Comments on: Magic in Mind

Magic in Mind

homunculus — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:20:20 -0800

How magicians control your mind. "Magic isn't just a bag of tricks - it's a finely-tuned technology for shaping what we see. Now researchers are extracting its lessons (PDF)." [Via BB and MH]

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:57:54 -0800

Magic Tricks Reveal Inner Workings of the Brain

By: Donnie VandenBos

Donnie VandenBos — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:01:30 -0800

Somewhat relevant - the latest episode of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast has a very interesting interview with the mentalist Banachek, where he goes into detail about being able to keep up the facade of genuine supernatural abilities in a "scientific setting" for over four years.

By: Clave

Clave — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:11:12 -0800

I wasn't manipulated into clicking that link. It was my own free will, I swear. RickyJayRickyJayRickyJay!!! That banishes just about all bad magic.

By: Tube

Tube — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:36:46 -0800

This is very interesting. It's understandable how skeptics have long embraced the input of magicians; most famously in the case of James Randi himself. Proponents of various "fringe" belief systems, like UFO's or Bigfoot are fond of trying to reverse the burden of proof back onto the skeptics. "But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? Indeed, as someone who was personally involved in elements of Bigfoot skepticism, it must be admitted that skeptics have not provided a strong answer to the question of "if there is no Bigfoot, then what is it that people are seeing and/or experiencing"? I think this research is particularly useful for attempting to answer this kind of question. The answer seems to be a combination of expectation, conceptual filling-in-the-gaps, spatial perception, false memory, and a variety of other processes that we are only beginning to study.

By: Camofrog

Camofrog — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:58:33 -0800

Huh. I was was literally just now working on a magazine article about dead-simple magic tricks even little kids can do (it's actually way better than it sounds, these are some great tricks that pretty much work themselves). In a "how to be a great magician" sidebar, I wrote a line about how the best magicians are also great actors, and then I deleted the line because although it felt true, I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. This research seems to back the notion up.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:11:08 -0800

This is exactly why I killed Doug Henning.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:27:27 -0800

Magic as summarized by Jerry Seinfeld: Here's a quarter, now it's gone, you're a jerk.

By: humannaire

humannaire — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:44:58 -0800

This is exactly why Astro Zombie killed me.

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:10:02 -0800

I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. Harry Anderson, Ricky Jay.

By: Knappster

Knappster — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:23:06 -0800

I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. Neil Patrick Harris

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:29:51 -0800

it must be admitted that skeptics have not provided a strong answer to the question of "if there is no Bigfoot, then what is it that people are seeing and/or experiencing"? My hypothesis is that people have a habit of repeating what others say. I would ask if these individuals saw Bigfoot before or after others reported seeing Bigfoot.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:49:22 -0800

"But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? The same way you account for all the people mistaken for deer and shot by hunters.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:24:28 -0800

"But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? The same way you account for all the people mistaken for deer and shot by hunters. If you listen to the facts and take the official story with the grain of salt that it deserves, you will realize that they probably were, as a matter of fact, deer.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:26:11 -0800

I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. Penn Jillette (He does appear in a few roles, Fear And Loating in Las Vegas is one of them.)

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:28:03 -0800

Oh, and: How magicians control your mind. For starters, they use second person.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:44:37 -0800

"But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? Kooks. Each and every one of them.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:51:12 -0800

This is exactly why I killed Doug Henning. Fun fact: he went to the same high school I did. (Several years earlier than yours truly, I hasten to add.)

By: humannaire

humannaire — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:01:34 -0800

Blah blah blah. Reality is spontaneous, and unique to each of us.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:01:02 -0800

Reality is spontaneous, and unique to each of us. It's true! The Jews were responsible for 9/11, Iraq really did have weapons of Mass Destruction and George Bush has been a wonderful president.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:16:49 -0800

PeterMcDermott, if I didn't know you liked girls, I'd propose marriage.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:16:54 -0800

"But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? The same way you account for all the people who say astrology works for them. Chance, poor controls and just plain dumb.

By: NikolaTesla

NikolaTesla — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:22:57 -0800

Excellent read thank you!

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:24:53 -0800

I've never understood why magicians don't rule the world, given their unique skills.

The magician can further influence future recollection by describing past events in a manner that will bias the reconstruction process. This is known in cognitive science as the 'misinformation effect' — that is, the tendency for misleading information presented after the event to reduce one's memory accuracy for the original event. This effect can even lead to the creation of a 'false memory' for events that never took place.

Oh, shit.

By: HappyHippo

HappyHippo — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:52:46 -0800

Very interesting read. I wonder if lawyers will tap this info to debunk eyewitness reports?

By: SPUTNIK

SPUTNIK — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:23:22 -0800

I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. James Randi

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:23:38 -0800

"But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot"? Not Bigfoot, or UFOs per se, but a lot of alien abduction/visitation reports involve sleep paralysis, night terrors, etc. Every once in a while I get the sleep paralysis, and had one once that was very much "Aliens invading my bedroom." Very weird, even knowing what's going on. Applicable to both UFOs and Bigfoot, before the UFO meme these experiences would be interpreted as ghosts, demons, and witches. The stories people hear influence their jumps to conclusion about ambiguous or puzzling experiences.

By: vernondalhart

vernondalhart — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:40:50 -0800

Good article. Best line to take out of context: "The collaboration between science and magic is still young"

By: christopherious

christopherious — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:51:31 -0800

Magic Is Afoot: Alan Moore discusses with Arthur Magazine his views of the Arts and the Occult. (Alan Moore previously on MeFi.)

By: Curry

Curry — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:57:23 -0800

From the article: "Our picture of the world...is a form of intelligent hallucination." Chris Angel Mindfreak makes a lot more sense to me now.

By: johnasdf

johnasdf — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:17:23 -0800

I couldn't think of any respected acting magicians beyond Steve Martin. Orson Welles!

By: fantabulous timewaster

fantabulous timewaster — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:35:39 -0800

I've never understood why magicians don't rule the world, given their unique skills.

What makes you think they don't?

By: eritain

eritain — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:54:09 -0800

But how do you account for all the people who say they saw UFO's/Bigfoot? The same way you account for all the people mistaken for deer and shot by hunters. Yep. Now that the film's been stabilized, you can totally tell it's him. ... deer, quail ... whatever.

By: Suparnova

Suparnova — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:33:00 -0800

A local DC Progressive Magician One of his tricks includes taking soap and wonderbread, making a wonderbread/soap shaving sandwich and eats it. He them puts a plastic bag over his head and throws up the sandwich. He also had people sculpting wonderbread once. He really isn't a magician anymore, but he started off in that genre

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:48:03 -0800

Report: spies need to stay on top of neuroscience research