|
Rhetorical Mathematics in Magic and Law by Curtis D. Frye *President of Technology and Society, Incorporated, and past president of the Psychic Entertainers Association. Thanks to Nena Rawdah for copyediting assistance. Abstract At its heart, mathematics is a formal system with strict rules of proof. Pure mathematics is characterized in part by the search for exception and error, so much so that identifying a single flaw in an argument usually invalidates its associated claim unless and until the error is fixed. Once one moves beyond the realm of formal proof, however, mathematics becomes a rhetorical art.
Similarly, in the legal arena, even when the facts of a case are not in dispute, the interpretation and application of statutes and standards of evidence are open to argument, judgment, and appeal. Lawyers and magicians, especially magicians who specialize in a branch of stage magic called mentalism, often use math in their arguments and presentations. Selecting the order of witnesses and exhibits, establishing the likelihood of an event by emphasizing the relative improbability of alternatives, and vastly overclaiming the importance of evidence and objections during summation all play a central role in trial strategy and tactics. Rhetorical Mathematics in Magic and Law addresses these and other issues by showing how performers and advocates can:
Drawing on works such as Lawrence Tribe’s classic article “Trial by Mathematics: Precision and Ritual in the Legal Process”, Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez’s popular book Math on Trial, and Ashley Saunders Lipson’s reference work Courtroom Use and Misuse of Mathematics, Physics, and Finance: Cases, Lessons and Materials, Rhetorical Mathematics interrogates the persuasive milieu where audiences encounter argument as finders of fact, participants in a magical demonstration, or both.  Kerr, Orin. The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in Our Online World. Oxford University Press. 2025.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution limits how the government may conduct searches and seizures, with the effect that evidence can be excluded from trial if it was obtained in violation of that amendment. Technological advances such as the automobile, phone booth, and Internet have required courts to reinterpret Fourth Amendment law to accommodate these novelties. Lower courts often differ in their interpretations and, after the technologies and law have settled a bit, the Supreme Court gets involved. Author Orin Kerr, the William G. Simon Professor at the University of California, Berkeley Law School, presents a framework for adjudicating digital searches and seizures in The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in Our Online World, published by Oxford University Press. His approach, equilibrium-adjustment, “takes the legal rules that existed before the technological shift as a starting point, and it asks how to preserve the values served by those rules amid the gale-force winds of technological change.” Background Professor Kerr’s book reinforces his status as a leading law professor and Fourth Amendment theorist—it provides a thorough background in privacy law, starting back in Entick v. Carrington, a 1765 decision from the English courts proscribing overly broad warrants, and continues through foundational cases in U.S. jurisprudence such as Katz v. United States (1967), which addressed placing a microphone on the outside of a telephone booth, as well as United States v. Knotts (1983) and United States v. Karo (1984) that dealt with beepers hidden in five-gallon drums of chemicals used in drug production. The Supreme Court found that tracking the beepers in public did not violate the defendant’s privacy expectation but did as soon as the devices moved inside a home. I appreciate the thoroughness and efficiency of Kerr’s background coverage. Specifically, he resists the temptation to mention prominent cases such as Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) that aren’t on-point for this argument and saves space for more relevant citations. Local Devices Part II addresses local devices such as computers and mobile phones, presenting Kerr’s arguments for how courts should adjudicate searches and warrant requirements based on his equilibrium-adjustment paradigm. After presenting valuable background on how these searches are conducted (usually by creating an image of the device, if possible), he argues for his preferred interpretation of searches in light of how the enormous storage capacity of a digital device compares to the traditional paper filing system on which Fourth Amendment jurisprudence evolved. Part III moves on to networks and the third-party doctrine, which states that information freely exposed to a third party, such as the address on the outside of an envelope or numbers dialed on a phone network, can be accessed routinely by law enforcement. Other topics include the use of a GPS tracker placed on a defendant’s car, as was examined in United States v. Jones (2012); automated license plate readers; and pole cameras installed near a place of interest to provide sustained surveillance. Per that last point, through his Bluesky account Professor Kerr shared an 11th Circuit Court ruling that 10 months of such observation didn’t constitute a search because the areas surveilled were in public view. A Vague Standard at Best Kerr devotes all of Chapter 9 to Carpenter v. United States (2018) because of its seismic impact on the digital Fourth Amendment. The opinion found that requesting cell-site location information (CSLI) from a mobile services provider required a search warrant for…reasons. The lack of a concrete rule for lower courts to follow has caused “deep uncertainty” and led to courts proceeding cautiously. To remedy that uncertainty, Kerr proposes a three-element test to determine if a warrant is required:
