1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 One, two, three. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Bang! 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Bang! 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Bang! 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Can folks be better than you? 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:23,000 One, two, three. 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Bang! 8 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Bang! 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Bang! 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,000 Can folks be bent by the power of thought alone? 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000 What is the truth about mind over matter? 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Can metal bars be distorted without being touched? 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Are we in fact all born with the power to move things with our minds? 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Mistress from the files of Arthur C. Clarke, 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 scientist, writer and visionary, 16 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,000 the scientist who invented the communication satellite, 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,000 the writer of 2010, 18 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,000 and now in retreat in Sri Lanka, 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000 the visionary who ponders the riddles of this and other worlds. 20 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,920 The 21 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,000 The 22 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 The 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000 The 24 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,000 The 25 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,000 The 26 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,000 The 27 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000 The 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,000 The 29 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,000 The 30 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,000 The 31 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Among the souvenirs, 32 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 clattering up my office, 33 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 is this key, 34 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 and I will be able to get it back to the old London. 35 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 At least it did until I met Yuri Geller. 36 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 You may remember him, 37 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 the young Israeli who, back in 1973, 38 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 astonished everyone by his ability to bend metal. 39 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 I met Yuri Geller at Birkbeck College, 40 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 on one of my visits to England, 41 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,000 and frankly I was astonished when, 42 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,000 in front of my eyes, 43 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,000 he apparently bent this key just by stroking it gently. 44 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Later I wasn't so amused 45 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,000 by the fact that I was in a house. 46 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Using the mind to control matter, 47 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,000 to bend keys, as Yuri claimed, 48 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 is called psychokinesis, or PK. 49 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 PK seems to take many forms. 50 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,000 The currently popular fashion is spoon bending. 51 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:34,000 In California, it's all the rage at the best parties. 52 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000 You've got a point of concentration in your head. 53 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Make it very intense, 54 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 focus it, 55 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,000 and put it into the silverware. 56 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:56,000 One, two, three, bang! 57 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,000 Bang! Bang! Bang! 58 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Bang! Bang! 59 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 When minds think alike, 60 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,000 the cutlery is quickly contorted. 61 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,000 There's one, here's one right here! 62 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:12,000 All right! 63 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Oh, that's one! 64 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Here's one. 65 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Woo! Look at this one, what Tammy did. 66 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Very good! 67 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 Wow! 68 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,000 And I can't force this, 69 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 but if I just keep rubbing on it, 70 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,000 it gets hot, and then by testing it occasionally, 71 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,000 it just decides to bend over. 72 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Okay, well what I believe is going on is that there is 73 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 an energy, or a force, 74 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 that we can all tap into, 75 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 that science calls psychokinesis, 76 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 that simply has to do with 77 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,000 the relationship between mind and matter. 78 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Milk! 79 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Okay. 80 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Bin! 81 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Bin! 82 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,000 The tines, when you look back and forth. 83 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Easy to see. 84 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000 The craze began in 1973 85 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 when master metal bender Uri Gela 86 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 appeared on the Dimblebee Torquins. 87 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Look, it's becoming like classic. 88 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000 And it's breaking. 89 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000 It's breaking. 90 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000 You can, look, it's very... 91 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000 He convinced many experts that he had paranormal powers. 92 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Bin, bin, bin. 93 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Later at Longleat, the family silver suffered 94 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 when Uri got hold of a spoon 95 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,000 owned by the Marquis of Bath. 96 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 This is so heavy. 97 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,000 Yes, it's happening. 98 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Yes, yes, yes, sure. 99 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Yes, yes, that's a nice one. 100 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Look, it's becoming very... 101 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Yeah. 102 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Nothing break. 103 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 You will break it. 104 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,000 And there's no heat at all. 105 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,000 There's absolutely no heat. 106 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Is that a solid silver, Lord Bath? 107 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Yeah, made by Gela in London. 