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Do you think Uri Geller is......

  • Absolutely genuine

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • An entertainer with no special powers

    Votes: 22 31.4%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 15 21.4%
  • Conman

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Total voters
    70
A

Anonymous

Guest
Uri Geller....what do you think?

For a long time I have been interested in UG and the powers that he claims to have. Overall I think he is a pretty decent human being, although he may not have been in his earlier years. The big question is.............. is he genuine ? does he have the powers that he claims ?

I would be interested to hear other peoples views.
I would also be interested in hearing from anyone else who claim to have simillar powers.

Regards
FBW
 
He probably does have powers, but we all do, we just have forgotten how to use them.

If you want someone who has powers but isn't known for them, look for David Blaine (magician/illusianist by trade). Has been seen levatating. Although I believe he has the abilaty to read minds.

lucydru
 
Cullinary vandal

Can he repair a broken fork?
 
Lucydru................................

I have seen David Blaine and his tricks are very good, but as you point out, and he openly admits, he is an illusionist/magician.

Why do you think he has the abillity to read minds ?
(apart from seeing some of his mind tricks on TV)

Regards
FBW
 
Hmmmm, good one this!

Starting off with David Blaine, he is a very good magician indeed, and i suppose (being interested in magic since i was 7) im not the best person to judge him ;) some of the stuff he does though is really neat.

My favourite of his is the one when he turns peoples wristwatches back - his slight of hand is superb. With regard to him levitating...well, I dont want to give the secrets away but its 60% misdirection, 20% guesswork and 20% camera trickery.

eg Pick a number between 10 and 100, but it can only be an odd number, but the 2 numbers cant be the same, and if the figures are added up, are not allowed to make more than 10.
Your answer?..





























scroll down...

































37?

In fact the choices given only have a possible outcome of only 16 numbers.

Given a choice of a number in the 10's 30's 50's or 70's, 90% of the population would chose something in the 30's, with 35 and 37 being the most popular. Fair enough i hear you cry, how come everyone on the TV show has his or her number guessed correctly? He is NOT reading peoples minds. Well to put it another way, if i was making a magic show, i wouldnt show the times when i guessed wrong ( like above :p ). Would you? Simple - they dont show the mistakes :)

Ever seen the one when he burns up a piece of paper with a name written in for the name to appear burnt on his chest?

If i gave you a piece of paper, where would you write the name? Yes, in the middle. He folds up the paper into quarters, then pinches the inside part of the quarter (the middle when folded out) and burns the outside ~30% knowing that the middle bit with the name on isnt burnt.

He then makes an excuse and says its not burnt properly, and throws a palmed piece of paper (with everyone thinking it was the piece of paper with the name on) away into the sea or a bin or something, he then asks the member of public to walk back off and write the name again. At this point, everyone is looking at the person to make sure no trickery is taking place.

This is when the most important part of the trick occurs - when everyones eyes arent on him, he quickly looks at the semi-burnt piece of paper, and sees "Jane" or something, he quickly writes that name on either his stomach or arm and then really does throw the burnt piece of paper away.

By this time, the person will have finished writing "Jane" again - he then does a better job of burning the paper and pretends to write magically through his shirt, he throws the piece of paper away and apparently in pain reveals "Jane" written on his stomach.

Everyone is suitable impressed, but the trick isnt over yet...

He then looks into their eyes, and says "Yes, Jane is ok now - she is at peace". WOW! Jane died 3 years ago, how the **** did he know that? He didnt - you wouldnt exactly write down the name of your postman when asked to "Write down the name of someone who was close to you" would you? Of course not, you'd more than likely write down the name of someone whom you loved, but had passed away.

Magic? Sure! He tricks them, he makes them laugh, he astounds them. He does it for free and walks away. Superb.

As for Uri Geller, its time for a bit of pop trivia, as we all know Uri was born in Israel, but Dr. Ruth, everyones favourite sex therapist, was a sniper in the Israeli army, and racked up the highest amount of kills in the early 60's.

Where was I? Yes, Uri Geller. I dont want to call him a fraud, but he has no more psychic power than David Blaine, and that what he does amounts to no more than parlour tricks of the average magician.

