Magic [makes] possible today what science will make a reality tomorrow.

Tempest’s line frames stage magic as a kind of imaginative prototype: an art that can momentarily simulate the impossible, letting audiences experience “future” capabilities before they exist. In this view, magic is not opposed to science but complementary to it—both rely on curiosity, experimentation, and the manipulation of perception or physical laws. The quote also suggests a cultural function for illusion: by making people feel that extraordinary outcomes are conceivable, magic can expand the public’s sense of what might be achievable and thus indirectly nurture technological aspiration. It’s a concise argument for wonder as a driver of innovation.