talkmagic.co.uk

Eshly wrote:I still don't think it was impressive, because EVERYONE knows you can see through the blindfold, no matter how much effort you put into it. Driving just means you must see.

Banacheks blindfold was nice though :p

You should try it Tom. Put on a blindfold and then get somebody else in the car with you and try driving down a busy street. Then report back with the news (Unless you accidentally drive into a cop car).

Eshly wrote:I still don't think it was impressive, because EVERYONE knows you can see through the blindfold, no matter how much effort you put into it. Driving just means you must see.

Banacheks blindfold was nice though :p

if that is true, why did he get loads of publicity? you're entitled to your opinion, but do not state opinions as facts..

and you do your rubiks cube thing blindfolded (so you say) so why bother? EVERYONE knows you're able to see...

Randy wrote:Then report back with the news (Unless you accidentally drive into a cop car).

Or Happy Snaps.

Dear forum users,

I could write a long post here justifying my beliefs about blindfolds in certain situations. However I do not think this will help anyone - unless ofcourse you are planning a blindfolded drive soon, which seems unlikely.

It would however derail the thread and make everyone rather annoyed, so I won't defend my point here. You can PM me if you wish, and we can talk there, but I doubt Mandrake would want me to start a debate and cause a good thread to go off-topic.

I'm trying to be more mature on these magic forums. Please respect that, and I politely ask you not to critique my every opinion, no matter how arrogant/wrong/irrelivant/freaky I am.


Tom
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Eshly wrote:I politely ask you not to critique my every opinion, no matter how arrogant/wrong/irrelivant/freaky I am.

Forums are about discussion of ideas and events. If you have an opinion, but don't want it to be critiqued, perhaps you should keep it to yourself. It's your choice to publish your views and ask questions. It's everyone else's choice whether or not to respond.

Ted wrote:

Eshly wrote:I politely ask you not to critique my every opinion, no matter how arrogant/wrong/irrelivant/freaky I am.

Forums are about discussion of ideas and events. If you have an opinion, but don't want it to be critiqued, perhaps you should keep it to yourself. It's your choice to publish your views and ask questions. It's everyone else's choice whether or not to respond.

Yes. But this thread is not the place for it. PM me or make a new thread.

How about we just lock yet another derailed thread while we figure out which extraneous bits to remove?

I don't think that methods have become more obvious. They have been, more or less, the same forever because they exploit human perception, which appears to remain the same over generations.

It's easier for those who are interested in how it works to discover how a book test/rope restoration/card to pocket works but that does not change the obviousness of the methods. They will still mystify those who are interested in having fun (rather than spending their precious free time analysing magic shows, which no one normal does).

When this subject rears its head I'm always reminded of the movie The Brothers Grimm, in which Matt Damon exclaims, "Expensive!" whenever something truly magical and astonishing happens. That's because real magicians know that magic happens when the performer has gone one step further in their subterfuge than the audience believes they would. For example, imagine embedding magnets in anything! Rope performers and mentalists alike can be sure that nobody will guess that magnets are helping restore the string or aid detection of, well, you know...

Methods are more deceptive. For example i** pads have got a LOT better. But there is also a lot more bull than there used to be.

Also, search for the Flynn Effect. Its about how the average IQ of the world goes up by 0.3 points each year. In Britain it is 0.6 points, in Japan its 0.7, in American its 0.4.


Consider this:
If you found a person today who ranked as totally average in Britain (IQ 100) and took him back in time to 1980, he would be ranked as a Lowwer Genius by Mensa, and be far above the average.

Human intelligence and critical thinking is growwing very rapidly over the decades. Scientists are not sure why; but as a result, every 10 years we must re-standardize international intelligence tests.


Tom
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I personally don't think that it's important how much 'better' i** p**s have become. No one suspects their use (if you do things properly), regardless of the technology used. That goes for pretty much everything, including marked cards, dodgy wallets and magician's choice. Use them well and you'll do well.

EDIT: IQ, Tom? I don't think that's at all relevant.

IQ's don't really have much of anything to with most of magic or mentalism. But there is an old saying "The smarter a person is, the easier it is to fool them." Due to the fact that usually super smart people will try to come up with 900 different ways of HOW you did this or that.

A person of Average IQ would pretty much just have one guess (and some times they'd end up right.), then they'd move on with their life.

But like Ted said (hey that rhymes!). IQ's in a discussion about magic or mentalism methods is pretty silly.

Mandrake wrote:How about we just lock yet another derailed thread while we figure out which extraneous bits to remove?

We could just thin the thread down to

"no, you're just learning more"

and be done with this talk of IQ and whatnot

We could call it the Elshy effect.

If IQ is so irrelivent then how come the average IQ of a Mentalist is considerably above the average?

True, I'm basing that sentance on a thread started on the Cafe, but I've suspected it for some time. And people are getting much smarter in other ways, the Flynn Effect isn't just about IQ.

Eshly wrote:If IQ is so irrelivent then how come the average IQ of a Mentalist is considerably above the average?

True, I'm basing that sentance on a thread started on the Cafe, but I've suspected it for some time. And people are getting much smarter in other ways, the Flynn Effect isn't just about IQ.

Where on earth is the evidence for that? I doubt there has been surveys and IQ tests on magicians & mentalists to verify that claim.

Since when was IQ important anyway? Some of the greatest people of all time had 'average' or below IQ's and look what they acomplished. Seeing as the point of magic is to do the impossible, and the more 'intelligent' you are the more you know what is impossible, the less likely you would be to see the solution anyway.

Tom, now you're stating suspicions as fact. Stop.

On topic though:
I think it's a combination of factors that makes it seem that methods are becoming more obvious:
As stated, the layman's access to information itself, poor performances by the YouTube generation and the same people's 'street magic' *shudder*
The rise in magic publishing is a major factor I think. It seems like the methods are more obvious TO US, because we're learning far more methods ourselves giving us more 'source material' to draw from when we see an effect and spot it's method.
Also, because of the ease of publishing there's some utter rubbish being sold, not only from amateurs but from respected professionals too.