MagicCube1

[putrahafizizzulislam]

at 1:38 you can see the way he opened the lid and turned the box (with the colour facing him) upwards, pretending that the colour side was facing up all the while

[lmp4eva]

He took the lid off and turned the box so that the open side was facing him and placed the lid on the side making it look like the top. Just kidding he used his astral body to fly out and into the box to see with his X-Ray Quantum glasses What color it was.

[12346jayden]

1:36 watch the way he opened it he had the top on the side so he could see the colour before he opened it and i know that because i have the same magic box trick

[Wittgensteinism]

where's the reveal??????????

[delivermefromallevil]

send me a SUV any color to my place..you know where i stay..hugz!

[metalisbetter1o00]

I'm thinking the colored cube is weighted on one side, so that when the person drops it in, the yellow side is up

[rossv69]

Well!12 How did you do it!!?

[sunnypsy]

I have seached the net and trick is quite simple. The cube actually is a electronic device that relays the wireless signal to the coloured LED sensors well hidden by the performer. Cube senses which side is up and relays it to performer. Truely supenatural powers dont exist. Isnt it?

[ukmoore]

ok so where is the video of him explaining it?

[MRobert2l]

Clumsily performed. Shoulda got a real magician to do it. Or something more baffling.

[TheK1ngdom]

eeeeheheheheheheehHAHAHAHAAHAH­AAAAAAAA......

AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA­AAAAAAAA

U want something to explain?

:D

[nikczer]

I think he's trying to make a point here...

[airborneRE5]

OMG is it so hard for you to figure this out?

(BEFORE FILMING)

Shermer: Make sure you put the cube in with yellow facing up.

Assistant: Alright then we lie and say we didn't pre-arrange anything.

Shermer: Yep and Il keep them distracted with my fancy talk and acting.

[censurabass]

@airborneRE5 No lol, others have got it right. He took the lid off and put it on a different side, so he could look at the colour when it was in front of him. He was trying to reveal how the trick would be done with a stranger chosing the colour. He wasn't trying to trick us.

[icutad2]

@airborneRE5 wow not even close

[LightBrand]

Lol bump on the cube was what I was thinking.

[Nibielari]

guys when it was behind his back he moved the lid off and placed it back on in a different side so for him the open side of the box was facing him, he could just see the color but for us it looked like the lid was on normal.

notice in the video when he goes to check if he was right and take the lid off to check he covers up the whole box to keep us from seeing he is not taking the lid off the open end of the box

[jbw470]

He moves the lid to a side while it's behind his back and just looks right at it to see the color. If you go really slowly (as close to frame-by-frame as you can get on youtube) from 1:36-1:39, you see his fingers clasp around the front "side" of the box, which is really the bottom. He takes the lid off, and since his fingers clasped around the bottom, all he does is rotate the box.

[Leogriffen]

the colored box inside was slightly smaller, so what she chose you can feel it move. if it slid far, it was either, say, red or green. if it slid a little it was 2 others, if it didn't slide, it was 2 others. what you got, it was either white or yellow. you had a 50 50 chance to know this, and you arranged the colors through lights, darks, and whatever. so even if your wrong, you can say something like im close, and you can't get it every time.

[NaturalUniverse101]

so your the guy behind the mask on the show "Magic's Biggest Secrets Revealed".......lol

[anjyrulz]

He put the lid on a different side of the box and just looked at the color inside.

[NegativeNick]

lol at 1:34 he looks right at it!

[guydudeasian]

@anjyrulz Isn't just one side open?

[Lindholmer5k]

@anjyrulz hehe, yeah, you can actualy see the lid comes off of the side of the box when he lifts it

[dreamvisionnetwork]

if the box has equally long sides and the cube inside has one side that isnt as long/deep/wide/perfect then you will be able to feel through the thin cube to find out where is the shorter side of the cube and there fore be able to know what side is currently pointing up. Is that right? correct me if im wrong! cheers

[Pluckerpluck]

That's wrong. A few comments down was correct. When he placed it behind his back he moves the lid to another side so that the inside cube is visible to himself. He then looks straight at it and see's the color.

