Comments on: Derren Brown – The Science of Scams

By: Reinhard Wentz

Reinhard Wentz — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:56:32 +0000

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 ‘scams’: how did he for instance manage to create the impression that he did 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?

Reinhard Wentz

- The video is blocked under CH4/You Tube policy and certainly nothing to do with Derren’s tour or at our request. Derren does not profess to be James Randi (JR has his own organisation dedicated to that). Creating an impression that he learned the Oxford English Dictionary in 20 minutes is called a “magic trick” – it’s kind of what he does. DB’s shows are entertainment, he does not heal the sick, see in to the future or sell courses on “how to win at life”. He does not promote or endorse NLP, claim to have superpowers or psychic abilities or extract money from people in an attempt to prove so. Our official policy is to intelligently question everything – but most of all to entertain and enlighten. – Phillis

By: dan

dan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:36:35 +0000

and animals are actually quite sensitive to paranormal activity ..well at least my house mates dog was, it used to never enter the backroom I our house.. in fact, he used to sit and stare at the corner barking sometimes.. but would never enter the room. I actually saw something quite strange in that room a year or so ago, it was something he had picked up on. There are things that we may take ages to learn or get used to, but times are changing. It just requires a bit of an open mind. We used to think the earth was flat and anyone who said different was locked up or killed. Just takes time to gain the right knowledge

By: dan

dan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:10:04 +0000

everyone has a right to say what they think… and if you think its all **** then I can accept that, but many things have happened in peoples life that they cant explain either. Things that they know they haven’t dreamt up from a bedtime story or the after effects of watching a scary movie. I guess it just takes a person to be more sensitive to certain things or more open minded. That doesn’t mean that if there’s a bump at night you have to sit there and wonder what monster is lurking in your room , I mean you just cant fob things off and rubbish things. Derren has a talent but he cant disprove what he really doesn’t know

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:03:02 +0000

Once, in student halls, I went to see a friend in her room. She wasn’t there but the door was open. Standing in the doorway, wondering where she might be, I was surprised to see the pages of a newspaper that had been flat on her desk start slowly turning over, one by one, from front to back, as if someone were casually reading. This went on for a minute or so. During that time, apart from the fact that nobody else was in the room, I noted that there was no open window to make a draught and no electrical appliance in operation such as a hairdryer. I ran through a mental list of reasons I might be hallucinating: stress, grief, fatigue, substance use, evidence of mental illness… None applied. Having turned from front to back, the paper then seemingly folded in half. Explain that.

By: tom bulmer

tom bulmer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:28:19 +0000

i think that there is nothing out there as in paranormal stuff we can really learn this from other animals we dont see other animals such as tigers and snakes being scared of the paranormal sort of things you might say this is all a load of **** because we cant tell what other animals are feeling but the same thing would happen if there was a paranormal happening such as if we sent a dog into one of the most paranormal active area and see how they react i just think it evolved from bed time stories getting a child to be scared and when a person is scared they can become predictable and easly perswaded into doing something or trick them selfs into pretending to seeing something.

many thanks tom bulmer

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:25:48 +0000

Its a shame people who were on the fence about possible non-ordianry events, like some of my friends, have now chosen to rubbish things, just like Derren.He’s very clever no doubt, but at the end of the day its hyped entertainment for the masses.Theres no denying there’s heaps of charlatans about and it’s really interesting how Derren debunks them..but i’d love to know what Derren’s views are on quantum theory for example?.. here the phenomenon of entanglement (or ‘action at a distance’) occurs.No one knows how it happens & its one of a whole heap of unexplainable gray areas in science.This for me is one area that keeps my mind open & when you really take the time to look into things,on lots of levels,its pretty clear that some very odd & curious things are afoot.. my two pence worth )

By: dan

dan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:24:43 +0000

It maybe good to see, but by doing this and trying to prove people wrong will just throw more doubt at the real people involved in these practices, such as mediums and healers. Im not sure things like this can ever be proven or disproven, but i guess time will tell, just if it help people in their life whos to knock it and say its not real. It will make good viewing no doubt, but maybe just keep an open mind after watching. Supposedly nothing is proven till we can see it or it can be measured in some way… here a short documentary on a project on measuring chi/qi energy… http://www.superlife.ws/video/a-scientific-investigation

By: Aaron s-g

Aaron s-g — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:20:42 +0000

Derrens psychic spy thing worked on me it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool !!!

By: Esther

Esther — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:20:24 +0000

I can’t wait. This is going to be incredibly interesting, as everything Derren does. I hope this will help to reduce the number of gullible people who believe anything. By the way there are lots of comments here asking if Derren will “debunk himself” are they missing the point??? Derren does not pretend to have powers and all his tricks are precisely that,, as he himself makes clear
Good Luck Derren

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:20:25 +0000

Jus thot id add bit bout earlier parts of show.. Im still ‘unconvinced’ by hypnosis so can only say I cant explain how the £5k guy (was it ben?) didnt rembr other than he was fake. The squash ball thing was good but the ball seemed2 have a wierd stop. Mibbe jus me but ther seemed to be a sudden decceleration or movement towards the end? Magnets, numbered squares moving or simpler? Appreciate it’s a good show but my fun is tryn 2 figure it out… not tryn 2ruin any1′s fun