Psychics, Palm Readers and Other Mystic Endeavors | StarTalk

I've known I wanted to be a scientist since I was nine. So, I've been thinking about all the ways the shortcomings of the human sensory system can interfere with your ability to establish what is or is not true.

And what is science if not the power, with tools and training, to know when something is true when it might otherwise seem like it's not? And to know when something is not true when it otherwise seems like it is.

So, when someone's trying to cold read me, you look at my palms. If I have very smooth skin on my palms, they're not going to say, "Oh, you've worked hard in the fields today," because it's not what your hands would look like.

Yeah, I've just never been convinced by anything. It's entertaining, but no, I just move on. I'm not going to stop other people from getting it done. You can like things even if they're not true.

That should be the criterion on whether I enjoy magic. Thinking it's mysterious, but I know it's a trick intellectually. But it's fun thinking that maybe they do have these powers; it's just fun.