Moving Forward The remainder of The Digital Fourth Amendment discusses matters at the forefront of the law, including government buying data from private sellers, geofencing warrants gathered from Google Maps and similar services, and the “unanswerable questions” of what Kerr calls mosaic theory as argued in United States v. Maynard (2010), a companion case to United States v. Jones. The DC Circuit’s ruling in Maynard found that tracking a car briefly using a GPS device would not constitute a search, but 28 days of such tracking without a warrant allowed the authorities to create an “intimate picture” of the defendant’s life that was not reasonable to allow. While the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has wholeheartedly embraced mosaic theory, Kerr isn’t convinced of its utility because it seems impossible to draw a bright line demarking where a collection of data points taken in aggregate crosses into areas protected by the Fourth Amendment. Conclusion I believe The Digital Fourth Amendment provides an outstanding summary of the state of play in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. In addition, Professor Kerr’s paradigm of equilibrium-adjustment offers a path forward as technology changes. While new laws and Supreme Court decisions (should they ever decide another Fourth Amendment case) will shift the playing field, one could do much worse than using equilibrium-adjustment to maintain the existing value structure. One might ask whether equilibrium-adjustment is required…in many ways it seems obvious and merely a description of the status quo. I believe the paradigm might seem obvious in hindsight but laying it out explicitly is useful. In the second edition of Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy, James A. Gardner writes that “the judge wants nothing more than to be led out of this jungle by a confident, reliable guide . . . .” I believe Professor Kerr has provided such a guide though we can expect the specifics to be debated for years to come. Stadium Naming Rights Through my company Technology and Society, Incorporated, my wife Ginny and I sponsor London Seaward, a London-based women’s football (soccer) club that plays in the Women’s National League Division 1 South East (Tier 4). The 2024/25 season will be our third time around with the club—we can’t wait to see what’s in store! There has been a fair bit of offseason turnover on the coaching and player fronts, but the new staff is in place and there’s a solid core ready to move forward. Seaward continue to benefit from a long-term groundshare agreement with Redbridge FC, offering a stable base from which to operate. The 2022/23 season was difficult, with their home ground forcing Seaward to sign a series of eight-match contracts without assurances they would be able to play all of their games at the same venue. Redbridge’s generous terms put that uncertainty firmly in the rear-view mirror. When you alight at Barkingside station on the Central line and make the short walk on Station Road to the stadium, you’ll also see something new: a 3G artificial turf pitch that was just installed. The new, durable surface will reduce match postponements due to weather; provide a more reliable and predictable schedule for players, staff, and fans; and serve as a valuable community resource. You will also notice that the stadium has a new name: techsoc.com Stadium at Oakside. Redbridge invited my company to join the backers group funding the transition; while I will receive some return on my investment, I believe the arrangement should acknowledge and reward the work that Redbridge have put into their club and facilities over the years. Naming rights offer meaningful non-monetary compensation, for which I’m grateful. Joining the Team When I spoke with my lead UK attorney, she wondered why in the world I cared about a couple of football clubs (actually three, including Newbury Forest) in east London. I’ve written about how I discovered London Seaward when their vice-chair put out a call for support on (then) Twitter after the club had been cut loose with almost no notice by their big-name men’s club, but I’ll reiterate that the players’ determination to make a go of it as an independent club in a league with Queens Park Rangers, Norwich, and Cambridge United on limited funds spoke to me. My own experiences competing against huge schools from northern Virginia on a Rockingham County Public Schools budget meant I had no end of empathy for Seaward’s position. London real estate is expensive, especially when you consider that east London is historically one of least-resourced parts of the capital region. While there is more space for park pitches as you move away from central London, the lack of pitches that can be used in most weather conditions is down to the lack of funds (and will) to make them happen. Redbridge FC had the will to assemble a team to fund their stadium’s