108 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,000 I should have thought you better change yours. 109 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 But Gela was not the first. 110 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 The parlour psychics of the 19th century 111 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 claimed PK powers that could levitate tables 112 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,000 or make objects take off and fly around the room. 113 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Film of Russian PK experiments reached the West in the 1960s. 114 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Alavino Gradovac would apparently make a cigar tube 115 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,000 roll about with the nearest wave of her hand. 116 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Nina Kulagina was shown moving a matchbox 117 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,000 isolated beneath the plastic cover. 118 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,000 And under the stony-faced scrutiny of the film crew, 119 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 she appeared without touching 120 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,000 to be able to make a compass needle spin. 121 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,000 In France, Jean-Pierre Girard 122 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000 claimed he could bend a steel bar just by stroking it. 123 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,000 In Switzerland, artist Silvio Meier 124 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,000 bent the world's hardest currency, the Swiss franc. 125 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000 And in his own video, 126 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000 showed how the spoon on the right slowly wilted 127 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000 when he pointed a finger. 128 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 P.K. 129 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000 P.K. 130 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,000 P.K. 131 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000 P.K. 132 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,000 Wherever claims are made, PK generates controversy. 133 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Psychoval researchers around the world 134 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,000 are still arguing about reports from a small Missouri town 135 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,000 named Rola. 136 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Locksmith Ron Henson is a vital member of the team 137 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,000 conducting the controversial PK experiments. 138 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,000 They involve a mini-laboratory 139 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000 designed by the Sorat Research Group, 140 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000 led by William Cox and John T. Richards. 141 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 The mini-labs especially adapted fish tank 142 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,000 securely sealed so that nothing and no one 143 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,000 can get into it. 144 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Yet a film camera recorded mysterious movements inside. 145 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Objects shuffled about, 146 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,000 and paper rings linked together. 147 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,000 Balloons went up and down like yo-yos, 148 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 all apparently unaided by human hand. 149 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,000 The most remarkable thing that's happened in the mini-lab 150 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000 from my standpoint is the linking of rings. 151 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,000 Solid leather rings have been seen to link. 152 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,000 In another film, plastic rings got in on the act. 153 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 A heat is a phenomenon that we had to contend with, 154 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,000 and this thermometer made of plastic was heat damaged. 155 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Not the only one that we lost in the process. 156 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,000 And sometimes fires broke out. 157 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,000 This balloon, as you can see, has been melted 158 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,000 from some inexplicable heat that occurred in the mini-lab. 159 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,000 On other occasions, balloons such as this 160 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,000 have been seen on camera to in-flight 161 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 for some unknown reason. 162 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,000 But there's no way that the air could be piped in. 163 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,000 The mini-lab is completely sealed at that time. 164 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,000 Paper parasols just appeared. 165 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 The first parasol that appeared actually was seen by us 166 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,000 for the first time within the mini-lab, 167 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,000 standing on the sword or halberd of a plastic knife 168 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,000 that high which had gotten inside of the mini-lab itself 169 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:52,000 and which has been viewed on film moving to the right. 170 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,000 Then I placed a pen like this one on the outside 171 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,000 of the first mini-lab that Mr. Hansen sealed up. 172 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,000 I had hoped it would somehow enter, and it did. 173 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 But that's what is known as direct writing, 174 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,000 in which a pen can be seen by itself writing. 175 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 It is an extremely rare phenomenon. 176 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,000 Letters locked inside the mini-lab 177 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,000 mysteriously turn up at their destinations. 178 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,000 This one's addressed to Arthur C. Clarke 179 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,000 and Colombo Sri Lanka. 180 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 The researchers claim that the mini-lab is a paranormal post-box. 181 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 This is now about to be sealed by Ron Henson, the locksmith, 182 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,000 hopefully securely, and I mean securely. 183 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Cox insists on elaborate precautions. 184 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,000 The keys are cut in half. 185 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Then the shanks are super glued into the locks. 186 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Something is going on, but the why of it, I have no idea, 187 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:52,000 and why, if it occurs at all, it is so rare, is a mystery. 188 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Mystified they may be, but the roller researchers are hopeful 189 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,000 that PK Powers will spring the letter from the mini-lab, 190 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,000 which is left to work its wonders in the clutter of Cox's garage 191 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,000 in Roller, Missouri. 192 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,000 Well, the letter Julie arrived here in Colombo, 193 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,000 and there was certainly nothing supernatural about the delivery. 