Many magicians do what Geller does, but they call themselves magicians. Good magicians are good tricksters and good tricksters can fool the wisest of men. They can amaze people with their ability to seemingly move objects with an act of will, suspend objects in space, view objects which are remote, read your mind, predict the future, identify the content of hidden messages or drawings, etc.

What is amazing is that they don't amaze people by winning the lottery or finding a cure for cancer. Why don't they bypass airports and paranormally transport themselves to their next gig? Why do they take their cars to a mechanic when it breaks down? Why do they waste their time moving a wire in a glass bottle instead of moving a waterfall over a forest fire? The answer is obvious. Such useful feats would require more than distraction and trickery.

Why do the parlour tricks convince even very intelligent people that they have witnessed a paranormal event rather than a bit of magic? Because most really intelligent people are too foolish to realize that they are not so intelligent as to be beyond being fooled.

One thing in defence of Uri Geller, is that he has brought to the public eye the whole field of Psychics and the Paranormal, so that if one day psychic powers are proven, it wont be as much of a shock to the public.

Bleh, dissertation over :eek:

Congratulations to those who have managed to get through all this :D

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ffs sooo much space, so little bandwidth
[/edit]
 
I am still waiting for Uri Geller to do something that justifies his constant appearances in the media. Constantly doing the (yawn) fork bending, the 'I'll draw what you drew an hour ago and put in a safe blah, blah' trick do not impress me. THEY ARE MAGIC TRICKS.

Go on national t.v and levitate or materialize a spirit for me instead of using what are so obviously cold reading techniques during interviews Mr Geller. During ,I think, Euro '96 Uri said that he would be in a helicopter over the ground during the vital match willing the ball to go in the net. We lost!! Uri was conspicious by his absence from our screens. If we had won I'm sure he would have claimed all credit for it.

Yes, I know that one cannot judge a persons powers by one isolated incident. Mr Geller is a skilled self-promoter, an astute businessman and obviously very clever but a psychic he is not.
 
Schnor..........................
Great reply. Having read a few books on UG I find it difficult to accept that he can "fool all the people all the time".

How do you explain certain key and spoon bending activities in front of such notaries as Sir David Frost, that continue to bend when they are placed on the table?
Also the many people across the UK that have experienced these "bending tricks" when they have placed keys/spoons on top of their televisions.

Regards
FBW
 
I recall Mr. Gellar saying he was going to stop the hand of the clock on the tower of london just before midnight (the turn of the millennuim). Did he do it? Well if he did I didn't hear about it, something like that is BIG and would be all over the media.

lucydru
 
Schnor..............

In fact the choices given only have a possible outcome of only 16 numbers

Care to check your maths ?

Regards
FBW
 
Spoon bending etc. is a magic trick that can be replicated by any magician worth their salt. It is well-documented that Uri Geller is not happy when asked to perform in front of other magicians, please feel free to correct me but I believe his appearance on the Johnny Carson show was not that amazing mainly because Johnny Carson is a magician and watched him like a hawk.

Reports of people placing items on their t.vs and having them bend? . Well, and I'm already ducking from the barrage of insults that will fly my way from everybody. I firmly believe that they are just that-reports. Everybody likes to have a story, to be the centre of attention. I'm afraid that people either make the reports up or genuinely believe that the bend in the utensil that was there before and they never noticed was caused by Uri Geller.

Incidentally I once did the 'making the broken watch work' trick for some work collegues. They were really impressed and believe you me that feeling of adulation was wonderful and really addictive. I was almost tempted not to confess.............
 
I assume you’re talking about the "Beyond Belief" show with Sir David Frost on the 4th March 1995, or the 90-minute one on the 28th February 1996, because they're the only ones with both Uri Geller and David Frost in together that I've seen ;).

To explain, "Broken" watches are often just gummed up. Warm it, shake it, and it will start ticking. Whether it carries on ticking or keeps good time is another matter.

Spoon bending is usually done by misdirection. Get everyone to look away while you bend the spoon. Geller has even been known to hold up a bent spoon and say, "it’s bending, it’s bending" while gradually revealing more of the bend between his fingers. Try it - it really does look like it's bending!

