A Fifty Year Argument, and a Change of Description

James Randi spent decades reproducing every effect in Geller's repertoire in front of audiences and explaining the methods afterwards, and wrote a book setting out his account of how the SRI tests and the television appearances were done. Randi's standing argument was never that a duplicate proves a fake, which it does not, but that once an ordinary method is demonstrated, the burden shifts to whoever wants to claim an extraordinary one. Geller pursued libel actions against several critics, with limited success, and the litigation itself became part of the controversy. What has changed most is the description rather than the evidence.

In recent decades Geller has generally presented himself as a mystifier and entertainer, has spoken about his career in show-business terms, and has largely stopped asserting a specific paranormal mechanism in the way he did in the 1970s. He remains a living person with an active public profile, and this atlas states only what is documented: that he was tested under laboratory conditions, that results were published, that the protocols were criticised in detail, and that conjurors reproduced the effects. It draws no conclusion about what he privately believes or intends.