David S. Finch

How a Magic Trick Works

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photo credit: Geoff Oliver Bugbee/Idea Festival/www.geoffbugbee.com

Last week at the Idea Festival I was like a little kid going to his first professional baseball game. However, it wasn't baseball, it was the lecture given by Teller of Penn and Teller. Since I was a small boy, I've always been intrigued by the art of magic. Not just the workings of a magic trick, but the art in which a magician communicates a story and creates a lasting memory.

I've never heard Teller speak (which most haven't), but I was completely engaged by his ability to tell a story as he outlined the workings, the art, the dedication and the grace on how a magic trick works. He spoke of the methods that fool the eyes and the art that fools the mind. Teller conveyed that in magic cause and effect are linked by poetry instead of physics. The job of the magician is to take this poetry and create memories.

Teller demonstrated the power of telling a story and by example kept each member of the audience anticipating every word. After nearly an hour of weaving a story of creativity, he concluded with this thought, " Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself."

Teller by far was my favorite presentation this year at Idea Festival. It wasn't because of my love for magic, but his ability to tell a story, engage his audience, and take an idea, refine it, work it and with diligence pursue it until your able to get to the end results.

More Idea Festival Coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers
2. The Black Swan
3. Ninjutsu: The Art of Success

Technorati Tags: Idea Festival

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Ninjutsu: The Art of Success

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Dr. Peter King, a ninja and retired London police officer lecture last week at the Idea Festival on Ninjutsu: The Art of Success. Peter King holds the rank Menkyo Shilhan (master instructor) in Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu and is recognized as one of the leading Ninjutsu instructors in the western world. He learned his craft from Hatsumi Masaaki.

Dr. King opened his lecture by explaining what isn't ninjutsu. He then said ninjas:

• Are like today's special forces.
• Were traditionally from the Iga region in Japan.
• Go back to the 6th century B.C.
• Were unusual for their time

Peter explained that one who masters ninjutsu, masters life. A perfect example is his teacher, Dr. Hatsumi, a painter, writer, actor, traditional medicine practioner, marital arts master.

He then outlined some of the principles of a ninja:

• self-protection and the prevention of danger
• protection of the body, mind and spirit.
• The way of the ninja is the way of enduring and surviving

King concluded with some of the teachings of Dr. Hatsumi:

• Hardship you endure is only temproary
• Always behave correctly
• Sorrow and hate are both part of life
• Never stray from the path of the spirit and the martial arts.
• Be ambitioius in the ways of the pen and sword.

While I'm not sure if I ever will make a ninja, the concept of mastering life seems like a goal I should pursue.

For additional Idea Festival coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers
2. The Black Swan

Image by: Ben Thomas

Technorati Tags: Idea Festival

The Black Swan

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This week at the Idea Festival in Louisville, KY, New York Times bestselling author Nassim Nicholas Teleb lectured from his book, The Black Swan. His books have more than a million copies in print and his writings have been translated into 27 languages. He has been described as a "giant of modern thought... now the hottest thinker in the world."

Nassim began his lecture by defining a black swan as an event that carries massive consequences and is extremely hard to predict. He shows that black swans historically can be said of the necktie to the computer and even the internet.

He believes that you cannot predict the future twenty and thirty years ahead, which goes against the grain of forcasters that love to predict events, economic futures, by mere numbers and spreadsheets. Nassim believes the resason why is because of "overcausation," looking at the results before the facts. Forecasting by theory will always get it wrong.

In conclusion, Nassim emphasized the need for experience instead of theories, rather than what's currently the common trend, theories over experience.

To learn more about Black Swans and enter in to the philosophical mind of N.N. Taleb check out his book, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

More Idea Festival coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers

Image by: Ben Thomas

Technorati Tags: Idea Festival

The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers

If you're new to davidsfinch.com, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or receive free email updates. Thanks for visiting.

This afternoon at the Idea Festival in Louisville, KY, Amy Chua presented her thesis on, "The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers." Amy, who is an author and professor at Yale Law School laid out the dynamics of the history of global superpowers.

Historically superpowers, whether it was the Persians, Romans, Chinese, British or even in modern times, they all have had one common thread that can be found in all of them. Their rise to power can be traced to a high level of tolerance. Amy defines tolerance as, "letting all types of people work, flourish and prosper in society." Attracting the best of the best talent in the process.

Sadly to say, each hyperpower's demise can also be traced as well. Ms. Chua has come to the conclusion, through her vast amounts of research and insight, that these hyperpowers begin to fail and decline when intolerance becomes accepted, especially in the area of ones ethnicity and religion.

She goes on to lay out the challenges that the United States has in front of them as it deals with the issues of being the world's current only hyperpower, especially when it comes to creating a common identity.

The wealth of knowledge that Amy provides obviously, supersedes what could be written here, but if your interested in global economics and politics make sure you go buy her book, "Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--and Why They Fall"

image by: Ben Thomas

Technorati Tags: #IF2008, Idea Festival