When you look at a person for a first time, whether you want or not, you’ve already passed judgment. In a split second you’ve already decided if you find that person trustworthy, competent, or likable. Your brain is a state-of-the-art marvel, managing 90% of everything you do without letting you know regardless of whether you’re awake or asleep. When you think you have an idea your brain has already had that idea. Something in your head navigates you through the everyday adventures of modern life, something that decides things for you before you can think about it, because your brain is always on automatic. We’re driven by our unconscious mind. So much of what we do is unconscious. Decisions we make are almost dictated to us. So the question is who is in charge here? Who is running the show? How much control do we really have? All sorts of gaps in our perception and outright confabulations that our brains are making for us are in order for us to exist, because it’s easier to do that than actually to try and make an accurate representation of the world. It’s faster and easier for us to estimate what the world’s going to look like because it usually works just fine. However, some people are ought to fool us on purpose. People like Apollo Robbins, a magician and the gentlemen thief of the dessert town of Las Vegas. Apollo not only deceives our eyes but more importantly our brains. On a good day Apollo even steals the show from the city of illusions itself. Apollo shot to fame in Caesars Palace Casino. Once he even snatched wallets and watches from secret service agents guarding the former president Jimmy Carter. Ever since then he also consults security experts. Magicians like Apollo Robbins take advantage of our automatic mode that otherwise, like an autopilot, navigates us smoothly through life.
The Magic of the Unconscious
