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The "magic" goes out of most things as you become expert in the domain but perhaps the greatest loss is the field of magic itself. As a kid I fell in love with

The "magic" goes out of most things as you become expert in the domain but perhaps the greatest loss is the field of magic itself. As a kid I fell in love with watching magicians. That moment of amazement and delight was always intoxicating. It made me feel for just a moment as if anything was possible (despite knowing there's a trick behind it). As a teenager I studied every magic book in the library, practiced for hours, started performing and eventually made a living in college as a magician, even touring on occasion. As I became more skilled and knowledgeable I eventually got into studying magic theory, learning from some very experienced pros. The 'real' fun in magic for me was coming up with new effects and methods. However, the tough part is once you get to a certain level, you find there are no magic tricks that give that 'zap' of delight you got when you didn't immediately know how they worked. I suspect this effect may be most severe in magic because the visceral impact relies on not knowing the method. You can be an expert musician, able to deconstruct chord progressions and rhythms yet still lose yourself in dancing to music you love. However, not so for advanced magicians. I can still enjoy watching a really good magician on other dimensions like technical execution, creativity or even entertaining presentation but that momentary zap is gone forever.

nsomaru 7y ago
I also began as an amateur magician but mostly remained there. Never did more than a few impromptu shows for friends and family. Often, I compare magic to programming. It’s all about the “effect” and wowing people with something they did not believe possible. But software, as with a trick, loses its effect once you see it the second time. And, once you get into the details of how the sausage is made, it’s technical, time-consuming and probably not worth it for most people who just enjoy the effect. There’s a book “The Royal Road to Card Magic” and there’s a line there which says (paraphrasing) “there is much joy in being the deceiver as there is in being deceived” - perhaps that’s where the joy is to be found, as at the other side of that transaction rather than “enjoying being deceived”?
js8 7y ago
I also dabbled in magic a bit in the past. I used to say that as a spectator, you're only amazed once - when you see the trick being done, but if are actually learning magic, then you're amazed three times - once as a spectator, second time when you get an explanation of the method (no it can't be that such a simple thing fooled me) and then when you try to perform on others and it works (surely I cannot do it as good as the guy who fooled me!) So perhaps you lost the 1st and 2nd delight, but you still can have the 3rd. You could also argue that you didn't really lose anything, no more than somebody "loses" virginity. There are people who simply aren't amazed by magic tricks regardless whether they know the method or not. Maybe we are lucky that we can be amazed at all!
thedevindevops 7y ago
'The loss of innocence is the price of applause' - http://thecodelesscode.com/case/195 http://thecodelesscode.com/case/195

nsomaru 7y ago

I also began as an amateur magician but mostly remained there. Never did more than a few impromptu shows for friends and family. Often, I compare magic to programming. It’s all about the “effect” and wowing people with something they did not believe possible. But software, as with a trick, loses its effect once you see it the second time. And, once you get into the details of how the sausage is made, it’s technical, time-consuming and probably not worth it for most people who just enjoy the effect. There’s a book “The Royal Road to Card Magic” and there’s a line there which says (paraphrasing) “there is much joy in being the deceiver as there is in being deceived” - perhaps that’s where the joy is to be found, as at the other side of that transaction rather than “enjoying being deceived”?

js8 7y ago

I also dabbled in magic a bit in the past. I used to say that as a spectator, you're only amazed once - when you see the trick being done, but if are actually learning magic, then you're amazed three times - once as a spectator, second time when you get an explanation of the method (no it can't be that such a simple thing fooled me) and then when you try to perform on others and it works (surely I cannot do it as good as the guy who fooled me!) So perhaps you lost the 1st and 2nd delight, but you still can have the 3rd. You could also argue that you didn't really lose anything, no more than somebody "loses" virginity. There are people who simply aren't amazed by magic tricks regardless whether they know the method or not. Maybe we are lucky that we can be amazed at all!

thedevindevops 7y ago

'The loss of innocence is the price of applause' - http://thecodelesscode.com/case/195 http://thecodelesscode.com/case/195