Google has a bit of Chamber Magic

Steve Cohen is “The Millionaire’s Magician”. He has presented a show in New York City called “Chamber Magic” now for over twenty years. (Mayor Bill DeBlassio even once declared a “Magic Day” in its honour.

Google often invites authors and other artists to speak or preform for their staff - activities in stimulating creativity and broadening horizons - and generously shares them with the world tthrough the e”Talks at Google” series.

Here Steve Cohen does a combination performance, then a sit down chat with his co-producer, Mark Levy with some interesting insights about magic, its performance and its history.

The Science of Magic - Talk at Google

Recently, Gustav Kuhn gave a talk at Google about his book Experiencing the Impossible: The Science of Magic. The talk begins with a demonstration of one of my all-time favourite tricks, “The Cups & Balls” and goes into a discussion of perception, blindspots, memory and how the mind puts it all together.

There is one great comment he lets slip casually that pretty much sums it all up:

“Intuitively we believe that if we’re looking at something, we should be able to see it.”

The questions period at the end is remarkable with the audience offering some wonderfully insightful questions with great answers as well.

Gustav Kuhn is the director of the MAGIC lab at the Department of Psychology at the Goldsmith University of London, where he uses magic to study a wide range of psychological questions, around consciousness, attention, perception, magical beliefs, deception and free will.

Experiencing the Impossible is available from fine booksellers everywhere.