The Pernormal Is Real

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Sceptics often think, well, if we just present the evidence, people will change their belief in astrology. But that's not true because it's about world view that shapes what you believe. We don't really build our belief system based on rational choice and evidence. All these beliefs are set in world view. And everything tumbles from that, not the other way around.

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…