Home | Blog | Why DO magic tricks fool you?

Why DO magic tricks fool you?

I’ll believe it when I see it…oh really?
What we can learn from a simple magic trick.

Magic tricks are designed to play with your sense of reality.  And one of the ways they do that is to get you to make assumptions about what you see.  “The coin is in the magicians left-hand”, or “I can see inside the hat and it’s empty.”  Once you are convinced of your reality it can be very hard to get you to change your mind…or to get your mind to change what it believes to be true.  Want proof?  Try this little experiment.  Watch the video below but hit STOP at the 0:08 second mark.

What did you just see?  Consider how that could be accomplished.  Was it really magic? Did you see any threads holding up the box?  Was it really suspended in space?  Was the box really moving? Was the box flat or three-dimensional?  Chances are you would swear that you see a black & white checkered box, with a red ribbon floating in space.  That is your reality… and you are pretty sure that your reality is the one true reality…right?

Now go back to the video and continue playing it till the end.  Notice how once you know the secret… it becomes rather difficult to see the three-dimensional floating box again.  You can do it… but it’s much more difficult once you know the secret.  You are now able to view the situation from a different perspective. You have more information.

As Magic Innovation Expert Paul Gertner asks in his Keynote Program BRAINDROPS: “If our brain can be so easily fooled by a simple magic illusion… is it possible some of the assumptions we make about ourselves and the world around us might be… wrong?”   Try seeing a problem from a different perspective…the answer is often right before your eyes.  For more magical thinking go to:  www.PaulGertner.com

Paul Gertner is nationally recognized speaker and corporate magician, whose honors include multiple Tonight Show appearances, performing at a presidential inauguration, and winning three international competitions. He can be hired as a trade show magician or keynote presenter. For more information, visit gertner.com.

Posted in Magical Thinking on October 29, 2014 by Paul Gertner.