Preposterous Universe

 
Spoon-bending and sound science

Speaking of Johnny Carson, one of his great moments was when he made a fool of Uri Geller. Not by mocking him in any straightforward way, but simply by asking him very politely to do some of the tricks he was famous for doing, but in a controlled setting where Geller couldn't mess with the objects. Of course he wasn't able to demonstrate any of his celebrated psychic abilities, and this incident dealt a huge blow to Geller's credibility. Majikthise points to a short video at OneGoodMove of Geller's confrontation with Carson.

Geller's best-known stunt, of course, was spoon-bending. It's a simple enough trick for anyone to learn, and has been discredited so long ago that nobody can possibly take it seriously. Except, I guess, climate-change debunker and occasional novelist Michael Crichton. Good thing we have people like Crichton to make fun of those silly "rationalists."

~ posted by Sean Carroll at 9:29 AM ~ link ~ ~ ~