Reasonable People #22 exaggerated beliefs about the effectiveness of microtargeted ads obscure real risks, and real opportunities to foster public trust in politics
I know this is an old article but I wanted to touch on it. Your solution to Derren's trick would be the obvious one, but in the TV-presented version of the trick, two very big things take part that mean your theory can't be true. The first: The losing ticket never leaves the hand of the "punter". He's actually looking at the losing ticket as he walks right up to the window and slides it under. He says the words as Derren told him (not very convincingly). Secondly, the "worker" scans the ticket, says it lost on the machine, and then she slides it back. Derren then intervenes as he realizes it didn't work the first time (again, probably because the punter didn't really 'sell' it). Without anyone touching it or going near it, she takes the ticket back and says it's now a winner. After filming, she says "it was weird, I scanned it and it said it lost, but then it didn't or something, I"m not sure, it was really weird".
David, thank you for writing. I can see that I may be wrong on this, but here are two thoughts
First, my theory is that Derren's trick essentially relies on giving people a false story which acts as misdirection from the mundane reality of how the trick is done. This theory can survive me being wrong about the exact mechanism (and since I don't believe Derren really is psychic, there must be some mundane mechanism)
Second, on the mechanism. Like I say, I may be wrong, but my time working briefly in documentaries gave me a deep superstition for editing, and how true footage gave be put together to imply things which didn't happen. Before I conceded that what I've claimed can't be true, I'd want to re-watch the show *very* closely.
Thanks for reading and writing. What's your theory on how Derren did the trick?
In this video, coffee expert, James Hoffmann, talks about his experience filming with Derren. He tells how what is shown does not reflect exactly what happened but at the same time the "fakery" involved didn't mean that Derren didn't still exhibit impressive ability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIXdiH7xnVE
I know this is an old article but I wanted to touch on it. Your solution to Derren's trick would be the obvious one, but in the TV-presented version of the trick, two very big things take part that mean your theory can't be true. The first: The losing ticket never leaves the hand of the "punter". He's actually looking at the losing ticket as he walks right up to the window and slides it under. He says the words as Derren told him (not very convincingly). Secondly, the "worker" scans the ticket, says it lost on the machine, and then she slides it back. Derren then intervenes as he realizes it didn't work the first time (again, probably because the punter didn't really 'sell' it). Without anyone touching it or going near it, she takes the ticket back and says it's now a winner. After filming, she says "it was weird, I scanned it and it said it lost, but then it didn't or something, I"m not sure, it was really weird".
David, thank you for writing. I can see that I may be wrong on this, but here are two thoughts
First, my theory is that Derren's trick essentially relies on giving people a false story which acts as misdirection from the mundane reality of how the trick is done. This theory can survive me being wrong about the exact mechanism (and since I don't believe Derren really is psychic, there must be some mundane mechanism)
Second, on the mechanism. Like I say, I may be wrong, but my time working briefly in documentaries gave me a deep superstition for editing, and how true footage gave be put together to imply things which didn't happen. Before I conceded that what I've claimed can't be true, I'd want to re-watch the show *very* closely.
Thanks for reading and writing. What's your theory on how Derren did the trick?
How familiar are you with Derren Brown's work? He's more than a showman that's for sure.
Gets people sitting in ice bath who feel perfectly warm - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOWm0Ano71g
Makes people forget what stop they're getting off at on a train though it doesn't work on everyone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kSq7dPlw0A
In this video, coffee expert, James Hoffmann, talks about his experience filming with Derren. He tells how what is shown does not reflect exactly what happened but at the same time the "fakery" involved didn't mean that Derren didn't still exhibit impressive ability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIXdiH7xnVE