Uri Geller

File:Uri-Geller.jpg

Uri Geller

Uri Geller (born December 20, 1946 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a famous but controversial alleged psychic and television personality.

Originally an Israeli nightclub performer [1], he then became well known for a number of years for performances featuring claimed paranormal abilities such as telekinesis, dowsing and telepathy; metal objects were bent and watches were apparently stopped or made to run faster without any apparent physical force being applied to them. Although many people believe he is a psychic, he also has numerous critics, especially in the scientific community, who claim he is both a charlatan and a con-man.

History

Born to Hungarian and Austrian parents, Geller was named after a cousin who had been killed in a bus accident.

According to Geller, he first became aware of his abilities when he was four. He relates that he was in the garden of an Arab family's house opposite where he lived when he was hit by a light from the sky that knocked him to the grass, after which he ran to tell his mother. Shortly thereafter he was having soup during a meal, when his spoon bent and broke.

He lived in Cyprus from age 11 to 17. He claims to have served as a paratrooper in the Israeli Army, and was reportedly wounded in action during the 1967 Six-Day War. He worked as a photographic model in 1968 and 1969.

In 1969 he began to perform for small audiences as a nightclub entertainer, and quickly became a household name throughout Israel.

Geller was brought to the United States by Andrija Puharich in the early 1970s, where he captured the attention of scientists and the media.

At the peak of his career in the 1970s he worked as a full time professional, performing for television audiences worldwide.

Geller semi-retired from public life in the 1980s, although returned to the screens for the current affairs show Uri Nation in the early nineties on satellite TV.

He has said he is concentrating on enjoying wealth accumulated by dowsing, although this has not been verified; Geller maintains that companies who use his services to find commodities such as oil, gold and minerals are reluctant to admit it. In recent years he has performed demonstrations such as spoon-bending much less frequently in public .

Geller has written sixteen fiction and nonfiction books. He now lives in Sonning-on-Thames, Berkshire, England, on an estate on the bank of the River Thames. He makes various personal appearances, is involved with art and design projects, and contributes articles to newspapers, magazines, and an Internet web column. In 2002, he became honorary co-chairman of the English Nationwide Conference football club Exeter City, which was relegated to the Nationwide Conference in May 2003. He has since severed formal ties with the club. He is a vegan and speaks five languages, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, German and Greek.

Geller might be called something of a bon vivant, and he maintains many ties with celebrity society. He owns a 1976 Cadillac that is adorned with thousands of pieces of bent tableware given to him by celebrities or otherwise having historical or other significance. It includes spoons from celebrities such as John Lennon and the Spice Girls, and those with which Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy ate. Geller designed the logo for popular music group *NSYNC and contributed artwork to Michael Jackson's CD, "Invincible," and Jackson was best man when Geller renewed his wedding vows in 2001. He also negotiated the famous and highly compromising TV interview between Jackson with the journalist Martin Bashir: "Living with Michael Jackson". He failed to foresee the impact that this would have on Jackson's career. In BBC television interviews Geller has since admitted that he has not been in contact with Jackson since this time. Geller says that he has split with Jackson because of anti-Semitic statements by Jackson. Geller is an "Israeli delegate..." for the Red Crystal, the Israeli affiliate of the Red Cross. ("Israel pleased by 'improved international standing'" Dec. 09, 2005 USA Today.)

Controversy and criticism

Geller's claims of paranormal powers receive little support within the scientific community, and his critics see him as a very successful con artist. His focus on small feats like spoon bending seems inauthentic to his critics; one asked, for example, why, if Geller's talents were genuine, the Israeli government wasn't using him as a secret weapon to destroy crucial components in the weapons systems of the enemy countries encircling Israel?

Parallels to stage magic

As Geller admits, the appearance of spontaneous bending of cutlery has been reproduced by stage magicians. He asserts, however, that he actually does bend the cutlery using psychic powers, whereas others use tricks. ("Sure, there are magicians who can duplicate it through trickery. But the real ones... there's no explanation for it." [2]) Stage magicians note several methods of creating an illusion of a spoon spontaneously bending. Most common is the practice of misdirection, an underlying principle of many stage magic tricks. In one or several brief moments of distraction, a "psychic" magician can physically bend a spoon unseen by the audience, then gradually reveal the bend and thus create the illusion that the spoon is bending before the viewers' eyes. The spoons usually bend at the point where the bowl meets the handle, where bending would require the least force. Skeptics note Geller often turns his back on the audience, and further point to unusual conditions Geller at times sets for his performances, such as that the objects to be bent need to be moved in front of other metal objects for the psychic effect to work, or to be held underwater. They note these conditions would allow opportunities to divert the audience's attention away from the item to be bent. Regarding sturdier objects like keys, they note Geller sometimes claims these items need to be in physical contact with other metal objects, which could allow surreptitious use of leverage between the two objects to achieve the bending.

It has also been suggested that he or a confederate prepares the spoons before television appearances by pre-bending them and thus reducing the amount of force later needed to be applied, and Geller at times has refused to bend spoons to which he has not been given prior access.