upgrade to 3G. No one involved, me included, had the cash to pay for the upgrade individually but together we could make it happen. Creating Shared Value Does helping to fund Redbridge’s pitch upgrade make financial sense? Not really…I could make the same amount of money risk-free by investing in U.S. government bonds. What it does, however, is create a community resource that benefits Redbridge in particular and east London in general by adding another pitch for use by all members of the community. Michael Porter advanced the concept of corporate social responsibility, where a company uses its resources in selected ways to support community initiatives the company favored. Later, Porter and co-author Mark Kramer advocated for an approach they called “creating shared value”. As they stated in a 2011 Harvard Business Review article: Shared value…is not about personal values. Nor is it about “sharing” the value already created by firms—a redistribution approach. Instead, it is about expanding the total pool of economic and social value. The new 3G pitch does just that. Yes, Redbridge will benefit from the rents they earn from matches, practices, school trips, and corporate events, but they will also make the techsoc.com Stadium available for community groups. They put in the groundwork (literally) for this effort, so they should reap most of the reward.
Porter and Kramer further note that shared value is about “advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which [the company] operates.” As a course creator and speaker whose products are available worldwide, I could claim that I “operate” in east London, but the reality is that my sponsorship of London Seaward and forgone revenue sharing in the 3G pitch upgrade will never be paid back in full. That’s OK…I’m doing fine. What’s more, Ginny and I have dedicated resources to helping a community that deserves to have a place to gather, play, and compete. Conclusion I like to joke that my philosophy of life is “Think globally. Act randomly.” but there’s real benefit in looking beyond one’s immediate surroundings for places to make a difference. Ginny and I still support local groups such as White Bird Dance and the Many Hats Collaboration, but the opportunity to support London Seaward, Redbridge FC, Newbury Forest, and east London in general offered a way to provide significant benefit to a community we’ve come to care about a great deal. I like to think I learned something from the baseball field provided as a community resource by the Ruritan Club in Mt. Crawford, Virginia. Just as people in a small town in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains need a place to gather and play, so do their counterparts in east London. Now both communities have that place. Another season of football (soccer) is in the books and London Seaward finished eight of twelve, with their 29 points well clear of the relegation zone and a solid mid-table performance. There was a rough patch in the middle of the season where Seaward faced a long string of higher-division opponents and other Tier 4 clubs who were undefeated at the time and/or ended up winning their league, but that run included Seaward’s first cup win over a Tier 3 opponent. It was a thrill to see that win and to watch the club right the ship and remain comfortably at Tier 4.  I enjoyed my second season as primary sponsor for the club. As always, the second time around means there’s less joy of discovery and more recognizing the patterns inherent in the business of football, but I still learned a lot. I obviously have nowhere near the experience of my colleagues who have spent a lifetime in the game so a lot of the considerable behind-the-scenes work is invisible to me. That said, my contacts with the club share what they can so I can more fully appreciate how my involvement, and theirs, makes a difference.
Ginny and I were able to travel to England several times during the season, though our weather luck was lousy. Of the seven matches we planned to attend only three went off, with the last one played on a misty March night at St. Neot’s where Cambridge United hosted Seaward in a match that ended 1-1. I’ll share news regarding the club’s plans for next season when I’m able to do so, but the one thing I can confirm is that Redbridge, the men’s club that generously offered Seaward a ten-year groundshare agreement at Oakside Stadium, will go from a grass pitch to a 3G artificial surface over the summer. Moving to 3G should reduce weather cancellations and open up the possibility of multiple matches, training sessions, and public use throughout the week. Technical improvements in synthetic turf technology have reduced, though not eliminated, the additional risk of injury as compared to grass, so the move makes sense. It's the end of the season at Tier 4, with the exception of some county cup matches, so it’s time for everyone to take a breath, recharge their batteries, and get ready to go again. Look for more announcements later this offseason.  Through my company Technology and Society, Incorporated, my wife Virginia Belt and I sponsored the January 25-27, 2024, weekend run of Kid Lightning by Boise, Idaho group LED. Part of the White Bird Uncaged series, Kid Lightning depicts and comments on the pursuit of celebrity through beautifully choreographed and artfully executed modern dance as told through the lens of a 1970s-style game show.