194 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,000 I had no idea what this was all about, 195 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,000 but a researcher in Cambridge, Tony Cornell, 196 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000 has his own ideas on the subject. 197 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,000 We got hold of the original Sorat film and we blew it up, 198 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000 and we had a look at it, and we found, for instance, 199 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:02,000 that in the ring linking, which was a large feature of this, 200 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,000 that you've got the rings on the bottom here, start with, not linked, 201 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,000 then suddenly you go to the next frame, and these are continuous frames, 202 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,000 one after the other, it's suddenly linked. 203 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,000 You go down here farther, and these are the individual frames, 204 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,000 you find the same thing, it's linked there, 205 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,000 and then suddenly it shoots up to the top of the tank. 206 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 There's no blurring, and we looked at these again, 207 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 and we found something else that was interesting. 208 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,000 There's a photograph here with no fish tank, 209 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,000 there's just the bar and the lock. 210 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000 Same here, same here, 211 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 suddenly there's the fish tank. 212 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,000 It's a bit odd that this thing should suddenly be removed. 213 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,000 Why? 214 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,000 This led us to wonder whether perhaps things were being arranged with the tank, 215 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 being removed, and then you start filming again. 216 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:59,000 So what we did was this, we got a camera here, and the light, and the fish tank. 217 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,000 Cornel wanted to show how simple it would be to make films like the ones from Roller. 218 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,000 First, the rings. 219 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,000 And we started sticking them down like that, with blue tank. 220 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,000 Duck down, and let's have a take a single shot. 221 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,000 I would come up again, move it up, slightly like that, 222 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 duck down, another single frame taken with a cine camera, 223 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,000 this is done 16 times for a second. 224 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Eventually of course we'd end up with several rings, 225 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,000 and then we'd move them up like this, having duck my head down down every time. 226 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And we got the thing moving around, we got the link rings, 227 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:38,000 by pure and simply just splitting two of these, the two's together. 228 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,000 Let me give you a demonstration. 229 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:45,000 There is a five, the two is solid, is moving up to there, 230 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000 another frame, single shot. 231 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,000 Then we just link it in like that. 232 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,000 Now behold, there's your instantaneous linking. 233 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,000 And now we're going to move on to the next one. 234 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 235 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 236 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 237 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 238 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 239 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 240 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 241 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,000 And we're going to do the same thing again. 242 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,000 What was the first time you saw a film? 243 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,000 What was the first time you saw a film? 244 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,000 What was the first time you saw a film? 245 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:38,000 When we saw our film, we came to the conclusion that we produced the same kind of results 246 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,000 that we'd seen on the roller film by single frame photography. 247 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,000 I honestly don't know what was going on at roller. 248 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:50,000 When I visited there, I saw the set up and saw the films. 249 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:55,000 I don't myself think that it's a genuine phenomena. 250 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Who's to blame? I don't know. 251 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 All I can tell you is that what I saw at roller and what we've done here 252 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,000 has made us come to the conclusion there's no point in wasting our time with it any further. 253 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,000 But just suppose the mind could control matter. 254 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 The implications would be tremendous. 255 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,000 Imagine if you could explode an enemy's atom bombs 256 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,000 merely by concentrating on the trigger mechanism. 257 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,000 So some scientists have taken this subject seriously 258 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:27,000 and have devised ingenious experiments to find the truth about PK. 259 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:32,000 Stephen North's been taking part in PK experiments since childhood. 260 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000 At Birkbeck College London, physics professor John Hasted 261 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:44,000 has been investigating Stephen's apparent ability to bend metal with his mind. 262 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:49,000 In his laboratory, especially insulated from outside influences, 263 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:54,000 Hasted has equipment sensitive to the smallest disturbance to metal. 264 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,000 TV monitors ensure fair play. 265 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,000 Stephen will try to influence an array of metal bars. 266 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Even the slightest touch will make each bar give off a different musical note. 267 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Touch. The right hand one touches this one. 268 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,000 There you are. Now touch the middle one. 269 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Now the other one. 270 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,000 Now go back to the little one. 271 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,000 There you are. The one on the left is just as dummy as you know. 272 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Now Stephen must try to change the notes without touching the bars. 273 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,000 It takes time and patience. 274 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Professor Hasted believes that PK is unpredictable. 