when you think about it it’s just
deceiving and lying and tricking people
so why do millions of people every year
pay good money to go see magic shows
well it’s the same reason we like to go
to the theater right or we like to go to
a movie we want to be amazed we want to
be entertained we want to see the
impossible brought to life right before
our eyes because when I magician is on
stage when he has that deck of cards in
his hand and he’s entertaining you you
don’t care if it’s fake or if it’s real
or if it’s true or if it’s lies as long
as you are captivated but of course the
second that trick is over the magician
takes his bow he exits the stage and the
first question in your mind will always
be how did he do that it’s this
unscratched ball pitch in the back of
our minds it’s this maddening voice that
we cannot seem to answer how did he do
that my name is Michael I’m a magician
and I’m going to try to answer that
question for you all here today now I
hate to be the guy to break this to you
but magic isn’t real it’s all fake it’s
all lies but we all know that and that’s
what makes a magician’s job so
impossible because we take a room full
of people people who all know magic
isn’t real and convince them otherwise
and we do a pretty good job at it but
how how do magicians fool us
well when broken down it’s really simple
magicians use three tricks three tools
to lie to you to deceive you to mess
with your mind first and most obviously
like I said we will lie to you
second we will distract you in third we
will always be planning ahead now let’s
start with the lies
magicians tell because as everyone knows
no magician is honest we’re just a bunch
of liars that’s the entire profession
you cannot trust a word that comes out
of our mouths but ironically enough
always being surrounded by lies makes
you develop certain skills when it comes
to discerning if other people are lying
now it sounds kind of weird excuse me so
I want to try to explain that better
with a demonstration a magic trick a
card trick if you will so I actually
need help from someone in the audience
so if I would any volunteers could you
please raise your hand raise it high to
because there’s a light in my eye and I
can’t see a thing
something’s gonna come out here anyone
like to help me it’s really quick anyone
oh yes sir
would you like to come on stage thank
Oh what is your name max oh okay I’m
gonna do a really basic card trick okay
I want you to first verify that all
these cards are different okay right now
I am going to riffle down the side like
this whenever you want somewhere in the
middle here to say stop and then I show
you that card you memorize it visualize
it in your mind and I’m gonna see if I
can try to figure out what it is okay
yeah how much shuffle the cards first
okay you ready okay so just time I’m
going to stop still you sure okay let’s
take a look at that please you got it
okay we’ll just set that that’s very
excuse me got that right over here now I
want you to clear your mind okay
he sees eyes are twitching a bit there
so I want to say it’s a Jack am i
correct okay good
clubs hearts spades diamonds clubs
hearts spades diamonds clubs hearts
clubs hearts hearts is it a Jack of
Hearts my correct beautiful thank you so
much you can be seated thank you now
like it’s a relatively interesting trick
and it’s a cool example of the abilities
to discern if someone’s liar telling the
truth and the reason I did it was
because it seems very logical it makes
sense that you know a person who lies a
lot would be able to tell someone else
is lying but I can’t I genuinely had no
idea what his facial movements meant I
just forced him to pick that card I lied
to you I told you that I was gonna try
to read his mind that’s it but load of
baloney I did something called a card
force and I won’t go into too much
detail but I pretty much just held my
pinkie in the back like this and
wherever he said stop it didn’t matter I
always just pulled from that same spot
and show them the card a card that I
already knew what it was going to be so
there was no real discernment there was
no real psychic abilities or eye
twitches or anything it was just a lie
magicians lie like this because it takes
the attention away from the deck of
cards and makes you look at me it makes
you think about my abilities not what’s
going on right here all magicians are
liars
do not trust a word that comes out of
our mouths but what about distractions
magicians use right because a magic show
is full abstractions right if I asked
you all to think of them you could
probably think about maybe the weird top
hats magicians always wear or how about
the magic wands right that such cliche
objects but what about the words the
questions
magicians ask because if I was trying to
really distract you I would just ask you
a question I’m doing a card trick for
you and you’re looking right here at
this deck of cards and I need to do some
kind of secret move and I don’t want you
to see that
then I ask you a question because
although your eyes are right here if I
say oh well what’s your name or are you
enjoying the show or just any simple
pleasantry your eyes will immediately go
from here to here he’ll answer my
question because we have been programmed
that when someone is talking to us we
make eye contact with them and we listen
to what they have to say in the next
split second that just minuscule amount
of time will you look up I’ve already
done whatever I need to do none the
wiser
but sometimes there’s more elaborate
things that magicians need to do
sometimes it’s more obvious motions
right sometimes we need to make
something appear from across the room or
I don’t know sometimes we have to be
sorry that was weird
sometimes you have to cough to disguise
the fact that we pulled like a large
yellow ball out of our pockets right
it’s just simple obvious distractions
right no I’d be willing to bet that
majority of you didn’t notice that maybe
some of you did maybe some of you keen
eyed folks out there and you know if you
did congratulations because something
like that isn’t easy it’s not easy to
discern what’s going on well so it’s
