-
We are all trapped
-
inside our own heads,
-
and our beliefs and our understandings
about the world are limited
-
by that perspective,
-
which means we tell ourselves stories.
-
Right? So here we are
in this infinite data source.
-
There's an infinite number of things
that we could think about,
-
but we edit and delete.
-
We choose what to think about,
what to pay attention to.
-
We make up a story
-
to make sense of what's going on,
-
and we all get it wrong,
-
because we're all trying to navigate
with our own skewed compasses,
-
and we all have our own baggage,
-
but the stories themselves
are utterly convincing.
-
And we all do this,
-
and a lot of the stories
that we live by aren't even our own.
-
The first ones we inherit
at a young age from our parents,
-
who of course have
their own skewed beliefs,
-
their own frustrations,
their own unlived lives.
-
And for better or worse,
we take all that onboard
-
and then we go out into the world
-
thinking maybe we have to
be successful to be loved,
-
or that we always have to put
other people's needs first,
-
or that we have some big terrible secret
we couldn't possible tell people.
-
And it's just fiction, it's just stories,
-
and we'd worry a lot less
about what other people think of us
-
if we realized how seldom they do.
-
(Laughter)
-
So I feel that magic is a great analogy
for how we edit reality and form a story
-
and then mistake that story for the truth,
-
and I've had a 20-year career in the UK
-
staging big psychological
experiments on TV,
-
and now that's on Netflix.
-
I also have a stage show.
-
I've got my first Broadway show actually
coming up called "Secret."
-
Just throwing that out there. No pressure.
-
(Laughter)
-
That should be this year.
-
And I try to do something new
with mentalism, mentalism,
-
which is the dubious art
of getting inside your head.
-
So there was a heyday
for this kind of stage mind-reading,
-
which was the 1930s.
-
That's why I'm dressed like this,
-
in my most un-TED-like garb.
-
And there was an act,
an act known as The Oracle Act.
-
And in The Oracle Act,
members of the audience,
-
as I know you have done,
-
would write down secret questions,
-
the sort of questions
you might ask a psychic,
-
seal that question into an envelope,
-
and on the outside of the envelope
they would write their initials
-
and then roughly
where they sat in the audience.
-
And then the Oracle, the mind reader,
would take an envelope one at a time,
-
he wouldn't open it,
-
but he would attempt to divine
what question was sealed inside,
-
and if he got that right,
he would try and answer the question
-
for the person too.
-
And the act spread like wildfire.
-
It's a testament, I think,
to the seductive appeal
-
of some powerful figure
offering you easy, simple answers
-
to life's complex and subtle questions
-
and anxieties.
-
So thank you all of you
that wrote questions.
-
I haven't seen these.
I know somebody's guarding them.
-
Thank you so much.
-
I will take those now.
Thank you all of you that did this.
-
I should say, probably,
a couple of things before I start.
-
In absolute honesty,
-
first of all I can't see
through these envelopes.
-
They are sealed.
They are thick black envelopes.
-
You'll know if you wrote one.
I can't see through them.
-
Secondly, importantly,
I don't know any of you
-
and nobody is playing along.
-
That's not what this is.
-
Thirdly ...
-
I don't believe for a second that I have
any special psychological gifts,
-
let alone any psychic ones.
-
So let's begin.
-
Nope.
-
(Laughter)
-
OK, this --
-
Oh, nice.
-
OK, this one's interesting.
There's a couple here.
-
I will start with maybe this one.
-
This one's interesting,
because the writing undulates.
-
There's a sort of an up and down thing,
-
which normally -- not always --
normally means
-
that the person doesn't know
the answer to the question themselves,
-
so it's normally a question
about the future, right?
-
That sort of suggests uncertainty.
-
So I would say it's a lady,
-
age-wise it's a little difficult to tell
from this minimal handwriting,
-
but I would expect maybe 30s,
maybe 40s, but let's find out.
-
It says -- And a question
about the future,
-
it says, "JN, center."
-
So it's going to be somebody
in this big central section here.
-
If you think this is you,
if you wrote one,
-
could you make a fuss?
-
It's a bit difficult for me
to see in the center.
-
Hi, give us a wave.
-
So J ...
-
Jane? Jessica?
-
Jessica: Yes.
-
Derren Brown: Which one?
Jessica: Jessica.
-
DB: Thank you. Just a guess.
Little murmur of approval, thank you?
-
(Laughter)
-
I'll take it.
