We all know magic tricks are just that—tricks. They're not actually magic. Yet we're still astounded by them, and they seem otherworldly. Is it just that we're suspending disbelief, like we would at a Transformers movie or a White House press conference? According to this handy video from Digg, featuring New York magician Jonathan Hsu, magic is about exploiting "the gaps of logic" in people's brains. There are different methods of doing so, but the basic intent is to essentially short-circuit someone's perception of events so they can't draw a line between cause and effect:
Without that rational connection, things seem to happen...magically. As we know, some magicians are better than others at this kind of brain hack, and thus get outrageous reactions as a result. Take David Blaine, for instance:
Just for kicks, here's some of his most mind-bending work:
