James Randi vs Uri Geller on BBC News Night

[putasensura]

what ever

Jewish people are stupid

[putasensura]

you don't even know what fuckwit means bitch

by the way uri geller is a fucking Jew you morhter fucking bitch super annoying asshole

[philosophicalisery]

The thought of geller as a model makes me want to vomit!

[Bl6zer69]

He was a male model. He must of had paranormal powers.WTF

[SueBeaWho]

Uri is an ass.

[putasensura]

it had to be a jew

[wakil5555]

what is it with Uri and spoons?

[buakia]

uri is SHEET,..

[fuckgodfuckyou]

Motherfucking spoon lover!! Ahehe oww check my bad self!!

[IzzyBunneh]

uri's explanation is allot nicer and fuzzier, and i'd really prefer to believe it... unfortunately i have to side with randi here, any phenomenon that claims to be so pervasive and at the same time so evasive as soon as skeptical eyes are turned on it, probably isn't true, almost certainly isn't

[BobCassidy]

Thanks for uploading. Never knew these two were on TV together.

[Pisces4Ocean]

james randi u r GREAT.........Uri is a FAKE Shit.

[dafyddoe]

lol "This is a power only I have"

The power to make cutlery useless for its intended purpose.

[Tokimi989]

The interviewer in this piece is absolutely SHIT. He's trying to assert flawed logic, when he makes generalisations and assumptions on things which had to be corrected several times before.

Uri Geller was, is, and will always be a bad entertainer, a 3-trick-pony and most importantly, a CHARLATAN. Regardless of all this bullshit and nonsense about him "under jury" being a malicious liar.

[fredhetz]

I must have missed the course where they taught that people could move things with their minds thousands of years ago as Geller says.

[DXvsnWo1]

James Randi is great

[blackadderthe4]

Uri Geller is a fake, con man and lair, but he has made a lot of money out of his myth! Why has he not been arrested and brought up in court and have to explain himself? He can't explain his "powers" because he has none!

[Enicay]

God bless james Randi. -Get it?

[Tempest357]

Maybe he truly believes he has powers XD

just one comment for that :...

comment :ahahahahhaahhahahahaahha

[Jacobrester]

It amazes me people believe this Con Man. Uri Geller is a fake.

[xwulfd]

imagine uri and the nation joined forces in the 70's and became urination rofl

[phildirt3]

even the government are a bunch of idiots spending money on paranormal research. thats gellers fakery is dangerous

[migdel1983]

Well that's a very post-modern view! Because a fact is a fact when it comes to natural science. There is no interpretation.

By the way, it was new years last night. Should you not have been out getting drunk and trying to ride birds!

[migdel1983]

I'm afraid legends are simply not "true" in the same way science. And is not to non-westerners what science is to us. Because, once again, and this is the key issue... science is based on fact and observable truths.

At the end of the day, someone simply made up a legend. There's no getting away from that. The same goes for most elements of a 'western' religion like Christianity.

I'm afraid such post-modern relativism simply doesn't wash when it comes to natural science. A fact is a fact.

[migdel1983]

If people from any culture were to approach both "explanations" from a Rawls-ian 'veil of ignorance'... as I stated earlier... I think the scientific explanation and culture would gradually win out completely because it is based on fact.

Of course, there is no veil of ignorance because from birth people are effectively forced into their own cultures and norms and don't have a choice. The ties are too strong.

That is as abusive as the use of western scientific philosophy.

[migdel1983]

"Cultures have a dichotomy for almost every subject that another can produce knowledge for"

Yes... knowledge. But stories of legends aren't knowledge. They're stories invented by someone. Whereas the Big Bang Theory is based on the knowledge available so far.

Mu "utopian manner" as I put it isn't the destruction of a society... but the gentle unbiased spread of knowledge so people can make up their own minds.

[migdel1983]

Also, to return to the original issue, most of these traditional cultures you talk of being destroyed, they are only propogated because a very narrow amount of knowldedge is dispersed within them. People come from a dogmatic style of education. Children are indoctrinated into it.

If those children were entered into an educational version of Rawls social contract, would so many willingly propogate that culture? No child has tradition, only their forefathers do.

[migdel1983]

"You can offer them help or your opinion but that's it."

Well that's still helping people learn. Whether they use it is a different matter. But I never said I agreed with forcing people to accept it.

[migdel1983]

"Their women"? As a member of the human race - not any specific culture - if I see someone getting physically and involuntarily harmed I believe it is your moral duty to help them.

[migdel1983]

Well, I suppose this is the root of it between us... I think Dawkins' viewpoints are rock-solid but how he presents them heavyhanded.

I believe the spread of knowledge is for the good of mankind as a whole. If that means religious mysticisms are disproven, so be it.

Unfortunately of course, my utopian manner of delivering that knowledge hasn't been practised!

[migdel1983]

No, my culture merely believes in the available facts.

And don't lump me in with economic imperialists because I am certainly not one of them. In fact I am very much on your side of the argument there.

But I do people in observable truths.

[migdel1983]

Sorry, that should read "believe", not "people in the last sentence!! I'm getting tired!

[migdel1983]

Female circumcision is physical abuse and very often done without the agreement of the person subjected to it.

[migdel1983]

"your very own religious traditions"

They're not my traditions, their my country's traditions. I don't want them forced on me, yet I had to endure it.

Also, your stone-age society... well, imagine I encountered one of them injured from a hunt, with a life-threatening but treatable injury. Yet my only way to save it is to use western medicine and techniques. I would use them. I think it's our duty to help people learn.

[migdel1983]

I did not raise a straw man. I am merely arguing that the scientific method and western scientific philosophy are not the root of the problem you talk of.

Western imperialism is. It's not a philosopher's or a scientist's fault his theories or findings are abused. Do you get me?

[migdel1983]

Economics is a social science... not a natural science which is what I am talking about and concerned with.

And like all social sciences it's open to desperate abuse.

[migdel1983]

To me, empiricism and rationalism are beautiful philosophies because they deal with fact and, by extension, truth. And that's what I'm interested in. And they are at the root of the scientific method.

Without such philosophies we'd still be dying of small pox.

What is not beautiful is, as you say, forcing it on people. Nothing wrong with presenting it though. It's all in the delivery.

[migdel1983]

"These have been used"

Exactly. So the fault is not with the philosophy itself... it's with those who aggressively force it on cultures perhaps not ready.

[migdel1983]

Also, no-one in their right minds would claim 'western economics' is a true science. Look at what's happened to the world in the last year, it's all illusory and dependent on vested interests. So to bring that into a debate about the scientific method is a fallacy.

[migdel1983]

Blackfish, I am not naive... you miss my point. I am arguing that the problem is not the scientific method itself but the way those in power use its findings. The scientific method is about objective knowledge. Nothing more. In an ideal world, it would be gradually presented to people so they have a choice. But this is not an ideal world.

Again though, the fault is not with the scientific method itself, which I said in my first post.

[migdel1983]

Blackfish, also you cite how the scientific method has "destroyed these cultures" - it hasn't, it just neutrally tests truths - and yet the very root of the scientific method - ALGEBRA - was developed within one of these cultures! The rest of the world hasn't rightfully adopted science, it has rightfully always been with us. Human nature is after all to try and understand... that's why religion was thought up in the first place... the 'God' Apollo representing the movement of the sun etc etc

[migdel1983]

using and testing what facts are available to us. What's wrong with merely presenting facts so people can make up their own mind??

As JM Keynes said, "when the facts change I change my opinion. What do you do sir?"

[migdel1983]

almost 1 billion westerners also believe in hocus-pocus stories like virgin births and resurrections... heck, the whole dogma of Christianity. This is my supposed culture - particularly since I'm from Ireland - and I don't want any part of it. So your point is a little one-sided and almost patronising to those from such eastern cultures as if they cannot make up their own minds.

Science hasn't destroyed these cultures you speak of, but cultural imperialism has. Science is just about...

[migdel1983]

Hang on a second. You completely miss the point of the scientific method. Science merely tests what is factual. It isn't the fault of science many of these cultures have no basis in fact. Yes, these cultures have many beautiful aspects... but a bronze-age belief in the supernatural isn't one of them.

Look at it this way. Part of certain elements of Islamic north African and Arabian cultures practice female genital mutilation. I would think stopping that is a very good thing.

