human superpowers

[CrystalSong]

BAH! Just noted the date on that article - April 1st 2016. April Fools Day.
Yeah we have teleportation, but this was a April Fools Day prank. :(

[monar]

Originally Posted by CrystalSong

BAH! Just noted the date on that article - April 1st 2016. April Fools Day.
Yeah we have teleportation, but this was a April Fools Day prank. :(

Yes, putting such a serious and detailed technology article on the official US Army website and make it like an April 1st joke is a typical soft disclosure trick. This is similar to SyFy movies, like 2016 X-Files, that get us used to the idea to avoid chaos when the actual Disclosure comes.

[organic born]

Originally Posted by Gem

Magicians have been doing tricks for ages and most of them are already well known. The necklace trick is a very common one, and people repeat it all the time. Dynamo has a variation of that trick in the first video. Most tricks can be learned online these days. Here's the same trick by a 10 year old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW97_S6wbbs

The second trick has been performed in various ways by a lot of people as well, and similarly, the rope doesn'tt actually get pulled through his body (that's stating the obvious, right?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srlBI1D96-g

My favorite was the Uri Geller appearance on the Johnny Carson. I saw the show not long ago (as a rerun of course :) and then a couple of weeks later I saw the nova show that's described in the following quote from Wikipedia:

Geller appeared unable to exercise his claimed powers during a 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show in which the spoons and other objects he was to affect had been pre-selected by Johnny Carson (himself a former stage magician) with additional advice from Randi. When pressed by Carson, he claimed that he did not feel "strong" that night. Carson was skeptical of Geller's abilities and consulted James Randi for advice on how to thwart potential trickery.[41]

In 1993, Randi explained in "Secrets of the Psychics" for the NOVA television series: "I was asked to prevent any trickery. I told them to provide their own props and not to let Geller or his people anywhere near them." A clip of this incident was televised on the NBC show Phenomenon. This two-minute clip has been widely circulated on the Internet since James Randi acquired permission to use it from NBC and Carson paid for the videotape transfer.[83]

One of the tricks was for Uri to "divine" from a number of small, and like, containers which one had water in it, the rest were dry. The crew on the show were instructed by James Randi (the old school magician) to put a light adhesive on the tray that the containers were on. Uri would turn the tray, in order to "inspect" it from several angles. What he was really doing was to watch for the very slight motion that the container with the water in it would make. But because of the adhesive on the tray the full container didn't wobble. Thus the trick failed.

In the ~business~ of "manifesting" and "divining" there's a certain need for replication, and this is often supplied via old magician tricks in order to produce the desired effect "on command".

"Real" magic may indeed take place but the stunts that are performed over and over again are most likely contrived.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by CrystalSong

Monar, just because some of the tricks are obviously just tricks doesn't mean they all are.

This is the reduction in logic: If some of his tricks are not 'real magic' others still may be, and it follows; if none of his tricks are real magic, that's not to say he couldn't do 'real magic' if he wanted to. Therefore, Dynamo need not ever do anything magic for one to believe he can.

If someone could actually do magic, move things between dimensions, manifest things like the fish in the bucket trick and so on, they wouldn't last long in this world if they didn't hide their powers, there are those who would control them. So mixing actual magic with slight of hand would be a good idea - believers would believe still but he could stay mostly camouflaged and safe as most would believe he was just a magician.

[CrystalSong]

Originally Posted by Gem

This is the reduction in logic: If some of his tricks are not 'real magic' others still may be, and it follows; if none of his tricks are real magic, that's not to say he couldn't do 'real magic' if he wanted to. Therefore, Dynamo need not ever do anything magic for one to believe he can.

Yeah, clever plot twist isn't it?
Human brains are funny creatures.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by organic born

My favorite was the Uri Geller appearance on the Johnny Carson. I saw the show not long ago (as a rerun of course :) and then a couple of weeks later I saw the nova show that's described in the following quote from Wikipedia:

Geller appeared unable to exercise his claimed powers during a 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show in which the spoons and other objects he was to affect had been pre-selected by Johnny Carson (himself a former stage magician) with additional advice from Randi. When pressed by Carson, he claimed that he did not feel "strong" that night. Carson was skeptical of Geller's abilities and consulted James Randi for advice on how to thwart potential trickery.[41]

In 1993, Randi explained in "Secrets of the Psychics" for the NOVA television series: "I was asked to prevent any trickery. I told them to provide their own props and not to let Geller or his people anywhere near them." A clip of this incident was televised on the NBC show Phenomenon. This two-minute clip has been widely circulated on the Internet since James Randi acquired permission to use it from NBC and Carson paid for the videotape transfer.[83]

One of the tricks was for Uri to "divine" from a number of small, and like, containers which one had water in it, the rest were dry. The crew on the show were instructed by James Randi (the old school magician) to put a light adhesive on the tray that the containers were on. Uri would turn the tray, in order to "inspect" it from several angles. What he was really doing was to watch for the very slight motion that the container with the water in it would make. But because of the adhesive on the tray the full container didn't wobble. Thus the trick failed.