If you look closely, when he reveals the cube he grabs if from the side facing us, yet when he shows us the result he is holding the bottom.

P.S. This has an amazing effect when done face to face.

[blackadderthe4]

*the UFO video shermer on Larry King Live, is systematically removing our pro ET-UFO posts" no he is not as you well know! because the thread owner has to be online and he hasn't for two weeks, look at his profile! dahur has a hidden agenda of some kind, because he has bought into the "UFO" myth lock, stock and barrel! Just look at his other posts elsewhere!

[dahur]

the UFO video shermer on Larry King Live, is systematically removing our pro ET-UFO posts, and within minutes 5-10 negative ratings. We are really putting it to the shermer machine, and somebody(guess who) doesn't like it. Just confirms we're getting to him.

[pratinus]

yeah I saw what he did... when he says "let's see how it turns out" you can see in his hands he takes the "top" off but the side with the color facing out was on a different side, the side facing him. It's quote obvious. However, where's the freakin followup video? he said he was going to "reveal the answer".

[matrixfreedom33]

Desperate attempt of a left-brainer to cling to the Old World level of consciousness. Wake up to the higher dimensions as your DNA aligns, TO RESIST IS FUTILE!

[Sarge084]

I had to come and look at this vid to see the asinine comment by a numb nuts creationist, I couldn't believe that someone had actually said that until I came here myself. Looks like the poor schmuck is so embarrassed about his gaff that he deleted it.

[RationalTheism]

i knew how he did it straight away

basically, when he puts it behind his back, he places the top on a different part of the box (on a different side), partially revealing the cube inside, so that when he brings it in front of him, he can tell it is the yellow image

[steve198520]

U open the box behind your back and put the top back on another part of it, so when you bring it infront of you you are looking at the cube.

[fuckgodfuckyou]

As soon as someone puts something behind their back im like, "Hold on a minute!!........"

[fuckgodfuckyou]

Oh right i get it....

When he puts the cube behind his back, he is actually taking the lid off and putting it on the side of the cube.

When he shows us the cube it looks as though the lid is on the top of the cube, concealing the color, but actually he can see the cube and the color.

It pays to watch him taking the lid off, because you can see him trying to cover up which side he took it off from!!!

EASY!!

No Witchcraft here!!

[iLuvSPH]

what the hell is this video supposed to prove?

Wow, Mr. Shermer- you've really turned me on to the idea of skepticism, science, and atheism with your little box trick.

I've been a caveman-like Fundamentalist Christian, bashing people in the head with rocks and searching for the Loch Ness Monster my whole life. But NOT ANYMORE! Now that I've seen the intellectual mastery of your box trick- I see the world is not what it seems.

I WANT THE TRUTH NOW!! YOU'VE SAVED ME! BLESS YOU SIR!

[Zigiwy]

Good thing you don't get emotional about it. That would betray your honesty.

[snoma]

Where in the video does he evolution?

How can you draw the parallell between what's obviously a magic trick to the evolution theory?

[pursuitfortruth]

Huh?

[snoma]

Maybe I misunderstood you. In your comment in which I replied to, you seemed to compare the trick to the theory of evolution by saying "This proves evolution... how?"

That's why I asked how you could even ask such a question, because he doesn't even mention the theory of evolution in this video at all.

[pursuitfortruth]

Sorry. Thought I deleted that comment. I know hes a well-known atheist so I figured that was what it was about, but.. yeah

[WWE09FAN]

just because he's an atheist that means that he speaks 24 hours a day, seven days a week about evolution?

[pursuitfortruth]

um...ok

[MatthewCasey]

Pursuitfortruth, thank you for your comment. I never thought I'd find such concrete proof that Christians do not bother with evidence or contextual examination, but you just laid it out right there. You have my absolute gratitude.

