Deception The Skill Of Disguise And Camouflage

Recent evidence suggests that deceptive skill is inate in some people . This is particularly the case with pscyopathic criminals who gain early release because "criminals diagnosed with psychopathy (a severe form of Anti Social Personality) are characterised by their superficial charm and pathological lying, but lack of genuine guilt and remorse."

One way to avoid being deceived is to develop critical thinking skills. This means wising up to the reasons people say and do things. The challenge in this situation is neatly summed by Bertrand Russell who said "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

So how do we learn to deceive? Elias Cannetti offers this suggestion "Adults find pleasure in deceiving a child. They consider it necessary, but they also enjoy it. The children very quickly figure it out and then practice deception themselves.

Misdirection is the deliberate act of directing the attention of a 'mark' or target away from what they are presently focussing on towards a subject that the misdirector desires. There are several forms of misdirection. It is used by magicians to conceal their tricks. It is frequently used in strategy games such as Chess and warfare as in Operation Desert Storm where Hiding the real and showing the fake was used to great effect. Criminals use it in pick pocketing and even the Secret Service in a technique they call Limited Hangout where part of the truth of a secret is revealed. Masters of misdirection are invariably skilled at creating word salad to distract the conscious mind in order to set up the sub-conscious mind for an embedded command

Disguise and deception relies on the 'target' or 'mark' taking things at face value.
This Spy museum pdf gives a great overview of famous deceptions.

19th century private detective Tanky Smith infiltrated criminal gangs by using a series of disguises.

Operating in Leicestershire impressions of his disguises can be seen on Top Hat Terrace - London Road.

Masters of Disguise

A ghillie suit is camouflage clothing designed to resemble heavy foliage. The name comes from Gaelic word "gille" which means servant. The name Gilroy means servant of a red head. Very effective they are also heavy and hot.

Monty's Double. Meyrick Edward Clifton James. Actor and soldier, noted for his resemblance to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

image credit Fastcompany
Biomimicry at Greener Design

image credit BBC


Art student Sara Watson has created an amazing artwork that disguises a car in a car park. Incredible image.

This famous soliloquy from Hamlet is often taken as a debate about whether to continue living or to die. This might not be the only interpretation.

'Not to be' could be interpreted as meaning - not being as one seems. In other words to stop being authentic and being as expected. To not be as appearances might suggest

To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.