How did Uri Geller (psychic) divine pictures people had written?

[Peter_Morris]

@Acsenray

Are we talking about that video in which Geller does a “time machine” trick for a TV show? I watched the whole thing. What about it so profoundly enlightening?

Do you think that Uri Geller was trying to:

1. Entertain people with a conjuring trick
2. Make them think he really has invented a time machine.

[Acsenray]

@Peter_Morris

Do you think that Uri Geller was trying to:

1. Entertain people with a conjuring trick
2. Make them think he really has invented a time machine.

In that particular video? I don’t think he was asserting the invention of a real time machine.

If I show you a video of me eating breakfast, does that prove that I have never eaten lunch?

[Razncain]

On Geller’s site:

In 1983 Geller was given a contract to find gold in Brazil, by a Japanese corporation which he has agreed not to name. The contract that was eventually arranged was for a six-year period with an immediate down-payment of $1 million and another $1 million on completion.

Geller explains how he goes about such a task. Remote sensing, as I practise it, involves very intense concentration over a long period. Before I visit a prospecting area, I study the maps I have been given for at least two hours a day, sometimes more.

In 1985 Geller was contacted by Peter Stirling, chairman of Zanex Ltd., who had some interesting gold mining leases in the Solomon Islands. In October 1985, Zanex, in a statement issued to stockholders, reported that as a result of advice given by one of Uri Geller’s companies, the exploration thrust was being expanded to include a search for diamonds on a previously unexplored island.

Geller: The other part of what we do is saving companies’ money, by advising them where they would be wasting exploration money. I once told a company three places not to drill, and they drilled, and they lost $50 million.

Do you think Geller was trying to:

A. Bilk investors out of their money.
B. Entertain them.
C. Make horseshit.
D. All of the above.

[Gary_Robson]

@Enginerd

That being said, Ianzin is less anonymous than most of us, and he’s apparently been threatened by Geller’s attorneys in the past. Given Geller’s litigiousness, I can understand his reluctance to state publicly that Geller’s a fraud.

I am not anonymous here at all, and I will cheerfully state publicly that (in my personal opinion, not speaking on behalf of the Straight Dope in any way) Uri Geller is a fraud. I have read and watched quite a bit of him and about him, and I have not seen any evidence to indicate that he’s anything other than a skilled con artist.

[Peter_Morris]

@razncain

On Geller’s site:

Do you think Geller was trying to:

A. Bilk investors out of their money.
B. Entertain them.
C. Make horseshit.
D. All of the above.

I suspect that he told the story as a publicity stunt, and that it didn’t actually happen.

[Czarcasm]

@Peter_Morris

I suspect that he told the story as a publicity stunt, and that it didn’t actually happen.

Cute dance you’ve got there-does it have a name?

[Princhester]

@Peter_Morris

I suspect that he told the story as a publicity stunt, and that it didn’t actually happen.

I agree. Telling lies about one’s abilities to get people to buy your stuff is called what?

[Peter_Morris]

Publicity

[stpauler]

@Peter_Morris

Publicity

m-w seems to miss out on the lying aspect for "publicity".
1: the quality or state of being public
2a : an act or device designed to attract public interest; specifically : information with news value issued as a means of gaining public attention or support b : the dissemination of information or promotional material c : paid advertising d : public attention or acclaim

Let’s see if a different word would sum up what he did:
Fraud
1a : deceit, trickery; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : trick
2a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : impostor; also : one who defrauds : cheat

Hmm, I think we’re honing in on the problem here.

[Peter_Morris]

So, a celebrity autobiography that contains a few anecdotes that are not actually true somehow turns him into an evil person?

[stpauler]

@Peter_Morris

So, a celebrity autobiography that contains a few anecdotes that are not actually true somehow turns him into an evil person?

Fraud and evil aren’t synonymous, but there could be overlapping.

[md2000]

@ianzin

… If I had not admitted that I know Uri personally and have been friends with him for years, …my friendship with the guy.
…

However, I think it’s unhelpful and a bad idea to introduce the word ‘fraud’ because it is a legal term and it could get someone, somewhere into legal hot water. I’m not just making this up. I’m basing it on legal advice I received some years ago, **after I’d received a letter from Uri Geller’s lawyers threatening to take legal action against me **concerning a magazine article…

Enough of the definition of fraud (i.e. Uri).
What’s the definition of “friend” in this thread?

[Princhester]

@Peter_Morris

So, a celebrity autobiography that contains a few anecdotes that are not actually true somehow turns him into an evil person?

It’s a subjective judgment call. But when the anecdotes are total fabrications designed sell the idea that the celebrity has special powers that they don’t have but know the gullible may believe and when the idea is used to fleece those gullible people then yeah in my book that’s getting up into the evil range. A key difference between what I see Geller doing here and what the average celebrity does is this: the average celebrity says or does things that merely attract attention. Geller’s schtick does that plus something more. He is actually misleading people about the thing he is selling.