[mickhick95]

i dont get it either

[Elscythe]

No, he put the lid on the side :D

[kittyprydekissme]

You don't actually feel colours with synesthesia; you only have the perception that you are feeling them. A person with synesthesia still has to see the colour, it's just that the brain misinterprets the visual sensation as tactile. (Or whatever other sense might be involved.) I know Shermer knows this, but his description may have been a bit misleading to some people.

[dreamdewil]

It's slight of hand, when he returns the cube from his back he has removed the lid and is seeing the color.

The slight of hand is when he pretends to remove the lid, he actually palmed the lid.

[Djarms67]

Basically you peeked.

[Djarms67]

I use to do this trick when I was younger so I how the trick is done.

[hugoruskin]

When he returns the cube in front of him, the box is open, and he sees the color.

[MatterofLuck]

Yup. That's it.

When I was little I used to show this trick to everyone...

Fun little piece of art in the books of magic tricks...

[daymyth]

He covered his hands really well and and hid his motions...

Or the camera man could be mouthing yellow...

[Roobitz]

AHHH that was awesome! I had to watch you do it in slow motion a few times but I figured it out!

I won't give it away to everyone else but I will say that your clue is spot on, it helps to watch 1:39 a few times, and there is a REASON the cube goes behind your back! :D

[HipHopJun]

He put the lid on the side of the box's opening, making it look like the box was closed, but really he can see half of the cube, so when he held it up he saw what color it was.

[frozeninmn221]

That trick brings back memories-I remember learning it from a Harry Blackstone Jr. magic kit many moons ago.

[trunk081]

He's a witch.

[BrainRotMenacer]

That must be it.

[daymyth]

I believe this calls for a burning.

[Demonaphia]

Right. Does this call for all the villagers, or do you think we can handle this with just my family? I'll have you know that my uncle and niece are in town, so that should make seven of us. And what ratio of pitchforks to torches do you think is appropriate? I was thinking 4:3.

[daymyth]

Well I think we should study to discover which combination causes the best proportion of fear to attacking power.

[fragelius]

when he brings box back from behind his back the box is opened and he shows viewers the back side of the box while hi has his eyes on the opened side and sees the color then he just makes it seem that he opens the box and shows the content to u ^^ or somehting like that in 1.31 u can see him checking the color out with his eyes

[ElvisVances]

Touché!

[Sp00lDonkey]

i'd say you either just plain looked at it, or the outer box is a little softer and the inner one distorts the outside shape in some telling way. failing that, maybe the lid is made of 1 way glass or something, opaque when shown removed but see through when the lid is on and it has a dark back.

dunno, i my father is a stage magician, and i often think up ways of doing tricks for him. to many ways to count.

the camera man could simply be mouthing ''yellow'' at you for all i know.

[Kurushimus]

the top of the lid is clear

[sharpezor]

You can do this by making one side weigh more then the others.

[kilija383]

when michael places the cube in the assistants hand the yellow side was up. Letting the girl know what color to choose. If michael wanted to put the cube in the box red dot up he would have placed it in her hand red dot up. So michael chose the color yellow

[Gothlore]

Michael Shermer has supernatural powers!!! He only pretends to be a skeptic to keep people from learning his secret!

[zencat999]

@Gothlore sssshhhhhhhhhhh!!! dont give it away...

they will come to burn us!

LOLOL

[filthyphillyboy]

HIT HIM, with the SOFT CUSHIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bornonmybday]

moved the cap

[maxtopia]

easy: he put the cap on another side of the cube. the box was open and it only looks like he opens it. in reality he took the cap off one of the other sides.

[shtosuka]

yes that's exactly what I think he did.. many on here are making it more complicated than it actually is.

[asiescampeche]

He made something when he put the cube behind his back. There is a little mark over each face.

[kurtilein3]

too easy... he could see half of the cube, because when he had the box behind his back he put the lid on one of the sides instead of on the top. it looks similar to the observer, but he will clearly see the color, more than half of the wooden cube exposed to him.