275 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,000 It often happens when you really don't expect it at all. 276 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:45,000 You'll get Stephen to concentrate like mad and nothing will happen whatever. 277 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,000 And then we break the shot or have a cup of tea. 278 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:55,000 I can't do it, but you see, it's surprise that's wanted. 279 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,000 And this never ceases to amaze me. 280 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Yeah, yeah, that was it. Is there something on there? 281 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Yes, there's a small deviation in there. 282 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,000 Not bad. Not bad. 283 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,000 I was watching Stephen's hands or on the monitor so it wasn't a touch. 284 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,000 Nevertheless, the note changed. 285 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:24,000 Well, sometimes we might get a dozen of these, two dozen, three dozen. 286 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,000 But then again sometimes there is nothing at all. 287 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,000 Patient. 288 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,000 In Wiltshire, PK is child's play. 289 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:42,000 According to one theory, PK powers fade with age and should therefore be strongest in babies. 290 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:56,000 Emily's mother is putting the idea to the test with a computer, a face and a tune. 291 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 Dr. Susan Blackmore. 292 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:05,000 The computer will play a nice tune and show a smiling face which Emily enjoys looking at. 293 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,000 According to the output of the random number generator. 294 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000 So while it's running, it may do this, let's say, eight times a minute. 295 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,000 And the Emily's task is to sit there and enjoy it. 296 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,000 And what happens is if she's using her PK successfully, it will play more often. 297 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:25,000 By influencing the output of the random number generator, she can increase the number of times it comes up. 298 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:29,000 Now you may wonder how an earth-a-little baby can influence the output of this machine. 299 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000 But that isn't important. 300 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000 What's important is that you want a particular outcome. 301 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,000 So, you ready Emily? Your tune will be coming up in a minute. 302 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 There we go. Have a nice time. 303 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,000 So far we're about halfway through the experiment. 304 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,000 And, well, it's looking quite interesting. She's scored a little bit of a chance. 305 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,000 But, well, we're not at the end yet. 306 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 We'll have to wait and see whether it's significant or not when we get to the end. 307 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,000 The first time you meet PK, it seems like magic. 308 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 And that's a trouble. 309 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,000 Conjurers and stage magicians are not the only ones who can do that. 310 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000 But, well, it's a big thing. 311 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 And that's a trouble. 312 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Conjurers and stage magicians can perform the same feats often much more entertainingly. 313 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:39,000 So the problem for the scientist is to separate the trickery from the real thing, if indeed there is a real thing. 314 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,000 James Randi, Conjurer, is a scourge of the psychics. 315 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,000 He travels the world debunking claims of PK. 316 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:52,000 He comes to the University of California at Los Angeles to prove his case by example. 317 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,000 In his lecture, he'll perform PK feats by trickery. 318 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000 For him, key bending is easy. 319 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,000 And you might think Randi is psychic if you aren't watching his right hand. 320 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,000 You've got two car keys. Do you drive with both hands? 321 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Well, that wouldn't do any harm. 322 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Just turn a wee bit to face the audience. 323 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Let me see your hand. The clean one. 324 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,000 Okay. I'm going to ask you hold on to... 325 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,000 These two keys are identical. If you hold on to one, close it in your hand like that. 326 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,000 Hold it right up wherever one can see it. 327 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000 And I'll hold the other one like this and I'll stroke it and I'll attempt to put some mental power on it to cause it to bend. 328 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Watch this carefully now. 329 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,000 I can feel the force leaving my body but the key doesn't seem to be bending. 330 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,000 Maybe that way would work. 331 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:41,000 Oh, I'm afraid my attraction to you has caused a very strange thing to... 332 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,000 Oh, there's a little bit of... It's going a little bit but not enough. 333 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Maybe the power has transferred. Would you open up your hand for me please? 334 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000 A miracle. Ladies and gentlemen, would you look at that? 335 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000 Well, you held it in your own hands. 336 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:59,000 That is the Urine Geller key trick in one version of about 40 different versions. 337 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:04,000 But Randi's best trick, Project Alpha, took months to bring off. 338 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:12,000 In 1979, aircraft tycoon James S. McDonnell gave half a million dollars for research to Washington University in St. Louis. 339 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000 They advertised for psychics and Randi saw his chance. 340 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:22,000 The most successful metal benders were Steve Shaw and Mike Edwards, who amazed the St. Louis researchers. 341 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Dr. Mark Schaeffer. 342 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:29,000 We have been working, first of all, to establish the range of abilities that Mike and Steve have. 343 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Because these have apparently included being able to move small solid objects across the tabletop, 344 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:41,000 influencing a variety of metal objects such as keys and silverware and metal bars and metal rods. 345 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,000 I don't believe they're tricking us. 346 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:52,000 But in 1983, after Edwards had amazed the audience at a New York press conference, 347 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,000 Randi dropped his Project Alpha bombshell. 