Week 30/ 31: Magic!

Last week I wanted to know what happened to Rwanda after the genocide of 1994. After the Patriotic Front defeated the Hutu army, Rwanda was still faced with poverty, destruction, and major diseases like cholera. The Front began rebuilding from scratch, insuring that the MRND (the ruling party during the genocide), would never be able to regain power. Surprisingly, with little international aid, the RPF completely rebuilt the government and the economy from scratch, a feat that seems really difficult in hindsight. The first presidential elections were held in 1994.

These past two weeks we shifted gears quite a bit. We finished off the Rwandan discussion towards the beginning of the week, and we're now looking at the principles of magic. We have begun to analyze what makes magic possible, and why our minds allow us to see things that aren't there. All magicians follow the 7 main basic principles of magic:

1. Palm- concealing an object
2. Ditch- Removing the object
3. Steal- take a needed object inconspicuously
4. Load- get the object into position
5. Simulation- pretend to do something to distract the audience
6. Misdirection- lead the audience in a completely wrong direction
7. Switch- swap the two objects

Voila! Magic. Fortunately, it's much more complicated than that. All this is occurring within seconds of each other, keeping the audience completely in the dark as to what's going on. The main illusion that the magician creates is really just a trick of the mind. Nothing is occurring that bends the laws of nature, but the audience allows for our minds to be tricked into thinking it does. Magic is completely reliant on human psychology. For example, the Barnum Effect is the ability to convince someone that something completely false is entirely true.

Most of the tricks performed by magicians require the audience to not be at full attention, where misdirection comes in. Misdirection is used to point the audience exactly where the magician wants them to look in order to continue the trick undetected. It might be a simple point of the finger or something even more subtle and difficult to pick up. Often, misdirection is the hardest thing in a trick to spot when it is occurring because it is the most crucial in any illusion. If it is not carried out correctly, then the trick can be ruined.

Over the years, magic has had the opportunity to evolve with technology. As science becomes more in-depth, magic has the ability to grow and become more elaborate. Technology is often used by many magicians as a means of making their tricks more impressive and even more difficult to figure out. For instance, in the video we watched, a magician used a computer program where he was able to plot out an extensive illusion that made it appear that he moved a mountain. Technology that wouldn't have been readily available 20 years ago can now help illusionists perform what seems to be the impossible.

What I found most interesting was the relationships between magicians and "psychics". I had no idea they hated each other. I didn't even know that there was much of a difference between the two, but as James Randi explains, magicians let you know from the start that they are going to try to fool you. They let you know their performance isn't real, leaving it up to you to figure out how it is done. "Psychics" (note the quotation marks) on the hand, claim that their power is purely supernatural and that what they perform cannot in any way be replicated by mortals. People like Uri Geller make claims that they have unobtainable gifts.

So what's the harm in that? Why does it matter if someone claims to have these paranormal abilities? Well, for one thing, if a magician and a psychic perform the same show, who are people more inclined to go see. Probably the guy who claims his magic is real, not some parlor trick. It makes sense because we go to magic shows to see magic, so naturally we want to see those guys that can read minds and do things that normal humans can't. Therefore it not only takes business away from magicians, but also makes them look inferior. That is why magicians like James Randi spend so much time trying to expose frauds like Uri Geller.

But it still seems strange that people would believe claims made by people like Geller. Science proves that what they do is impossible, yet people still believe it. It's because we want to be amazed. We let our minds get fooled because we want magic and the impossible to be real. A magician never reveals his tricks because deep down we don't want him to. Most of us like to keep the mystery a secret because otherwise it loses its impressiveness.

The movie alluded quite often to Criss Angel. I am familiar with a lot of his work, but I have no idea where he stands on the whole "magician vs. psychic" debacle. Does he claim to have supernatural powers like Uri Geller? Iunno. I'd like to find out, though because he seems to be one of the most recognizable faces in the magic industry currently.

Sources:
Penn and Teller. Photograph. Vox. Web. http://a0.vox.com/6a00c2251d306b604a00cd978a2c98f9cc-320pi.

Uri Geller. Photograph. Crockatt and Powell. Web. http://crockattandpowell.com/blog/uploaded_images/Uri-744501.jpg.