ChocolateTeapot: The journalist is as foolish about magic as a wizard would be foolish about technology, if that makes any sense at all.
Hawa DL: Yeah, guess I fail at futurespeak.
The question at the end of the chapter is directed as much at the reader out of universe as it is at the reporter in universe. Call it leaning on the fourth wall.
"By what you mean?" Andrew asked, though he already had an idea of what the wizard was talking about.
John took a sip from the can, then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Today we sit together on a starship capable of exceeding the speed of light. You are recording me with a computer built into your eyeglasses. A century prior, the former would be considered impossible and the latter would be but an experiment. Muggle technology is always changing, always advancing.
"By contrast, magic today is very much the same as it was a hundred years ago, and a hundred years before that. No new principles have been discovered, only a handful of new spells discovered, and only a few new potions brewed. For the most part, our capabilities remain exactly the same."
"You say before that magical strength is equates to personal strength?"
John nodded. "Yes, in fact, I was just getting to that. I think that is the fundamental difference between wizard magic and Muggle technology. A powerful spell requires a powerful wizard to cast- such wizards are rare, and their strength does not increase with each generation. Technology, on the other hand, requires skill, but not necessarily a talent or gift, to work, and each generation can build on the last."
"So you're saying what Muggles have become stronger and wizards have stagnated?"
"Precisely. If anything we have become weaker. The last great wizard was Harry Potter, and he was not very powerful in a conventional sense- he was peculiar in ways that allowed him to beat Voldemort. The last truly great wizard, in my opinion and that of many others, was Dumbledore. Since then no wizard or witch has been able to approach his level of power. Perhaps the pureblood families were right after all."
"Purebloods?"
"Those that do not believe in mixing wizard blood with Muggle blood. Yes, it happens, and more often than you would think. Occasionally there is even a wizard born from a Muggle couple, though all have a magical ancestor somewhere. Blood purists insist that doing so weakens our magic, even producing Squibs- those born of wizard parents with no magic- and insist on the purity of their ancestors."
"Correlation doesn't equal causation," Andrew warned, then shrugged. "In this case but it is very possible."
"Why do you say that?"
"Do you understand the concept genetics?"
"Only barely, I'm afraid."
"The magical trait or gene or whatnot is probably recessive," Andrew explained. "Alice and Bob are both wizards, with two copies each of the gene. They have children, all are magic. Charlie has one copy of the magic gene. If Alice and Charlie have children, they'll probably still be magical- if they receive both copies from Alice or one from Alice and one from Charlie.
Denise is not magical at all- no copies of the gene. If she goes with Bob, their children are almost certainly not going to be magical. If she goes with Charlie, they will not be magical, none of them, but if one of their children has one copy of the gene, and ends up with one of Alice and Bob's magical children or a not-magical carrier from Alice and Charlie, their child could be magical. I think that's how it works- I'm not biologist and I think I've missed some very important."
"Interesting," John mused. "If you are correct it would be very bad indeed."
"Why?"
"We may not be familiar with the concept of genetics, but we do have a basic understanding of heredity," the wizard explained. "We have witnessed some of the twisted results of inbreeding, and that is why blood purism has faded away. After two wizarding wars and the aftermath thereof, our population was decimated. For some, the choice was to marry a relative or marry a Muggle."
"Ask I may what your population is?"
"In the tens of thousands. It has always been small, and recent events have only made it smaller. I estimate that at our peak the wizarding population never exceeded a million."
Andrew shrugged. "Still a viable genetic base, given optimal conditions."
"Given optimal conditions," John echoed. "Conditions are far from optimal. The degradation we spoke of is making many families paranoid. Of course, the vast majority of wizards do not know the first thing about genetics, so often the decisions made are precisely the opposite of what is necessary."
He paused. "Yes, it is a problem, but not our largest one. Our thinking is still stuck in the past, in some ways centuries in the past. And despite all the obvious and tangible advantages, the magical community staunchly refuses to emulate Muggle thinking until it is already out of date.
"We are stubborn, Andrew, very stubborn. The darker wizard thinks of Muggles as beings slightly above animals, ones to ignore when possible and use if convenient. The general attitude of the wizarding world is that magic is absolutely superior, magical people are absolutely superior, and that Muggles are an inferior form of life."
"Itisn't a unfounded method of thought, given the history."
"Perhaps so, but it has held us back and will ultimately lead to our demise. We have already fallen behind, as you know. Centuries of stagnation, centuries. Our society is the same, our magic is the same, we are the same. We are doomed to repeat history and we are doomed to remain ensconced in a world that shrinks every day. The average wizard had not even heard of the scientific method!
"And as you strike out across the stars, we remain earthbound. Do you know that interstellar travel is a taboo? Most of us regard the massive machines you have built as suicidal deathtraps, and the stars themselves as sacred objects not to be trifled with. All false assumptions, but all that will leave us behind. We have no presence outside of Earth. The number of wizards who have been to space I can count on one hand."
Accentuating every syllable, he finished, "We have stopped advancing. We are outdated and outmoded. We are relics of the past."
"You need our help, don't you?" Andrew asked quietly.
Once again, John exhaled deeply. "It is that simple and yet infinitely more complex, but fundamenally, yes. We must cooperate with Muggles, we must reveal ourselves to Muggles and we must endeavour to preserve magic, and if that is not possible, preserve our legacy."
The reporter coughed and wiped his forehead. "I sorry, but you have to must understood, this is a very muddled pic I'm getting. It is a massive to take in."
"Of course. I do not expect you to absorb everything immediately. Do you have any specific questions?"