In the ~business~ of "manifesting" and "divining" there's a certain need for replication, and this is often supplied via old magician tricks in order to produce the desired effect "on command".

"Real" magic may indeed take place but the stunts that are performed over and over again are most likely contrived.

Most magicians are basically honest, and although they stage a certain mystique, they don't claim 'special powers', but a few, like Uri Geller, aren't working with any integrity, so people like Randi, who is a more honest magician, take issue with matters of integrity as would any person of any other profession.

I personally don't doubt that there is such a thing as supernatural abilities, but Dynamo does magic tricks, most of which aren't even particularly convincing. In the necklace trick, you can see the glue/makeup split and reveal the tattoo he has on his neck. Unless, of course, that tattoo magically vanishes and appears as well.



In the rope trick you can clearly see him move a second rope at the beginning of the video.

Sorry for spoiling the fun, but the real magic is in the wonder a magician produces in people, and not in the stunt itself.

[monar]

Originally Posted by Gem

Most magicians are basically honest, and although they stage a certain mystique, they don't claim 'special powers', but a few, like Uri Geller, aren't working with any integrity, so people like Randi, who is a more honest magician, take issue with matters of integrity as would any person of any other profession.

I personally don't doubt that there is such a thing as supernatural abilities, but Dynamo does magic tricks, most of which aren't even particularly convincing. In the necklace trick, you can see the glue/makeup split and reveal the tattoo he has on his neck. Unless, of course, that tattoo magically vanishes and appears as well.



In the rope trick you can clearly see him move a second rope at the beginning of the video.

Sorry for spoiling the fun, but the real magic is in the wonder a magician produces in people, and not in the stunt itself.

Sorry, I don't see any glue/makeup or tattoo. I see a trace of his ripped skin on the neck that later vanished/regenerated, similar to his other clip when his bloody cut healed in seconds in real time.

I also don't see the second rope and I think the people involved would notice it if any was there

Ok, how about this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEeqbaF7Sys
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERwPpjEaqYA ?

[Gem]

Originally Posted by monar

Sorry, I don't see any glue/makeup or tattoo. I see a trace of his ripped skin on the neck that later vanished/regenerated, similar to his other clip when his bloody cut healed in seconds in real time.

I also don't see the second rope and I think the people involved would notice it if any was there

Ok, how about this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEeqbaF7Sys
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERwPpjEaqYA ?

In the fish one you can see the bucket is connected to something rigid and being rocked up and down only at the front. It would seem the bottom corner which remains motionless is the key to the trick. The first fish was a different trick, probably in a false bottom. The rest of the fish had something to do with the bottom corner of the bucket remaining still while dynamo rocked the open end up and down.


The phone one I have no idea, but I imagine if you could set up say 10 or 20 devices to ring on the same number (which is pretty easy to do, I think), then that would be good enough. After that you just take shots of people looking at their phones, splice them together in the editing room, and 'magic'.

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by monar

I understand "higher forces" do not want the techniques allowing humans to acquire superpowers being disclosed...

?? I will question mark this because who are these "higher forces"? I understand that lesser forces are always at the mercy of greater forces in such a way that the lesser force can identify itself in the greater force and grow. Not so they can be subjugated and limited. Again I have found things hidden in the astral that some beings did not want to share. But for science: I do believe Bruce Lipton talks about this, as he say something like (if I remember it correct), that our environment, our thoughts, is what creates our reality. And I heard a shaman the other day that talked about looking at a future you, and let that inform your present you. In that you could look at yourself as one with these powers, and let that image inform you.


Abraham Hicks talk about supernatural abilities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBh4YunJIe4

[organic born]

Originally Posted by Gem

In the fish one you can see the bucket is connected to something rigid and being rocked up and down only at the front. It would seem the bottom corner which remains motionless is the key to the trick. The first fish was a different trick, probably in a false bottom. The rest of the fish had something to do with the bottom corner of the bucket remaining still while dynamo rocked the open end up and down.


The phone one I have no idea, but I imagine if you could set up say 10 or 20 devices to ring on the same number (which is pretty easy to do, I think), then that would be good enough. After that you just take shots of people looking at their phones, splice them together in the editing room, and 'magic'.

And this is what I deeply enjoy about science. Good science bothers to persistently ask what, how and why in relation to that which is being explored. While religion and much of what's being presented as the "new age" is simply embracing a thought-about-something as though our imaginative assumptions are somehow more accurate than a more serious and investigative inquiry. The bigger the assertion the more intensity should follow the inquiry. :)