SMC: Guess Who (you will reincarnate into)
A repost of a magic trick
Here is a small trick that I originally posted in January 2021 that revolves around a fun presentation.
But first, a few other things you might be interested in:
Joshua Quinn has published an incredibly beautiful effect you can do with the MultiNotes app. You can find it on MultiNotes’ Facebook group
I am currently looking for freelance projects in design (web design and mobile apps). If interested, you can check out my portfolio at antonioferrara.me and contact me at aferrara98@gmail.com
Effect
You tell Carla that you are going to read her mind.
“I’m going to read your mind. Of course I cannot actually read your mind, but I found that I can fake it very well in some particular conditions.
You know, I’ve always been very good at guessing someone’s name without knowing them. And even in reverse… if I know their name I can kind of sense how their personality will be.”“Looking at you, you are obviously a Carla. A fun, warm person who loves magic tricks… Carla is the perfect name for you.”
“So this is what I want you to do: imagine yourself in your next life. How you will be, if you will be male or female, your personality… and the name you will have”
While she thinks, you take an A4 piece of paper and rip it into 9 pieces. You turn away and instruct her to write the name she is thinking of in one of the pieces. She fills the other pieces with random names.
You turn back and ask her if she will be a creative person. She say yes.
You turn over some of the names (supposedly the not creative ones) like in the Guess Who? game (or this Derren Brown’s trick with photographs).
You ask her if she will be vegan, if she will be the type of person who secretly enjoys drinking orange juice after brushing her teeth, and some other questions, and as she answers you turn over other torn pieces.
You eventually arrive at two people, and in the end correctly guess the person she will be.
Method
The piece of paper she writes the thought of name is recognizable. When you rip a piece of paper in 9 pieces, only the center piece has rips in all 4 sides. You will put that one in the top of the stack.
To avoid mistakes, be clear with your instructions: start by asking her to write the name she is thinking of on there. Only after she has done that, you will ask her to fill the others with random names.
Now you can just focus on the presentation.
as you can see, the piece on the right is the one that has rips on all four sides
Credits
For the presentation I was inspired by Derren Brown and Andy Jerxmann, while the method originates from Henry Hardin.
Thanks for reading, feel free to share the newsletter if you liked it.
Also once again, if either you or someone you know is interested in redesigning their website or another digital product, I’d love to work with you. You can check out my portfolio at antonioferrara.me and contact me at aferrara98@gmail.com
Best,
Antonio