1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: do you remember the Math Magician from Breaking the Magician's Code, 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: Magic's biggest secrets finally revealed? Oh yeah, you don't, well, 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: this was this was on TV all the time back 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: in the day. Um particularly, this was like especially and 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: probably you know reruns thereafter, but it was this this 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: magician and he wore this mask because he was he 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: was like a rogue illusionist that was that on the 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: on this this particular show, he was gonna come on, 12 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: he was gonna do uh, sort of a staple magic 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: trick and then he was going to expose how it 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: was done. And he was having to hide his identity 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: so that the Magician's Guild wouldn't you know, fire him 16 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: and destroy him, lock him in a cast, getting sinking 17 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: into the ocean kind of a deal. But but I 18 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: remember and then thinking this guy was kind of a jerk, 19 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: and you know, because he's coming along and he's like like, oh, 20 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: you think it is magic, I'm going to kill the 21 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: magic for you. And I could easily imagine him showing 22 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: up in his mask at other events to to destroy 23 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: the magic of other things, like you know, he could 24 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: do you know, a whole series of specials where it's 25 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: like breaking the puppeteers code, puppet tearings, biggest secrets finally revealed, 26 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: you know, and just going down through through the list, 27 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: they sit on tiny stools. They're wearing all black. But 28 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: but no, that that was the first thing that came 29 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: to mind when we were talking about doing an episode 30 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: on magic, on the science of believing, well, that there 31 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: are people who say, let's not reveal the magic. And 32 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: in fact, Um, one the reasons why we're talking about 33 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: this is because there was a great article that came 34 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: out talking about Teller of pen and Teller and Um 35 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: and his pen is the quiet one. That's what I mean. Yeah, 36 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: Tell was the quiet one, the loud one, and and 37 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: he has been lately, Um, he has been talking about 38 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: these secrets Um that they employed. But the thing here 39 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: is that I think of it as meta magic. I mean, 40 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: they have always been pretty forthright with their audience, like 41 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: we are telling you the secrets kind what we're doing, 42 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: and yet we are still going to fool you we 43 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: are still going to pull this magic trick off and 44 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: you're not going to really now. Yeah, I do like 45 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,239 Speaker 1: the way that Penn and Teller tend to handle it, because, 46 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 1: first of all, it's not a oh, I'm gonna totally 47 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: expose the magic here, some secrets about to be revealed, 48 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: prepared to have your your dreams crushed. Like it's not 49 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: it's not about that, like they're they're really bringing And 50 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: it's also not a sense of in the case of 51 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: the mass magician. You don't get the sense that it's 52 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: like a magician that had some bills to pay and 53 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: was like, all right, this is the gimmick. I'm gonna 54 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: do like Penn and tell her all about really explaining 55 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: how magic works, because they love magic, because there is 56 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: there's some really amazing stuff going on beneath the surface 57 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: of the illusion. Not only is the illusion amazing, but 58 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: the way the the the illusion toys with our perception 59 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: reality that's amazing too, And they're all about sharing that. 60 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: But then at the same time they're all about using 61 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: this these secrets that they share as in midirection in 62 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: a magic trick. So yeah, it gets really met up 63 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: really fast. Yeah, because they're basically saying we're totally to 64 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: flu and this is how we're going to fool you, 65 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: and yet this is still going to happen. Um. And 66 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: for people who are who don't know Penn and Teller, 67 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: um me describe them. Pen As, you say, is the 68 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: one who speaks, he's uh, kind of you know Audashas. 69 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: He's six ft seven. He went to clowning school, by 70 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: the way. Yeah, um, and he is usually the person 71 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: who's talking about what sort of trick they're going to 72 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: do and sort of ushering that in, while Teller usually 73 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: executes the trick and is the quiet one. He never talked. 74 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: He's just kind of a mining in that style. Yeah yeah, um, 75 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: And I guess you can call it kind of highbrow 76 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: magic in the way that they really are sort of 77 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: asking you to um. They're they're trying to they're asking 78 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: you to be critical, to be analytical, and yet they 79 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: are obstucating your um critical thinking very much in the 80 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: in the vein of the amazing Randy Um who, of course, 81 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: in addition to being the madition, has the you know, 82 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: the this whole organization is built up. They have the 83 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: prize that the I think it's like a million dollars 84 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: could be wrong on that, but a huge cash prize 85 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: for people who can who can prove that they have 86 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: psychic abilities. And uh in Randy to a large extent 87 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: also falls on the footsteps of Fudini, who, in addition 88 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: to being an accomplished illusionist, was also really into exposing 89 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: uh frauds who were