[RebelVoDKa]

"More British men now believe in the paranormal than believe in God."

Same thing, isn't it?

PS. I'm British and believe in neither.

[CT2507]

What a major joke Uri is !!!

amazing that such people are walking around among free people! should be locked up in a mental institution where he could pracitce on bending the iron bars at the windows!

[DXvsnWo1]

Randi is right!

Uri Geller is a fucking fake!

he's too afriad to accept james Randi's challenge because he knows he'd be exposed!

[123kkambiz]

the correct spelling: Geller is just a psychopath.

[123kkambiz]

Geller is just a scycopat

[JamesRandiFoundation]

no James Randi does not run the channel. This is Rich Montalvo the Media Manager of the Foundation.

[Leathal752]

Its an honor to be able to reply. I admire your research.

[CloudsBeyond]

Does Randi believe in the basics like the 10 Commandments???? If he doesn't which one's specifically does he not believe in??? If he does accept them all coincidentally he believes in the same morality as Christians & Jews do, just he excludes God.USA, Europe is like Sodom & Gommorrah - Crime/Drugs/STD's/AIDS, etc rapidly increasing!If they all followed for e.g.The Bible all those would reduce GREATLY - FACT!

[RebelVoDKa]

"Does Randi believe in the basics like the 10 Commandments???? If he doesn't which one's specifically does he not believe in???"

He's an atheist, so I don't suppose he believes in the first four.

[CloudsBeyond]

Adam read books like 'Boost Your IQ', etc you certainly need them.Your arguements reek of fresh jobbies, stoning child to death, etc - what religion advocates that?NOT Christianity/Islam/Hinduism/Ju­daism/Buddhism, etc.Don't give me the Old Testament crap because it was superceded by something called surprisingly the New Testament.Islamic fanatics try justify what they are doing with the Koran, but it is NOT in there. Get your facts right!

[CloudsBeyond]

James Randi the Sceptic & Athiest - what governs his morality? What decides to him right from wrong, with no religion nor God? Does Randi believe in the 10 commandments - YES!!! He believes in all religions ideals for life, just he excludes Gods existence so he is half way there! Sathya Sai Baba (India) look him up does similar in fact reportedly bigger miracles than Uri.

[adamthebaddun]

I can only be thankful that neither Randi, nor you, for that matter get your morality from God or religion; have you ever the read religious presciptions on right and wrong? I'm guessing you wouldn't advocate stoning a child to death for insolence, nor torture or slavery - but the God does. The most atheistic countries are the ones with the lowest crime rates. We derive our morality from respect for human life and the understanding that what you visit on others will likely be visited on you.

[phildirt3]

if urinal is winning the battle then that just proves most people on this planet are morons

[russellunearthly]

James Randi i totally agree, Psychics does not exist in this world, Psychics are fake, the people who claims they have Psychics power they are as worst as Satan because they are con man.....

There is something feeble & a little comtemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths.

[DeathDealerSaysHello]

I'm psychic, your name is russell, you are 17, and you live in malaysia. lol jkjk im not pyschic at all.

[russellunearthly]

Many people already been fool by Geller, hope everyone will be more rational and logical and skeptical in thinking, because people like Geller are using con man tactics to earn money.

If many people still choose to believe then infuture more con man will be able to earn money easily.

[migdel1983]

No it isn't. Indeed, the contempt academics - including scientists - have for the media would prove that. Despite all the testing done there is, as yet, absolutely no proof for paranormal phenomena... look at proper academic publications, not internet conspiracy theories.

Science is based on the observable world, not pie-in-the-sky theories and people's base fears and superstitions.

[Rffnsxy]

I don't get it, if this guy is "real" then why can he just melt spoons and bend keys. Why can't he bend forks, spoons, and other tools. Because he's a fucking FRAUD!!!!!!!!!!! Just like all of them that claim paranormal abilities.

[Kirkwhisper]

James Randi is just as much a fraud as he claims Geller is. I have seen the supernatural on numerous occasions in everyday settings in which magic and/or illusion were not even under consideration. I have many acquaintances that have seen these things with me. I won't defend Geller, but Randi disgusts me. He has deliberately thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

[BlueNyaa]

I think you need help...

[Dungarth]

How can you prove that Randi is a fraud? give proof.

[legaata]

Uri Geller is not alone, and yes, it is possible. You have to understand that science is not democratic, nor is it scientific. When Tesla died, the military broke into his farm and classified several of his inventions. John Hutchinson invented a type of gravity, and the FBI broke into his apartment and confiscated his lab. Science is a religion where it is not allowed to make some discoveries. Therefore, science cannot be trusted.

[migdel1983]

You completely misunderstand the concept of science. Science is inherently democratic because, unlike religion, it comes with no prejudice or bias... it merely tests for truth. And if something is proven to be true it is incorporated into scientic tenets.

As for the stories about Tesla etc, well conspiracy theories aren't facts.

Science deals with facts.

And Uri Geller is not psychic... if you look up his most recent statements he's rowed back and calls himself just an entertainer

[legaata]

Bullshit. I tell you this, in Sweden only 100 years ago it was illegal to sell services based on paranormal abilities. Science want to make illegal anything it doesn't understand. Dr. Andrew Wakefield found a connection through his research between the MMR vaccine and autism. But he was regarded as a heretics by the scientific community and punished. That is because Science is not democratic but partly controlled by the drug companies.

[migdel1983]

You're confusing the discipline of science with those with vested interests. It wasn't scientsists who "banned" such things... it was law-makers.

Science seeks to understand. It's not the fault of science other people abuse it.

And, again, science has repeatedly tested for proof of paranormal activities. None yet has been found.

After all, if there was such proof, why wouold scientists suppress it?? It would open up new scientific ground and win a nobel prize

[migdel1983]

Also, science very much isn't controlled by the drugs companies... the for-profit drugs companies merely use scientific findings for their own ends.

Science is "controlled" as you put by those in universities... where scientists do their work.

[legaata]

Well, the fact that the scientists are not to blame but rather the vested interests do not eliminate the similarities with religion. Neither was the individual priests to blame that their religion was used to kill and torture people, but still it happened. There are plenty of evidence for paranormal phenomenon, but the problem is that scientists avoid working on it out of fear of being regarded as unprofessional. And many don't even know the evidence because they've never been taught about it.

[migdel1983]

There are absolutely no similarities between religion and science.

Science is based on building up information.

Religion is based on denying information and believing in long-disproved bronze-age myths.

There is no evidence for paranormal phenomenon. Why, for example, has no apparenty psychic acceptec Randi's €1m challenge.

And anything tests that have been done in a laboratory have given no evidence whatsoever.

[migdel1983]

Also, Swedish law was completely right to ban services based on paranormal "abilities"... because these services have no basis in science and are effectively exploitating people's naive beliefs.

There's a nice phrase... yes, let's be open-minded. But no so open-minded our brain falls out.

[legaata]

Just as religion, science is to some degree based on denying information. If you'd read what I've written earlier in the discussion, you would've known that. I know of at least one who has claimed the prize, and that was a scientist who claimed to have discovered that the water had memory. If there's him, there got to be more people. His experiments were not reproduced then, but that doesn't mean they are false. There is evidence. You should read the book "Against all reason", Orbis publishing.

[migdel1983]

Water with memory... yes, I've heard of it, it's Homeopathy, and from all scientific tests done on it there is no evidence. You should watch Richard Dawkins's documentary 'Enemes of Reason', it's here on youtube.

And science is very much not based on denying information. At least not FACTUAL information.

[legaata]

I mentioned the memory-of-water-thing not as an example of a proven paranormal phenomenon, but as an example that there are people who has claimed the prize, which you denied. I will watch the documentary as opportunity arises.

[migdel1983]

The prize? But no-one has yet claimed Randi's prize?

Certainly not Uri Geller, and certainly not anyone in Homeopathy

[legaata]

The problem with science is that an extraordinary theory requires extraordinary evidence. This means that some theories are practically impossible to prove, since they are regarded as extremely extraordinary. And it's the media and the general perception of the public which decides how extraordinary something should be regarded as. So to a large degree science is shaped and controlled by media and the general perception of society rather than evidence.

[migdel1983]

Science is most definitely not controlled by the media!

Again, as I already said, science comes with no bias or prejudice, it merely tests.

