699 Apollo Robbins, The World’s Most Famous Pickpocket — Pickpocketing the Secret Service, Manipulating Attention, Famous Con Artists, The Psychology of Deception, Self-Defense Techniques

This is a Claude AI summary of the Tim Ferriss Podcast #699- visit www.TinyTim.blog for more AI summaries, or www.Tim.blog for the official Tim Ferriss Podcasts.

Here is a summary of the key points from the conversation between Tim Ferriss and Apollo Robbins:

- Apollo Robbins grew up with a blind minister father and a family involved in petty crime. He was disabled as a child and wore leg braces.

- As a teenager, Apollo became interested in magic after finding a "magic thumb" prop. He started studying magic seriously and honed his skills by performing in restaurants and clubs.

- Apollo moved to Las Vegas where he worked as a theatrical pickpocket, stealing items from audience members as part of a show. He claims to have stolen from over 200,000 people during 5 years of shows in Vegas.

- His skill led to him being asked to steal from Secret Service agents protecting President Jimmy Carter. He succeeded in stealing various items from them.

- Apollo met his wife Ava at a party in Vegas. She encouraged him to apply his skills to more positive purposes, like working with neuroscientists to study attention and perception.

- He has continued to refine his unique "jazz-based" style of magic and picking pockets. His approach involves improvisation, establishing rapport with spectators, and directing their attention.

- Apollo advocates learning about the history and psychology of deception to become more aware of how people can be manipulated. He feels his skills can be used to help people.

- He is currently working on projects aimed at making people more aware of the "illusion of knowledge" and how their perceptions can be shaped.

https://tim.blog/2023/10/19/apollo-robbins/