who were taking advantage of people 90 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: who had lost loved ones. And we're using like seance 91 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: environments and in various tricks to toy with people's emotions 92 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: and loosen their purse strings. So so yeah, that's kind 93 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: of the the mold of of these guys as well, 94 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: because they have that long running show UH we Can't 95 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: Bullplop uh to uhus, the censored version, where they would 96 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: talk about various things, often controversial things. X. Yeah, there 97 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: their skeptics, and they bring that that skeptic viewpoint into 98 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: analyzing all these topics when they also bring a fun 99 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: skepticism into their magic. Yeah, and so we're gonna talk 100 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: about how we can break down the magic here a 101 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 1: little bit with science and how they actually do that 102 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: as well, particularly Teller. Again, he wrote an article for 103 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Magazine telling people how he does it and we're 104 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: gonna talk about why magicians are like camouflage designers of 105 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: the mind. We talked about camouflage and some of the 106 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: same uh sub diffusions going on in camouflage patterns as 107 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: as the magic acts. But first, let's uh let's talk 108 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: about the New York Times article Science of Illusion by 109 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: Alex Stone. He ushers in the article by talking about 110 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: a coin trick, a really simple coin trick. So he says, Okay, 111 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: pinch a coin at its edge between thumb and first 112 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: fingers of your right hand and begin to place it 113 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: in your left palm of letting go doing that now, Okay, 114 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: begin to close the fingers at the left hand. Okay, 115 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: the instant the coin is out of sight, extend the 116 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: last three digits of your right hand and secretly retract 117 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: the coin. Presumably that means like put it in a 118 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: little into The last three are kind of they're they're 119 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: kind of serving as a cover, like a shield, right right. Well, also, 120 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: it's making it look like it's drap in your like 121 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: your freeing your fingers from the coin at the same 122 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: time you're depositing that coin, let's say, right inside your sleeve. Um. 123 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: And then he says, um, secretly retract the coin, make 124 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: a fist with your left hand as if holding the coin, 125 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: as your right hand palms the coin and drops to 126 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: the side. Okay, and then you're going to reproduce that 127 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: coin later, all right. What they say in this article 128 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: is that this is a great example of something called 129 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: retention vanish. This is the illusion of a false transfer, 130 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: and it happens when there's a lag in the brain's 131 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: perception of motion called persistence of vision. So the audience 132 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: will actually see this is the crazy thing. The audience 133 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: will actually see the coin and left palm for a 134 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: split second after the hands separate. And this is because 135 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: your visual neurons don't stop firing once a given stimulus. Here, 136 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: the coin is no longer present to your brain. Again, 137 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: we talked about this. This this great pattern recognition machine 138 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: makes that coin appear because you have the visual neurons 139 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: still being stimulated. So what they're saying is that our 140 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: perception of reality lags behind reality about one of a second. 141 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: And this is what magicians are exploiting. Wow, it's it's 142 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: really interesting, and that we u We also recorded an 143 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: episode today on Camouflage, which either just came out before 144 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: this one, or will come out next. And there's a 145 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: lot of overlap between these two topics. And camouflage, you 146 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: are toying with pattern recognition a lot of the time 147 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: and using distraction and misdirection to ful like potential enemy. 148 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: And in in magic we see a similar thing. Here 149 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: we're exploiting pattern recognition where we're we're exploiting the lag 150 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: in perception and reality. Yeah, and this is where the 151 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: cognitive bias comes in, right, um. And we can say 152 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: that cognitive cognitive bias can be traced to evolution to 153 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: our ancestors because missing a pattern was much more dangerous 154 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: than seeing a pattern that wasn't their right, So that's 155 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: kind of why we're hardwired like that. Um. So if 156 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: magician magicians can tweak the patterns enough, then you can 157 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: lead the brain to cognitive bias. And that's where we're 158 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: constructing this false logic for ourselves. And as you say, 159 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: they're employing um, not just the um you know, a 160 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,319 Speaker 1: pattern sort of falling into the background in us accepting 161 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: that the coin has been transferred, but also this idea 162 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: of dazzle as well, and this idea of distraction. Okay, 163 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:51,679 Speaker 1: so um, absurdism, humor always comes into play with magicians 164 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 1: for a really good reason. Yeah. I found this really 165 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: fascinating because, I mean, on one hand, I mean it's 166 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: it's pretty obvious. You're you're gonna use basic misdirection. You're 167 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,439 Speaker 1: you're not looking you're not looking at the coin. You're 168 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: gonna look at the assistant skimpy outfit, or you're not 169 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: looking at the allowed, you know, at at the thing 170 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: that's about to disappear. You're looking at the elaborate prop. 171 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: You're not