15 replies to this topic

[Live Forever]

Derren Brown "Messiah":


http://video.google....300547407479800


All Derren Brown stuff is good (I would encourage people to do a search for some more videos of his magic/mentalist stuff that he does), but this one being on religious stuff in the US is especially related to the religion forum. I liked the part where he "converted" all the atheists to belief in God through use of hypnotism.

[DJS]

Wow, almost felt bad for that first group of psychics...and I must admit, his ability to match what the lady was drawing was quite uncanny. Perhaps he is a psychic and just doesn't know it? [tung]

[Live Forever]

Wow, almost felt bad for that first group of psychics...and I must admit, his ability to match what the lady was drawing was quite uncanny. Perhaps he is a psychic and just doesn't know it?  [tung]

Lol. If you watch some of his other stuff, he is very, very good, but freely admits that what he is doing is a trick. Sometimes he even tells at the end how he does the trick. (like in this one where he gets the guy to pick the correct gift)

Another one that has to do with religion is this one with a lady who is open to New Age spiritualism ideas where he does some voodoo things with her:




People are so suggestible, and magic, parlor tricks, and hypnotic suggestion are things that have been used by religious charlatans the world over to convince people of things. Luckily Derren Brown does not use his tricks to deceive people, and although he doesn't always tell you how he does the tricks (although he sometimes does), he will freely admit that he has no special abilities and everything he does is a trick of some sort or another.

He could probably make a lot more money if he was a religious guru of some sort.

Edited by Live Forever, 29 June 2007 - 07:53 AM.

[Live Forever]

His shows are very entertaining, but I suspect that some of it is set up, with paid actors, etc.

Perhaps, but in some of them he shows exactly how he does the trick, like for instance this one that spiritualists used to do:


http://video.google....215412772319585

(he seems to have a strange fascination with seances and spiritualism and things from an earlier time)

I guess that he could use actors, but at the beginning of every show he ran the disclaimer that there were no stooges, actors, etc used in any of the tricks. Of course, you would have to take his word for it, I suppose.

[Zarrka]

I don’t believe it is set up. My studies into cognitive science and neurology have led me to believe that all what he does as a mentalist is absolutely doable. Besides, it’s not worth his reputation - if a stooge came out his entire reputation would be destroyed.

What I love is the one where he guesses how much money people have on them with in 30p

[Live Forever]

I don’t believe it is set up. My studies into cognitive science and neurology have led me to believe that all what he does as a mentalist is absolutely doable. Besides, it’s not worth his reputation - if a stooge came out his entire reputation would be destroyed.

What I love is the one where he guesses how much money people have on them with in 30p

Yeah, that was a good one. Evidently, looking at his wikipedia page, he is doing some new ones (entitled "Trick or Treat") that I hadn't known about before, so I downloaded the torrents of them. They are pretty good, but I like his stuff from the other shows better. I liked the one where he just asked the guy for his wallet and watch and stuff and the guy gave it to him, or the one where he convinced the people to give him money on a losing horse racing ticket. I saw an explanation video on YouTube for those and they told everything he was doing. It is pretty neat how much goes on that doesn't appear is going on, and how he uses hypnosis tricks to get people to do what he wants.

[Zarrka]

Indeed. The trick or treat series is absolutely crazy. he does it with people who do not even realise they are on the show ill see if i can find the one where he holds a 'seminar' on how to do the things he does, but is actually priming the people to rob security money vans. Then puts each individual in the perfect priming environment to pull off the crime, and see what happens. its a little crazy, but well worth watching.

Aegist and i had a theory that if the devil existed it would be derren brown trying to convince the world he was not real...

[Live Forever]

ill see if i can find the one where he holds a 'seminar' on how to do the things he does, but is actually priming the people to rob security money vans. Then puts each individual in the perfect priming environment to pull off the crime, and see what happens. its a little crazy, but well worth watching.

Yeah, that was one of Derren Brown's specials called "The Heist". I saw that one awhile back. (I've actually seen all of his stuff besides the remaining Trick or Treat episodes that is sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to watch the rest of it)

It is getting away from religion, although I suppose you could say anything he does could be construed as a bit on the weirdish if not religious side.

Anyway, I couldn't find a working copy on Google videos, but here is the full version of "The Heist" on a couple other video sites for anyone interested:
http://www.ryoni.com..._the_heist.html
http://www.tubearoo....Heist_Full.html

[william7]

I don't know much about hypnosis, but I do not believe it can account for long term, sincerely held, religious belief and practices. And, hypnosis only began to be used as a technique in the 1700s so can not account for any religious conversions before that time. See http://en.wikipedia....ypnosis#History.

It's hard to determine whether Derren Brown's skills are being unacceptably enhanced by television or not. The Wikipedia says there are many misconceptions about hypnosis fostered by the media, and its use in entertainment and stage applications is in question. See http://en.wikipedia...._misconceptions, and http://en.wikipedia....age_application

[Aegist]

Hypnosis is an incredibly small part of what Derren Brown does.

But the point being made isn't that people can be made to believe strange things. The point is that people believe strange things because of their "Experiences" which they claim to be completely real. Yet those "real experiences" are just tricks of the mind.

[Live Forever]

Yeah, elijah, I wouldn't get too hung up on the hypnosis part. He is a mentalist magician, and uses lots of different tricks, slight of hand, etc. The main point is that people are so easily influenced.

Plus he is just an entertaining show to watch. )

[Futurist1000]

Did you catch what he said in the first video when the women is drawing the pictures in the other room?
He said "let different images SAIL through your mind, don't go OVERBOARD on detail" then she draws a boat on water. Using suggestion to get her to draw exactly what he wanted her to.

[amar]

Did you catch what he said in the first video when the women is drawing the pictures in the other room?
He said "let different images SAIL through your mind,  don't go OVERBOARD on detail"  then she draws a boat on water.  Using suggestion to get her to draw exactly what he wanted her to.

Oh yeah! That was the only time it showed him slipping any suggestion in. They probably cut the other suggestions out.

[william7]

Yeah, elijah, I wouldn't get too hung up on the hypnosis part. He is a mentalist magician, and uses lots of different tricks, slight of hand, etc. The main point is that people are so easily influenced.

Plus he is just an entertaining show to watch. )

I'm not worried about it. We're not suppose to pay any attention to those magician guys anyway. Revelation 22:15; Ezekiel 13:20.

[Live Forever]

Yeah, elijah, I wouldn't get too hung up on the hypnosis part. He is a mentalist magician, and uses lots of different tricks, slight of hand, etc. The main point is that people are so easily influenced.

Plus he is just an entertaining show to watch. )

I'm not worried about it. We're not suppose to pay any attention to those magician guys anyway. Revelation 22:15; Ezekiel 13:20.

That is kind of funny, considering the magic tricks Jesus is purported to have done.