-
Alright, so Jessica,
I won't ask your age,
-
but is it a question
essentially about the future?
-
Jessica: Mhm?
DB: Yes?
-
Jessica: Yes.
DB: Yes. OK.
-
Alright. So what did we ask?
What did Jessica ask about the future?
-
So am I OK with late-30s, early-40s?
-
Jessica: I'll take it. I'm taking it.
-
(Laughter)
-
DB: OK, so it's important,
-
because we ask different questions
depending how old we are.
-
Just say, "I'll take it" again.
-
Jessica: I'll take it.
-
DB: Virginia? You're from Virginia?
Jessica: Yes, I am.
-
DB: Yeah. So --
-
(Laughter)
-
I think this is a lady,
-
I think this is a lady
who wants to leave Virginia.
-
I think you're looking at plans,
-
it's whether or not things
are going to come together to get out.
-
Just show me your hands.
-
Other sides so I can see fingernails?
-
OK, I think you have a farm
-
and it's whether or not you're going
to sell your farm and get out of Virginia?
-
Is this right?
-
Jessica: Absolutely, that's the question.
-
DB: Alright. Great. Thank you.
It's a great question!
-
What was the actual question?
What did you put?
-
Jessica: "Will I sell
the farm in Virginia?"
-
DB: Will you sell the farm?
-
Alright, so look, it's a great question
if you are pretending to be psychic,
-
because it's about the future,
-
which means I can give you
a yes or no on this.
-
It means nothing.
You have no way of verifying it.
-
And a dangerous thing to do --
-
and if I say yes or no,
it'll just stick in the back of your mind
-
and it can't not start to affect
decisions you make.
-
So a dangerous thing to do. However --
-
(Laughter)
-
Yes, I think you will sell the farm,
-
because I think you're the sort of person
-
that in the nicest way
will get what you want,
-
I think when there are things you want,
you tend to focus on them
-
at the expense of other things
-
that you know you probably
should be focusing on more,
-
would you agree?
-
Educated, you spent a few years in --
-
Say yes again, the word "yes" quickly?
Jessica: Yes.
-
DB: No?
Jessica: No.
-
DB: California? Berkeley?
A bit of a guess, but ...
-
Jessica: I went to Berkeley, yes.
Stop doing this!
-
DB: So it's a yes.
-
Oh, and you've been
to India recently as well.
-
There's just a tiny, tiny little thing
going on there. Yes? No?
-
Jessica: Yes, I just got back from India.
-
DB: It's a yes from me, I just don't want
to say it like it's written in the stars
-
because it isn't and you need
to take responsibility for it.
-
DB: Have a seat.
Thank you. Let's do another one.
-
(Applause)
-
AH, also in the center? AH.
-
This will be a man, a little older,
maybe late 40s, I would say from this.
-
AH, center, stand up for me
if you think this is you.
-
AH. Hi, let's get a microphone to the sky.
-
Quick as we can,
on camera would be amazing.
-
Oh, look at that! Freeze.
Don't move. Don't move.
-
Keep absolutely still.
-
Are you standing? Where are you?
-
Man: I am standing. I'm not that short.
-
DB: OK.
-
Alright, now you changed that.
-
There was just something
you did as you got up.
-
Yes or no, have you
put something on here --
-
you're not doing it now,
but you did it as you stood up --
-
to do with your left or your left leg
or your left foot, yes or no?
-
Man: Yes.
-
DB: Alright. He was giving us
a nice clear signal as he stood up.
-
Put your weight on your
left-hand side and say "yes".
-
Man: Yes.
-
DB: Take your hand out of that pocket,
put your weight on the other side,
-
change hands with the mic
and say yes again.
-
Man: Yes.
-
DB: You have a dislocation
-
in the big toe on your left-hand side?
-
Man: Yes.
-
DB: Thank you so much. Great.
Good one! Take a seat. Take a seat.
-
Can I get the microphone?
I'm going to change microphone for this.
-
Can I grab a mic up? Thank you.
-
Thank you so much.
That would be great there.
-
I'm going to change mic because,
-
hopefully you can now still hear me?
-
So I'm going to blindfold myself.
-
And I'm doing this now so I don't
have the clues as you stand up.
-
I can't see where you put your hands.
-
I can't see how you respond
to what I'm saying.
-
I can't see what the people
next to you are doing either.
-
If they know the answers to the question,
that's always very helpful.
