ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the metaphor of stage magic to better understand what we do with technology and what technology does with us. First, a better understanding of stage magic is achieved; then, these aspects are applied to our dealings with technology. Designers turn out to be a kind of stage magician who creates illusions for us by means of technology. Important in this illusionism is timing. Technologies are thus tools for trickery and magic; we are deceived by (people using) technology and we deceive ourselves. But technology also becomes a magician itself as it gains more agency and intelligence. And is illusion ethically bad? Is it deception? And who has the power to design our illusions? Responding to Tognazzini’s and Flusser’s work, a non-Platonic, more performance-oriented view is developed, which questions Platonic dualism and stresses the active role of the user. The chapter also discusses what kind of ethics follows from this approach.
