The Magic of Consciousness

Really intriguing piece in today's New York Times on the science of cognition, or "how the mind construes, and misconstrues, reality" as seen from the vantage point of magic.

Teller, one half of Penn & Teller, "left us with his definition of magic: 'The theatrical linking of a cause with an effect that has no basis in physical reality, but that — in our hearts — ought to.'"

Sounds just a bit like various definitions of advertising by Fenske ("Ads is art.") , Gossage ("the best ads...heighten our perceptions"), et al. So often marketing and advertising's sole task seems to be the "linking of a cause with an effect." So very rational. So very purposeful. But I'm drawn to the power of the illogic.

"...has no basis in...reality...but (it) ought to."

Case in point, my old bosses, Alan and Lance, created a nifty bit of advertising ad magic back around 1997.

In :60 seconds, we're exposed to an awful lot of rational salesmanship: A product demo for spaciousness, all kinds of gleaming sheetmetal, several nice views of the instrument panel. But do we really see all that? Or does the magic of that execution manage to slide those facts into our subconscious whilst distracting our conscious (anti-ad) radar with an oblique storyline and a quirky German pop tune?

Anyway, it's an excellent piece in the Times, if you're in the conjuring, errr, copywriting game.

Retreating to a bar at the Imperial Palace, (the author and the philosopher Dr Daniel Dennett) talked about a different mystery (Dr Dennett) had been pondering: the role words play inside the brain. Learn a bit of wine speak — “ripe black plums with an accent of earthy leather” — and you are suddenly equipped with anchors to pin down your fleeting gustatory impressions. Words, (Dr Dennett) suggested, are “like sheepdogs herding ideas.”

That sounds so familiar.