The Tim Ferriss Show

#776: Derren Brown — A Master Mentalist on Magic, Mind Reading, Ambition, Stoicism, Religion, and More

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Episode notes

Derren Brown is a psychological illusionist who can predict, suggest, and even control human behavior.

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Timestamps:

[00:00] Start

[06:45] Sacrifice, The Push, and Apocalypse.

[12:21] Derren's transition from student to magician.

[14:43] How Martin Taylor inspired Derren to pursue hypnosis.

[16:42] Strange audience reactions to hypnosis.

[20:00] Hypnosis, mentalism, and cold reading.

[24:34] How a TV medium uses hot reading techniques.

[26:22] How can someone learn to be a healthy skeptic?

[34:24] How learning magic influenced Derren's skepticism and faith.

[40:57] Why did Derren wait until his 30s to come out?

[43:18] Finding meaning.

[47:06] High status struggles.

[48:20] Making sense of the human experience.

[56:59] Ambition and productivity.

[01:02:25] The counterintuitive assembly of Derren's creative projects.

[01:09:17] Ensuring ethics and safety in TV social experiments.

[01:15:50] Suggestion as self-defense.

[01:20:27] Why Derren takes care not to abuse his superpowers in real life.

[01:24:01] Recommended reading.

[01:28:02] TED Talks in treacherous terrain.

[01:29:53] A new belief or habit that has improved Derren's life.

[01:33:27] Derren's billboard and parting thoughts.

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.

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