I love when you do the fun stuff sometimes. Your sarcastic voice is such an enjoyable departure from the hard stuff.
Uri Geller is someone I've been fascinated by since adolescence as I find the longevity of his hustle absolutely unprecedented. As a psychologist, I've pondered his trajectory for years.
What I've ultimately come up with is simply that Geller is one of a tiny population of superpersuaders I call "superliars"- simply put, he's someone able to always respond SUCCESSFULLY (as a numbers game, persuading more people than turning off) by always, always doubling down when confronted, challenged, or debunked.
To be clear, I don't think superliars are extremely convincing in and of themselves. They're simply people who are conditioned (or born) to a superhuman degree to feel no shame, hesitation, anxiety, or high arousal at having obvious lies challenged. When I observe Geller's conduct, what I mainly see is incredibly high self-monitoring and never ever "turning off."
To a certain subset of the population, this level of confidence in stating the absurd, in the face of overwhelming challenge, is incredibly persuasive- far more than what Cialdini refers to as the "rational channel."
Well, just because spoon bending is a common magic trick and the Amazing Randi exposed him as a fraud does not mean that Geller did not bend spoons using psychic powers. You are confusing correlation with causation.
Never been a fan of Uri Geller but I have read up on remote viewing, mainly from the viewpoint of Ingo Swann. Remote viewing according to remote viewers does not work the way you claim it does - they don’t see the future and they don’t claim to see everything and everyone. I recommend Ingo’s books on this topic.
I don't have any experience to tell me whether Uri Geller is genuine, but I do know that James Randi is a fake. In about 1992, my family's non-profit offered a grant to CSICOP to investigate Robert Jahn's work on psychokinesis and other parapsychological effects. Randi turned down the grant, saying he has his hands full with the low-hanging fruit. Robert Jahn was a PhD physicist and Dean of Engineering at Princeton at the time. Randi was out of his league.
Randi has also supported the "official story" of 9/11, which defies high school physics and common sense.
In addition to Jahn, Russell Targ is an honest and very competent physicist who has written extensively about experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena.
The one thing I have experience with is spoon bending. I run a small IONS community group. I asked Sean McNamara if he would teach my group how to bend spoons which he did via Zoom. see the full experience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9tBK3KcXvg
I purchased spoons and forks before the event at Goodwill. I specifically tried to find spoons that weren't the cheapest pot metal. Most people used spoons from the spoons I brought. The group was comprised of people from all ages but skewing to older, many of whom I knew but others were new to the group, and most people had no prior experience in spoon bending. As you will see, almost everyone was able to bend their spoon. It was so much fun.
Once Sean made the video available to me to post, my husband who had no prior experience in anything paranormal, and no interest either prior to meeting me (we were still not yet married), agreed to watch the video and give it a go. Sitting in our kitchen, he bent the tines of a fork. Both of us were astounded. I still have the fork. I cannot bend these tines back into their original place.
If you decide to try this, the key is to let go of your analytical mind, get into a mild meditative state, let of ego, stop TRYING to make something and simply allow it to happen. good luck.
I do believe that Uri has some abilities but that he cannot always control them....
Great article, although way outside my main interests. I was ready to move on several times, but stuck with it, glad that I did, and even watched the linked videos.
This guy must have been the on the TV when I was young, and off I went wondering if I too could possibly bend spoons with my mind, perhaps having a supernatural talent that I was yet to discover. Alas nothing ever bent or moved, and after sometime I was just back to average with no “special” talent but frequently had “deja vu“ which totally diminished once I became a teen. Shame I couldn’t use that in the CIA 😂
I am late to read this. I did not know that Geller was still around doing stuff. I just remember coming across his spoon bending ~1980 and thinking that the trick was so easy to fix you had to work hard to believe it. It's like miracles; I expect God to do something really huge like a voice booming from the sky in every language, but it's always something like a wonky carrot. I was a little boy on stage with The Great Lyle twice ~1950 and got to see how it's really done. Lyle would have turned spoons into a three course meal.
unless someone offers him a peaceful way out that doesn't involve jail time Putin will use nukes...most likely target NYC, DC, Atlanta, or London...or of course somewhere inside Ukraine (but I think Ukraine is less likely)
I love when you do the fun stuff sometimes. Your sarcastic voice is such an enjoyable departure from the hard stuff.
Uri Geller is someone I've been fascinated by since adolescence as I find the longevity of his hustle absolutely unprecedented. As a psychologist, I've pondered his trajectory for years.
