic in the air". JKR doesn't elaborate if the magic in the air is location based (i.e. ley lines) or simply because there's a bunch of wizards there. If it's the latter, it may be similar to Harry Dresden's "I can fry a fax machine at 20 paces" unconscious aura of a magic-user. Note we don't ever actually see modern technology around multiple wizards outside of the little radio near the end of the series, or the TV in the Dursleys' house before the Polyjuice project to help Harry escape (but it was turned off, so we do not know).
Adamant
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The wizarding world is a bit late in introducing new inventions. Most of the story of the Harry Potter novels take place between 1990 and 1998. The wizards simply hadn't had time yet to adapt to computers.

b_jonas
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    Computers had been around for a long, long time by the time the bulk of the story took place. DoctorWho22's answer gives a much better, in universe explanation: electricity does not work well around high concentrations of magic. That rules out use of computers almost entirely. Maybe at some of their homes they would work, but certainly not at the Ministry or in Diagon Alley (and similar). – Dave Johnson Apr 15 '14 at 14:58
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    @DaveJohnson: Been around, sure. But they weren't yet present in your school before about 1980. – b_jonas Apr 15 '14 at 17:22
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    they werent yet present in my school in2002 – Steven Wood Apr 15 '14 at 19:54
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    @StevenWood: Where did you go to school? I remember seeing computers in school from the very beginning, way back in kindergarten in the late 80s. – Mason Wheeler Apr 15 '14 at 20:48
  • I went to primary school (age 4-11 for you americanos) in the most rural place you can find in England (Herefordshire). I also told a fib - we did have an old Commodore 64 that we sometimes used for stuff, but other than that nothing. – Steven Wood Apr 16 '14 at 07:43
  • Maybe Hogwarts students use computers on some Arithmancy and Ancient Runes practical lessons, only we never see those courses in the books. Nah, not likely. – b_jonas Apr 16 '14 at 09:08
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    They don't... The only computers shown in Hogwarts is actually in the Muggles Studies room. – DoctorWho22 Apr 16 '14 at 16:07
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Well, as far the instant search engine hit is concerned, when The Philosopher's Stone was first published in 1997 Google, grounded in 1998, didn't even exist.

PJTraill
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  • And when it actually took place, in 1991–1992, nor did Altavista. Searching online for information was just not something you did back then. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 15 '16 at 15:10
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Magicians aren't used to Muggles' technology. Think about Arthur Weasley; he dealt a lot more than others magicians with Muggles' items, and still couldn't get many basic things right.

Magicians don't use computers because they feel soo superior that they can't even think about something created by Muggles can be more powerful than them on something.

And I think this is a good explanation because Mage's work is full of racism, even in some younger boy, versus the non and almost mage

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  • Don't know about the racism factor... Wizards are quite happy using steam engines, motor cycles, Ford Anglia's and loads more of muggle technology – Starkers Apr 15 '14 at 12:40
  • you can see the recism when people are called "half blood", "muggle born", event the term "muggle" is dispegiative. You see SOME of them using muggle technology, but they are a small(?) open-minded minority. – Lesto Apr 15 '14 at 12:46
  • Racism is pretty strong. Typically implies hatred, intolerance, belief in superiority and right to rule (see dictionary.com). Perhaps prejudice is a better label. – Stan Apr 15 '14 at 13:08
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    This is exaclty what Death Eater and their supporter wants. – Lesto Apr 15 '14 at 13:22
  • And we see, in the course of the series, that Death Eaters and their supporters are a minority of wizards. – nomen Apr 16 '14 at 05:18
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    The active racist are a minirity, but the magical world is still passively rejecting the muddle world – Lesto Apr 16 '14 at 07:01
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Most wizards simply wouldn’t be interested in using a computer.

With the exception of Arthur Weasley, the majority of wizards wouldn’t find computers or the Internet particularly interesting compared to the magic that fills their lives.

When you can summon any book, instrument or animal with a wave of the wand and the word Accio!; when you can communicate with friends and acquaintances by means of owl, fire, Patronus, Howler, enchanted objects such as coins, or Apparate to visit them in person; when your newspaper has moving pictures and everyday objects sometimes talk to you, then the internet does not seem a particularly exciting place. This is not to say that you will never find a witch or wizard surfing the net; merely that they will generally be doing so out of slightly condescending curiosity, or else doing research in the field of Muggle Studies.
- Technology (Pottermore)

They’re perfectly capable of it (though certain technology wouldn’t work in areas of high magical activity like Hogwarts) but most of them simply aren’t interested.

There’s also a cultural component to it as well.

Since wizards generally have no need for Muggle technology since most everything it accomplishes can be done more easily with magic, they would consider using Muggle technology as a statement they’re not a competent wizard.

There is another reason for most wizards’ avoidance of Muggle devices, and that is cultural. The magical community prides itself on the fact that it does not need the many (admittedly ingenious) devices that Muggles have created to enable them to do what can be so easily done by magic. To fill one’s house with tumble dryers and telephones would be seen as an admission of magical inadequacy.
- Technology (Pottermore)

Pure-blood wizards who disdain Muggles would be particularly unwilling to use Muggle technology, as they believe wizards are far superior and would consider it beneath them to use Muggle devices.

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Obsidia
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The thing you have to realise is that if you're a wizard and you can cast spells and all, why would you waste your time upgrading Windows? What would you prefer, a blue screen of death, or to spend time perfecting your death touch?

It's really just a matter of superior intelligence. As people develop better magical abilities like being able to teleport and travel on broomsticks, etc., there's less of a desire to want to spend time on Computers.

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