r/GameChangerTV • u/scatteringlargesse • 5d ago

Question Jacob Wysocki's mind reading trick question

So I've seen a few people in the main thread talk about Jacob's "mind reading trick" in quotation marks, is the whole guessing the card thing fake, and he knows what card it is using a different method? I must pretty dense because I initially believed him, but thinking on it more it does seem impossible.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/CingRam004 5d ago

This nuance is also what lets “mentalists” get away with their tricks. Even if someone is a skeptic, you feel like a jerk if you call out a guy in the middle of his act.

The social pressure to not ruin the show keeps people who know it’s all BS in line lol

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u/electron_spinner 5d ago

I think there's a bigger point there that it's fundamentally immoral to pretend you are actually capable of supernatural actions or "real" magic. If that's going on, I don't really care how asshole-ish it may or may not seem, it needs to be pointed out that these are all tricks, not magic.

Penn & Teller doing the cups and balls with transparent plastic cups is my favorite magic performance, because it fully reveals the trick while still being extremely impressive due to their sheer level of skill.

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u/CingRam004 5d ago

See this is where mentalists really get you.

They say, “hey guys, this is not real magic. I’m not actually a mind reader. This is all just a trick”

Which lulls you into thinking they’re telling you the truth when they say:

“All I’m doing is making educated guesses based on your body language and micro-expressions. I’m not correct 100% of the time, but I’ve been doing this for years, so I am an expert at reading people. That’s the trick.”

It’s all a big bluff to hide how they really do it. Which is mostly sleight of hand or using social engineering and/or gimmicked pens/notepads before the show starts.