When I was two, I saw a magician transform a rope (which he inserted into a funnel made out of newspaper) into a stream of pineapple juice. I was beside myself with delight. A few years later, I saw the looking glass melt during a Saturday afternoon performance of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Henry Street Settlement, and bounded up the stairs at the side of the stage to follow Alice through the glass before someone else's father grabbed me and led me, heart broken, back to my seat. I've suspended disbelief and experienced other epiphanies throughout my life, although fewer as I've gotten older. I guess I'm just lucky (and Hungarian, which helps).

The Amazing Randi used to make exactly the point about kids that the guest just did. Randi applied something like this awareness to expose charlatans like Uri Geller.