Computer Magic: Software Illusions and Deceptions

Software designers have looked at magicians to learn about human perception to design better computer interfaces. Bruce ‘Tog’ Tognazzini, an expert in human-computer interaction, writes that “Both software designers and magicians create virtual realities. We bring ours alive on computer displays; magicians bring their alive on the stage.”

Paul Haeckel was the first to identify the link between magic tricks and software interfaces. He recognised that, to the user, it is unimportant what the software actually does under the hood. Only the mental model matters to the user.

The computer screen shows us a world of buttons, pages, folders, and so on that do not really exist. When you drag a document into the trashcan on the desktop, you are not really deleting it. All you are doing is deleting a pointer to the file. It is still somewhere on the hard drive until it is overwritten. The mental model of deleting a document is thus very different to what really happens.

Just like a magic show, there are two parallel actions. The one that the user or spectator experiences, and the covert action of the magician or computer. The relationship between computing and magic is expressed in the portmanteau automagically. We don’t know how a computer does it, but it happens nevertheless.

Deception is an integral part of AI and robotics, and in some ways, they form a science of illusion. For example, you might think that you are chatting with a person. Still, in actual fact, you are responding to a string of words generated by an algorithm. The computer has no idea what it means, and we are deceived into believing we converse with a person.

Software developers don’t purposely use the same techniques as magicians, but perhaps they should embrace them. Swiss magician Marco Tempest suggested that:

“if Siri had been designed by a magician, she probably wouldn’t fail. It wouldn’t be either she knows or doesn’t know; there would always be another question. … We would use cold-reading skills.”

Artificial intelligence can also help magicians to optimise magic tricks. Any design process is a compromise between optimising the outcome within defined constraints. Artificial Intelligence can assist humans with optimising design problems because computers are much better at tracking the millions of possible permutations in a complex design.

Computer scientist Howard Williams has made great strides in developing algorithms that assist with designing magic tricks. One of his creations designed a magic trick using geometry and another a card trick.

Whether human creativity will ever be surpassed by augmented intelligence is an open question. No matter how smart an AI can become, they have no lived experience. Good magic tricks have relevance to the real world. They are born from our experience with the limitations of the physical world. This video from Jay Sankey provides some insight into the creative process he uses to develop new magic tricks.

The relationship between magic and science is bidirectional. Scientists study the craft of magic, and magicians use science to create the illusion of magic. Stage magicians have always embraced technology to further their craft. Software and robotics now play an increasing role in theatrical magic. Robot engineers can now build machines that perform magic tricks. Contemporary magicians, such as Marco Tempest, combine traditional magic with electronic tools.

Virtual Magic Shows

Spanish computer scientists Anna Carreras and Carles Sora experimented with combing traditional magic and digital technology in a special show. In a magical context, both physical and digital reality can interact with each other. In conventional magic, both the action and the effect take place in physical reality. So, for example, a magician can materialise physical objects from a screen (digital action with a physical effect). The diagram below shows the various options of interactions between the digital and physical world, illustrating how computer interfaces and magic are closely related.

Carreras and Sora found that traditional magic and tricks where a digital action affects the physical world received the best feedback from spectators. Of course, any effect in the digital world is merely a feat of technology and does not surprise spectators, but that does not mean that these effects have no theatrical value.

Swiss magician Marco Tempest is best known for his work with modern technology and for stretching the boundaries of what we expect from a magic show.

This bibliography contains journal articles, conference papers and books that discuss software from the perspective of theatrical magic. For a complete overview of professional and academic publications on magic, refer to the theatrical magic bibliography.