looking at the handcuffs on the guy. You're 172 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: looking at this enormous vat of water that they're being 173 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: immersed to. So you end up focusing on the spectacle 174 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 1: and not necessarily on the small detail upon which the 175 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: entire trick hinges. And uh. And you know, so you're 176 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: you're taking in this an environment, You're you're working it 177 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: out in your head, what's about to happen. You're you 178 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: have expectations of what's going to happen. Throw in some absurdity, 179 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: throw in some humor. And they find that laughter disables 180 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: your ability to think critically for at least a moment um. 181 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: And I've I've been observing this recently. Um playing this uh, 182 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 1: this card game called Cabo. Um, we'll pull us out 183 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: with friends, and it's a very simple memory game. Um, 184 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,080 Speaker 1: you can look it up online. It's like like I 185 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:57,719 Speaker 1: think they used to sell it on Etsy. It's like 186 00:09:58,080 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: it's got like one of the cards has a rainbow 187 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: as a unicorn puking a rainbow. So it's that kind 188 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: of fun little game. But you end up having several 189 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: people set around and you're you don't know what your 190 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: cards are. Necessarily you get peaks of them and you 191 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: have to memorize it. Other people are memorizing their cards, 192 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,239 Speaker 1: trying to keep track of cards that are moving, and inevitably, 193 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: if you have some fun people playing, somebody's gonna crack 194 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: a joke, somebody's gonna say something amusing, or something's gonna happen, 195 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: and then you totally don't remember where anything is right 196 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: the distraction there, So throw that out on a magic trick. 197 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: So it's like people think they're smart, Oh, I wonder 198 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: where that coin is. Then they throw in a fart 199 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: joke and you're good. You're good to go, like reset 200 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: the entire memory well, and Teller says that they all 201 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: immediately follow a trick with a joke every single time. 202 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: And that's exactly because they're manipulating that part of your brain. Um. 203 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: I want to go down real quick. His his seven 204 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:54,079 Speaker 1: things that he does um to to defraud an audience. UM. 205 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: One which we already talked about. Exploit pattern recognition to 206 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: make the secret a lot more troublesome than the trick 207 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: seems worth. Complex trick, Yeah, Like for instance, he said that, uh, 208 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: for an appearance on David Letterman, for two weeks, they 209 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: trained themselves to work with these cockroaches two hundred of them, 210 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: really slow moving so that they would not you know, 211 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: skiter off um when they got their camera time. They 212 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: created some styrofoam thing that um that works really well 213 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: with roaches to crawl on, and then they inserted it 214 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,959 Speaker 1: into this hat. And I mean really seriously, and all 215 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: we need said that, you know, they worked with an 216 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: animal trainer or this entomologist you know, day after day 217 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,960 Speaker 1: so that they wouldn't scream like little girls when they 218 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: had to handle the roaches his words, um, And so 219 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: you know that is a lot of trouble for that trick, right, Okay. So, 220 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: and the reason is because he says, you have to 221 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: create some sort of simular Akham of reality that people 222 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: can buy into. Uh. Number three, he says, which, by 223 00:11:57,800 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: the way, that kind of ties into our discussions of 224 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: action in reality, the idea of it. You have a 225 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: scene where something fantastic is going to happen, say James 226 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: Bond wrestles the squid, but earlier in the book he's 227 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: making coffee or he's having a steak. Right, you're setting 228 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: up the this this illusion of reality that and again 229 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: the buying into thing, this, this idea, this narrative that 230 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,199 Speaker 1: we're buying into. Number three, you get hard to think 231 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: critically if you're laughing. For keep the trickery outside the frame. 232 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,319 Speaker 1: So he's talking about, um, you know, if he's you 233 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: pick a card out of a fifty two deck or 234 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: a fifty two card deck. Um, if he's taking off 235 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: his his jacket and throwing it outside the frame of 236 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,839 Speaker 1: what's going on, that's diverting your attention because he's doing something, right, 237 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: then write some sort of flight of hand. Um. Five, 238 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: to fool the mind, combine at least two tricks. We'll 239 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: talk about that a little bit. And uh, he says, 240 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: Number six, nothing fools you better than the lie you 241 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: tell yourself. Um. And this is something that he means 242 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: that you come to discover on your own. The magician 243 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,199 Speaker 1: lets you discover a truth on your own. Plants that 244 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: really number seven. If you're given a choice, you believe 245 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 1: you have acted freely. That I think it's fascinating. We'll 246 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: talk about that too. Um, but that that's kind of 247 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: how he goes about these tricks. And um, that's when 248 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: we talk about cognitive bias happening. And that's because your 249 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: brain is telling you all these things, it's making up 250 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: a story, it's creating the pattern, and misdirection becomes a 251 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: really key item for a magician. Yeah, Like I said, 252 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: misdirection is all about diverting the viewers attention from the 253 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: often trivial looking things that are the small detail upon 254 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: which the entire uh trick or illusion rather is is hinging. 