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Derren Brown's The Science of Scams

JFrankA

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JFrankA
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Mar 25, 2006
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Well, after after accidentally missing the llast trick in The Events (....maybe accidentally?) Derren Brown has, as promised, started his next project "The Science of Scams"

http://www.scienceofscams.com/

First up: Psi Wheels.

No magic, just exposure. Looks pretty good.
 
Good, he put it on YouTube. This way we'll be able to see exactly how many people have watched. The Lotto Explanation episode of The Events garnered 4.4 million viewers domestically. It will be fun to see how long it takes this clip to get that many views (currently, the most watched Derren Brown clip on YouTube only has 1.4 million -- and it's been up for over 3 years).
 
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The presentation was a bit, how could I put it... Not condescending as such, but definitely appears to be delivering at a lower common denominator. Which makes it a bit less appealing for myself, but might earn it a bit more mainstream favour, which is what it probably needs. Get those people to start thinking!
 
Well, we're up to 49,000 views! If we keep up at this rate (we won't), we will reach the 4.4 million mark in a little over 5 years! Of course, by then Derren will have put out another half dozen TV specials promoting belief in his psychological superpowers.
 
Looks pretty interesting, I'll have to remember to watch it.

Stan: are you in the right thread? Your comments don't seem to have anything to do with the topic.
 
I'm comparing the audience he's garnering with these skeptical programs to the audience he's indoctrinated over the television. It's a bit of a continuation of the topics raised in this thread. Some people believe that these insignificant internet videos are adequate penance for his years of peddling nonsense to the masses. I don't think the scales are quite balanced, myself.
 
StanUpshaw said:
I'm comparing the audience he's garnering with these skeptical programs to the audience he's indoctrinated over the television. It's a bit of a continuation of the topics raised in this thread. Some people believe that these insignificant internet videos are adequate penance for his years of peddling nonsense to the masses. I don't think the scales are quite balanced, myself.
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......you worry me sometimes, Stan.
 
You worry me too. Your prognostication skills, at the very least.

From the other thread:
JFrankA said:
...
I can imagine others who want to "know his secrets", so to speak, would see the upcoming series on the internet. More, in fact, because it's not restricted to television and just Europe. The world would be able to see this.
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StanUpshaw said:
You worry me too. Your prognostication skills, at the very least.

From the other thread:
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You're kidding.

You're obsessed with this to prove me wrong?

Wow. I'm impressed that I've affected you that much. Well, I guess we're even then. I did change my avatar for you.

....I think it's love. :D
 
Can I attempt making two points?

1) Derren Brown as the British James Randi??? Derren has, notwithunderstaning his oft repeated claims that he does not use paranormal tricks, done more to revive the belief in NLP, photographic memory, mind reading, subliminal suggestion etc., witness the discussion-sections of some of his YouTube videos.

Good luck to him as an accomplished performer, but a promoter of sceptical thinking he is not. If he wants to reveal some of his 'scams' (just one of two): how did he for instance manage to create the impression that he managed to learn the Oxford English Dictionary by heart in 20 minutes and a randomly selected book from the Reading Room in the British Library in 5 minutes?

Why is the relevant video (check ‘Photographic Memory Derren’ on Google) blocked in the UK? Because it may interfere with his British Theatre Tours?

Is he going to reveal some of his scams in this ‘Science of Scams’ Series? Richard Wiseman would have been a better ‘curator’ of this series, but he hasn’t got the pulling-power Derren is assumed to have.

2) The Science of Scams series is based on the wrong premise: One does not need to understand how a scam works to avoid falling for it: Recognising a scam is the important thing (there are usually several ways of working the ‘scams’ (?illusions) in this series). If someone claims s/he can read peoples mind, predict the future, move objects by mere power of thought, make a elephant disappear from stage or cut a lady in half: it’s a scam, a trick, an illusion and I don’t need to know how it’s done. If it’s part of magic show I enjoy it as entertainment, and might wonder how it’s done, but I know in any case that’s it’s a scam.

BTW: What we need is a programme 'Science of Gullibility - how people are fooled'
BTW 2: Derren got a lot of money for curating the producers of the ‘Science of Scams’ producers – is this a scam?

SleuthM
 
Dear Friend, did I miss anything? Did the http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153667 thread say anything which makes my two points and two BTWs obsolete? But thanks for the question anyway. It feels good to be noted :D (I hate smilies)

SleuthM

BTW: I was the librarian in the British Library Photographic Memory scam of Derren's and won my wager that I would be on telly. I scammed HIM! It happend in 2001, I've been dining out on that ever since. I know how he did it. I don't care: even if I didn't I would still recognise it as a scam. That's the point I am trying to make.
 
I made a thread in Conjurers Corner on this,how it upset the Magic Cafe(which can only be a good thing)although I think it only upset ex member The Professor, which isn't difficult.

Originally posted by SleuthM
BTW: I was the librarian in the British Library Photographic Memory scam of Derren's and won my wager that I would be on telly. I scammed HIM! It happend in 2001, I've been dining out on that ever since. I know how he did it. I don't care: even if I didn't I would still recognise it as a scam. That's the point I am trying to make.
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Er..it wasn't a scam,just a magic trick.
 
SleuthM said:
Is he going to reveal some of his scams in this ‘Science of Scams’ Series?
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No, obviously not, because it's, as Azrael points out, a trick.

Derren Brown as the British James Randi??? Derren has, notwithunderstaning his oft repeated claims that he does not use paranormal tricks, done more to revive the belief in NLP
Click to expand...

Yet again it has to be repeated Derren has never claimed to use NLP, which he states quite clearly in his book "Tricks of the Mind".

From the book:

Derren Brown said:
I now have a lot of NLPers analysing my TV work in their own terms, as well as people who say that I myself unfairly claim to be using NLP whenever I perform (the truth is I have never mentioned it).
Click to expand...
 
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