Geller claims in "telepathic drawing" demonstrations that he is able to read subjects' minds as they draw a picture. Although in these demonstrations he cannot see the picture being drawn, he is present in the room and can see the subjects as they draw. Critics note this may allow Geller to infer common shapes from pencil movement and sound, with the power of suggestion doing the rest.

Disagreements over measuring success

Critics note Geller's success rate is not one hundred percent. He is not always able during his telepathic drawing demonstrations to define the shape or image drawn. [3] He was paid to investigate the kidnapping of Hungarian model Helga Farkas, and although he predicted she would be found alive and in good health, she was murdered by her kidnappers.[4]. He was unable to bend a spoon for Richard Feynman, as mentioned in the physicist's book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!.

Geller was unable to bend any cutlery during a 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show where the spoons he was to bend had been preselected by Johnny Carson. Earlier in his career, Carson had been an amateur stage magician, as had James Randi who advised Carson on how to thwart potential trickery (A video presentation by James Randi featuring Geller's infamous performance on the Carson show is featured here). Many in the U.S. who had earlier accepted Uri's claims of supernatural talents changed their opinions of him as a result of this event. Geller has at times cancelled performances or failed to produce the expected results, sometimes blaming his apparent lack of psychic power on some interference, exhaustion, or lack of cooperation by the subjects.

His critics often disagree with Geller regarding the degree of success actually achieved during demonstrations. For instance, his television appearances have frequently involved viewer interaction, and among the viewers there are very often callers who claim to have located bent spoons or restarted clocks after Geller appeared on TV. Skeptics maintain this does not necessarily indicate paranormal success, however, asserting that about half of all stopped mechanical clocks can be at least temporarily restarted simply by moving them around.

Critics maintain that the power of suggestion artificially inflates the sense of success achieved, pointing to demonstrations such as this one during an interview on the Gerry Ryan radio show on February 20, 2002:

Critics point out that in an exchange like this, Geller's initial answer ("a triangular shape on the top") is rather vague and could apply to many different common objects, such as a house, and further his second answer ("I swear to you I drew a pyramid") somewhat contradicts the first while remaining sufficiently compatible to allow the power of suggestion to convey an aura of success. They point to an initial reluctance ("Am I very wrong?") that would help to compensate for disappointment were he incorrect and may lead a sympathetic subject to allow room for interpretation. This technique is called "cold reading".

Controlled testing

Geller's performances of drawing duplication and cutlery bending usually take place under informal conditions such as television interviews. He has not taken up Randi's challenge to undergo testing and has not in later years undergone scientific testing under controlled conditions, although during his early career he did allow some scientists to investigate his claims. A study [5] by Stanford Research Institute researchers Harold E. Puthoff and Russell Targ of Geller's claims regarding remote viewing was published in the British scientific journal Nature in 1974, along with an editorial expressing certain reservations. Geller also underwent some testing at Birkbeck College, University of London. Critics consider all these tests to have been methodologically flawed.

Litigation

Geller unsuccessfully litigated or threatened legal action against some of his critics. These included libel allegations against Randi and illusionist Gérard Majax. His lawsuit against Prometheus Books, a publisher of skeptical books, was dismissed as frivolous and he was obliged to pay more than $20,000 in costs to the defendant. [6] He also lost, or withdrew, several other suits of a similar nature. Upon the final resolution of the Prometheus suit, the chairman of the publishing house, Paul Kurtz, stated, "It seems Mr. Geller's alleged psychic powers weren't working correctly when he decided to file this suit."

In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, James Randi was presented as saying that Uri Geller had driven a close friend to "shoot himself in the head", which Randi afterwards claimed was a metaphor lost in translation. However, Randi made a similar statement ("The scientist shot himself after I showed him how the key bending trick was done.") in the August 23, 1986 Toronto Star that seems to contradict this claim. Since the referenced suicide victim died of natural causes, Geller successfully sued both the newspaper and Randi in the Japanese courts. Randi could not participate in the trial, did not recognize the court's authority (since "insult", as opposed to "libel", is not a legally cognizable basis for a civil action in the U.S.), and refused to pay the $2,000 judgement that was awarded.

In November 2000 he unsuccessfully sued Nintendo in U.S. federal court, claiming use of his likeness for a Pokémon character, "Yungerer", translated into English as "Kadabra". He also unsuccessfully sued IKEA over a furniture line featuring bent legs that was called the "Uri" line.

