Muggles and Wizards

If you thought this was about Harry Potter, you are partially correct. I have an analogy I’d like to use, but first let’s get a very quick refresher about what a muggle and wizard are.

In Harry Potter, a muggle is a non-magical person and a wizard / witch is a magical person. In the real world (*SPOILER* Harry Potter isn’t real) I’ll call wizards people who are masters of hardware, software, or science and a muggle everyone else. What about powerful people like world leaders, CEO’s and sports figures, etc. you may ask? Before the start of the human race’s technological revolution (perhaps the 1970s I’d say) I might have agreed that the class of wizards was broader. But that is becoming less and less true. Technology is driving the human race forward, and those who know how to shape it and bend it to their will (magic) are wizards and everyone else, muggles. As technology drives forward at an ever rapid pace, this gap will increase.

Let’s look at a few examples of recent real life wizards:

Bill Gates – CEO of Microsoft, started his own multi-billion dollar charity

Steve Jobs – CEO of Apple and Pixar, revolutionized hardware industry

Marissa Mayer – Early Google employee, currently CEO of Yahoo

Mark Zuckerberg – A founder and now CEO of Facebook

Larry Page & Sergey Brin – Founders of Google

Michio Kaku – Grandmaster physicist and entertaining presenter

Sorry to anyone I left off this list, but you get the idea…

All the people on this list are very technical and are or were masters of software, hardware or science.

Have you ever seen a non-technical person try to understand how technology works? This is particularly fun with previous generations who didn’t grow up with computers or mobile devices. To them, the workings of the Internet, software and mobile devices seems like magic. But for a wizard, it is easy to understand and create whatever the imagination can come up with.

There are different types of wizards. Some are amazing computer programmers. Others can build a device that is simple and easy to use and loved by millions. Others understand science and materials and can construct things we only dreamed of a decade or two ago.

The best part is, people aren’t necessarily born wizards, although gene’s and childhood environment surely play a role. You can train yourself to be a wizard if you are willing to invest the hours needed. One of my lifelong goals is to be in a position financially to be able to help people who are struggling in life and may not have had the chance to learn technology to get that chance. I look forward to starting that effort in the future.

If you’re a muggle right now and want to become a wizard, start learning today and before you know it you’ll be making magic.

Oh, and if you want to know the inspiration for the title of this article, look no further: