Why Spaghetti?

Hi, Andy! I am utilizing the 'Hydra' application to incorporate playing cards into my Instagram biography. However, upon contemplation, I find myself dissatisfied with this 'phenomenon.' I have conceived an idea that I would like to share with you, albeit untested as of yet. I eagerly await your opinion or any superior notions you may have regarding a card prediction on Instagram. Do bear in mind that the character limit is a mere 150. While I have posted the photograph in Portuguese, I shall now provide the text in English:

'I shall retain the current state of my biography, harboring the expectation that eventually, someone shall choose the illustrious 'Jack of Spades.' Thus, I shall bask in the glory of my impeccable prescience, haha! '

To reinforce this sentiment, I may further exclaim: 'Goodness gracious... This has resided on my Instagram for over a month now. I am elated that it has proven successful on this occasion'. Perhaps by magnifying its effect, it shall appear as though I am 'playfully' engaging in divination. Anyway... what are your thoughts? —DM

Hmmm… okay.

I’m not quite sure what you’re going for with the current bio you have there—this may be a language/translation issue.

It sounds like you’re trying to play if off as just a coincidence. If you say, “I’m going to keep this biography hoping someone eventually names the Jack of Spades.” You seem to be undermining the effect and sort of defeating the purpose of having an app that dynamically inserts the card in your Instagram bio.

People already default to the idea that “maybe you just got lucky” with these sorts of things, you don’t want to reinforce that belief. 1 in 52 isn’t enough to hang a coincidence effect on.

Now, if your twitter bio said, “My psychic powers tell me that I will meet someone today carrying a bill with the serial number D2584402353. (Okay, I don’t really have psychic powers… but I figure if I keep asking people, one day I’m going to luck into asking the person with that bill, and for that person it will be a miracle.)”

That’s essentially the same presentation, but there’s a twist there because this actually is something that would be an astronomical coincidence. If it did happen for real, no one would ever say, “He probably just got lucky.” So playing it off as a lucky coincidence still feels magical.

So what would I write in my Instagram bio? I don’t know that revealing a card in my Instagram bio is a trick I’d do. I mean, I definitely wouldn’t do it because I’m not on Instagram. But even if I was, I don’t know if I’d do it.

But just as a thought experiment, here’s how I’d approach it.

There are a lot of tricks in magic where it’s something like, “The spectator thinks of a card, and then you reveal their card in the strands of spaghetti!”

(And before you think I’m just making up a dumb idea for a trick, here’s a trick where the spectator’s card is—for no reason—found on an Oreo cookie.)

The question is, why is the card appearing on an Oreo or in a plate of spaghetti? Why is that how you reveal the card? Why didn’t you just write it down?

Because it’s more memorable, Andy.

Maybe. But I think the arbitrariness probably counteracts the memorability. What you gain from the novelty of the reveal, you might lose by being seen as the guy walking around with a fake Oreo.

But if we can work backwards from the plate of spaghetti or Oreo, then maybe you have something that’s memorable in a way that has some meaning.

Maybe your grandmother, an old Italian, had psychic powers, and now she communicates with you from the grave through classic Italian dishes.

Yes, I know. That’s not great, but it gets us somewhere. It’s not just a needlessly elaborate way to reveal a card or your prediction. Why is the card reveal in the spaghetti? Because that’s the only way Nonna has to communicate from the beyond.

Similarly, if we work backwards from an Instagram bio… the point of a bio is to tell something about yourself. So why would the card someone thought of be in your bio? Because, when you think about it, it’s far less impressive for your prediction to be in your Instagram bio than, say, written on a piece of paper on the table. An Instagram bio is designed to be easily changeable. And they know someone besides yourself could change that bio in a matter of seconds from anywhere in the world. It’s not secure in the way a physical piece of paper is. So it doesn’t make a ton of sense that you’d put your prediction there, unless it somehow had a “biographical” nature to it.

That’s the beginning of the direction I would take it. If I had an Instagram. And if I wanted to put a card prediction in my bio on Instagram. I prefer the idea that this is some weird quirk that happens around me, rather than that I made this public pronouncement to try and impress you. That doesn’t work for me because I’m not a professional magician who would be using Instagram to promote myself in that way.

If we’re talking about something not in the realm of a card reveal, then a trick I’d want to do with an Instagram bio would look like this…

I’d be out somewhere, and I’d approach the sexiest, blackest, most well-built brother I could find—someone at least 20 years younger than me. I’d approach him tentatively and say, “Excuse me… I know this is unusual… but what city were you born in? Really? Oh… and what’s your birthday?… Oh my god… it’s you! My long-lost twin! I just sensed it when I saw you.” Then I’d “confirm” it by showing them my Instagram bio which mentions my search for my twin from whom I was separated at birth on Oct. 20th, 1990, in Oakland, CA.