http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZM4Iu0sosM
I‘ve enjoyed magic since I was a kid, and I actually regret watching some of those shows on FOX which revealed the tricks behind many popular illusions. I know there is no supernatural magic in the world — and with the splendid wonder of actual animals, plants, planets, and the universe, who needs it? — but the magic of illusion and slight of hand?
Not only is such magic tremendously entertaining — and Teller (of Penn & Teller, of course) nails quite the amazing illusion in the above video — but it’s also humbling, reminding us just how easily our eyes and our minds can be fooled (an important fact to keep in mind when religions claim “eye-witness testimony” to the deference of actual evidence).
Oh, and please do not use the comments here to reveal the tricks behind Teller’s illusion. Keep it magical; the fun is in not knowing!
All evidence is ‘eye (or ear or nose or touch) witness’. As is the second reading of that evidence written down. How much of the science that you ‘believe’ did ‘you’ actually do yourself and how much relies on someone telling you this little picture or these numbers or these grains of samd in this rock means this but only of you assume that etc. especially when it comes ‘evidence’ of the past or the stars or time or the other 6 dimensions we cannot experience.
The thing about that is, science is verifiable. It’s repeatable. And it invites any & everyone to participate in that. If, for example, a theoretical physicist speaks of multiple dimensions, the same math may be performed by anyone.
Religion doesn’t work that way. Personal experience & anecdote are not only not subject to rigorous peer-review, but they would be impossible to repeat or test even if they were subjected to peer-review.
The difference is this:
Religion is viewing a magician on a stage from the audience: it’s easy to see the magic.
Science is viewing a magician in a controlled environment with recording equipment on every angle, and then the magician allows the same sort of controlled settings with many other scientists: it’s easy to see the reality.
Oh and if God (and Satan) does exist I would suppose He may be better conjurors than Penn or Teller.