Narrative dance demands precise movement and effective characterization from the performers. While abstract dance is almost always entertaining, I prefer the challenge of reacting to a story presented to me directly rather than being asked to discern or even manufacture the meaning of what I’m seeing on stage. Artistic Director and Choreographer Lauren Edson, along with husband Andrew Stensaas who is the company’s Creative Director and Composer, designed and executed a performance that Ginny and I were delighted to support. The dancers were all fantastic and the choreography featured their individual skills rather than forcing them to adapt to a smoothed-out version of the role that anyone with a given (admittedly high) level of talent could do. Ginny was a professional ballerina and has taught me to appreciate the give-and-take between choreographer and dancer—I believe the performance I saw several times over the run showed that Lauren had meaningful conversations with the dancers as the specific choreography for this series of shows developed. Thanks also to Graham Cole, Artistic Director of White Bird, for inviting us to sponsor LED and Kid Lightning. Boise is a short flight or eight-hour drive from Portland, so we hope to make it to the space LED is growing in Boise to see more of their work. For more information on White Bird Dance, visit whitebird.org. LED can be found at ledboise.com. Technology and Society can be found on the web at techsoc.com. Technology and Society is halfway through its second season as London Seaward’s primary sponsor. Seaward sit seventh of twelve in Division 1 South East with a total of 15 points from eleven matches, and the Reserves sixth of eleven on 10 points after eight matches. Much bigger clubs such as Wimbledon, Norwich City, and Queens Park Rangers are above the Anchors in the standings, but the reverse fixtures in 2024 offer plenty of opportunities to move up. I know she hates the attention, but The Athletic named Seaward defender and club secretary (and so much more in the early days) Jo Butler-Williams a Grassroots GOAT for her work (along with many others mentioned in the article) keeping the club alive after Leyton Orient went in another direction. The club’s success as an independent outfit earned them a 10-year groundshare agreement at Oakside Stadium in Redbridge and a technical partnership with Puma, both of which offer present stability and the potential for future growth. And, if you’re interested, the away shirt (which one online commenter described as “an absolute banger”) is available for purchase!  Living 4,500 miles away means I don’t touch the club’s day-to-day operations, but that’s likely for the better. Experience, friendships, rivalries, and friendly rivalries built over lifetimes means that everyone on the ground in England is much better equipped to manage Seaward’s affairs than I could hope to be. When I came on as sponsor I felt I could trust the committee and other volunteers to wield the resources I provided effectively. I was correct. That custom-designed away shirt, as well as the Puma model Seaward plays in at home, highlight the club’s dynamic spirit.  What I haven’t done so far is ask the club to help me market my products and services beyond passive mentions of my website and pieces in the match-day programs. I’ve been fully booked creating courses for LinkedIn Learning and content for other clients for several years, but now that my outside workload has slowed I can turn to personal projects. In early 2024, look for me to release a series of training videos on my YouTube channel. I’ll mostly focus on Microsoft Excel, but I’ll also create videos for data visualization package Tableau and do the occasional book review. Techsoc started as a book review site in 1998 and I still enjoy reading and recommending books that look at the intersection of technology and society.
The videos will be free to view, but I hope to reach a critical mass of subscribers so I can share in the ad and subscription revenue they generate. I’ll let you know when to rush to YouTube to subscribe. I look forward to the 2024 leg of the season! Ginny and I hope to make it to London once or twice before it’s over to enjoy the football, bang some balls around at the snooker table, and visit our friends at London Seaward. When you do something for long enough you start to pass milestones that seemed unreachable at the start of your career, if you even suspected it would be a career at the time!
In this case my milestone accomplishment is that, with the release of MATLAB Essential Training on November 7, 2023, I have had 100 courses published through LinkedIn Learning (formerly lynda.com). I’m not counting the 20 or so translations and foreign language adaptations created from my work: the number of courses that I personally recorded has now reached triple digits. When you go to my author page on LinkedIn Learning you’ll see there are around 35 courses listed. The other courses I created are still on the site but have been retired and don’t show up in search, mostly because they cover older versions of software such as Excel 2016 or because viewership wasn’t where we needed it to be. Yeah, I’ve had a few courses that didn’t do as well as we’d hoped, but overall my track record has been pretty good. There are so many people to thank for helping me with my success, but I always start with a grateful nod to Tim O’Reilly, who gave me my first professional writing job in 1996. O’Reilly published The State of Web Commerce in January 1997 and that credential opened up writing opportunities I parlayed into more than 40 books, most notably the Excel Step by Step series for Microsoft Press, and more than 100 online courses when you include the four I created for DigitalThink in the early 2000s. I’ve been ably represented by Studio B Productions for more than 25 years, starting with company co-founder David Rogelberg, then by Neil Salkind (who I miss terribly), and now by the other company co-founder Sherry Rogelberg. Their early guidance provided the support I needed to establish myself as a working professional, helped me avoid the unfavorable (and occasionally unsavory) contracts offered to newer writers, and more than earned their commissions by finding me work early in my career and helping me manage my jobs as our relationship continued. You can blame Bonnie Bills for recruiting me as a lynda author in late 2008 or early 2009 (my memory is hazy on timing and my email archives are squirreled away…somewhere…). My first course, Excel 2007: Financial Analysis, went live on August 25, 2009. With MATLAB Essential Training releasing on November 7, 2023, it took me 5,178 days to go from zero courses to 100. That’s one course every 52 days, averaging almost exactly seven courses per year for 14 years. Quite a few of the projects are updates from previous work, but by my count I’ve created courses on 55 distinct topics in the business software field. Wow. My release pace with LinkedIn Learning has slowed, mainly because the company has successfully recruited a wide-ranging group of authors who can provide valuable insights on topics I cover. Sharing diverse perspectives and distinct voices benefits everyone. I served my purpose as an author who was willing to work more or less full-time on course creation at a point when other qualified instructors weren’t ready to make the jump to video. Now that they have, they deserve their turn. And the good news? There’s plenty for everyone. I look forward to working with my LinkedIn Learning colleagues Marjorie Page and Steve Weiss as well as Sherry and David at Studio B as I continue my career. Who knows what we’ll dream up next? This post originally contained an amateur analysis of the proposed class action lawsuit against OpenAI for unauthorized use of texts from George R. R. Martin and other authors. On reflection, I'm glad I thought through the issues but the piece was not suitable for publication because I ignored recent precedents that would have affected my analysis. I've deleted the post but wanted to leave this note indicating what had happened.
I just returned from two weeks in England, scheduled around the first two matches played by London Seaward. My company, Technology and Society, returned as Seaward’s sponsor for the 2023/24 season. I arrived on August 16 and, because I was staying in central London, checked into my hotel and made my traditional trip to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone. Happy to report it’s still there. Over the next few days I visited museums, played snooker (poorly) for a few hours at Cousins on Seven Sisters Road, and had dinner with Gareth, my contact with Seaward. On Sunday, I took the Central Line to Seaward’s new home at the Oakside Stadium in Redbridge, Ilford. The first match day of the season is always a whirlwind, but this one was particularly busy. First, there were new volunteers to train on getting spectators in through the gate and serving as matchday secretary. Second, there were the new home and away kits to distribute to the players. The away shirts were printed six months ago but circumstances delayed their introduction until now. The new home shirts arrived much more recently and were provided by Puma, Seaward’s new technical partner. The official numbers and badges arrived (in two shipments) from the Women’s National League just in time to get everything pressed and down to London without a moment to spare. And did I mention the new warmup outfits? A team representative drove to Nottingham and back on Friday to grab them. Both shirts are gorgeous. The away shirt is a custom design by Foudy’s and the home shirt, while a stock item from Puma’s team collection, is something any side would be proud to wear.  Away shirt worn by my across-the-street neighbor and soccer player Evangeline, the first away shirt sported by anyone outside of the club!  Although England didn’t win the World Cup final, the Seaward game didn’t disappoint. The Anchors went ahead 2-0 and for the most part controlled play. A converted penalty brought Actonians to within 2-1, but a third goal closed out the scoring and sealed a 3-1 win over a team we hadn’t beaten before. Overall it was a solid performance that highlighted the quality of the retained core of the team and the new players added over the summer.
After five days in Bath and Northeast Somerset where I met up with my wife and got way too much sun (cloudy days and open-top convertibles will do that), we returned to London for the second match. This game was a League Cup tie against London Bees, a club associated with Barnet on the men’s side and that plays a tier up from Seaward in the Southern Premier Division of the Women’s National League. It was always going to be a tough game, but Seaward played well and threatened throughout, especially in the second half. The scoreline of 3-1 for Bees was a fair result, but Seaward had chances to pull within one late in the game and apply even more pressure. Every club sponsor wants to see that the resources they provide are being used effectively and progress is being made on and off the pitch. London Seaward worked relentlessly during the previous season and this summer to secure a long-term ground share agreement with Redbridge, begin the technical partnership with Puma, and recruit new players and support staff. I’m delighted with the performances I saw, in spite of one 3-1 scoreline being a win and the other a loss. I want Seaward to win every time almost as much as the players do, but it’s a long season. These two matches bode very well for our performance in the league and our other cup competitions. We are London Seaward. I'm happy to announce that Technology and Society returns as primary sponsor for London Seaward's 2023/24 season in the English Women's National League Division 1 South East. Last season saw the Anchors build a strong foundation for the future, finishing in the top half of the league and taking a cup trophy to their new home at Oakside Stadium. The long-term groundshare agreement offers the stability needed for further growth. As a developer of online training courses and technical documentation, Technology and Society provides learners the opportunity to develop new skills and enhance their existing abilities. Much as football players perfect individual techniques and learn to work as part of a team, technical learning benefits from a mix of personal and group work. I've listed some of my most popular LinkedIn Learning courses below. You will need a LinkedIn Learning subscription or trial to access them. As the season progresses, I'll announce course updates and plan to release additional resources independently. Supporting an independent women's football club means a great deal to me personally. Providing resources for Seaward to pursue their love of football and build a strong and secure foundation for future players resonates deeply with what I hope to achieve through my work. I hope you'll join us at Oakside Stadium and at the occasional away match to show your support in person. We are London Seaward. Microsoft Excel: Program Usage and Skills
Excel: Introduction to Formulas and Functions Excel for Mac Essential Training (Microsoft 365) Learning Excel What-If Analysis Excel: Using Solver for Decision Analysis Excel: Creating Custom Functions with LAMBDA Microsoft Excel: Dashboards and PivotTables Excel: PivotTables in Depth Excel 2016: PivotTables in Depth Excel: Creating a Basic Dashboard Microsoft Excel and Access VBA Learning VBA in Excel Excel VBA: Managing Files and Data Access VBA Microsoft Excel: Supply Chain Analysis Excel Supply Chain Analysis: Solving Inventory Problems Excel Supply Chain Analysis: Solving Transportation Problems Excel Supply Chain Analysis: Managing Simulations Using VBA Microsoft Excel: Business and Process Analysis Excel: Scenario Planning and Analysis Excel: Analyzing and Visualizing Cash Flows Excel: Business Process Analysis Excel: Value Stream Mapping Excel: Statistical Process Control Excel: Implementing Balanced Scorecards with KPIs Excel VBA: Process Modeling Data Visualization and Acquisition Tableau Essential Training Qlik Sense Essential Training Microsoft Forms Essential Training |
AuthorCurtis Frye is the president of Technology and Society, Incorporated. Archives
February 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed