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

Derren Brown is a psychological illusionist who can predict, suggest, and even control human behavior. Sponsors: Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: https://eightsleep.com/tim (save $350 on the Pod 4 Ultra) LinkedIn Ads , the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness and generate leads: LinkedIn.com/TFS ($100 LinkedIn ad credit) ExpressVPN high-speed, secure, and anonymous VPN service : https://www.expressvpn.com/tim (Get 3 extra months free with a 12-month plan) 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. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast . For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter ( 5-Bullet Friday ) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . Follow Tim: Twitter : twitter.com/tferriss Instagram : instagram.com/timferriss YouTube : youtube.com/timferriss Facebook : facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .