an AI trick brain

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Daniel Z
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an AI trick brain

Postby Daniel Z » November 17th, 2014, 9:47 am

Mr Fitzkee stand back
http://tinyurl.com/mwvnslt

Bob Farmer
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Bob Farmer » November 17th, 2014, 10:22 am

This is only valid if it works the other way: you show the computer a trick and it figures it out.

The problem with "The Trick Brain," is that, as far as I know, it never produced one really good magic trick.

Daniel Z
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Daniel Z » November 17th, 2014, 10:25 am

No doubt true Bob, but perhaps in this case it's like the talking dog: what's amazing is that he can talk, not what he says.

Joe Mckay
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Joe Mckay » November 17th, 2014, 10:35 am

Walt Lees had a nice essay on how to invent magic tricks.

He thought the key was to focusing on the method first - and not the effect (as is usually taught). I posted up the essay (with permission from Martin Breese) a few years ago on a blog I used to help out on.

http://doubledeal.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/creativity-walt-lees/

On the same blog you can see Alex Elmsley's thoughts on creativity and why he believed Arthur Buckley was so bad at inventing card tricks.

http://doubledeal.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/arthur-buckley/

I have always being interested in the use of AI to invent card tricks. I remember Karl Fulves writing about this in 'Epilogue'. An example he gave - on a realted topic - was that you can teach a computer to play tic-tac-toe by diagramming it as a magic sqaure and then telling the computer to play on the basis of trying to add up a sequence of numbers to whatever the total is for that magic square.

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Jonathan Townsend » November 17th, 2014, 10:52 am

I was under the impression the "trick brain" was a way to take one's special context for a show and generate ways to use ones tricks on hand.

from CPU to magic shop... somehow not surprised. Is there an Ed Marlo type vetting program to make sure the generated items are not already in print?

Any thoughts on taking a stacked and marked pack and using an app to guide a performer through "the trick that can't be explained"?
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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MManchester
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby MManchester » November 17th, 2014, 12:16 pm

Joe Mckay wrote:Walt Lees had a nice essay on how to invent magic tricks.


I was just reading the April 2008 issue of Genii (Dr. Hooker on the cover). It includes an article by Guy Hollingworth titled Waiting for Inspiration: The Design Process from a Magician's Perspective. It begins on page 32.
Michael Manchester
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Daniel Z
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Daniel Z » November 17th, 2014, 12:24 pm

Then there is the very different approach (approaches if you prefer) of the incomparable Stewart James. Perhaps we can have a quantum computer that has 3 invisible friends (aka/ the disputers or qubits)

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Dustin Stinett » November 17th, 2014, 2:08 pm

I'll buy into it when the computer--without prompting--demands credit for its work.

brianarudolph
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby brianarudolph » November 17th, 2014, 2:32 pm

I remember reading the Trick Brain many years ago when I first got into magic. When I told one of my fellow newbie magicians about it, he suggested we give it try. The trick ended up being an elephant vanish. The method suggested through the random generation process? A pull. My friend and I spent about an hour laughing uncontrollably as we envisioned an elephant being brought on stage, then a curtain being lowered, then there's this frightened elephant-trumpeting sound, and finally the curtain drops to reveal that the elephant has disappeared. We also imagined having to pry the elephant's eyes open and clean up a rather large, smelly mess afterwards.

I realize a big part of the concept of The Trick Brain is to specifically not rule out a given method (and in fact to spur magicians to think of new ways to implement/apply a given method, but it might be nice if the AI version could go: Vanish? OK. Elephant? OK. Pull? Spin again.

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby Jonathan Townsend » November 17th, 2014, 3:07 pm

There was an item on the market which involved a pull (okay a reel) and a small figure of an elephant.

Perhaps with a feedback process of youtube "like" for performances there could be some development...
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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lybrary
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Re: an AI trick brain

Postby lybrary » November 17th, 2014, 4:46 pm

I would call this optimizing not inventing - big difference.
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