Alright theres a few things id like to say. First of all when Harrys listening to the news at privet drive the muggle news may not have been as boring as it looks. they said south east England was having a drout yet for the past three books its been raining almost constantly. and britain is cloudy and rainy so why would there be a lack of rain in south east England? Also i think Muggles can do things wizards cant. Mr. Weasley says its amazing how Muggles get by without magic. Realy Muggles are more advanced than wizards. have they ever put a wizard in space?not that we no of. Muggles hve computers and instant messaging for communication, yet wizards can only use owls as communication. the muggle news is in there for a reason. i think weve all got to start thinking about whats going on in the Muggle world.

Ah, a point I love to go on rants about in my fanfics. I completely agree Muggles are more advanced than wizards. Wizards are stuck in the middle ages where they still right with quills and parchment. I know this is highly associated with magic, but come on- a bic pen is a bit more convenient. I've written with quills. It takes some pretty fine tuned concentration to get that right. But look at how the wizards live and act compared to Muggles. Their world advances only when a wizard learns a new complicated spell or someone grows powerful enough to remove their world from the stagnation brought on because they've completely relied on their power to advance. Wizards rely on a wand, Muggles rely on their minds. Surely a mind is more powerful than an external stick that only works by flicking it in a certain way and saying a word. Wizards were allowed the pleasure of remaining lethargic and never had the motivation to advance readily since they had no need for mind power to survive in this world. Why do they need to worry about how to efficiently divert water when their wand will get that for them? Why worry about how to supply and preserve food when they can get food from their wands (as Mrs. Weasley demonstrated by making the sauce from her wand when making dinner). Why learn to make transportation when you have apparation? The wizards' entire existence is dependent on what a little wooden stick can do for them. Muggles, unable to have such power, actually had to turn to their own ingenuity. The Muggles evolved by thinking. The Wizards remain stagnent in the Middle Ages due to reliance.

Helen:

While I agree with you that Wizards did not advance like Muggles because they didn't have a need to, you make it sound as if all wizards are stupid and that muggles are far more superior to them.

I wouldn't call a wizards stupid, or lazy for that matter, at all, and I certainly wouldn't call them "stuck" in any certain time period. They DO have SOME modern day convienences from the muggle world, just not very many of them. The kids take a train to school and the ministry owns cars, for example.

Anyway, I think that the introduction of things like electricity into the wizarding world would destroy their entire culture.

yeah. when u realy think about it the Wizarding world doesnt have a whole lot of entertainment. no t.v. no phones, no movies. i admit i wish i could do some of the spells wizards have but otherwise the funnest thing 2 do would be to use magic or play Quidditch which would both be cool.

First, I think everyone has good points.  This is a very interesting subject.  In a way, pepole are only "stuck"by their philosophy or beliefs, if they think they are, or if they want to advance but reject the means to do it.

Certain groups, such as the Amish, refuse to embrace technology.  They are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, in fact, they may be more independent than the average person, who gets their food from a can or a bank of freezers at the market.  Because, they know how to produce it themselves, from start to finish. 

I love technology, but I also love to know how to accomplish tasks without it.  Using our brains to solve problems is very important to our survival, BUT using someone elses brain power but never your own is the road to stagnation in any society.

Since no one has explained why wizards have rejected certain "Muggle" improvements, it's hard to know if its a philosophical thing or laziness.

CJ, notice however that the modern technology, such as cars and trains, that wizards used are NOT wizard inventions. They use inventions created by Muggles. Mr. Weasley becomes fascinated at electricity and wonders how it could work when Muggles first started testing that concept a couple hundred years ago. All the improvements they make to Muggle technology is from, again, a wooden stick. The greatest minds they have in the wizard world, as far as we've seen, are philosophers, not great inventors. The inventors are those who might find added uses for already existing magical products, like more uses for dragon's blood or an immortality function to a magical stone, which are usually discovered accidentally (any scientist will tell you that a majority of great discoveries come by observing something accidentally). We've seen nothing to indicate that wizards take affirmative actions to create something completely novel using only their mind and not a flick of a wand, whereas millions of patents go through the Muggle world each day for completely original ideas that have never been thought of before and are only around now because someone used their mind. It's called intellectual property, and I have yet to see the magic world employ such a system while they rely mostly on their wooden stick to get them through life.

Okay, so wizards rely on magic and muggles rely on technology. Why should wizards go to technology when they don't need it? As I said before, it would destroy their culture.

one thing id like to add is wizards do use their brains. JKR said that incantations alone cant do it u need a powerful mind. another thing is how did magic come about? what came first the Muggles or the wizards? i think wizards discovered uses to magic and some werent able to use magic.so when people ramble on about purebloods being supreme wizards were once Muggles.

It's not just that, CJ. It's the superiority complex that the wizards have going about them. Except for the Muggleborns and the Weasleys, you don't hear Muggles talked about very often in a great light by other wizards. Most act as if they are far more advanced than those poor Muggles, and wonder how Muggles could ever get along without magic. There seems to be a general contempt and feeling of superiority around the Muggles just because they have magic. It's just the general atmosphere that encompasses the entire series. The wizards find Muggles to be somewhat less than them, yet they use Muggle inventions, don't understand how anything in the Muggle world works, and ignore Muggle advances while they scoff at those lowly Muggles in the background. Except for the Weaseleys, you don't see many purebloods who actually care or are interested in knowing about Muggles. They're either more neutral or more on the negative side.

That's an excellent point.  It makes you wonder if the Muggles won't ultimately have something to do with thwarting Voldemort and friends.  I mean by that, that they do something that the wizards don't think of or can't do that is very effective, thereby earning wizard respect. 

I think the reason that JKR has written the world the way she has is that, from the Muggle perspective, witches (in history) were persecuted, hunted down and killed.  Its another one of her attempts to jar the perspective of the reader and to see the situation from a slightly different perspective.

also Muggles do no some stuff about the wizard world. i mean Ron couldnt even pronounce the telephone! where as Muggles have read sci-fi books and no what a wand is dragons, potions, etc. except Muggles think its all make believe.