& Tom: Hi, I’m Tom. Uh, I’m a physicist. If you want to keep doing...
Traci: I’m a physicist, too. What did you think I was? A housewife? A hairdresser?
Tom: No, I... Oh, I... I didn’t mean...
Traci: Forget it. Actually, I am a hairdresser.
& Margaret: If you press down hard on the top of the table and draw your hands toward your body, the outer two table lengths are going to go up like a schoolgirl’s dress. You can even stick the edge of your shoe under one of the table legs and, by pressing down firmly with your hands and lifting your foot at the same time, you can make the whole table come off the ground. It just takes a little bit of muscle and a whole lot of practice. So, with the right partner in crime, you can put on quite a show...
The setting is important. Keep it dark, always, under any pretext whatsoever. The spirits demand it, you need to concentrate... I know what you are thinking. It’s not scientific. But you need darkness to develop a photograph, don’t you?
& Ben: Have you ever come across a single case that couldn’t be explained? Like the existence of an anomalous ability?
Margaret: An anomalous ability? Like what? Like running a hundred meters in under ten seconds? Like composing a masterpiece when you’re stone deaf? Your brain may be the exception, Ben, but most brains carry out a dazzling array of complex mental processes every second. 100,000 million neurons in constant synaptic communication geared to generating and regulating our sensations and perceptions. How we reason, how we think, our emotions, our mental images, our attention span, learning, memory. Are these not merits enough for the brain without it having “special powers” as well?
& Sally: Where did you learn to do that?
Tom: You can’t always trust your eyes. You did most of the magic by looking in the wrong place.
Sally: Oh, now you’re really taking the fun out of it.
Tom: The simpler, the better. That’s the principle. The only way to pull a rabbit out of a hat is by putting it there in the first place.
& Margaret: You know, there are two kinds of people out there with a special gift: The ones who really think they have some kind of power and the other guys... who think we can’t figure them out. They’re both wrong.
& Sally: So what are we looking for?
Margaret: Red lights.
Sally: Red lights?
Margaret: Discordant notes, things that shouldn’t be there... Like that guy over there.
& Officer: Doctor, how come we’re so sure this guy’s a fraud?
Margaret: Ever heard of Occam’s razor?
Officer: Occam’s razor?
Margaret: When I hear the drumming of hooves, I don’t think unicorns, I think horses.
& Margaret: Scientists’ mistakes are usually random. Pseudo-scientists’ mistakes tend to be directional.
Howard McColm: Dr. Matheson seems to forget that she set up her stall on this over 30 years ago. Most professionals are fully aware of the dangers of fraud and design their experiments with every imaginable precaution. We’re believers, doctor, not simply credulous.
Margaret: Very smart people are often the most credulous and are taken in by all kinds of phenomena. They’re easy victims of fraud because they think logically, and professional magicians count on that.
& Tom: Every science has its corresponding pseudoscience. Psychology has its flip side, parapsychology. Medicine has acupuncture and homeopathy. Astronomy has astrology...
& Tom: Ben, you’ve got 41/2 hours of footage there from seven cameras.
Ben: What am I looking for?
Tom: An explanation, Ben, just an explanation. Try to make it rational.
& Simon Silver: To be or to appear to be, that is the question. It always is. We all try to be something we’re not.
& Silver: We dream 27 times a night. An intricate neurological protection mechanism which makes us forget. What protects you?
& Silver: From the time of ancient Greece to the present day, philosophers and scholars have argued man is essentially rational. I don’t happen to agree. If one observes and studies another person without having first studied oneself, how do we know whether our instruments are appropriately set? How do we know we are reliable? We have no proof. There’s only one way of gaining access to the truth, and that’s not to expect anything. If our intentions aren’t pure... we might end up creating monsters.
& Sally: Okay, it’s right here in front of us. What was it Matheson used to say?.. Results appear when there is defective methodology, important data is inadvertently included... or improper controls are in place.
& Silver: Buckley, how dare you? Are you challenging me? Are you questioning my power?
& Tom: You can’t deny yourself. You can’t deny yourself forever.