Performance in Japan

One of Geller's last big public performances was broadcast live on 31 March, 1983 on Nippon T.V. network, where he was supposedly able to not only bend spoons, but let children do this all over households in Japan. Aided, according to him, by the belief of millions of viewers, he was able to perform a feat of bending and breaking a golf club. See transcript of the broadcast at http://www.imachination.com/healer/geller.htm

Y:("Yuri") I will try... First, nothing here is mine; all these spoons.. look at this spoon..the spoon is not prepared...it's a spoon... because some people think it's a trick, but it is not. Children, I want you to do like this with your hands...Tell them to do like this and begin to BELIEVE that something is going to bend or melt or..... say BEND! (translation)

Meanwhile I will stroke the spoon--like last time, but now it takes me... faster, because my power is stronger. (translation)

Y: Do it with me.. BEND. BEND Stroke the golf (club). Yes,yes. Please believe and give me time. You see, I am trying to bend also this spoon, but it is not... Yes, yes. Oh oh yes , yes, more way. Something is happening here. Help me, help me. Ah ah ah ah it's bending look, look it's bending, yes. Hold it, hold it, hold it. Yes, yes, yes. Help me children. Do it with me. Yes its becoming soft. Help me. Yes. Yes !! (Many excited voices)

Y: Tell them to put their finger where my finger is. Yes look! oh--- Yes, look it's breaking, it's breaking it's breaking. Put your fingers more--- Yes leave it, leave it, leave. Look , look look! More more more, say BEND.

W: Look! Iron powder is falling

Y: Yes, more, more, more. Yes its breaking, and it's soft- more- look look look! AH! (the end of the golfclub falls on the floor) You touch it, it's cold. Cold! Now children, look at your spoon and do the same. Do the same to your spoons!( The spoons bend all out of shape) And also her fork bent, you see?

M: Osaka calling!

W: What happened, Harunosuke-san?

M: A spoon is bent. You saw it, didn't you?

W: Marvellous!

M: Have you ever bent a spoon before? No? Weird,heh?

During the show there was a Dr Eldon Byrd who testified to a controlled experiment with Geller 10 years earlier.

M: Dr. Eldon Byrd has experimented with Yuri using nitinol. What is nitinol?

Dr.Eldon Byrd: Nitinol is a Nickel/Titanium alloy that is developed by the Naval Forces Weapons Center (sic). It has a memory that is placed at a specific temperature... Nitinol can be deformed.... but when it is taken back to that certain temperature, it will go back to the shape (it was meant to have). This piece was made to be straight at a 100 degrees Celsius. (Japanese translations partially drowns out original english)

W: Now what was the experiment you were doing with Uri Geller, using the nitinol?

Dr.Byrd: In August 1973 I held a piece of nitinol, which's memory was made to be straight at 140 degrees C; he gently stroked it and the memory altered in such a way, that it is no longer straight. (Shows photograph:) This is an enlargement.

W: That means, that Yuri Geller can not only erase the memory of the metal, but also alter the memory. Is that possible? What do you find?

Dr.Byrd: Well, this normally cannot occur....(garbled with Japanese translation) -end excerpt transcript

Noel Edmonds' Gotcha Oscar

Noel Edmonds was a television prankster, who often used hidden cameras to record celebrities in Candid Camera-like situations for his television programme, Noel's House Party. In 1996, Edmonds planned to pull a stunt in which shelves fell from the walls of a room, whilst Uri Geller was in it.

However, the cameras got footage of Geller from angles he wasn't expecting, and so it is clearly visible in the video that he bends the spoon on the table as he gets up, and uses force to bend it, whilst claiming to to have done it psychically. Geller later claimed that he knew that Edmonds' crew had been filming, and that he made the shelves fall off the wall with his psychic powers.

See also

• Derren Brown
• Pseudoscience
• True-believer syndrome
• James Randi
• Gallium - melts at 30 °C, your body is 36.5 °C.

References

• Gardner, Martin, Confessions of a Psychic and Further Confessions of a Psychic. Two booklets by the American philosopher, recreational mathematician, and skeptic under the pseudonym "Uriah Fuller" (an allusion to Geller) that purport to explain "how fake psychics perform seemingly incredible paranormal feats".
• Gardner, Martin, Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus A collection of essays and articles, including several on Uri Geller, scientific reactions to him, and related matters.
• Randi, James, The Magic of Uri Geller. Note: This is the book's original title. Later editions are titled The Truth About Uri Geller.
• Puharich, Andrija, Uri: A Journal of the Mystery of Uri Geller. Anchor Press / Doubleday

External links

• Uri Geller official homepage
• How does Uri Geller do it? from The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, 2002
• The Uri Geller Web Blog
• A Visit to Uri Geller's Home in the Summer of 2004
• Uri Geller bibliography & info site
• A Visit With Uri Geller by Richard Feynman.
• A Video Were Uri Geller can't perform because he "doesn't feel powerful tonight".
• Skeptic's Dictionary entry about Uri Geller
• Catching Uri Geller in the Act by C. Eugene Emery, Jr., originally appeared in the Providence Sunday Journal in 1987.
• Uri Geller Caught Red-Handed! by CICAP (Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal)
• Spoon-bending: How Uri Geller really does it!
• Golf club bending and breaking:Transcript of Nippon T.V. Show March 1983
• How to Host a Spoon-Bending Party (with article about meeting Uri Geller)
• Uri Geller Interview
• Uri Geller vocal interview about Michael Jackson