Did anyone see Derrens Brown explanation of how he 'predicted' the lottery ?
It was quite disappionting, I wasn't expecting a masked magician style reveal but to spend an hour talking about things such as automatic writing, wisdom of crowds, collective pyschic abilities, 'deep math' (whatever this is supposed to mean) doesn't help the cause of trying to encourage critical thinking and to educate the public in the matters of the paranormal and pseudo-science. Especially when it comes from someone like Derren Brown, who, in the past, has rightly been sceptical about paranormal claims and has shown debunked the sort of crap he nows seems to be pedalling. People are buying it though, some people now geniunely believe through various methods that Derren used you can predict a lottery draw. Even though a minimal amount of maths background would allow you to see it as complete nonsense.
It really puts me off him, I know almost by definition magicians are dishonest. I think though Derren takes it that one step too far. Obviously his pyschology schtick is his bread and butter and he needs to keep people believing in it to get bums on seats in theatres, but it's a fine line between being dishonest and conning people to get them to buy tickets by making them think they are going to see something they clearly aren't.
Example, Derren used to do a trick at the start of one his stage shows and then proclaim that is the last trick you will see. He says everything else pyschology, suggestion and reading people. He then goes on to do a whole show of traditional magic tricks wrapped up in mentalism. No pyschology, suggestion etc required, his fans lap it up. In my opionion this goes beyond tricking people and into the realms of conning people. How many of the people who watched the show, if told afterwards that what they saw was a traditional magic show, would feel cheated ? I don't know but I'd guess a fair percentage of them would.
So, do magicians like Derren Brown who has so much fans, fans who will believe anything he says have any social responsibility to not further pseudo-science and borderline paranormal nonsense and encourage critical thinking ?
I would never pay to see Derren Brown live when he is getting people into theatres under such false pretenses. I would rather see Penn & Teller, they are honest about being magicians, nothing more and nothing less. I would feel patronized at a Derren Brown show.
Or do you just say that if someone believes that someone else can predict a lottery, then they deserve to be fooled ?
It was quite disappionting, I wasn't expecting a masked magician style reveal but to spend an hour talking about things such as automatic writing, wisdom of crowds, collective pyschic abilities, 'deep math' (whatever this is supposed to mean) doesn't help the cause of trying to encourage critical thinking and to educate the public in the matters of the paranormal and pseudo-science. Especially when it comes from someone like Derren Brown, who, in the past, has rightly been sceptical about paranormal claims and has shown debunked the sort of crap he nows seems to be pedalling. People are buying it though, some people now geniunely believe through various methods that Derren used you can predict a lottery draw. Even though a minimal amount of maths background would allow you to see it as complete nonsense.
It really puts me off him, I know almost by definition magicians are dishonest. I think though Derren takes it that one step too far. Obviously his pyschology schtick is his bread and butter and he needs to keep people believing in it to get bums on seats in theatres, but it's a fine line between being dishonest and conning people to get them to buy tickets by making them think they are going to see something they clearly aren't.
Example, Derren used to do a trick at the start of one his stage shows and then proclaim that is the last trick you will see. He says everything else pyschology, suggestion and reading people. He then goes on to do a whole show of traditional magic tricks wrapped up in mentalism. No pyschology, suggestion etc required, his fans lap it up. In my opionion this goes beyond tricking people and into the realms of conning people. How many of the people who watched the show, if told afterwards that what they saw was a traditional magic show, would feel cheated ? I don't know but I'd guess a fair percentage of them would.
So, do magicians like Derren Brown who has so much fans, fans who will believe anything he says have any social responsibility to not further pseudo-science and borderline paranormal nonsense and encourage critical thinking ?
I would never pay to see Derren Brown live when he is getting people into theatres under such false pretenses. I would rather see Penn & Teller, they are honest about being magicians, nothing more and nothing less. I would feel patronized at a Derren Brown show.
Or do you just say that if someone believes that someone else can predict a lottery, then they deserve to be fooled ?
