Spectator - Christmas Crossword -...
Crosswords0 min ago
Mind over matter?
Has anyone tried the trick where four people try to lift someone sitting on a chair using just their forefingers (two people under the knees, two people under the arms)? It is almost impossible to do first time because the person is too heavy, but when the four people stack their hands above the person's head and then try to lift them again, they become miraculously light.
I remember trying this with my drama teacher as the poor "victim" many years ago and it really did seem to work! Is there any scientific explanation, or is it simply mind over matter?
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In every case where I've seen this done it goes like this:
The lifters carefully place their forefingers under the victim and slowly push up.
They then Press on the head, and at a word from the leader, they rapidly THRUST their forefingers under the victim with a curved motion.
The obvious differences are that in the second case there is no careful positioning, and their hands are already moving rapidly when they come into contact with the victim.
Apart from the fact that this means they ar probably lifting with the fork between their thumbs and forefingers, rather than their fingers alone, the amount of force they are applying is considerably more.
Compare knocking a nail in with a hammer, and trying to press it in with the hammer already resting against it.
The lifters carefully place their forefingers under the victim and slowly push up.
They then Press on the head, and at a word from the leader, they rapidly THRUST their forefingers under the victim with a curved motion.
The obvious differences are that in the second case there is no careful positioning, and their hands are already moving rapidly when they come into contact with the victim.
Apart from the fact that this means they ar probably lifting with the fork between their thumbs and forefingers, rather than their fingers alone, the amount of force they are applying is considerably more.
Compare knocking a nail in with a hammer, and trying to press it in with the hammer already resting against it.
Rojash is correct, the lifters fool themselves, they want it to be true so they make it true. It's same thing when Uri geller gave all his audience a spoon to bend, they where all desperate to show they had the "power", they fooled themselves by just bending the spoon by force and then pretending they did it the Geller way. For what it's worth the Geller way is simply a conjuring trick.
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