348 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,000 I'm going to ask these two gentlemen a very simple direct question. 349 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,000 Can you tell us how do you do it? 350 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,000 I'll do it. Be quite honest with you. 351 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:18,000 I'm happy to announce that the two young gentlemen who took part in Project Alpha are here with us today. 352 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,000 Gentlemen, would you stand up and take a while? 353 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,000 Steve Shaw and Mike Edwards. 354 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:33,000 Project Alpha had to be done because the Parasycologists had to be taught once and for all something that they had denied all the time. 355 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 They had to be taught that they could be fooled. 356 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:41,000 They had said we're too smart, we're too intelligent, we're too well informed, we're too good observers. 357 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 No one is going to be able to fool us. They were fooled. 358 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Shaw and Edwards were not psychics, but conjurers. 359 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:54,000 This was done by a young Japanese psychic by the name of Masawaki Kyoto. 360 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,000 He would take a spoon, hold it like this. 361 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000 That's great. 362 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,000 Michael, you must be a psychic. 363 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,000 I'm causing that to twist 180 degrees just like that. 364 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,000 They fool the researchers with standard conjuring tricks. 365 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,000 There we go. 366 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,000 But most of all, by distracting their attention. 367 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:41,000 All I use is just a sleight of hand and misdirection and psychology. 368 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:50,000 When the Mac Lab first started testing us, I would go through a process of trying to do something and failing. 369 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000 Then I would go back in and watch the videotapes, which is very good feedback. 370 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,000 I could see what I could get away with and what I couldn't. 371 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,000 I noticed that one of the cameraman that was watching my hands very close up was very good. 372 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:09,000 So what I would do to get him off the camera, I realized, hey, he's good at what he does. 373 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:16,000 I failed on a number of tricks, set one up that was ready to go, had a spoon pre-bent, and was just covering it, letting no one look at it. 374 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,000 Ask for the cameraman to come and be used as my subject. 375 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:24,000 Obviously, a lesser trained person is going to have to take the camera. 376 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,000 That was it. That was the whole key right there. 377 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:31,000 In essence, physically, the only way to bend a spoon is to bend it like that. 378 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,000 But you've got to do it at the right time. 379 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:34,000 But you've got to do it at the right time. 380 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,000 And that's one of the problems the scientists have when they're trying to judge this. 381 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,000 They set up the experiment to start at four o'clock. 382 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000 The trick may have been done at 3.15. 383 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:46,000 I can show you something that will show you exactly how the misdirection takes place. 384 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000 It's not psychic, but it's very clear. 385 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,000 It will give you a good idea of exactly what I'm talking about. 386 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,000 Would you come over here, please? 387 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,000 I'd like you to sit in this chair for one second, please. 388 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,000 Just for a second. 389 00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:59,000 Are you ready? 390 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Yes. 391 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000 Now, I want you to watch very carefully. 392 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,000 Which hand is at it? 393 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,000 I don't know. 394 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000 It's in that hand. It's in that hand. 395 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000 You've got to watch carefully. You're not going to see what happens. 396 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Which hand? 397 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,000 No, it's not an either. You see? 398 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:16,000 You're not watching where it's going. 399 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000 If you don't watch, you're not going to see. 400 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,000 Watch. Which hand? 401 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,000 It's a simple misdirection. 402 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,000 I make her see what I want her to see. 403 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Everyone else has seen it. 404 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000 Exactly what I was doing. Everybody else here is so weird. 405 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,000 When I was throwing them over your head. 406 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,000 I must admit that I was quite impressed when Yuri Geller 407 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,000 bent my key. 408 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,000 That was 10 years ago. 409 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,000 And although many people still believe in PK, 410 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000 personally, I'm not convinced. 411 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000 And why should it exist? 412 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,000 After all, there are much easier ways of bending spoons, 413 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,000 even keys, with a little effort. 414 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:59,000 And you know, if people could really spirit objects out of closed containers, 415 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,000 merely by thinking about them, 416 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:07,000 surely by this time spies and bank robbers would have perfected the technique. 417 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,000 Yet if there's one thing we've learned from PK research is this, 418 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,000 scientists are the easiest people to fool. 419 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000 And there's a very good reason for this. 420 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000 Scientists study nature. 421 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,000 And nature never cheats. 422 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,000 But some people do. 423 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,000 They bend the evidence. 424 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,000 And that's something that scientists all know. 425 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,000 It's something that scientists often forget. 426 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:08,000 Next week, Strange Powers, The Verdict.