Monkey Shines Logic

I really liked your Obsession post and the idea of simplifying your presentations, but I do wonder… how? I don't want to just say "This is magic!" But coming up with a more believable explanation seems to require a fairly complicated backstory in most cases. Any tips or workarounds for this?—CC

I think the problem you're running into is one of trying to come up with a "believable explanation." You don't need a believable explanation.

The other day I was watching the movie Monkey Shines from 1988.

That movie features a monkey that has been experimented on to have hyper-intelligence.

Do you know how that monkey gained this power?

Well, some guy took a frozen human brain, sliced off some pieces of it, boiled them up to make a serum, and injected it into the monkey. And now the monkey is smart!

Because that's how it works, right? Intelligence and cognition don't emerge from the highly specific architecture of neural circuits, synaptic connections, and ongoing activity in a living brain. It comes from some transferable chemical essence you can puree and shoot into another animal.

No, of course not. But this logic works perfectly fine for a movie. And it works fine for a magic trick as well.

Traditionally, magicians offer no logic for their trick.

"Why is this magic thing happening? Because it's magic!"

In an attempt to deepen the experience, they'll often try to make it more believable and try to create a literal logic for the premise. Sometimes this works. But frequently it gets convoluted or it ends up diminishing the impact of the effect considerably.

I think the most powerful premises have a story logic to them. That is, they are coherent without being credible. These are the ones that have the best potential to create a feeling of magic. The premises are unreal but not arbitrary.

So don’t look for a dissertation. Just find the story logic concept that’s going set up the rest of the effect. The world is filled with these: rituals, wishes, cursed games, luck, animal omens, contracts with. fate, elixirs, spirit contact, dreams, deja vu, and on and on and on.

No Logic: Gives us a story of a monkey that is super intelligent with no hint as to why. It's just unmotivated.

Literal Logic: Gets us bogged down in the science and biology of why the monkey is so smart. It's confusing or dull and gets in the way of the reason we're here: to experience horror and thrills.

Story Logic: The monkey is smart because he got shot up with frozen brain slurry. Great! It gets the job done. Makes sense. Establishes the premise in a coherent albeit ridiculous way. Now we can get on to the good stuff.