There has always been magic of some description. From the very basics, anything that couldn't be explained was put down to magic.
By that reasoning, Magic in itself just means "i don't understand" and it was separated out into different possibilities, religion being one explanation, aliens and UFOs are a current favourite these days too.
Arthur C Clarke once said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" and it's true, anything that isn't understood step by step can be passed off as magic.
As we all know (at least, i hope we all know...) there isn't any such thing as magic, just unknowns waiting to be known.
Some, such as the numbers based stuff, is just maths, but hidden. You've probably seen the sites where you add up a whole bunch of random numbers, divide them, multiply them by something, and at the end, someone has predicted the final answer.
Others can use science, like magnets, to make objects behave in unusual ways.
If you want to be a firm sceptic, question everything, and watch what they don't want you to watch.
Your average magician is far more disciplined than they make out, every move, word, even mistake, is well planned to distract you. The simplest part of magic is confusion.
Have you ever seen those tricks where someone is sawn in half, or stands in a box with swords being thrust in?
The trick here isn't surviving the swords, or being cut in half. That's just what you are programmed to believe from all the theatricals at the start.
To find out what happens, you need to pick your jaw up off the floor, screw on your sensible head, and ask yourself a few questions, "can a person be cut in half? can someone survive being stabbed with swords?"
Usually, without a massive team of surgeons, you can't. If it was really possible, why is it done in a box so you can't see the blood and guts? I'd like to think everyone does realise it can't happen, but part of them wants to believe.
I suppose the first thing to remember is that the impossible is still impossible. Cross that bridge and you can go on to understanding what you have just seen.
So now that you understand that what you think just happened, didn't happen, start thinking of ways to make it seem like it did.
Forget about all the "show" for a second, and think what could have been done.
For the sawing in half trick, you know that the head part is going to be real, and you know that a body can't be cut in half, so logically, the whole magician bit is in the first half of the box.
For the sword tricks, you know that you can't survive being stabbed repeatedly, so the swords mustn't have entered the body.
CONGRATULATIONS! You've just figured it out!
It really is as simple as that, for most magic tricks, what you think they must have done, is exactly what they have done. Remember when i said "the trick here isn't surviving the swords, or being cut in half"? Well, now it's time to address the real tricks.
Some people now will be screaming "BUT HE..." or "I SAW HER...." something or another. Now that bit was the real trick. The illusion was a person being cut in half, but the trick was making you think they didn't just pull their feet up.
It's far easier to hide moving about inside a box than to survive some real dangerous weaponry. Loads of these little tricks are then employed, often making as little fuss about them as possible, eg. one half of the box will wiggle it's feet without being asked, or without having your attention obviously drawn to it.
The illusionist knows you will see it, but they want it to be your own discovery, as you will take onboard something you find out yourself far better than something you are told.
You'll eventually add up these trick-lets, convince yourself the quick idea you had at the start can't be the right explanation, and leave putting it down to magic.
If you question everything, you'll start to notice odd things that are done for seemingly no reason. You will try to be distracted from these, and even if you aren't, you'll probably not spot the link, and forget about it.
Take for example David Copperfield's disappearing Statue of Liberty.
New York didn't notice it missing, the viewers weren't able to see it in the act of disappearing, and they were also only allowed to see just the statue.
Put simply, you can't make it disappear, and the obvious solution is the viewers were looking somewhere else. With the large curtains at the side, and vision blocked, all that needed to be done was turn the seating area slowly, and then show a patch of blank sky. The trick here is to hide people being moved on a turntable.
All of a sudden, "the amazing disappearing statue" turns into "the amazing being turned slowly so you don't notice" and it becomes far more believable. It's a lot easier to do that, but that wouldn't get you the viewing figures.
I'm not being a magic sceptic to ruin magic, i just enjoy the challenge of unravelling someone else's smart ideas, brain vs brain.
Keep an eye on the next tricks you see, watch the magician's other hand, ask why he dropped it below the table, watch what he does with it when he shows his other hand.
Watch the backgrounds, the assistants, somewhere, you will spot the clues.
Was the amazing prediction that turned out to be true revealed before you heard the true story, or was it after?
However you think it was done is usually the right answer, now question what makes you think you could have been wrong.
I admire the skill of magicians, often they use very risky distraction and do something in plain view in the hope that everyone was distracted, and they usually get it done perfectly.
It's just that i prefer staying a step ahead...
The End
