Why magic trumps science

I recently read an article written by a man who, espousing rationality and the scientific method, tried to convince a group of people discussing astrology, dowsing and homeopathic medicine that their belief systems had been systematicallly disproved scientifically many times. He was astonished that his offer to provide scientific proof that their beliefs were irrational was turned down contemptuously. They were not interested in "disproof" of something that, according to their own personal experience, was true.

He didn't understand them at all. To him, proof was proof. Once you knew that the rabbit was already inside the magician's hat, there was no magic left in the trick. What he didn't understand was that he was asking them to put aside the evidence of their own senses, however unreliable or easily deceived, and to accept instead words on paper written by someone they didn't know who was attempting to tell them to trust his (her) observations and tests and not their own experience of reality. When someone has been "cured" by homeopathic medicine (i.e. pure water) it is difficult to convince them that their experience isn't valid. Of course it is, to them. You can explain "placebo" effect all you want; the user of the medicine knows he/she was cured. If the medicine was "just water", then something must have happened to make the water "special".

It's hard to disprove something that "works". Personal experience, however unreliable as science, always trumps mathematics and statistical analysis in establishing personal "reality". It probably always will, at least for many people. I think it takes a special turn of mind for an individual to be willing to discount the evidence of their own personal experience and accept instead abstract scientific proof. Most of us enjoy "magic shows", even though we know there really is no "magic". We enjoy being fooled, surprised, shown impossibilities with our own senses. It takes all the fun out of it when we know how the trick worked. We like the world of magic, and apparently many of us aren't willing to accept the reality of any other kind of world. The rest of us know better than to try to walk through walls no matter how many times we see it done in a magic show.