One of the things I love about The Amaz!ng Meetings is the intersection of science and magic. Science depends on critical thinking and skepticism, for obvious reasons (we try to pry the truth from nature, and not rely on fantasy and self-deception).
But magicians rely on it too! Their whole job is to fool you. They have to know how to discern fantasy from reality, so that they can in turn blur those lines to deceive you!
Jamy Ian Swiss is a master at this. He is truly incredible at close-up magic tricks. I have watched him manipulate a deck of cards from inches away, and I absolutely cannot figure out how he does it. At TAM 2 I watched him force the four of hearts on Julia Sweeney over and over again, until she exclaimed "With power like this you could rule the world!"
I think she might be right. Jamy agreed to do a small selection of wonderment for my camera. Check it out.
At TAM 5, Jamy interviewed Randi about his career, and showed wonderful video of Randi debunking charlatans on Korean TV. Here’s a shot of Jamy and Randi watching the video on a monitor:
The host of the Korean show Randi was on was excellent about setting up these montebanks and exposing them, and Randi even said he couldn’t have set it up better himself!
Jamy also did a mentalism show at TAM 5 that was a lot of fun. All in all, as usual, he was a great addition to the merriment.
Previous entries about Tam 5
Report #2: Adam Savage videoblog
Report #1: Name Dropping and geekery
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:57 pm
With his beard that long, Randi looks “amazingly” like Samuel Morse or maybe A.G. Bell. All giants of communications!
- Jack
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Without going into revealing details, it is actually quite easy to consistently force a card over and over and over with a deck that appears normal when shown.
There is a gimmick (no, it’s not a deck of all 4 of hearts either) and despite the simplicity of the trick, it always looks sharp. When executed by someone with a bit of showmanship it’s a captivating series of tricks that can be performed.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:38 pm
You can do it without a gimmick, too, just straight sleights. I definitely agree about the rest, though. I’m still wondering if the Paul Harris that he ate breakfast with was the magician Paul Harris… That man has created some amazing stuff.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
The Paul Harris I know is a radio talk show host in St. Louis, and a skeptic. He’s an old friend, and a really good guy. I’ll be blogging about him later this week, too.
January 24th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Any way we can have a TAM outside of the US?
like TAM UK?
January 24th, 2007 at 4:05 am
Cool, thanks for the reply. I’ll have to look him up in the mean time.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:29 am
From Jack:
“With his beard that long, Randi looks “amazingly†like Samuel Morse or maybe A.G. Bell. All giants of communications!”
The first one that leapt into my head was Darwin.
http://www.readprint.com/author-26/Charles-Darwin
January 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Sleight of hand? Rule the world?
How do you think most political leaders got into power in the first place?
Misdirection and smoke-stained mirrors as avenues to power probably dates back to the founding of Eridu.
And it all went generally downhill from there.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Has anyone ever noticed that you never see Charles Darwin and James Randi in the same place at the same time?
January 24th, 2007 at 9:08 am
>
Don’t forget that at TAM3 he got Richard Dawkins to proclaim his card magic “supernatural” (!)
January 24th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Ah, to distinguish reality from fantasy. What a neat trick,,,
The application of knowledge(technology) has been a human “trick” for several hundred millenia. Diffrentiating between fantasy and reality in a rigorous fashion has only been around since the development of the scientific method(about 1000 years). Wonder where we’ll be in another 100,000years?
I hardly consider politicians magicians. Politicians are not nearly so honest,,,
I wonder if the Chinese Communist advocacy of atheism has contributed to critical thinking in that country. I know the Chinese have a strong adherance to authority figures. How does that differ from an equally strong reliance on the authoritativeness of religion?
Go Randi!!!
GAry 7
January 24th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Addendum:
I still remember Dr. Timothy Leary and his “Question Authority”.
If he hadn’t been so associated with LSD, he would have just been considered an anti-authoritarian rabble rouser. Be careful you critical thinkers. People who espouse resistance to authority are sometimes “disappeared”.
Gary 7
January 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Indeed, card-forcing can be done by straight sleights with a normal deck, and as sleights go, it’s among the easier things to do. I, however, am not sufficiently practiced to do it with a normal deck, but I can put on an effective display with the right tools.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I have seen the magician Paul Harris and he is great at close up. I dabble in magic myself and use the same card force as a running gag. Once, I had a person pick the same card again when I DIDN’T TRY TO FORCE IT ON HER! Sometimes, the odds are just in your favor
I know how a lot of the close up magic is done. The impressive part is that even though I know exactly what is happening, I still can’t always see it. There are people out there that are just that good.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Back when I was studying to be a teacher (back in the Jurassic), I picked up some sleight-of-hand tricks to use with kids. ‘Twas fun! But, I stand in awe of those who can do them so effortlessly.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Tolls Says: “The first one that leapt into my head was Darwin.”
Even better!
- Jack
January 26th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Easy? Right. Call me magically challenged. I cannot see where the card either comes from or goes to. This isn’t just close up, it’s close up on camera. I assume the exchange (what you all are calling forcing the card) takes place in ~one picture frame.
Wonderful stuff. I missed “Heavy Mental” as that was the night I went to Penn and Teller. Sigh, why isn’t there more time in the Universe?
January 26th, 2007 at 8:46 am
skeptigirl, I don’t think the trick on camera is “forcing”. I believe forcing is causing the victim – er, subject – to keep picking the same card. The swap technique displayed above may or may not be involved. What is happening in that segment is eye-boggling. I see how me makes the first couple, but then when the card changes in his hands in the split second, that is stunning.