Channel 4 TV in the UK broadcast Pushed to the Edge by Derren Brown yesterday evening. If you didn’t see it, you can find it here.
Darren Brown is a popular illusionist and entertainer, but some of his work verges on public service broadcasting, because it demonstrates how easily we can be manipulated. This is a public service, because awareness of this enables us to become more autonomous and in control of our own lives.
Like previous programmes such as Derren Brown – Messiah, Brown is demonstrating the power of what we call the Conditioned Hierarchy Modality. These TV programmes are fun, but they can also help us to observe the operation of this modality in our everyday lives.
Of course, Mr Brown is also applying the same principles to keep us watching his TV programmes!