Aside from Mrs Dorothy Smithe's report to the News of the World that after touching Uri Geller's magical bendy spoon-a-matic, weird stuff began to happen immediately. Namely that first, the cat knocked her favourite vase off the windowsill; a pepper pot fell out of a cupboard and broke her ceramic hob. Then her iron broke.

For the hundred instances when Uri Geller was “exposed” why have scientists reported on all Geller's "successful" tests and ignored his many failures? Why won’t Uri Geller perform in front of professional magicians in properly controlled conditions?

The demonstrations by Uri Geller are based upon the use of various magical techniques, including sleight-of-hand and misdirection, which he has honed to considerable accomplishment. He has indeed demonstrated substantial showmanship in his representations and does not display any psychic or supernatural abilities that would permit him to bend keys or spoons, move a compass needle or make a watch hand move. All of these effects may be duplicated by the use of established magical methods.

What bothers me is the precise way in which the experiment was carried out were disconcertingly vague - peoples clocks ‘suddenly’ start working again, well imagine how many clocks there are in the world, and how many just stop working, say they jam for some reason, and through time wither they either stop working altogether, or at a certain time they un-jam ( is that a proper word? :p ), and start working again at a later time. It is just pure coincidence that they start working again just as they start watching Uri Gellers show, think of the numbers, one maybe two in Britain in instances which that may happen, the numbers aren’t that improbable. We also have to take peoples words for it; it’d be a great way to be on TV wouldn’t it? Where’s the proof? There is none, but its good for the ratings isn’t it?

Amazingly, what seems to make Geller more believable is that his tricks don't always work. Like most mediums and psychics, he complains that his tricks don't work because of the negative thoughts of sceptics around him. Magicians who tried that would be out of work.

I think that the most important thing is that we see how willing people are to believe in Geller, even when they see evidence of fraud. People even think that nobody could fool them, so these tricks must be real. Even scientists trying to test Geller design sloppy tests, because they are experts at testing honest subjects and physical phenomena, not fraud. And they are fooled in the most embarrassingly simple ways.

So, Geller is not a real psychic (with actual powers), right? Well, he could still be a psychic; even though magicians can easily do his tricks better than he does. But, the point is that Geller is probably not a real psychic, he is probably trying to con you and everybody else. The fact that he's somewhat inept is not evidence that he is on the level.

Here lies the problem, he has been tested hundreds times, and has failed each and every one, but that in itself isn’t absolute proof that he isn’t actually a psychic, he just could be a very bad one ;)

For more than 37 years, a prize of $10,000 for "the performance of any paranormal, occult or supernatural event, under proper observing conditions" has gone unclaimed. A TV programme called "Exploring Psychic Powers - Live," was broadcast June 7, 1989, and seen all over the World. The $10,000 prize was temporarily increased to $100,000 for this occasion. Uri Geller, invited to the program, declined to be tested by the scientists present.

I have never seen anything Uri Geller do that a good magician cant do, just because he confused David Frost does not make him have psychic powers :)

It’s the same, age-old argument: -

Paranormalist: Yes, I concede that Mr. Adams is a fake, but what about Mr. Brown. The things that he does could never be faked.

[Some months later]

Septic: Here is how Brown did it....

P: OK, I concede that Adams and Brown are fakes, but Mrs Carver is the surely the real thing.

[Some months later]

S: Here is how Carver did it...

P: OK, maybe Adams, Brown and Carver were fakes, but what about Digby and Ender?

S: I give up. There's no convincing some people.

P: [shouting] Digby and Ender are real psychics: the sceptics are afraid to test them. They only test the fakes!

