Cause & Effect

contributed by Bill Fritz

Effect & Presentation: Introduce the notion of cause and effect. It’s obvious when this takes place in the physical world: for example, you knock down a domino and, as it falls, it hits and knocks down the next domino … and so on. But cause and effect happens with thoughts as well: you tell your wife she looks great in that dress, and she smiles; her mood is uplifted.

Suggest a thought experiment. If you were to ask someone to choose any word, the possibilities would be endless. Instead, you’d like to attempt to create a moment of “cause and effect”.

Two participants are selected: Jack and Diane. Turn over your business card, draw two horizontal lines (one under the other, as illustrated at right), fold the card in quarters, open it up again, and hand it to Jack. Ask him to think of a simple word, something easily visualized, print it clearly on the top line (so Diane can easily read it), and close the card back up, keeping the word to himself for the moment. This word acts as the “cause”.

Have Jack pass the (still folded) card to Diane. Explain that in a moment, she will open the card and see the word for the first time. She is then to think of a new word that — for whatever reason — connects to Jack’s word. Stress the importance of her not going with the first thought that comes to mind, as that might be too obvious.

For example, if she were to read “dog”, she might first think “cat”. But a bit more thought might result in her dog’s name, “Rocky”, or a breed of dog, like a “pug”. Perhaps she might shift her thinking to “hot dog”, leading her to “mustard”. Emphasize that her thought should result from the original cause, “dog”, but not be too obvious a choice. Ask Diane to print (so that Jack can read it) her chosen word under Jack’s, and then close the card back up.

A third participant (Bruce) is invited to take the card from Diane, open it, and verify that the connection between the two thoughts is not overly obvious, thus easily guessed. Get confirmation that it’s not a simple connected thought.

Take back the (closed-up) card and rip it up; it has served its purpose, and is no longer required. [As you do so, peek the words via the R2-D2 methodology.] During this action, you may, if you choose, comment that each of the words is known by at least two people at this point, so there can’t be any cheating.

You’re now ready to reveal Diane’s thought; just don’t reveal it too easily. Continue to explore the idea of cause and effect: how Jack created a “cause” with his thought, which led to the “effect” of Diane’s own, unique thought. Ask Diane to replay in her mind the thought sequence she went through to arrive at her chosen word. Ask her, if you wish, some questions to “better understand how she thinks”. Of course, some of your proclaimed analysis of this process might be informed by your own (secret) knowledge of the actual two words.

Eventually, print Diane’s word on a fresh card, and hand it to Bruce, asking him if you are “close”. He nods. Ask Diane to — for the first time — announce her thought, and then have Bruce show everyone what you wrote.

Offer to take the experiment one step further, by attempting to backtrack from Diane’s “effect” to Jack’s initial “cause”. Then do so, successfully.

Afterthoughts: Several modification might be made to the above presentation, depending on your particular circumstances and preferences.

Use of the third participant can be eliminated by employing Jack to confirm that the two chosen thoughts are not too obviously connected. This approach, in addition to involving one less person, only slightly detracts from the reason for the words to be written down.

Alternatively, you yourself could write the initial (“cause”) word, the main participant then writing the “effect” thought, with a second participant verifying the results. This approach plays more quickly, but leads to only a single revelation.

Of course, it could be done for just a single participant, eliminating the verification step, but this offers less justification for the need of a written billet.

Additional suggestions concerning this or other presentations are, of course, welcomed.

… Doug Dyment