255 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: So again, that's that's why you have I mean, I mean, 256 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: part of it, of course is its performance, and performance 257 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 1: needs to be visually amusing. But you have all these 258 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: elements in a magic trick that that are distracting. You 259 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: have a beautiful assistant that's skimply addressed. You have magnificent props, 260 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: you have uh explosions and fire and uh and slashing 261 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: swords and musical accompaniment and lighting effects. Um. It reminds 262 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: me a lot too of how of how a really 263 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: um well done haunted houses put together, because even that 264 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: is about the scares there are about misdirection if they're 265 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: done right, It's about let's get you looking over here 266 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: and then something will come from this direction. Let's have 267 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: you thinking about what the place sounds like, and then 268 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: we'll shock you with what the place feels like. That 269 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing. I have a good real life example 270 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: of this. It was I guess inadvertent magic trick, and 271 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: it was how do you hide a half naked woman 272 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: in plain view? Okay, so will science Festival. I'm walking 273 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: down to a whole years. Yeah, I'm going to one 274 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: of the venues, and I'm passing in front of this 275 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: church or I'm approaching church on my left. Wedding party 276 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: is on the stairs of the church. On the right 277 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: of the sidewalk, the bride is about to get out 278 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: of the car. Coming forward is a woman in jean 279 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: shorts and no shirt or brawn, just just walking down 280 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: the street. Because it's in New York. Can people do that? Right? 281 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: And what I found amazing and made me feel completely insane, 282 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 1: like I was the only person I think actually who 283 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: noticed is that as she is crossing in front of 284 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: the wedding party on the stairs, none of them look 285 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: at her because they're all looking at the bride coming 286 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: out of the car. And I'm thinking about this, did 287 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: they not see this half naked woman passed right in 288 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: front of them? And that is how this this is 289 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: very similar to a magic trick, right that how could 290 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 1: you hide this, you know, thing that should be really 291 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: obvious and it's that misdirection. Huh. Anyway, well, it makes 292 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: me that I feel like, um, there have been some 293 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: some like bank heist movies where where they've used that 294 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: where it's like, let's have a sexy lady over here 295 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: and then the guy, you know, the guard doesn't notice 296 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: and they slipped by them. And it also ties into 297 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: my my longstanding theory that you could potentially rob a 298 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: bank with a basket of kittens, like if you were 299 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: just bring them in and like place them on the 300 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: table and people are gonna be transfixed by the kittens 301 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: and then be like, oh my goodness, and then they'll 302 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: touch the kittens like they're so soft, I can feel 303 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: their heart and then you just slip by and the heart, 304 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: you know, how do you do? You feel them? They're 305 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: so warm, they're like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, 306 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: but no, you can you could totally rob a banquet 307 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: that's mine. I just did something horrible happening to the kittens. 308 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: I have to say in that scenario, No, you can't 309 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: bring a basketful of kittens into a robbery scenario. You 310 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 1: do not expect one of them to be splatter. The 311 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: only downside I see is that eventually that basket of 312 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: kittens will have to testify in court, so they'll be like, 313 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 1: up on this witness stand will be a basket of 314 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: kittens and uh, you know, really abusive lawyers coming in 315 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: and really trying to grill them on the stand, and 316 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: they're just they're kitten, so they're they're just completely out 317 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: of it. And there's your next Pixar film, Yeah, the 318 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: Bandit kittens. All right. So, Um, one of the things 319 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: that Teller was talking about is to fool the mind 320 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: combined at least two tricks. I wanted to talk about 321 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: that because he says that, Um, every night, Las Vegas, 322 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: I make a children's ball come to life like a 323 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: trained dog. My method. The thing that fools your eyes 324 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: is to puppeteer the ball with a thread too fine 325 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,479 Speaker 1: to be seen from the audience. But during the routine 326 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: the ball jumped through a wooden hoop several times, and 327 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,439 Speaker 1: that seems to rule out the possibility of a thread. 328 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: The hoop is what magicians call misdirection. A second trick 329 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: that proves the first. The hoop is genuine. But the 330 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: deceptive choreography I took um or I used, took eighteen 331 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: months to develop. Again see number two, more trouble than 332 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:34,439 Speaker 1: it's worth it. Also, I can't help but think of 333 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: a fiction in this case to take one idea that 334 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: truly cool, take another idea that's really cool, combine them, 335 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: and if you do it in the right way, no 336 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,440 Speaker 1: one will necessarily notice that all you did was say, 337 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: take the pacing for you know, this classic novel, and 338 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: simply infuse it with whatever this trend happens to be. Right, 339 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:59,639 Speaker 1: That the idea is not to see the underpinnings bursting underneath, right. Um. 340 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: Teller is also talking about independent verification, so he says 341 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: when he cuts the cards, he doesn't magic trick with cards. 