very angrily two people over here might
see something going on but people over
here might not it’s all about
distractions for example when I’m
distracting you talking to you about
this yellow ball talking about
distractions I turn the deck blue it’s
pretty simple trick right but hopefully
hopefully if a magician is doing well
the majority of people’s focus is not
going to be here it’s going to be here
by the way for those of you who were
paying attention I mean throw those who
weren’t this is just a double back to
card it’s really simple I just pulled it
out of my pocket right it’s simple stuff
like this just simple distractions we’re
so that’s pretty simple right it’s just
lies and distractions but what about
planning ahead what about the things
magicians do the the time sticking
efforts we make to know all possible
options of a show because I spent weeks
if not months preparing just for this
something as simple as a talk where I’m
barely doing any magic at all because I
need to know every possible thing that
could happen everything that will happen
now one thing I’m doing going to do a
really quick demonstration now I won’t
be bring anyone on stage for this but I
want you all to close your eyes really
quickly and I want you to visualize a
playing card now think of that card that
pops in your mind right there when I ask
you to visualize a playing card okay you
have it in your mind now if I was to ask
this entire room that same question if I
just ask personally you you you what car
did you think of you’re all gonna have
different examples or different guesses
for example sorry it’s hard for me to
see but anyone yeah just someone in the
okay that was a wall guess which one do
we want to go to I heard three clubs
three of Hearts ace of spades which one
do you guys want to go with hmm ace of
spades okay now here’s the thing there’s
no way I could have known what that card
was right like you bunch said have
different things and I think the man out
there really adamantly wanted that it’s
good for him right and I obviously I
didn’t talk to that person before the
show I didn’t meet them I didn’t no idea
who they were but before the show began
I had a prediction and I wrote down up
here in my arm ASA spades right now
that’s kind of a funny little gag it’s
kind of a cool thing but it’s really not
that amazing right because if you think
about it oh he could be in on it but he
wasn’t so how did I know right you could
be thinking to yourself oh well ASA
spades is a really common guess right
there’s a good chance that someone
picked it but what if they had it would
have known it said ASA spades what if I
had to go with three of clubs three of
hearts what would I have done well it’s
really simple I just know the statistics
there’s actually a 25% chance a one in
four chance that if I asked any person
that question visualized a playing card
you’re going to think of the ace of
spades
so I had a one in four chance that if I
put this on my arm it’s gonna end up
being correct but that’s not really good
odds right
one in four that’s it’s not preferred so
I take more extreme steps what if I had
another prediction what if I had the
next likeliest option which for your
information happens to be the Queen of
Hearts
there was a 14% chance you thought of
the Queen of Hearts well I would have
maybe I don’t know
Queen of Hearts on my leg down here but
what about the next common option
actually when I ask you to visualize a
playing card there’s an 11% chance who
would have picked oh I don’t know the
ace of hearts and then there’s actually
a 6% chance you would have picked the
King of Hearts now I just covered the
four most likely options but what if
someone picks something that I haven’t
prepared for what if I don’t have a
prediction for the three of diamonds
three of clubs well that’s fine
because I’ll just do a completely
different trick maybe that person got
three of diamonds I’ll say okay so a
Serb man whoever yield up three of
diamonds come on stage I’m gonna give
you the deck I want you to pull out the
three of diamonds and I want you to oh I
don’t know signer name on it and then I
just do a completely unrelated trick the
audience had no idea what to expect they
didn’t know I was going to be doing a
prediction routine
they just know I’m doing a trick when I
plan ahead and I know all possibilities
I can go in any possible direction with
my show and the audience has no idea I
am in complete control so that’s it
that’s the three ways magicians fool us
and they’re really simple it’s lies
distractions and planning ahead if I’d
asked you everyone in this room to think
of that you probably could have come up
with those three it’s stuff that we know
exists like I said some of you may have
actually noticed when I pulled that ball
out of my pocket or when that deck
turned blue some of you might have
picked up on that but most of you didn’t
well you’re just not looking out for it
enough maybe now you will but to
conclude I want to say something because
I haven’t been completely honest with
you once again there’s actually a fourth
way magicians will trick us
a fourth way magicians will fool us and
it’s actually the most secret way of all
and it sounds kind of cliche but it’s
just confidence it’s just being able to
walk up on a stage and assume this
persona assume this ability that yes oh
I am a magician I can do card tricks I
can go on a TEDx talk I can do that
because deep down I’m just a 19 year old
freshman in college I’m shaking right
now I am terrified that I’m going to
mess up I’m going to say my lines wrong
I’m gonna cough my stomach is doing
somersaults I’m scared but no one wants
to see a 19 year old kid on stage
ranting about how scared he is they want
to see something entertaining they want
to see a magician talking about things
so I’m confident and I believe in my
abilities and that’s all you just gotta
know that you can do what you say you
can do because it’s not how good a magic
trick is that makes someone love magic
it’s not how amazingly impossible a
trick was it’s the quality of the
magician
it’s the audience’s relationship with
the magician that makes people love magic thank you