The best lesson to come from this might be to deliberately NOT reveal the
trick and make it a lesson about parsimony. Let's assume we don't know how
these tricks were done. Does it make any sense to jump to the conclusion
that mind reading was going on simply because it can't be disproven? Or
would it make more sense to reserve judgment on something that is so
obviously against everything we currently know. I didn't find any hidden
microphones in the lobby, therefore, John Edwards is actually speaking to
dead people. I think people rely too much on having tricks explained to them
that they never learn to reason "so what if I don't know how it was done;
mind-reading is the last explanation I am going to believe". Just because it
was a UFO (an unidentified flying object) doesn't mean it was a space ship
of friendly aliens from Alpha Centauri. Not many people evidently reason
this way. Just ask Miss Cleo.
Rick
Dr. Richard L. Froman
Psychology Department
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/psych/froman.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Hatcher, Joe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 8:32 AM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: deciphering mindreaders tricks..help!
Hello Tipsters,
We fairly often have on TIPS demonstrations suggested that make us
appear to be mindreaders, ostensibly to demonstrate critical thinking to our
students, and to appeal to the latent ham in some of us. One hazard of
demonstrating such things to students is being viewed as an authority on
such matters....
Last week a "mindreader" came to campus and performed two tricks
which I've been asked to explain twice already; I was there and I have no
idea how he did them. But I'll bet (or I'm hoping) someone out there does.
First trick. MR puts coins over eyes and duct tapes himself blind.
Asks for items from the audience to be collected by a student helper (swears
she is not in on it). Items are held beneath his hand, and he, after
dramatic pauses, describes and identifies them. This also occurred with a
ticket stub to a theater, which he correctly identified as having cost $2.
Second trick. Takes a deck of cards held together by a rubber band.
Tosses it to a member of the audience, tells to "crack" the deck and
remember the card seen. That person then instructed to toss the deck to a
second person, same instructions, and to a third person. MR then proceeds,
dramatically, to tell each person which card they saw (three different
cards).
The first trick I can imagine has the involvement of a second party,
the second I have no clue.
Any help?
Joe
Joe W. Hatcher, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Ripon College
Ripon, WI 54971 USA