Same old carrot, same old stick I'm afraid :(

[edit]
if i find anymore typos im going to crack up :rolleyes:
[/edit]
 
yus FBW, my mistake - its 12 not 16 :)

"Pick a number between 10 and 100, but it can only be an odd number, but the 2 numbers cant be the same, and if the figures are added up, are not allowed to make more than 10. "

[drumroll]
so we have.....
[/drumroll]

13
15
17
19
31
35
37
51
53
71
73
91

Having less cuts the odds - 1:12 as opposed to 1:16 :D

So did everyone pick 37? Hope so :eek:
 
Geller makes an arse of himself occasionally, but don't we all. He is genuine. Editors of FT approve, from a personal meeting with him. Scientists and magicians spent many years trying to catch him out, to no avail. Randi and his friends couldn't do it.
Geller bent steel bars for naval scientists without even touching them.
His popularity initiated advanced research into claimed psychic powers, and there is now a such body of scientific evidence for it that most researchers have accepted these powers as fact. They are now busily trying to meld theories with modern day physics and biology to provide a framework with which to understand the processes involved.
My own observations of spoon bending are these:
No pressure is applied to the spoon, at times no contact is needed at all.
The metal becomes soft and floppy. It also becomes unnaturally hot. After a while, it cools and becomes rigid again. There were no traces of chemicals. Objects are seen to move and bend, in controlled tests these objects were placed in sealed glass tanks. There was no sleight of hand, nor distraction evident. Sensors detect major brainwave changes. Stage show magicians maY be able to trick the public. Geller spent four years undergoing tests in some of the most reputable labs. The infamous CSICOP could NOT explain Geller's abilities.
HOW MANY FRIGGING METAL BARS DO YOU HAVE TO BEND UNDER RIGID SCIENTIFIC SCRUTINY BEFORE THE PUBLIC WILL ACCEPT, EH?

Publicly claim him to be a fraud and he will sue you BIG TIME.

He doesn't need the money, he has a personal fortune which he has made from oil and mineral companies by dowsing for resourceful areas.

He gets my thumbs up.
 
Schnor.......................................


"Pick a number between 10 and 100, but it can only be an odd number, but the 2 numbers cant be the same, and if the figures are added up, are not allowed to make more than 10. "

What's wrong with:

21
23
25
27
41
43
45
61
63
81

:confused:

FBW

PS I picked 91
 
______________________
“His popularity initiated advanced research into claimed psychic powers, and there is now a such body of scientific evidence for it that most researchers have accepted these powers as fact. They are now busily trying to meld theories with modern day physics and biology to provide a framework with which to understand the processes involved.
______________________


Yes, I completely agree with you on that, and he has done more for the field than most, BUT, when proved to be a fake, what will happen to all the research? I sincerely hope it doesn’t all go down the drain :(

______________________
“He is genuine. Editors of FT approve“
______________________


With respect to the Eds of FT, are they magicians? Are they Physicists? Are they in a position to validate his work? If so, then why haven’t they been public in their praise for him?

______________________
"HOW MANY FRIGGING METAL BARS DO YOU HAVE TO BEND UNDER RIGID SCIENTIFIC SCRUTINY BEFORE THE PUBLIC WILL ACCEPT, EH?"
______________________


I’m sorry to keep on sounding like a broken record, but Where’s the evidence?. Where are the metal bars, wheres the footage? If he had real power to bend metal bars he would instantly become the most famous and significant human being in history. It appears that the only situations when UG has been tested, they have been in situations when he can be sure to fudge his results, and if he cant get away with it, he wont do them. You have to admit, his reticence in proving his claims does appear damning. If he is genuine, what has he to got to loose in proving it?

Why has he not been on TV and proved, conclusively, and once and for all his powers? The answer? He has no power, but I will say again - he is a very, very good illusionist and that is all.


______________________
"Publicly claim him to be a fraud and he will sue you BIG TIME."
______________________


If any charge of any kind is taken to court, the accused would have to counter the charge, and that would mean proving in a court of law that the allegations are untrue.

How would this proceed if UG tried to sue someone for fraud? It would have to proven to the Judges (and/or jury's) satisfaction that UG does indeed have psychic powers, and if shown, the charge of fraud against them could continue.

If UG cannot prove to the Judge that he has Psychic power, then it will be concluded that UG does not have any, so the individual will not charged with fraud, as theres was nothing to be fraudulent about.

Where is the court evidence with proof of UG's powers? Has UG actually won any legal proceedings with regard to proof (or otherwise) of his alleged powers?

To put it another way, if i called my boss an idiot, he could only successfully sue me if it proven that he is not an idiot. If it is proven in court that he is an idiot, I would not have been slanderous, as my comment to him would be true :)

Disclaimer: - This does not mean you can call your boss rude names :D

Personally, I like the chap, (not that would make much difference for him :p) and he has entertained many millions of people, and that in itself deserves our, any my, respect :cool:.
 
