How Does Derren Brown Do It?

Derren Brown's Lottery Prediction - What do you think?

• Here is the prediction he supposedly created with the assistance of 24 individuals (They supposedly used 'ideomotor movement' to come up with random numbers. Once they had been averaged out, Derren would supposedly have the Lotto Numbers for that very night): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmxua_V1AcM (Split-screen, just to show that it was live) Personally, as I have seen Derren live in his groundbreaking 'Enigma' show, I was adamant that he wouldn't fail to thrill viewers. I was especially hoping that he wouldn't stoop so low to the point that he used cheap camera trickery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KODaHprTdxg (Hmm, sure looks suspicious, doesn't it?) This event has been an extremely thought provoking one, but maybe, that was Derren's intention! Is he fooling us or are we the ones laughing at him? I mean, I watched the so called explanation of this event on Channel 4 U.K. and it seemed to provide me with no basis for an accurate prediction of the lotto whatsoever! It all seemed a bit ludicrous really. The professor of Mathematics at Oxford University even stated that this event had no 'deep maths' at all incorporated. I am quite confused and severely disappointed if Derren really thinks that he's fooled everybody. How do you, personally, view this event?

• Answer:

  Judging by the questions on this site, it seems that he has fooled a lot of people (not all of them, but a lot). Personally, I hope this is like his Messiah "trick." In 2003, he convinced a bunch of new agers, psychics, and alien abductees that he had powers. He did not; the point of the show is that people bought it hook, line, and sinker. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_%28Derren_Brown_special%29 I sincerely hope that he'll later do a show where he shows the sleight of hand that went into this trick, demonstrating how gullible people are.