342 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: Um I think he says, like the worst uncle magic trick. 343 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: You can imagine, Um, he says, I let you glimpse 344 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,160 Speaker 1: a few faces, and then you conclude the deck contains 345 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 1: fifty two different cards again pattern recognition. But who's gonna 346 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: who's actually gonna sit there and look at them? Right? 347 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: I mean, well you go through. All you need is 348 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: a couple, right, you say, okay, but when in fact 349 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: he's actually taken those three cards and replicated a full 350 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: deck by taking eighteen different decks of cards and taking 351 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: out those three cards, or so he's always going to 352 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: get one of those three cards. Yeah. Also cases where 353 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: the magician you know, is allowing individuals who are participating 354 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,399 Speaker 1: the trick to handle objects that are involved, to touch 355 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: the cards, to touch the hoop, to touch the wand 356 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:54,400 Speaker 1: whatever is being used to verify that it is not gimmicked. Right. 357 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,880 Speaker 1: And you think too, that you've made a choice, right, 358 00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: You've made a choice. You took that card and this 359 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: this was of your you know, this fifty two different cards, um, 360 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: and this this was the decision that you made. And 361 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: uh so then you feel like you have some skin 362 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: in the game, right, And what Teller says is that 363 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: if you're given a choice, you believe you have active freely. 364 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: This is one of the darkest of all psychological secrets. 365 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 1: And he actually does a little political action and points 366 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: back to our political system and says that this idea 367 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: of having a two party system is much like having uh, 368 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,760 Speaker 1: fifty two cards of the same three cards in them. 369 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 1: Sort of interesting, um, you know it. Also, I'm reminded 370 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: to of pickpockets here. Uh. And there's certain there's a 371 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: certain overlap here because you do see plenty of magicians, 372 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: especially slight of hand magicians that are also a skill 373 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: that at least performance pickpocketing pickpocketing, if not actual pickpocketing. 374 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: And uh and like some simple pickpocketing techniques are as 375 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: simple as, oh, I bump into you while I actually 376 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: take your wallet, because you're your distract acted by the 377 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: bump to your shoulder. You don't feel the slight um 378 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: you know, fabric movement of your wallet disappearing that kind 379 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: of thing, or or also you know, distracting by visuals. 380 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: You know, you're handed a baby, or or here's a 381 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: you know, an attractive lady, that kind of thing. You know. 382 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: What's uh interesting about that is that their pickpocketing. Um, 383 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: I guess you could say rules are predicated on the 384 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,639 Speaker 1: way that you actually approached the wallet. And this was 385 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: from an article by Jonah Laire and Wired. It's called 386 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 1: magic in the brain. And apparently your eye tracks really 387 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: well when you when you's on a sort of flat plans. 388 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,359 Speaker 1: If you're if your hand is just reaching across in 389 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 1: a horizontal line, then you're gonna be able to track 390 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: it really easily. But if you do an arc like this, 391 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: your your machinery is pretty flawed in that sense, and 392 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: that our our brains, our eyes aren't able to really 393 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: read that motion. Isn't that interesting? And it also that 394 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,239 Speaker 1: that ties into a lot of the flourishes that you 395 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: see in in in magic in these performance illutions, because 396 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: people aren't just I'm grabbing this orange and I'm gonna 397 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: grab that one. No, there's a lot of flourishing and 398 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: movements of the arm. It becomes difficult to track exactly 399 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: what's going on. We are gesticulating wildly right now, as 400 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: we talked by the way in here. Yeah, but you're right, 401 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: there's there's no linear movements. It's all sort of circular. 402 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna take a break and when we 403 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: get back, we're going to talk about this inherent blindness 404 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: we have, whether or not we're looking at a face 405 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,760 Speaker 1: or we're making a choice on a particular let's say 406 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: jam that we like. All right, we're back, so we're 407 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: gonna talk about jam. We're gonna talk about jam, preserves, jelly. 