Jim Steinmeyer - Artificial Conclusions.pdf

Artificial
conclusions
A ne\~ lecture for rnagicians by jirn Steiruneyer
"some circumstantial
evidence is very
strong, as \'I]hen
you find a trout
in the m l. 1 K.' "
--henry david Thoreau
It's all about evidence. You present the evidence
to the audience and hope that they'll jump to an illogical conclusion because-and this is the truly strange
part- that illogical conclusion makes the very most sense.
"When you have eliminated the impossible," said Sherlock Holmes, "whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth."
That's probably how people have decided upon alien abductions, the science of the Great Pyramid
and the grandest, most sensational conspiracy theories. Despite Holmes' legendary rational approach, his
simple formula is, for most people, a formula for jumping to conclusions. That's also how a magic show works.
It seems to be magic because the presentation has pointed the audience in a definite direction and quietly
pushed other suggestions into the shadows. It must be real magic. You must have a special ability. You must
be able to read minds. You might have gotten lucky. Maybe you did something sneaky. Perhaps it's just a trick
deck of some sort. They're all part of a continuum.
Every audience knows that it's a trick, but if the trick is good enough, they will be far more intrigued
than dismissive. If they can be involved, teased or wheedled into considering the impossibility, they can be
impressed with the end result.
At times, these illusions are the result of simple visual effects, like A Most Mysterious Case, a
shrinking card case which is virtually over before it starts- the illusion depends on a few visual cues that the
audience notices at the top of the show. Through the Trapdoor is the result of topological oddity with two
cards, concealed to create a number of distinct illusions. Other effects, like The Princess Caraboo deck, are
the product of planning and analysis that the audie