Schnor..........................

What about the numbers ?

Regards
FBW
 
FBW

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Pick a number between 10 and 100, but it can only be an odd number, but the 2 numbers cant be the same, and if the figures are added up, are not allowed to make more than 10. "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I apologise, what i meant to say was..

"Pick a number between 10 and 100, but *THEY* can only be odd numbers, but the 2 numbers cant be the same, and if the figures are added up, are not allowed to make more than 10. "

I apologise if my typo confused you :)

Also, isnt the the topic about Uri Geller and not my stubby fingers randomly mashing the keyboard? :D
 
Put simply, geller got fed up with being tested. 17 labs tested him.
Go and find the literature if you are that interested.
Geller called on the support of the scientific papers, plus the testimony of magicians.
Scientist are not stupid. That thing you are reading this on is not caused by witchcraft.
We are understanding the gift of psychic ability, it has gone beyond the argument of validity. We know these abilities are unreliable.
If you want proof that the properties of metal can be changed, do some research into electro magnetic field theory. Then I suggest you read the latest findings in biology. Start at FT 92 with Albert Budden's article.
I won't bother spoon feeding you any more.
 
What A Bender!

Like many people here, I've read a lot (too much) about Geller and agree that a lot of things he's done are impressive. But the simple fact is he has never intentionally done anything that is not repeatable by any good street magician.

As for the testings, Geller has been caught cheating many times. He even got caught bending a spoon over a radiator by the editor of the some tabloid newspaper he went to seeking publicity.

The best I can go for is that Geller did once have unusual powers that cause peculiar things to occur around him, but that he's not in control of these powers and simply used these random occurrences to bolster his reputation as a psychic / telekinetic, when in fact he's really just a magician.

And also, I hate to bring up the topic of that arrogant little man James Randi, but for some years now Randi has publicly promised that he will give the sum of $1,000,000 to anybody who can prove the existance of controllable PK under laboratory conditions. All they have to do is ring him up and arrange a date to be tested. So far, not one person has contacted him (I think the offer's been on the table 20 years or so). $1,000,000 dollars, for 10 minutes work? If I was Geller I'd jump at the chance. It would generate so much publicity (not to mention money) that the fact he doesn't take up the challenge is almost proof of his fakery.

FYI: Geller once maintained that he was in contact with a group of superbeings from another dimension, who once kidnapped his dog. One day he also stuck small bits of black paper to an airplane window, photographed them, and told the press that they were the Ascendent Masters obsreving his progress on Earth.

Aiiiiiiii.
 
I see nothing in this tread that shows evidence of UG's powers, or proof of his work.

__________
"Scientist are not stupid"
__________

That certainly doesn’t make them immune to being tricked.

__________
"proof that the properties of metal can be changed, do some research into electro magnetic field theory."
__________

Proof that the properties of metal can change is hardly evidence to prove INCONCLUSIVELY that UG possesses those powers. Its like saying flower can be changed by a process called baking into bread - it still doesn’t mean I can cook :rolleyes:

__________
"17 labs tested him. "
__________

During my time researching UG, I cannot find one single shred of evidence to support UG's 'powers', in fact quite the opposite: -

http://www.jewishpeople.net/urigeller.html

The above is just one of several dozen pages I used to find out if his powers are real. If you need a hand researching UG, I highly recommend it - it’s a Biography of the man himself (last updated on the 16th September 2000 :-/).

This report has 143 entries.

Of those there are: -

1) Fashion model shows - 1,
2) Court appearances/lawsuits - 17 (plus several unspecified),
3) Of those he won - 3 (With costs totalling $50 plus "substantial libel damages from PC Format magazine for a recent alleged libelling of him."),
4) Number lost - 14 (those won were settled out of court)
5) Was directly and formally tested on 12 times (plus several unspecified),
6) Was reported (during TV shows, experiments etc) as being apparently genuine 6 times,
7) Was reported (as above) as being apparently not genuine 15 times,
6) 15 Radio/TV appearances,
8) 6 appearances by his racehorse "Spoonbender",
9) 2 cancelled tours,
10) $100,000 unclaimed prize money,
11) One breach of trading standards.

