In Control

 

I just finished the new book by Richard Wiseman: How to Remember Everything.  Richard Wiseman was born in Luton, England, in 1966.  He started his working life as a teenage magician at Covent Garden.  At 18, he studied Psychology at the University College London.  He obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh.  He held Britain’s only Professorship in Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.  His research examines a wide range of topics, including good & bad luck, humor, deception, illusion, sleep, dreams, and the belief in paranormal.  His papers have been published in the world’s leading scientific journals.  He wrote more than 10 books (Parapsychology, Quirkology, Paranormally: Why We See What Isn’t There, Night School), of which several become best sellers and have been translated in over 20 languages. 

As doctors, we have confidence in our memories.  I can tell you that there is not much new from that little book.  And, you need to practice and practice (and practice) to remember everything you want to memorize.  That is another good illustration of the gap between knowing and doing.  

However, there is an interesting trick I want to share with readers.  It is in the middle of the book, totally unrelated to memory.  Now, try to do as instructed.

1. Think of any number between 1 and 9
2. Multiply your number by 2
3. Add 8 to your new number
4. Divide your new number by 2
5. Subtract your original number from your new number
6. OK, now you have a number between 1 and 26.  Take that number and match it to its equivalent letter of the alphabet, with 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, 4=D, 5=E, 6=F, 7=G and so on
7. Pick a country anywhere in the world that starts with that letter
8. Now take the second letter of that country and think of an animal that begins with that letter
9. Finally, think of the colour of that animal

I am pretty sure that you have a gray elephant in your mind.

Actually, this trick is best performed face to face.  Writing it here has already partially decipher it.  This is because readers would realize that the answer is always the same for everyone.  If you care to write down the formula of the first 5 steps, high school mathematics will tell you that no matter what number you choose, the answer is 4.  Everyone would get the alphabet D.  Google searching will tell you that Denmark is the only country to begin with D that most people can think of.  So, the second alphabet (that is E) is also fixed.  Since kindergarten, we are taught about E for elephant.  Unless you are from Australia, you might think about emu instead.  And then for most people, elephants appear in gray colour, if no one hints you about a pink elephant before the test. 

While you have the impression of being in control, everything is pre-set.  The first part is fixed no matter what you choose.  The latter parts are not absolute, but few people can deviate from the set-up because of our knowledge and our habits. 

“The more you think you see, the less you'll actually notice.”  This line was said repeatedly in the movie Now You See Me.  In this 2013 American movie, Jesse Eisenberg and 3 other magicians were recruited by the legendary secret magician organization, The Eye, to carry out a well-planned complicated illegal mission.  FBI agent Mark Ruffalo and Interpol agent Melanie Laurent thought that the 4 were going for big money.  But the plot was a revenge against several targets.  Morgan Freeman was an ex-magician who professed in elucidating tricks of other magicians for publicity and for money.  He stepped in as the expert and coached the special agents. 

“When a magician waves his hand and says, ‘This is where the magic is happening.’  The real trick is happening somewhere else.  Misdirection.”  By his expertise, he was able to see through deceptions and be one step ahead of the 4, so he thought.  The ex-magician and the 4 illusionists alike, knew that “rule number one of magic is to be the smartest guy in the room”.  Of course, the smartest guy was the one from The Eye.  Morgan Freeman had been standing too close.  His proximity was, however, part of the plot.  He was set-up to be in a false sense of control.  The more he thought he saw, the less he actually noticed.  He was one of the targets. 

The two ex-magicians, Wiseman and Freeman, taught us the lesson that the sense of being in control made you susceptible to be controlled. 

 

(Source: HKMA News June 2018)