TED Talk: Marco Tempest and lies + iPhones

In the TED talk by magician Marco Tempest, he uses three iPhones, taken from three different audience members, and uses them to show the significant role of deception in people’s lives. His argument is that lies make up a large part of any person’s life, whether or not he or she likes it. He also states that while lies can cause pain and confusion, they can also create optimism and happiness.

One of the first thing that Tempest does is quote a seemingly-paradoxical line from another magician about how magic is the only “honest profession,” because magicians all promise to deceive their audience, and always do. This was done to add ethos to his argument, especially since he adds that he believes himself to also be an “honest magician.” Another moment that adds ethos is when Tempest takes a video call from one of the iPhones, telling the person calling him that he’s “stuck in traffic,” which he acknowledges to be clear lie. Other than using honesty to enhance his credibility, Tempest also mentions how ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu and writer Oscar Wilde make similar comments about the importance of lies in war and romance respectively.

Other than ethos, Tempest also utilizes pathos with the imagery he conjures with his iPhones. As he makes his arguments about deception, he simultaneously awes the crowd with the various visual tricks he pulls off, especially when he begins to discuss self-deception. A discussion of gambling addicts is accompanied by the three iPhones taking on the appearance of the slots on a slot machine, while the claim that art is a form of self-deception that “creates real emotion” goes along with the three iPhones looking like a row of piano keys.

Tempest ends his talk by noting how lies become truths by making people feel different emotions, and that surrendering oneself to this self-deception is what allows magic to form.