What I've ultimately come up with is simply that Geller is one of a tiny population of superpersuaders I call "superliars"- simply put, he's someone able to always respond SUCCESSFULLY (as a numbers game, persuading more people than turning off) by always, always doubling down when confronted, challenged, or debunked.
To be clear, I don't think superliars are extremely convincing in and of themselves. They're simply people who are conditioned (or born) to a superhuman degree to feel no shame, hesitation, anxiety, or high arousal at having obvious lies challenged. When I observe Geller's conduct, what I mainly see is incredibly high self-monitoring and never ever "turning off."
To a certain subset of the population, this level of confidence in stating the absurd, in the face of overwhelming challenge, is incredibly persuasive- far more than what Cialdini refers to as the "rational channel."
Thank you. I have been entertained. Glad to know the 70's spoonbender is keeping Putin at bay with his mind molecules!
"I smell grant money. I hope that's not a COVID symptom." :)
Well, just because spoon bending is a common magic trick and the Amazing Randi exposed him as a fraud does not mean that Geller did not bend spoons using psychic powers. You are confusing correlation with causation.
I wouldn't lean too heavily on the opinions of known liar, pederast and CIA asset James Randi.
https://constantinereport.com/ciamedia-war-against-911-cia-assassination-conspiracy-theorists-the-bbc-amazing-pederast-james-randi-and-cia-mind-control/
Never been a fan of Uri Geller but I have read up on remote viewing, mainly from the viewpoint of Ingo Swann. Remote viewing according to remote viewers does not work the way you claim it does - they don’t see the future and they don’t claim to see everything and everyone. I recommend Ingo’s books on this topic.
I don't have any experience to tell me whether Uri Geller is genuine, but I do know that James Randi is a fake. In about 1992, my family's non-profit offered a grant to CSICOP to investigate Robert Jahn's work on psychokinesis and other parapsychological effects. Randi turned down the grant, saying he has his hands full with the low-hanging fruit. Robert Jahn was a PhD physicist and Dean of Engineering at Princeton at the time. Randi was out of his league.
Randi has also supported the "official story" of 9/11, which defies high school physics and common sense.
In addition to Jahn, Russell Targ is an honest and very competent physicist who has written extensively about experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena.
The one thing I have experience with is spoon bending. I run a small IONS community group. I asked Sean McNamara if he would teach my group how to bend spoons which he did via Zoom. see the full experience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9tBK3KcXvg
I purchased spoons and forks before the event at Goodwill. I specifically tried to find spoons that weren't the cheapest pot metal. Most people used spoons from the spoons I brought. The group was comprised of people from all ages but skewing to older, many of whom I knew but others were new to the group, and most people had no prior experience in spoon bending. As you will see, almost everyone was able to bend their spoon. It was so much fun.
Once Sean made the video available to me to post, my husband who had no prior experience in anything paranormal, and no interest either prior to meeting me (we were still not yet married), agreed to watch the video and give it a go. Sitting in our kitchen, he bent the tines of a fork. Both of us were astounded. I still have the fork. I cannot bend these tines back into their original place.
If you decide to try this, the key is to let go of your analytical mind, get into a mild meditative state, let of ego, stop TRYING to make something and simply allow it to happen. good luck.
I do believe that Uri has some abilities but that he cannot always control them....
Great article, although way outside my main interests. I was ready to move on several times, but stuck with it, glad that I did, and even watched the linked videos.
This guy must have been the on the TV when I was young, and off I went wondering if I too could possibly bend spoons with my mind, perhaps having a supernatural talent that I was yet to discover. Alas nothing ever bent or moved, and after sometime I was just back to average with no “special” talent but frequently had “deja vu“ which totally diminished once I became a teen. Shame I couldn’t use that in the CIA 😂
Any thoughts on the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) project?
I am late to read this. I did not know that Geller was still around doing stuff. I just remember coming across his spoon bending ~1980 and thinking that the trick was so easy to fix you had to work hard to believe it. It's like miracles; I expect God to do something really huge like a voice booming from the sky in every language, but it's always something like a wonky carrot. I was a little boy on stage with The Great Lyle twice ~1950 and got to see how it's really done. Lyle would have turned spoons into a three course meal.
unless someone offers him a peaceful way out that doesn't involve jail time Putin will use nukes...most likely target NYC, DC, Atlanta, or London...or of course somewhere inside Ukraine (but I think Ukraine is less likely)
Just to be clear, James Randi hated his ass. Geller was the epitome of the bunkum that Randi was dedicated to stopping.
About 25 years ago, I went to Geller’s house once in Sonning as part of a TV show. I’m sure bendy spoons were involved at some point. 😂
An Israeli being spiteful and litigious?
No...