408 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,679 Speaker 1: I don't know what you call it, but jam in 409 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: my house. And the reason I want to talk about 410 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: it is because it was called out in this New 411 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: York Times Science of Illusion article um in one study 412 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: where shoppers in a blind taste test had two different 413 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: kinds of jam to pick from it so they can't 414 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: see it. They're just getting spoonfuls of it. They choose 415 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,120 Speaker 1: the one they like. They are then given a second 416 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: taste from the jar they picked. Oh, they think they 417 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: are getting a second taste of it, but with the 418 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: researchers actually switched the jam flavor, so they get a 419 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: second spoonful and it is not the one they like. 420 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: But they fail to notice that they're tasting the wrong jam, 421 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,879 Speaker 1: even when the two flavors are like super dissimilar, like 422 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: grapefruit and cinnamon apple, because their brain has already created 423 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: the narrative that this is the one I like, and 424 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,119 Speaker 1: we're going with us. Yeah, there's been some really fascinating 425 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: experiments along this line involving wine, where you bring people 426 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: in and you really color someone's expectations of this wine 427 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: by letting them know that, oh, this is a fine vintage, 428 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: this is a more expensive wine, and then this one 429 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:54,199 Speaker 1: is cheaper and it's you know, and this is the 430 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: I don't know, fill into blanks, what's the fancy wine. 431 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: Uh something something was, Yeah, that one. So the people 432 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,919 Speaker 1: end up going to that experiment, their narrative is colored. 433 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: Like you said, they're already writing the story of their 434 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: their experience with that wine, and then they go in 435 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: and then there they end up getting it wrong because 436 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 1: it was swapped on them. I mean, this is the 437 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: classic we secretly swapped this person's coffee with folders, instant thing, right, 438 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: But it but it works. That's the thing. You. So 439 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: much of our experience of something is colored by our 440 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: anticipation of it, what other people seem to be expecting 441 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 1: of it. And then if you switch things around the 442 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: last minute, you can get a lot past the person. Well, 443 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: and there's this another thing called change blindness, which I 444 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: thought was fairly really cool. Um. It is a study 445 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 1: that shows how minor distractions can impair our ability to 446 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: remember remember faces. Um Psychologist Daniel Simon's had an experiment 447 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: or stop random strangers on the street and ask for directions, 448 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: and then midway through the conversation, a pair of confederates 449 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: called confederates walked between them and block the stranger's view, 450 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: and the experiment or switched places with one of the stooges, 451 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: so the person that as directions was then replaced. Yeah, 452 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: I've seen the video of this. Yeah. Yeah, when we 453 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: do a blog post to go with this podcast, I'll 454 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: try and find that video and embed it for you 455 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:16,199 Speaker 1: so you can watch it right there. Yeah, and it 456 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: really is. It's great because you know it's just that 457 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: split second um uh, you know we're distraction, uh, and 458 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: then the stranger is talking to a completely different person 459 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: and most of the time, just like the jam experiment, 460 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: they really didn't notice, which I can see that. I 461 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: think that probably would happen to me before because your 462 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: brain is occupied with other stuff. But again, this is 463 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: what magicians are exploiting, and in doing it in a 464 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: way that you don't notice. I mean, that's that's the 465 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,159 Speaker 1: whole thing is to the seamless incorporation of distraction in 466 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: this direction, so that the end of it you would 467 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: have to really think back on the moments where you 468 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,719 Speaker 1: were you were tampered with. Well, it also makes you 469 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: think too, like how how how much stimuli we really 470 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: can't take in that that's entering the light entering into 471 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,199 Speaker 1: our eyes and our brain trying to make sense of everything, 472 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:09,640 Speaker 1: and how much of it is the brain is filling 473 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: in the gaps, like, for instance, seeing the coin that 474 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: isn't actually there, but it's just filling in the gaps 475 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: because it can't actually assemble all of that information. No, 476 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: we would melt down if we shot to right. It's 477 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: almost like them when we were talking about camouflage and 478 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,880 Speaker 1: we're talking about Tom Harris's article and about this continuity 479 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: in our brains, taking those you know, stack of blocks 480 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,880 Speaker 1: and saying, okay, that's one unit because they're all one color. Um, Okay, 481 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: now there are two different colors, are two different units. Um, 482 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: that's just the way our brains work, all right. So 483 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: here's something really interesting again from the New York Times 484 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: article is about transcranial magnetic stimulation and this this old 485 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,159 Speaker 1: TMS grambler has shown up before in our podcast uh, 486 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: notably in as the God Machine used by Michael Persinger, 487 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: so called because its ability to induce feelings of transcendence, 488 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: but also has been the culprit behind some hallucinations people 489 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:09,360 Speaker 1: imagined ghosts. When pormal experience abductions, Yeah, when their brains 490 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: are basically fussed with with this this super magnet that 491 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 1: is placed over their head uh and and manipulates parts 492 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: of their brains that that create these um these hallucinations 493 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 1: for them. And this is what we talked about this 494 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: before is a possible explanation again for abductions alien abductions. 