Sceptic magicians like randy, myself, banacheck and others are sometimes asked why they don't just tell people how to do everything. Randy always made the point that if i show you four different ways to band a spoon, and some guy on a trip does thefifth way that we didn't show you, you think, well, i know how it's done, but i don't know how this one was done. And yes, this is exactly what can happen in skepticism. The cheaters, hustlers have a word, have a great term of art for this, a jargon term. They call this being half smart. Your using that narrow piece of information against
The most fundamental lesson that all magicians learn is that seeing is not believing. In episode 195, Michael speaks with internationally acclaimed sleight-of-hand artist and 35-year activist for scientific skepticism, Jamy Ian Swiss, about his lively, personal book, The Conjuror’s Conundrum, that takes readers on a magical mystery tour of the longstanding connection between magic and skepticism. Shermer and Swiss discuss: Swiss’s first encounter with fraud, the paranormal and supernatural, magic and mentalism, hot/cold/universal readings, pychics, talking to the dead, James van Praagh, belief, the afterlife, “the amazing” Kreskin, the Alpha Project, and more…