Magic is basically fooling people for fun. Despite what some may believe, it has absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural. In fact, if anything, it’s science playing practical jokes on people. The art uses human psychology along with techniques designed to capitalize on holes within our limited understanding of reality. Looking at a common tool used by magicians — playing cards — you can find five factors about cards that are relevant to any magic trick. They are Memorability (how well the card is remembered), Visibility (how detectible the card is among others), verbal accessibility (how likely the card is to be chosen when asked to name a random card), visual accessibility (how likely the card is chosen when asked to visualize a random card), and finally likability (how much do people generally like the card).
You see, while we may think of card tricks as random, they are actually probabilities that magicians memorize. Plus, there are other secrets and tricks they can use to “help” them find the right card. Now, some folks may feel this is “cheating.” However, that’s sort of the point of magic, to cheat your conscious mind by working with your subconscious behind it’s back. One of the best master magicians who understand this art better than nearly anyone is Shin Lim, the winner of 2018’s America’s Got Talent competition. In this video, we see Lim’s first audition as he uses a “simple” card trick to blow the judges’ minds.
Image via YouTube
When the video begins, Simon goes through the usual introductions, asking Lin’s name before asking what he does. Lin replies, “I’m a card magician,” to which Simon says, “Okay, whoopie. I’m not going to ask any more questions and good luck.” However, it didn’t take longer than four minutes before Cowell’s dismissive attitude turned into utter astonishment.
Image via YouTube
Watch Simon Cowell and the other judges freaking out over Shin Lin’s “simple” little card tricks in the video below.
And here’s a video of the judge’s reactions after the trick.