As for extraordinary theories... well there is a large difference between extraordinary theories based on the laws of phsyics/chemistry and biology - such as string theory - and those based on folk tales and medieval myths - such as ghosts, psychic powers, the paranormal and homeopathy.

[legaata]

Indirectly it is, yes. And science has bias and prejudice, otherwise it would long ago regard paranormal phenomenon as a proven fact, due to all the evidence. Some of the evidence for paranormal theories are folktales and myths just as you say, but you fool yourself when you insinuate that clinical observations would not be a part of the evidence for paranormal phenomenon..

[psstheyyou]

was eating my supper while watching this, and half way through it the end of my fork fell off and landed on my rice.

At first I thought Urine Geller might have had something to do with it. Nope. It was a cheap fork.

[4cups]

Somebody tell this LOSER geller to bend a metal baseball bat instead of a spoon or a key. uri needs to be put into a cannon and shot into a brick wall. Randi is the GREATEST!!!

[SiriuslyLiyah]

Geller is so deluded. Your title in life is "spoon bender???" Kill yourself!

Henenp, don't worry your joke wasn't waisted. I got it. ;D

[henenp]

I swear Uri thinks he's like Jesus or something. Why doesn't he just shut the fuck up, nobody could ever move things with their minds. What a bag of shit. Thank 'God' for people like Randi!

[niemah123]

randi is atheist..so God mean nothing to him.

[henenp]

it was a joke... hence the god in inverted commas.

[Josh111485]

Uri Geller can fuck off! Too bad there isn't a hell for him to go to.

[Ur11]

Uri Forever ! He's a top bloke.

[lm1503]

randi's my man.

[waheex]

Uri is such a knob - if he knew so much he would have avoided Michael jackson

[fknugly222]

Uri Gellar made a revearsal. Fk Uri.

[mjr256]

Randi kicked his ass!

[darkuser999]

Lots of these psychics, mediums etc. are not frauds, they are just delusional in the Richard Dawkins sense of word delusional. Uri Geller IS a and has always been a fraud. He's the biggest one out there! He knows he's cheating and everybody else does, yet he continues to do what he does. He's not even a good magician!

[PhreakStep]

Uri Geller is a stinky JEW

[Bkamlem]

James is also jewish.

[niemah123]

he's atheist dumb ass.

[gydorack]

Aliens are real, but we would know about them if they came here.

[dookdawg214]

Great anology about the dentist who can't fix his car. I'll make sure I save that one. Don't worry, I'll give you credit.

[PurushaDesa]

That's rubbish - under God the universe is at the whim of some invincible madman.

[pythonical]

Randi we love you so much!

I wish there will be more people like you in our world!

[ReeseTora]

Interesting Uri claimed that we had these 'powers' thousands of years ago. I wonder where under the sky he got such a silly idea. Certainly there's no historical basis for such a claim.

I'm definently enjoying being able to see all these old clips and films, keep up the good work.

(I have to admit, it's as much schadenfeuda concerning the woowoos as it is skepticism that makes me enjoy these videos.)

[Clausfarre]

There are so many great people in Israel that could give us a better view of the common population there - and the most well known 'civilian' of them all is this blatant conman, doing children's magic presented as extraordinary talent.

Thank goodness for Randi and the likes, who never hesitate to call a spoon a spoon.

[awesome220]

Thank you veyr much for all these posts. Keep it up!

Is this host Irish or Scottish? He ain't sound English to me. I just ask cause I'm curious is all.

[ReverendFlatus]

Sounds Scottish to me.

[2yng2di]

Geller recently admitted he didn't use 'powers' after all. I guess we now know for sure who the liar was.

[JamesRandiFoundation]

The worst part about it is that regardless of him being a liar or not he will still be making millions with his TV shows and other things he is involved with. I guess truth and honesty get you no where in our world.

[StuckMic]

Ya' gotta love James Randi!

[illusionist1977]

uri the fake

[Schmoikel]

Agreed. Been a long worthwhile wait. Randi is da' man. I only wish I was going to TAM 6.

[edjunior]

Your hard work of getting all these incredible videos up is very much appreciated. Keep 'em coming!

[JamesRandiFoundation]

Glad you are enjoying these videos. I hope that they help spread our message of critical thinking.