So he was debunked 15 times out of 21 tests, and was also shown in court 14 times out of 17 (and not proven in the other 3) that, yes, you guessed it - "HE DOES NOT HAVE PSYCHIC POWERS". I would think this supports my position on this matter, and quite frankly, what more is needed?

Let me quote John G Taylor. Ph.D. from 1980 in his book 'Science and the Supernatural':

"As far as I am concerned, there endeth the saga of Uri Geller; if he is not prepared to be tested under such conditions his powers cannot be authentic."

Thanks for spoon feeding me though TC, although to be honest, it was pretty scarey; it was so bent that at times it looked like it was going to jab me in the eye ;) :p

[edit]
ffs, dumb smilies :jeez:
[/edit]
 
Not sure of the current state of play on the Randi Prize but ten
years ago it stood at $100,000. 90% of this was put up by a US
TV show called Exploring Psychic Powers Live in 1989. This had been
added to the original Randi Prize, a mere $10,000. Not sure of
the exact date of the original offer and Randi himself speaks only
of it having been made "some years previously" to 1989.

The terms of the Randi offer are set out in legal style as an appendix
to his 1991 book James Randi: Psychic Investigator, a Granada TV series
spin-off.

Condition 12 of the document reads as follows:
The claimant must agree upon what will constitute a conclusion that he
or she does not possess the claimed ability or power. This rule must be
accepted by the claimant without reservation.

Randi has certainly played a splendid bluff and he has a big face. For
the promise of a smallish sum he has got a great deal of publicity. But
his schtick relies on the phoney mediums he exposes. I hear he is off to
Sydney this week to do some more exposing but it will be through Randi's
publicity machine, more likely than not, that we have heard the news. Has
anyone seen Randi perform as a magician in recent years, incidentally?

In the face of the scowly Randi, Geller can play the sensitive nice-guy,
in the full knowledge he is telling audiences things they want to believe. It
is a great double act! :p
 
Richard Milton's book Forbidden Science (Fourth Estate ISBN 1-85702-302-1 )gives details of the tests Geller participated in. There are also notes in the back for the sources. Listed is the names of the people and institutions involved. I would also refer you to Prof. Hasted's reseach at Birkbeck College Physics dept with children.
 
Randi Old Man

I haven't seen Randi perform recently (sounds disgusting) but I've seen some of his 'pupils' doing spoonbending tricks just like Geller (better in most cases).

And yes, the original prize fund was $10,000 and it went up to $100,000 some years back. However, I think I heard recently that it was up to $1,000,000, although that might just by my faulty memory.

Anyway, you'd think that even if it was $1.50 there'd be no shortage of takers, if only to prove the guy wrong.
 
I've got to say I think Uri Geller is rubbish.

I mean, if he can control things with his mind then how do you explain his hair?
 
Uri Geller's hair is made of wire wool and thus obviously is subject to the psychotonic and scalar interferential modular pulsed mega-kinetics of his superior quasi-alien hypothalamatic cortical resonances.

Damn, some people just don't think before they post these questions.
 
I think he's a publicity-grubbing sleazoid. Didn't used to think so badly of him, just figured he was a conjuror who used the psychic stuff as an attention-grabber, so what the hell, everyone needs an edge. But then I read a column of his (in the Daily Telegraph, I think) where he was going on about how he was called in in the Son of Sam murders and it was really him who caught Berkowitz and I had a complete sense of humour failure. I mean, that's just pure sleaze. It's a total lie to make himself look good and profit from a load of poor sods getting murdered. That's *way* out of order. He's a nasty little scumbag for that alone.
 
it could be worse if you remember the matrix the little guy doing the uri gellar impression said "there is no spoon" lol
 
I have no idea if Uri Geller is a genuine psychic, I doubt it but then I doubt most things. I do think he's a complete and utter twat and I would trust him about as far as I could throw him.

I also think Randi is a complete and utter twat and at least as big a charlatan as most of the phoney mediums he exposes.

I'm an equal opportunity slanderer.:D
 
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