-
I won't have those advantages,
-
but strangely,
-
this frees me up,
-
and I want this to free you up as well,
-
so if you didn't write a question
-
but you wish that you had done,
-
you can still take part.
-
The point of writing the question
is only that it just kind of gets
-
a nice, clear, succinct
wording in your head.
-
So if you can just find
a question in your head,
-
make it clear and succinct,
just send it to me
-
and I'll try and do this now
without anything written down.
-
So just start to form questions
but send me your name as well.
-
"My name is," whatever that last guy was,
-
and "what's strange about my feet,"
or whatever the question was.
-
So name and question.
-
There is somebody already,
I'm guessing you're quite near the front,
-
because your name is quite clear.
-
Feels like you're
in the center at the front.
-
OK, let me just ... Allan?
-
Feels like there's an Allan.
-
And you're going to be quite near
the front, vaguely central, I think.
-
Feels like it's coming from right there.
-
There's like a man, maybe early 60s,
something like that.
-
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: You've got a mic? Great, thank you.
-
Allan, just say "stop" when I get to you
so that I know where you are,
-
where to face.
-
Allan: Stop.
-
DB: You a Capricorn?
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: So Allan has something in his head.
-
Now, did you hear it,
hear the reserve in his voice?
-
It's going to be something really tricky.
-
I think with you ...
Just say "yes" again for me?
-
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: It's going to be either --
-
no it's not.
-
It's access, it's a password
or access to something.
-
Have you got something, just yes or no,
with a password in your head?
-
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: A computer password,
that sort of thing?
-
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: Excellent!
-
(Laughter)
-
In that case, I'm going
to finish on this one. Let me ---
-
If I get this right,
-
they're all going to know what it is,
and millions of people potentially.
-
You will change it, won't you?
-
Allan: Of course.
-
(Laughter)
-
DB: Just say "of course" again?
Allan: Of course.
-
DB: Alright. If it's a word --
I imagine it's a word, right --
-
just see the password
written in front of you,
-
big clear block capital letters,
-
and as you look at it, think for me
of a letter somewhere in the middle,
-
don't say it out loud,
-
just get a letter in your head
that's in the middle.
-
Have you got one?
Allan: Yeah.
-
DB: OK, stick with that for me.
-
Ah, you changed it, OK.
-
You changed your mind there.
-
I think you settled on a --
-
I think that's a "B", yes?
-
Allan: No.
-
I didn't.
-
DB: Then it's an "I"?
Allan: Correct.
-
DB: But you had a B.
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: Yeah, he changed his mind.
He changed his mind.
-
(Laughter)
-
So see it written there.
-
Just keep saying it
to yourself in your head.
-
Oh, you play drums, don't you.
-
Allan: I do.
-
DB: Just get that out of your head,
get that out of your head,
-
just focus on this one thing for me.
-
(Laughter)
-
My job is to sell you a story, right?
-
I try and do this to all of you,
to get you to pay attention
-
to one thing that I want you
to find important,
-
ignore other things
that I want you to ignore,
-
and then join up those narrative dots
-
to tell yourself a certain story
about what I'm doing,
-
and this only works because
we are story-forming creatures,
-
which means we do this every day.
-
We go out into this complex
and subtle world
-
full of a complex and subtle people
like you and me, Allan,
-
and we reduce them
to these neat characters
-
that fit whatever story
we're telling ourselves,
-
and we say, "she's insecure,"
"he's arrogant," "they can't be trusted,"
-
and these are just stories like the story
that I can somehow read your mind.
-
You're thinking of selling your company
as well, aren't you, at the moment.
-
Allan: Correct.
-
DB: Which is something to do with skin?
-
Allan: Yes.
-
DB: Skin care or something like this.
-
Allan: Uh, yes.
-
DB: And I think the reason
why I love doing this
-
is that it reminds me at least
to try and be more alive and alert
-
to the complexity
and the subtlety of what's real,
-
that there's always other stuff
going on that we don't know about,
-
and it means we can get less stuck,
we can be kinder to people
-
because we can recognize
there's always fear behind their stress,
-
so we don't need
to meet it as defensively,
-
and we can start to see the stories
for what they are
-
and recognize that life
isn't all about us.
-
Oh!
-
Your password, where are you?
Where are you? Where is he?
-
Allan: Right here.
-
DB: Stand up for me.
Your password is "ariboy."
-
A-r-i-b-o-y? Is that right?
Allan: That's correct.
-
DB: Then thank you so much.
Thank you very much indeed.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)