[pikechris1]

of course for mr shermer its easy. he has repeatedly and clearly demonstrated his psychic abilities over and over again.

last time he was bending sp00ns,, f0rks and even a steel r0d directly in fr0nt of camera.

this time it might have even been a dem0nstrati0n of quantum entanglement, where through his receptive state of mind he senses the entangled electrons in his palm connected to the electrons in the box, deducing their state, giving us the impression of "reading" the color of the dot. ;)

[evilguest]

There's a camera inside the lid of the box that sends its signal to the face of his watch.

[a2zguitar]

He opened the box behind his back, then looks at it when it was in front of him (at the same time distracting us with all his hands waving), and finally, pretended to open it with the hidden lid in the other hand.

I'll try that with my kid :)

[shadowsmirk]

Good call. I couldn't guess it.

[ewrules]

He is an agent of Satan and should be put to death.

[blakeandstacy]

OMFG that's funny. Thanks ewrules.

[blasphimus]

lol this mans a dumbass, syneasthesia doesn't mean your psychic. It means you feel a box and it might taste like lettuce. Or the sight of color might feel like apples. Can't see through a box with that disorder.

[dianwei32]

That's his point, people use things like synesthesia as explanations for stunts like this, he's telling us that it's not true.

[rcn2000]

That was kind of the point...did you miss it?

[Lunchbox7]

well, yes. my girlfriend has synesthesia, though her's is an audio/visual association. sounds have colors and motion. but that's exactly what I thought about when he mentioned synesthesia, you can't touch something and tell if it's red, it's more like the texture of glass is orange or whatever.

[SistemaKaoso]

I'm really enjoying your line of videos. Please keep it up!

[Lukehausherr]

My God, how simple of a "magic" trick is this?

Behind his back he shifted the lid so that it covered the side. then he tilted the box, so that when he held it in front of the camera it appeared that it was right-side-up with the lid on the top. Actually the top (or open side,)was facing him and he could very easily see the yellow dot. He never spins the box around to show you that all 4 sides are still covered and not transparent. You only see 1 side, which is now the bottom.

[medanielme]

yep he flipped the lid so he was looking at the yellow all the time just watch hes hand twists when he takes the lid off

[777Skeptic]

He put the lid on another side of the box when he had it behind his back, and peeked at the opening when he brought it back in front of him. I had this gadget when I was a kid.

[Dralios]

Flipped the cube and put the top on the opposite end, showed us the 'top' but he was looking at the bottom

[dmlled]

either pre-arranged, or a prepared cube with asymmetric weight, or something else

[thepugsta]

simple yet good trick... this was one of the tricks i first learned about ten years ago...

[riversonthemoon]

Could the bottom of the box be slightly transparent, so that the color could be visible through it if it was flush against that bottom? The he could simply deduce what the color was on the top by knowing where the colors of the cube are situated.

[PerfectionObsessive]

I'm guessing.

The assistant was more focused on putting the cube into the box rather than choosing a color, as he directed her to just put the cube in the box first, she was probably wondering if it'll fit; so when instructing her, Shermer already picked the color as when he showed the cube to the assistant he had yellow faced up.

So the easiest thing for the assistant is pick up the cube by gripping it on the side and dropping it in as is.

[sim007002]

He did sleight of hand when he removes the lid so it looks as if it was closed. Good trick.

[lennyhipp]

"He did sleight of hand when he removes the lid so it looks as if it was closed. Good trick."

Wrong, when it was behind his back, he put the lid on the side, and not on the top... the opening was facing him, and he was looking right at the yellow dot.

[arcalexx]

I think this is the right solution.

[HadeanAgent]

Same could be said for x-rays. The ability to see through objects could be considered paranormal, couldn't it? So one can conveniently dismiss the paranormal in that respect, but that doesn't mean there isn't weird stuff out there.

Another thing I wouldn't say is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence...they just require evidence. If you can prove it, then prove it. Simple as that. I don't believe we should be setting the bar extra high for strange phenomena out there.

[Gwisss]

"Another thing I wouldn't say is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence...they just require evidence"

Do you not understand what is meant by the use of 'extraordinary'? It simply means that claims will naturally have equal to or greater then evidence for them. The quote is well phrased, and couldn't be said much better.

