Postby Tom Moore » September 30th, 2014, 2:44 pm
Do i /really/ need to explain the difference between trade secrets (construction techniques, materials, artwork, dimensions) which have nothing specifically to do with the magic itself are fundamentally different to "magic" secrets?
A flying carpet is being held up by "invisible" strings (that's a magic secret) the complicated mechanical systems required to support that string, enable the carpet to move naturally, light up, move silently along a metal track and turn loop-the-loops are all trade secrets with nothing at all to do with magic secrets. I've no problem with people knowing / saying that one of my flying carpets is held up by "invisible" strings because (as Jim puts so succinctly) a high-school-student can work that out for themselves. If someone comes backstage with a tape-measure and starts measuring all my stabilising mechanisms or any of the other things I've created though hundreds (or thousands) of hours of research & experience then I'm going to get grumpy about it because by taking trade secrets they're directly, specifically putting me out of business.
The quote is spot on - the secrets that magician's obsess about keeping are an empty safe; Penn & Teller take this observation to its logical conclusion by only exposing effects where the exposure is more interesting than the magic / non exposure would be.