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I was watching an episode of History´s channel program Superhumans whichs is hosted by comic artist Stan Lee, so far I´ve seen a few episodes and although I have seen pretty amazing things all of them seems to be feasible, although yesterday I watched an episode that got me thinking about how reliable this show is.

This episode talks about Guy Bavli aka "kinetic man" a man who supposedly is able to move objects with his mind, what caughts my attention is that this show is supposed to test the envirioment against any type of frauds from the subject studied, they even take guy to an office to measure his brain waves while he moves an object, surprisingly there is high peak of gamma activity when he moves an object, here is the episode sorry I couldnt find an english version.

On top of all that I found an article that was written by the guys who conducted the test on the show, and they seem pretty surprised about what they seen.

Oddthinking
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isJustMe
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    Your Wikipedia link explains Guy Bavli is a professional magician. The video shows a surprising phenomena being produced by a professional magician. The article was nothing about telekinesis (which they say was not controlled, and they remain unconvinced), but unusual EEG results achieved by... a professional magician. What exactly are you skeptical of? That a professional magician can make strange things happen? It is part of the job description. – Oddthinking Oct 21 '12 at 23:45
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    Why am I not surprised to see this is on the History channel :( – Tacroy Oct 22 '12 at 03:30
  • @Oddthinking The show is supposed to check that there is no pre-setup on the abilities that are shown. – isJustMe Oct 22 '12 at 03:55
  • @rvs - To me that implies they're not allowed to prepare a set or stage ahead of time, not that they can't have things on their body. This is assuming they're not lying outright, which is possible since even News channels aren't required to report facts. – MCM Oct 22 '12 at 05:00
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    @rvs: Do you think they get other professional magicians to check? Or do they have all the rigour of a volunteer from the audience who confirms it is a real box? Read about [Project Alpha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Alpha). Naive scientists don't necessarily have the skills to detect fraud. – Oddthinking Oct 22 '12 at 07:08
  • __Criss Angels__ [version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIPgvLMmub8#t=00m18s) is more impressive ;) – Oliver_C Oct 22 '12 at 09:44
  • It isn't even fair to call it "fake." He's a magician doing a magic trick. I doubt that he was really trying to pass himself off as being able to do such a basic trick as the "real thing." Especially when you consider he sells a DVD teaching these types of tricks for magicians. –  Jul 27 '13 at 09:46
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    I knew a guy who had fun doing card stunts at flea markets. One day he was doing them, and a heavy guy in a sawed-off T-shirt says "Hey! That's a trick!". My friend had to laugh. "No sh*t, Sherlock!" – Mike Dunlavey Jul 29 '13 at 12:19
  • @Oddthinking: I think he's skeptical of the idea that he can do something which actually violates the laws of nature. Note there's a difference between creating the _appearance_ of a natural law violation and _actually_ doing such a violation. Most likely, the OP was just taken in by the trick (which is what it is supposed to do), but knew that it couldn't "literally" be what it looks to be, that is, actually, truly moving objects using a form of power which is unaccounted for in, or contradicts, our entire body of physiological and physical scientific knowledge. – The_Sympathizer Dec 28 '13 at 01:38
  • The important thing the OP should remember is with a magician, it's ALL trickery -- none of it uses anything truly supernatural or which violates our accumulated knowledge of science. Magic is the art of deceit for entertainment. Just because one doesn't know how it is done, doesn't mean it's supernatural or that the explanation for it involves things which are unknown to science. – The_Sympathizer Dec 28 '13 at 01:42
  • @mike3: I think your point agrees with my objection. Any supposed claim made by a performing magician isn't a real claim that deserves skepticism; it should be treated here like the claim by the Muppet Show that frogs can talk - a fictional claim, not a serious claim, despite the surprising evidence provided. – Oddthinking Dec 28 '13 at 01:49
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    @MikeDunlavey - "sawed-off T-shirt". That made my day :) – warren Dec 29 '14 at 15:57

1 Answers1

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It's fake. Here's a screencap I took, and the arrows are pointing at the fishing line or piece of thread he's using to manipulate the objects.

As for the Gamma waves... The best description I found was from "Epilepsy & Behavior" Vol. 13 Iss. 1: [Gamma brainwaves] have been studied in all sensory systems and are associated with selective attention, transient binding of cognitive features, and conscious perception of the external world. Which is to say, after spending 45 minutes on Google Scholar, it might be simple concentration that causes Gamma waves to spike.

The "Telekinesis" trick.

Other things that should tip you off in the future:

  • He's always moving his hands frantically whilst performing the bits. This is a distraction.
  • All of the objects are small and lightweight, i.e.: The string/line won't break.
  • He's wearing oddly dark clothing for a talent he could "supposedly" do nude. Makes it easy to hide things. Also, he's not wearing a tie with the suit. Why? Because the moment he leaned over the object, it might catch on the line.
  • All of the objects follow his right hand. All of them. Even when he "pushes" a ruler off the top of a Sharpie: his right arm (which is mostly obscured by the table and all his clothing) twitches the moment it falls.
  • He never moves anything without involving his hands. He has telekinesis! Why would he ever need to use his hands? He grabs things, turns them over several times, practically gropes all of them before using his "mind." It just lets him hook his line onto the object.
MCM
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    The comment about him not wearing a tie because it might catch on a line is pure speculation unless you have a source for that. Not wearing a tie is quite common is this day and age a matter of men's fashion. Plus, if you do wear a tie, a tie clip can neatly solve the problem of it catching on anything. – rjzii Jul 23 '13 at 11:37