--
+ quotes on the IMDb
Traci: I’m a physicist, too. What did you think I was? A housewife? A hairdresser?
Tom: No, I... Oh, I... I didn’t mean...
Traci: Forget it. Actually, I am a hairdresser.
& Margaret: If you press down hard on the top of the table and draw your hands toward your body, the outer two table lengths are going to go up like a schoolgirl’s dress. You can even stick the edge of your shoe under one of the table legs and, by pressing down firmly with your hands and lifting your foot at the same time, you can make the whole table come off the ground. It just takes a little bit of muscle and a whole lot of practice. So, with the right partner in crime, you can put on quite a show...
The setting is important. Keep it dark, always, under any pretext whatsoever. The spirits demand it, you need to concentrate... I know what you are thinking. It’s not scientific. But you need darkness to develop a photograph, don’t you?
& Ben: Have you ever come across a single case that couldn’t be explained? Like the existence of an anomalous ability?
Margaret: An anomalous ability? Like what? Like running a hundred meters in under ten seconds? Like composing a masterpiece when you’re stone deaf? Your brain may be the exception, Ben, but most brains carry out a dazzling array of complex mental processes every second. 100,000 million neurons in constant synaptic communication geared to generating and regulating our sensations and perceptions. How we reason, how we think, our emotions, our mental images, our attention span, learning, memory. Are these not merits enough for the brain without it having “special powers” as well?
& Sally: Where did you learn to do that?
Tom: You can’t always trust your eyes. You did most of the magic by looking in the wrong place.
Sally: Oh, now you’re really taking the fun out of it.
Tom: The simpler, the better. That’s the principle. The only way to pull a rabbit out of a hat is by putting it there in the first place.
& Margaret: You know, there are two kinds of people out there with a special gift: The ones who really think they have some kind of power and the other guys... who think we can’t figure them out. They’re both wrong.
& Sally: So what are we looking for?
Margaret: Red lights.
Sally: Red lights?
Margaret: Discordant notes, things that shouldn’t be there... Like that guy over there.
& Officer: Doctor, how come we’re so sure this guy’s a fraud?
Margaret: Ever heard of Occam’s razor?
Officer: Occam’s razor?
Margaret: When I hear the drumming of hooves, I don’t think unicorns, I think horses.
& Margaret: Scientists’ mistakes are usually random. Pseudo-scientists’ mistakes tend to be directional.
Howard McColm: Dr. Matheson seems to forget that she set up her stall on this over 30 years ago. Most professionals are fully aware of the dangers of fraud and design their experiments with every imaginable precaution. We’re believers, doctor, not simply credulous.
Margaret: Very smart people are often the most credulous and are taken in by all kinds of phenomena. They’re easy victims of fraud because they think logically, and professional magicians count on that.
& Tom: Every science has its corresponding pseudoscience. Psychology has its flip side, parapsychology. Medicine has acupuncture and homeopathy. Astronomy has astrology...
& Tom: Ben, you’ve got 41/2 hours of footage there from seven cameras.
Ben: What am I looking for?
Tom: An explanation, Ben, just an explanation. Try to make it rational.
& Simon Silver: To be or to appear to be, that is the question. It always is. We all try to be something we’re not.
& Silver: We dream 27 times a night. An intricate neurological protection mechanism which makes us forget. What protects you?
& Silver: From the time of ancient Greece to the present day, philosophers and scholars have argued man is essentially rational. I don’t happen to agree. If one observes and studies another person without having first studied oneself, how do we know whether our instruments are appropriately set? How do we know we are reliable? We have no proof. There’s only one way of gaining access to the truth, and that’s not to expect anything. If our intentions aren’t pure... we might end up creating monsters.
& Sally: Okay, it’s right here in front of us. What was it Matheson used to say?.. Results appear when there is defective methodology, important data is inadvertently included... or improper controls are in place.
& Silver: Buckley, how dare you? Are you challenging me? Are you questioning my power?
& Tom: You can’t deny yourself. You can’t deny yourself forever.
--
+ quotes on the IMDb
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