Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by booklover on April 19, 2012 at 8:16am

None of that is "magic".  You can't explain "magic" because there is no such thing.  The things you are talking about aren't "magic".

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on April 19, 2012 at 4:32pm

That's not magic that's evolution.

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Permalink Reply by Dogly on April 19, 2012 at 9:10am

Magic has another common name, "sleight-of-hand".  It is all trickery.  And, as Loren says, look up James Randi.  

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Wesner on April 19, 2012 at 12:02pm

Ahmed, there are whole books explaining "magic" tricks and "mind reading" scams.  Here's a site that examines hoaxes: http://www.skeptic.com/  These are rational people.  The key to understanding "magic" is this: Everything that happens follows the laws of science: chemistry, physics, biology, and all.  So if something appears to violate such a law, it's either a trick or a misunderstanding of evidence.  Thanks for a really good question.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on April 19, 2012 at 3:19pm

Here's a video by some famous American "magicians" Penn & Teller who explain "psychic readings."

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on April 19, 2012 at 4:30pm

I really cannot believe this is a thread. Trust in science!

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Permalink Reply by Matt--Lukin on April 21, 2012 at 11:26am

Terence McKenna once explained that what we call "magic" utterly becomes without mystery if you posit that these somehow work through a "higher dimension." Then, seeing into the future, things popping in and out of existence perfectly makes sense if you posit a higher dimension.

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Permalink Reply by Dogly on April 21, 2012 at 12:40pm

What?  Matt, can you explain that in another way?  You lost me.

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Permalink Reply by Matt--Lukin on May 10, 2012 at 10:26am

Sure. As Loren Miller quoted Arthur C. Clarke: 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

In other words, if you posit that the extraterrestrial, for example, didn't visit us from Star Systems that reside billions and billions of light-years away from us, but rather through parallel dimensions, realities or universes that co-exist in time and space with our own universe, except through the phenomenon of quantum decoherence, do not interact with our universe except through a kind of "advanced technology" possessed by an E.T.

So, from our perception, it looks as though something, i.e. a UFO "pops into existence." I mean, that's just one example. Another example would be the Tralfamadorians in Kurt Vonnegut's book "SlaughterHouse-Five" that perceive in the 4th dimension, so all time is relative from their perspective, past, present, or future are all seen from that perspective, and if you have that kind of perspective, then things like seeing into the past, present, or future become utterly unmysterious. 

So, the word "supernatural" can then be defined by those processes that are intertwined somehow with or manipulated through a higher dimension. Well, I'm not sure if that was understood, but here's two links that might help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozWo_v6vrTY#t=11m50s

Michio Kaku on Parallel Realities

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on April 21, 2012 at 11:35am

Two quotes to summarize this whole business:

One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null word.
-- Robert A. Heinlein

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
-- Arthur C. Clarke

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Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on April 21, 2012 at 12:40pm

“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.”

Emo Philips quote The magic was feeling forgiven.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Malcolm on April 22, 2012 at 8:26pm

If I explain it to you, it will no longer be cool. Magic and psychic powers are illusory. There is no supernatural force causing anything to happen. Magicians and psychics take advantage (hopefully for entertainment purposes) of perceptual biases and attentional deficits that all humans have.

Magicians and psychics are not able to know things in the future or past that no one knows. There are many subtle and often amazingly simple deceptions that can be used for gathering information to give this impression, but it is all trickery.

So far as I know, there is not a single confirmable example of a psychic solving a crime by providing specific information about the perpetrator. If someone can do this, they should collect James Randi's million dollars. If I had magic powers, I'd sure do it.

I am a bit curious about the parenthetic "Satan and Jin." Are you implying that anyone who can perform an illusion in front of a number of people is capable of harnessing evil forces?

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