Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Derren Brown - Intelligent Design


Psychological illusionist Derren Brown talks to the OU's Nigel Warburton about how personal experiences can be misleading and how people attribute design to objects in the natural world
(via RichardDawkins.net)

10 comments:

  1. While I no longer love Derren Brown as a magician since he resorted to camera tricks, he's still one of my favorites to listen to regarding the psychology of magic and coincidences.

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  2. <span>While I lost a lot of respect for Derren Brown as a magician since he resorted to camera tricks, he's still one of my favorites to listen to regarding magic, psychology, and everything inbetween. </span>

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  3. Are you sure about the camera tricks?

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  4. It's a shame he mentioned the now-old viral youtube clip of 'Mr. Banana Man' and neglected to explain at all how that idiot was wrong (and how a modern banana was bread by humans to be the way it is now so proveab ly not made by his God. So a missed opportunity.
    Also missed making a joke that ironically the banana clip makes the demented Christian look like he's explaining how grabbing cocks and giving blowjobs is specifically designed by his reaaaally gay God.Plus God made rainbows so the proof is ther for all to see.

    I never heard of this guy before and he didn't say anything new or too insightful to be worth pointing out. Guess it's hard to find lots 'o anti-theist clips. Oh well.

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  5. His point is that people will jump to conclusions based on the thinnest evidence because it "fits" nicely (oh the gay pun-fest is so ripe). Most people in the UK know god didn't make a banana so there's no need to disprove the point. It's more about the fact that was even presented as a valid argument.

    What I object to is his use of camera tricks. This is the second time he's used one to make it look like he has lots of hair. I say that invalidates his whole career, especially as I can't seem to turn the TV on without him being on yet another gameshow/advert voiceover/celebrity coin toss.

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  6. The hands and mouth of both males and females are SO designed for blowjobs!

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  7. Probably didn't mention that because it's pretty vile and lowering the tone like that cheapens what arguement you may have had, in my opinion :/

    He's a fairly well know illusionist/mentalist/whatever in the UK at the moment. Being a faaairly well known sceptical thinker though, he'll get asked all sorts of questions like this, and shouldn't really be expected to say anything particularly insightful on the topic. Personally, I doubt he sees himself as any sort of authority on religious matters... He has some good things to say about New Age stuff etc however, such as in his show 'Messiah', where he basically tries to convice Evangelicals, UFO believers, 'psychics', 'mediums' and New Age believers to endorse him, by pretending to have whatever powers they claim to also have. It's a good watch~

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  8. "bread" Are you planning a peanut butter and banananana sandwich?

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  9. "bread" Are you planning a peanut butter and banananana sandwich?

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  10. "bread" Are you planning a peanut butter and banananana sandwich?

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