Supernatural does not exist, because there can only be natural. Specifically, a known natural occurrence and an unknown natural occurrence. Understand?

[lennyhipp]

"I don't believe we should be setting the bar extra high for strange phenomena out there."

ABSOLUTELY we should! If i said "I have a brown dog at home", that's not a claim that would require extraordinary evidence, just evidence... a photo of my dog with me might suffice as evidence to some. If i said "i have an pink leprechaun living under my bed", a photo is no longer sufficient evidence as it could be a doll, or photoshopped in. You'd need extraordinary evidence for this type of claim.

[mecher3k]

X-rays as being paranormal?

You must be mentally damaged in someway...

[HadeanAgent]

Whether it really is what you mean or not, Mr. Shermer, when you say there is no such thing as the paranormal or the supernatural...well, that goes a bit too far for me. We are skeptics after all, and doubt is one of the primary principles we operate by. If I were in your position I'd be a little more careful about making statements like that. Although I suppose if someone could use telekinesis, we could study it and one day understand it. Then it wouldn't be paranormal anymore would it?

[lennyhipp]

" I suppose if someone could use telekinesis, we could study it and one day understand it. Then it wouldn't be paranormal anymore would it?"

it wouldnt be paranormal as soon as someone proved it existed... we wouldn't have to test it then understand it... just show it existed in the first place. That's the gist of what he's saying.

[AdHocRationalizing]

"Although I suppose if someone could use telekinesis, we could study it and one day understand it. Then it wouldn't be paranormal anymore would it?"

You touched on the problem a little right here. "Paranormal" and "supernatural" are very poorly-defined, to the point that even the proponents of such things don't know what they're talking about when they bring it up. It's safe to say that a poorly-defined concept has no real-world referent, and thus in no meaningful sense can be said to exist.

[mx16m]

If there's no such thing as the supernatural that means there is no god

[hugiesrox]

Oh no, say it aint so!

[KingHeathen]

I used to have that trick as a child. It's a good simple mental trick that makes it seem you can see through the box...you can even do it over and over with the same group (normally a no-no with magic...I mean paranormal activity)

I love this new series you are doing Michael...also loving the book of yours that I'm reading right now...great stuff on both ends!

[ffejpsycho]

A WITCH!!!!

[lennyhipp]

"A WITCH!!!!"

shhhhhhhhh! Or he'll turn you into a newt!

[ffejpsycho]

He already did.....

...It got better.

[dothack200]

Awesome !

[iconoclastic23]

He removed the lid from the open face of the cube and clicked it onto one of the closed faces so that when he brought it back around from behind his back he could see the open face of the box.

[peterscottfrost]

Sure, magic cubes are phony, but magic eight balls are really magic! (I know because I asked one and a magic eight ball would never lie.) :D

[magicbeans88]

Ha ha!! That was good.

[ScienceToTheRescue]

Well I asked a magic eight ball, and it said it was lying. Wait...

[Scrapheap71]

Michael Shermer is a psychic maquerading as a skeptic.

You people are stupid.

;-)

[nutherefurlong]

That's one form of synaethesia I've not heard of :)

I had one of those cubes as a kid!!

[orangelixir]

That form of synaethesia doesn't exist lol

[nutherefurlong]

Yeah, that's my point. :)

[TheThomaswastaken]

Invisible big foot peeked then telepathically linked it to god (by praying) which allowed god to whisper it in Micheal's Ear.

[godisafrauddotcom]

right on Mr. Shermer.

[lehman]

SPOILER:

When behind the back, he removes the cap and puts it on the side so the top of the cube is wide open.

[soulweaponry]

Don't get it. So he can feel the color of it?

[lehman]

no, he puts it behind his back, puts the lid on the side, brings it back around and can see the color because the top is open.

[Archaneus]

Yeah, if you watch closely you can see him rotate it back up when he pulls the cap off. I don't think I ever would have gotten that myself.

[lehman]

fifth