The sniper who's terrorizing Greater Washington, D.C., left a taunting tarot card – inscribed "Dear Policeman, I am God" – near the scene of one shooting. Where do tarot cards come from?

Tarot cards likely originated in northern Italy during the late 14th or early 15th century. The oldest surviving set, known as the Visconti-Sforza deck, was created for the Duke of Milan's family around 1440. The cards were used to play a bridge-like game known as tarocchi, popular at the time among nobles and other leisure lovers. According to tarot historian Gertrude Moakley, the cards' fanciful images – from the Fool to Death – were inspired by the costumed figures who participated in carnival parades.

The game of tarocchi eventually spread to other European countries, including southern France, where it was renamed tarot. The cards were not regarded as mystical until the late 18th century, when the occult came into vogue. A man named Antoine Court de Gebelin wrote a popular book linking the cards to ancient Egyptian lore, arguing that tarot symbols contained the secret wisdom of a god called Thoth. Around the same time, Jean-Baptiste Alliette, writing under the pseudonym Etteilla, published a treatise on using tarot cards as divination tools.

The popularity of tarot cards spread as Europe's fascination with the occult grew. French writer Eliphas Levi popularized the notion that tarot symbols were somehow connected with the Hebrew alphabet, and thus to the Jewish mystical tradition of kabbalah; the pulpy book The Tarot of the Bohemians concocted the notion that tarot cards were a Gypsy invention. (At the time, Gypsies were believed to have originated in Egypt, which many 19th-century Europeans fancied as the cradle of human knowledge.)

Mystical groups such as the Theosophical Society and the Rosicrucians turned tarot into an American fad during the early 1900s. Many American tarot practitioners use a set of cards known as the Waite-Smith deck, created in 1909 by A.E. Waite, a British member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the artist Pamela Colman Smith. Another popular deck, the Book of Thoth, was developed by magician-cum-guru Aleister Crowley. Both have become de rigueur accessories for modern fortune tellers.

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The other day, I told my father that I was amazed at how many psychics inhabit storefronts on busy streets in Lower Manhattan. How in the world do they pay their rent? And so many of them!

My reaction: Utter disbelief. You see, my father is a lawyer and an agnostic – one of the most analytical and practical people that I know. Yet here he was telling me that he essentially believed in magic! I pressed him on the alarming contradictions – "You don't believe in Noah's Ark but decks of cards can tell you the future?" – and his explanation has profoundly changed my world view.

In his mind, whether or not palm readings are "real" or backed by science is beside the point – they are a means to an end. What is so amazing about tarot cards (and horoscopes and psychics and the lot) is that they lead you to critically think about things that otherwise wouldn't cross you mind. If your horoscope mentions co-workers, you'll likely be extra cognizant and cordial in the office that day. If tarot cards foresee an adventure in your future, newfound thoughts of vacations and potential hobbies will begin to trickle into your mind.

That being said, I have not picked up a horoscope habit in the time since our conversation, yet my father's perspective still so deeply resonates with me. At first, I couldn't figure out, Why? Then I realized, the most popular consumer technology products (which I build as a profession) are analogous to tarot cards: Though easy to dismiss as trivial and silly, they are tools that lead us to adopt new perspectives and behaviors.

Not only can I now be considered "a photographer" for the first time, Instagram has changed the way I observe and appreciate my surroundings. These days, I'll routinely stop dead in my tracks just to examine angles and light and patterns and objects (all of which I previously would've walked right by). All of a sudden, everything is interesting! Seriously, a two inch-wide square on a screen, that changes the color of what's inside of it, has altered the way that I move about my physical environment and seek out new ones.

Since when were street signs, strangers, and silly faces so entertaining? Not only is it a vehicle for laughter and inside jokes (among other things), Snapchat has also caused me to stay connected, and reconnect with friends that I otherwise would've lost contact with: high school baseball teammates, college roommates who live across the country, even siblings stuck at home. All of this, from annotated photos that disappear after a few seconds!

And the list doesn't stop there: Airbnb is the most recent example for me, as it is changing the way I perceive cities that I previously thought I knew. And of course, there's the classic example of Twitter causing strangers to "flock" to and from bars and events. I am sure you could easily think of many, many other examples, too. We all have relationships with products that have changed the way we perceive and behave.

In fact, I think this observation extends way beyonds tarot cards and tech products. Malcolm Gladwell isn't wholly "scientific" and probably a bit sensationalist, yet his theories cause you to reassess how you think about common societal dynamics – a "silly" means to a great end, no? And whether or not the Lakers make it to the playoffs is a relatively trivial matter, but this "game" will give you a common point of connection with strangers that you encounter in your daily life (and maybe even a little pick-up basketball exercise).

In the end, I think my Dad's appreciation of tarot cards underlies a higher-level truth about human nature: We crave new perspectives and experiences but are in need of tools that help us find them. Forcing functions are powerful, even if they look silly. Point being: We shouldn't assess things for what they are but what they enable. If a lady in a bejeweled gown, wielding fantastical cards, causes you to treat your wife with more respect or life with more enthusiasm, well, I've realized that's a game worth playing.

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