{"id":12703,"date":"2016-03-24T11:17:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T19:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=12703"},"modified":"2020-10-23T14:37:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T21:37:15","slug":"magic-in-the-modern-age-do-you-still-believe-in-magic","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/magic-in-the-modern-age-do-you-still-believe-in-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic in the Modern Age: Do You (Still) Believe in Magic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary stage magician and escapologist James \u201cThe Amazing\u201d Randi broke out of 22 jails during his career<\/a>, going so far as to break Harry Houdini\u2019s record of time spent inside a coffin submerged in water<\/a> (104 minutes to Houdini\u2019s 93).<\/p>\n

As seen in the film An Honest Liar<\/em><\/a>, Randi became a professional debunker, investigating the psychics, paranormals, and faith healers that gave magic a bad name. He and his colleagues staged their own hoaxes to expose fraudulent illusionists they felt took advantage of susceptible audiences. But in the age of high-tech, can such hoaxes \u2013 and even good, old-fashioned magic tricks \u2013 still be believed?<\/p>\n

The Age of Skepticism? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Randi\u2019s hoaxes included planting fake psychics in research experiments and national media. These days, it\u2019s hard to imagine such elaborate deception, when public records, information dissemination, and watchdog sites like Quackwatch.org<\/a> and Snopes.com<\/a> are at our fingertips.<\/p>\n

Yet there\u00a0remains\u00a0no shortage of those who want to believe in magic \u2013 or magical thinking \u2013 despite a lack of scientific evidence. (Even Randi has his own skeptics<\/a>, and investigations of psychic claims date back centuries<\/a>). Peter Popoff, the televangelist faith healer Randi helped bring down in the \u201980s, still peddles \u201cmiracle spring water\u201d on infomercials<\/a> that allegedly help you get free money from God. Believers in paranormal activity<\/a> steadfastly resist investigations based on technology and science.<\/p>\n

As for magic tricks, illusionists like David Copperfield, who Forbes<\/em> calls\u00a0the most commercially successful magician in history<\/a>, \u201cremains a throwback, specializing in spectacle. On TV he has caused a plane, a train, and the Statue of Liberty to vanish (not at once). For the highlight of his current show he transports someone from his stage to a televised beach in Australia to be reunited with an estranged acquaintance.\u201d This 1993 footage of Copperfield disappearing the Statue of Liberty, with its announcers swearing on the trick\u2019s veracity, seems unlikely to fool savvy audiences today:<\/p>\n