Magic

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Anybody here got any skills as an illusionist? It seems to me that it would be quite difficult to do that with AS, as it requires a lot of "theory of mind" skills, putting yourself into the shoes of the spectators. But maybe it's possible with a bit of obsession and a few scripts out of books?

Personally I haven't dabbled in magic much, though I recall entertaining a small child with an illusion I thought up on the hoof........it was based on hiding two identical plastic toys - she was naturally assuming there was only one, so when I told her one had magically been hidden in one place, she'd go and confirm that while I hid the other one behind her back.

That's funny. No, I have never really tried magic on my own.

The fact that a diagnosed Aspie understands my description of that illusion gives me hope

Hmmm......looks like Aspies can't generally do magic, then. But I guess it figures.

no skills here. i don't see why an aspie couldn't do it though..

when i was young my brother had a "pick a card" trick where he marked the person's chosen card as he stuffed it back into the deck by surreptitiously licking it, which i found hilarious. it would stick to the card next to it, and that's how he would find your card.

i enjoy live magic acts as entertainment, but i'm always frustrated if i can't figure out how they do the tricks.

i'm more interested in deconstructing how illusions work than in "seeing the magic"

I was interested a few weeks ago in cold reading after I got my palm read at a fair. Cold reading like people like that do to figure out things about you so it seems like they know you without you telling them. It made me wonder if an aspie could be taught to cold read someone.

I'm no good at it. I always know where the rabbit is.

I enjoy watching it, but I've never tried it.

I used to work with a guy who was really good at slight of hand, and would do it up close and personal. He was one of those who didn't care about "Magician's secrets" and didn't mind showing you exactly how he did it. He was really good too. That's the kind of act I like, when they can pull it off right in front of you with no props.

I used to think David Blaine was that sort, because of his claims, until I started Googling how he actually does it. He's not. Without the cameras, cohorts and props, he wouldn't be able to pull the vast majority of his tricks off. The guy I knew did it all on his own, with no cameras and no help.

Yes I'd think Aspies could do cold reading. It's extremely cunning but basically it's a script. I looked at it once - seems to depend a lot on making guesses that are complimentary without being too obviously so......that way the subject tends to agree with the guess, because of human pride, without realising it's just disguises flattery. Another thing they do is to assert things that are true of more people than is commonly supposed, such as a feeling of having great unrealised potential. Seems that most people go round with an idea that nobody really appreciates their value. So the subject is astonished that a stranger can tell them something about themselves that they thought was pretty much unique and unvoiced. So many people crave recognition.

I can turn a plain white A4 piece of paper into......a goose!

I thought it was a duck.......you mean the one where you pull its tail and the wings flap? I used to be able to do that, but it's been a long time.