495 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: And it turns out that some people have this high 496 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 1: libility and low libilities in their brain. In other words, 497 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: there are a little bit more sensitive to this magnet 498 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: than other people are. So our magicians using this magnet 499 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: no scramble the brains of audiences where the yet um, 500 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,879 Speaker 1: but it has been used to look at our attentions fans. 501 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: So in other words, they've used this TMS over our 502 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: parietal cortex. This is a part of the brain that 503 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: controls attention, and they noticed that when they fuss with it. 504 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: Of course, people UM have a harder time identifying faces 505 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,400 Speaker 1: and recalling things um, which is, you know, not surprising. 506 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: But again, here's here's something that magicians have known for 507 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: thousands of years um and have been doing these magic tricks, 508 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: and that neuroscientists are now just really excited to um 509 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,680 Speaker 1: investigate through magic. Interesting. And again, while that while magicians 510 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: are not using magnets on people's brains, it is worth 511 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 1: remembering that certainly if you go to a magic show 512 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 1: in Vegas, there is a there's a very good possibility 513 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,239 Speaker 1: that the individuals observing that magic show have have had 514 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 1: something to drink before it really gets going here. I'm 515 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: sure you're having environments where, you know, where wine and 516 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:46,880 Speaker 1: beverages are served, so you're already sort of again, you're 517 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: not pointing a magnetic ray gun at someone's head, but well, 518 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: in a sense you are. It's just it comes in 519 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: a glass with a fancy little umbrella on it. Well, 520 00:27:55,840 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: your critical thinking abilities we probably teeny bit impaired. Yeah, 521 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: And I mean we talked about that lag in motion 522 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: right with your eye and and seeing those coin tricks, 523 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: so we already know that when you have too much 524 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: to drink about your own um, yeah, that is a 525 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: little bit impaired as well. So I mean one. One 526 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: drink is enough to you don't see through the illusions 527 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: of the world around you, much less what the guys 528 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: is doing on the stage. Oh man, that's nice, actually 529 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: done well. Wind does more than Milton can to justify 530 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 1: God's ways to man. But you had a quote you 531 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: want it ended up instead of me ending it with 532 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: an unrelated quote. Oh no, I just thought general there 533 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: in his article and wired um nail that you just 534 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: have a magician must sell people a lie, even as 535 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 1: they know they are being lied to. Unless the illusion 536 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 1: feels more real than the truth. There is no magic, 537 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: and we certainly want there to be magic all the time. 538 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: So speaking of magic, let's haul the robot over here 539 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: and have him deliver us some magic in the form 540 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: of listener mail. All right, we heard from a listener 541 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: by the name of Gene Genet wrote in about about 542 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: the horror episode, but also a little bit about Prometheus 543 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 1: and stuff. He says, Hey, guys, thanks for all the 544 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: awesome podcasts. I worked third shift pretty much by myself, 545 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: so it's great that there are so many to listen to. 546 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: You are also always smart and funny. I love that 547 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: I rarely write into anybody, but the Horror podcast was 548 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,520 Speaker 1: just too good not to. I've been a lifelong horror fan, 549 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: so a lot of what you talked about hit home 550 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: seeing horror movie covers at the video store as a 551 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: kid Eat You in the bum Goolies, which, by the way, 552 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: I did a blog post U right talked about ten 553 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: different VHS covers that kind of mess with me as 554 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: a kid, and what I thought they may have done 555 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: to me. Inspired on inspired by Eating the Bumblies, yes, 556 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: and and and inspired by our episode on horror. Anyway, 557 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: he continues, um, Well, he says that he's on board 558 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: with the idea that clowns are horrible because thing, he says, 559 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: they don't scare me like they do my wife. My 560 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: problem is with sad clowns and book clowns, which is 561 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: interesting because those are the ones that I hold up 562 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: is being that it's always my defense against anyone who's 563 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: just great of clowns. I'm like, well, the hobo clowns 564 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: are great. How can you not like those? But he 565 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: says they are images of sad, broken people, and that's 566 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:15,959 Speaker 1: supposed to be funny. It just doesn't sit right with me. 567 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: So it's an interesting perspective anyway. It continues for some reason. 568 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: People on people horror bothers me in films. I'm sure 569 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: there's a psychology paper on it somewhere out there. I 570 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: prefer supernatural monster evil based harror um and I didn't 571 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: agree with that. I mean, it's a different scenario. When 572 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: you have a monster attacking somebody, that's as much an 573 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: idea attacking somebody, or it's a at the very least 574 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: something unreal. Well, there's that benign violation theory, right, so 575 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: if you take if you make it non human, it 576 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: becomes benign in a sense that it's probably not gonna 577 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: happen to you in real life, where people doing horrible 578 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: things to people, that's a lot more agreeable. It's weird. 