Professional pickpocket Apollo Robbins has an uncanny ability to control minds. He can manipulate people to an extraordinary degree, drawing their attention away from his thieving hands as he purloins watches and wallets in plain sight. These days, Robbins gives his ill-gotten gains back – he has given up a life of crime to become an entertainer – but most of his victims still have no idea they’ve been robbed until it’s too late.

Watching Robbins at work is like watching somebody with supernatural powers. Yet, like his fellow conjurers  Robbins deceives his targets using nothing more than a finely honed understanding of human psychology. “I think of myself as a folk psychologist,” he says. “It’s all about developing an instinct for how the human mind works.”

After years of ignoring magic, researchers are starting to realise that the methods magicians use to manipulate the human mind might hold important insights…

 

Santa Cruz, Ca.

A woman, like you

I was standing at a distance listening to you.

You were  speaking against hate and violence.

A voice so soft and kind.

It made me  stop to listen.

I looked at your beautiful face.

I tries to hide my desire for you.

To be able to look into your eyes.

And hold you close.

I make a fool’s wish to be sitting with you.

To be able to look into your  blue eyes at the ocean.

Listen to you talk about great dreams.

You spoke with confident.

Your  strong words were against hate and war.

Your smile and sweet voice create dreams and hope of peace

for the people listening.

You came to me. Whispered

” My lonely poet you came to hear me at the  demonstration.

Did you like and understand what I was trying to say.”

I told you. “Your…