If magic is the world of dreams, then it is conjured up by a wonderful science.

The wonderful thing about magic is the entirely irrational is proved by entirely rational means.

If the above things are true, then it follows that it is not the experiment that is the illusion, it's the entertainment that is.

They are not true.

Is it true that an illusion is a distortion of the truth, as opposed to a complete lie, Tom?

An illusion can be either of those things.

To define my terms, what I mean by an illusion is a distortion of the truth, as opposed to a complete lie.

"Pink Elephants" are complete lies. Mind you, ever since Cardini played with the notion of alcohol-related hallucinations, I have wondered.

OK, your data is woefully incomplete. Pink Elephants are most definitely a thing, regardless of if they exist as nature’s beings. You are clouded by the alcohol reference, which is but one recent incarnation of them.

Is it true that "Pink Elephants" is a common way to refer to alcohol-related hallucinations? That the term was originally coined by Jack London -himself a famous drinker - in his autobiographical novel John Barleycorn? That it is now widely used to refer to any sort of alcohol-related hallucinations - even those that don't involve elephants of any colour? That if a work has someone hallucinating actual pink elephants, it's probably a comedy exercising the Rule of Funny?

Data from:

https://tvtropes.org/

Google “origin of pink elephants”. They date back to early Egyptian times. Well, early for us, not for them.

I have heard that in ancient Egypt one could not walk far without tripping over the pink elephant's trunk.

Tom,

Since nobody in the world can change the truth, how can an illusion be a distortion of the truth?

How about magic does not exist beyond the world of dreams but there are ways of making it exist in effect. Likewise, it is with illusions: we cannot change the truth in reality and so an illusion cannot be a distortion of the truth in reality but we can play with sense or senses and change the perception of the truth or reality.

I think it's important to make a distinction between what is a lie and what is a distortion.

Lying and a distortion are both forms of deception, but they differ in their degree of falsification. A lie is a deliberate attempt to deceive someone by presenting false information as true. In contrast, distortion is a form of deception that involves manipulating the truth to create a false impression without necessarily presenting false information.

For example, when someone distorts the truth, they may selectively emphasize certain facts while ignoring others or use ambiguous language to create a misleading impression. In contrast, when someone lies, they intentionally present false information as true.

If you want a magic related example look at the difference between two principles in magic like equivoque and pseudo demonstrations.

Equivoque is often A technically free choice from the spectators perspective but it's though ambiguous language and ignoring defined concepts that we create the distortion. Let's say for example I want to predict which hand the spectator will hand a coin behind his back to me in. In my prediction I write " the coin will be handed to me in the right hand" but the facts I'm choosing to ignore is whether I'm referring to his right hand or my own right hand. So When facing the spectator head on I can now Use the ambiguity no matter what his choice is to mean his right hand or my right hand depending on the desired outcome.

Pseudo demonstrations On the other hand are just pure lies As they often require I false verbal explanation in contrast to how they are really done. In a gambling demonstration I'm talking about second, center and bottom deals well in fact the outcome is purely based on a well stacked or a gimmicked deck. I'm intentionally presenting false information as true to how it's really done.

That is a lie.

Magically


Aus

And when Tom comes back down the mountain, we will know the truth. In the meantime, I stand with my arm in an inviable sling.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, with this pack of playing cards and by entirely rational means, it will be proved that my invisible sling exists and is not an illusion.

Illusion

A delusion is a mistaken conviction, an illusion a mistaken perception or inference. An illusion may be wholly of the senses; a delusion always involves some mental error. In an optical illusion, the observer sees either what does not exist, or what exists otherwise than as he sees it, as when in a mirage distant springs and trees appear close at hand. We speak of the illusions of fancy or of hope but of the delusions of the insane. A hallucination is a false image or belief which has nothing, outside of the disordered mind, to suggest it; as, the hallucinations of delirium tremens. Compare DECEPTION; INSANITY.

https://www.synonyms.com/antonyms/illusion

Is the pink elephant an optical delusion?

The wonderful thing about magic is that the entirely irrational is proved by entirely rational means.

On one side of this looking glass, an illusion does not deceive and on the other side an illusion does deceive.

The way to make an entirely irrational illusion that does not deceive is to keep the requirements of disbelief to a maximum by exaggerating to absurdity some real or plausible phenomena.

The way to make an illusion that does deceive is to use a sleight of hand, rather than a sleight of tongue and keep the requirements of disbelief to a minimum.

That's what I think.