[Bryan_Ekers]

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:184, topic:652260”]

I am not anonymous here at all, and I will cheerfully state publicly that (in my personal opinion, not speaking on behalf of the Straight Dope in any way) Uri Geller is a fraud. I have read and watched quite a bit of him and about him, and I have not seen any evidence to indicate that he’s anything other than a skilled con artist.
[/QUOTE]

I unanonymously concur, though I’d like to add that I expect Geller does possess one unusual trait - particularly strong hands allowing him to bend spoons and keys with complete nonchalance as he does his patter.

[Peter_Morris]

He is actually misleading people about the thing he is selling.

The thing he is selling is entertainment. Claiming it as something real is just part of the show.
Look, just consider Houdini. He sold the public on the idea that he could escape from handcuffs and various traps through having extraordinary skills at causing locks to open, and so on.

In reality, he was a magician performing tricks. He couldn’t really open handcuffs.

Some of his escapes would be paranormal if they were real, and he sold the audience the notion that they were real.

Does that make Houdini a fraud?

Uri Geller’s act is no more fraudulent than Houdini’s, and most magicians like him.

[Czarcasm]

@Peter_Morris

The thing he is selling is entertainment. Claiming it as something real is just part of the show.
Look, just consider Houdini. He sold the public on the idea that he could escape from handcuffs and various traps through having extraordinary skills at causing locks to open, and so on.

In reality, he was a magician performing tricks. He couldn’t really open handcuffs.

Some of his escapes would be paranormal if they were real, and he sold the audience the notion that they were real.

Does that make Houdini a fraud?

Uri Geller’s act is no more fraudulent than Houdini’s, and most magicians like him.

Been there, done that, saw the movie, bought the t-shirt, ate the breakfast cereal. Geller himself says that he is not a magician and that he doesn’t do magic tricks.. In fact, those are the very first words out of his mouth in the the video you linked to that you falsely claimed I didn’t view. Comparing him to Harry Houdini is especially offensive-Houdini spent a good part of his life exposing frauds like Geller.

[Colibri]

@razncain

It seems like you got more time to waste than I.

…

Spare me in the future of what you think I like for entertainment.

@Peter_Morris

It’s taking longer than we thought.

@razncain

You’re forgetting, I’m not Geller claiming psychic abilities, I can’t read your mind. I tried, but drew a blank.

Moderator Note

razncain and Peter Morris, drop the snarky remarks. No warning issued, but dial it back.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

[Floater]

As it seems I’m allowed to bring this up again.

@Peter_Morris

On one occasion he sued someone for claiming that his act includes tricks taken from the back of cereal packets. The issue there was his skill as a performer. It was not about whether his tricks are real or fake.

@x-ray_vision

The quote you provided does not back up your claim that Randi was sued for claiming his tricks were taken from the back of a cereal packet. As a matter of fact, Randi never claimed that. He said his tricks “are the kind that used to be on the back of cereal boxes when I was a kid.” I doubt that statement could have a suit get as far as it did.

Anyway, these are statements that do not show what was alleged in the lawsuit. Got any real facts?

@x-ray_vision

What Geller is inferring is that the case was in regard to a paranormal issue, and that aside from that Geller was defamed with a comment about the kind of tricks that used to be found on the back of cereal boxes. Whether or not defamation for the cereal boxes part of the comment was part of the suit is unknown, since you have presented zero facts of the case to back up your statement.

This is straight from the horses mouth (and passed through my memory): What Randi said is that he had learnt how to bend spoons(? might have been some other trick, though) from the back of a cereal packet when he was a child in Toronto. Geller promptly wanted him to produce one such box and sued him when he couldn’t. At least this is what Randi has said in my presence.

[Gary_Robson]

@Peter_Morris

So, a celebrity autobiography that contains a few anecdotes that are not actually true somehow turns him into an evil person?

You know that’s not what we’re talking about here, Peter.

If someone charges money for telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, dowsing, casting horoscopes, telling fortunes with tarot cards, casting curses, or reading tea leaves they are committing fraud. They are accepting money for something they cannot deliver, and their income depends on fooling people into thinking that they have delivered.

@Peter_Morris

Look, just consider Houdini. He sold the public on the idea that he could escape from handcuffs and various traps through having extraordinary skills at causing locks to open, and so on.

In reality, he was a magician performing tricks. He couldn’t really open handcuffs.

In reality, Harry Houdini was quite skilled at picking locks.

[DrFidelius]

I think that “puffery” is a word that people are looking for here, and an agreement as to where advertising and promotional puffery becomes fraud.