579 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: I used to be different on this. I used to 580 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: My old response to this was, well, a person with 581 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 1: a knife, I can run from a person with a knife, 582 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: I can back against the person with a knife. But 583 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: a ghost that kills people with its mind or something 584 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: like that, if that were real, I wouldn't have as 585 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: much of a defense about it. Um. Interestingly enough, a 586 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: friend that I saw Prometheus with his wife didn't come 587 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: because she is totally fine with like people on people 588 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: violence in movies, but not supernatural or unbelievable like alien 589 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: type things. Um So, anyway, Jane goes on too to 590 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: share that he's also a fan of space sorry, mentions 591 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: of a few things that he digs to the alien franchise, 592 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: Event Horizon, which was fun back in in high school. 593 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,479 Speaker 1: Pandorum which uh, which which I really enjoyed. I think 594 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people did not like it, but I 595 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: thought it had some really cool science fiction ideas in it. Um. 596 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,720 Speaker 1: And then and also Dennis Quaid, So you know, a 597 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: sci fi film with Dennis Kaid, I'm always on board 598 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: for uh and uh. And then he also said there 599 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: was a Star Wars novel with zombies in it that 600 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: he was into. So um and he also mentions the 601 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: the Dead Space video game series, which which he holds 602 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: up is really good space hard and and I've actually 603 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:07,640 Speaker 1: been toined with this game series recently, and it's I 604 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: agree that it's it's really well done, really well done 605 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: game with a lot of scars in it and some 606 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: actually some interesting science in places. All right, Well, let's 607 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: listen to one more listener mail here and then we 608 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: will call it a podcast, all right, And here's one 609 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: from Eleanor. Eleanor writes in on our Science of Promethea's episodes, 610 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: is Hi, Rob and Julia, I just found your podcast 611 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: and love it. I have a question about the recent 612 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 1: episode The Science of from Prometheus. You brought up the 613 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,719 Speaker 1: subject of panties. You talked about in detail about Ripley's 614 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,479 Speaker 1: panties an alien, but you didn't discuss in detail Shaw's 615 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: panties and Prometheus. I thought her quote unquote panties looked 616 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: more like a gauzy loincloth, something like Jesus wore on 617 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: the Cross. Uh. They weren't sexy at all, but her 618 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: buff body was. What did you think of Shaw's panties? Um? Wow? 619 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: What did I think of Shaw's panties? Well, okay, I 620 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: agree that they weren't They did not sexualize her, and 621 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 1: I think any more than she was wearing panties and 622 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: she's running around. Yeah, I think I was so distracted 623 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: by the blood on her from from the scene where 624 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: she performs her own C section that Um, I didn't 625 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: even think about it because my my main thing was, Hey, 626 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: doesn't anybody notice she's covered in blood? But I know 627 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: that they were all wrapped up and uh, in the 628 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: old dude. Uh that scene, So that's probably why they didn't. Anyway, 629 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: these are all willing suspension of disbelief issues. But yeah, 630 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: I my thoughts are pretty much the same. I felt like, yes, 631 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: she had underwear on, so you a woman in her 632 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: underwear in a movie. You it's hard to say that 633 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: it's not a sexually charged scene just because it's you know, 634 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: it is what it is. It wasn't meant to be sexy. 635 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: She wouldn't in some way or at least sexually provocative. 636 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: She probably wouldn't be in her underwear, or the same 637 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:52,880 Speaker 1: with him, he wouldn't be in his underwear if you 638 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,520 Speaker 1: weren't intended to two toy with us in that way 639 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: on some level. But that being said, you know, there 640 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: was not I didn't think there's anything overtly sexual about 641 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: what she was wearing, and and you could it's an 642 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: interesting commentary about the gazziness of it in the potential 643 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: loincloth pricings. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think that 644 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 1: there's so many different ways you could read this um movie, 645 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: and some people have certainly looked at the religious aspects 646 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,280 Speaker 1: of that fits in nicely with some of the thematic stuff. 647 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: So it's interesting that, um that that you pick that up. 648 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 1: We'll see with the next thirty years of academic papers 649 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: on the top you have to say about it all right, Well, 650 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: if you have something you want to share with us, 651 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 1: if you want to talk about magic, if we have 652 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: some magicians, some illusionists, some pickpockets out there, right in 653 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:36,400 Speaker 1: and let us know. We'd love to hear from you, 654 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: and you know what your thoughts on all of this 655 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: happen to be. Or if you just have a particular 656 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 1: magician that you like and you want to get their 657 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: name out there, then right in, let us know. You 658 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook where we are stuff to 659 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind, and you can find us on Twitter 660 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: where our handle is blow the Mind, and you can 661 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 1: always drop us a line at Blow the Mind at 662 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: Discovery dot com. Be sure to check out our new 663 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,720 Speaker 1: video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join houstaf Work staff 664 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.