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Monday, April 26, 2010
The Amazing Randi
JAMES RANDI HAS BEEN DEBUNKING SO-CALLED PSYCHICS for decades. He has offered $1 million dollars to any psychic who can prove their abilities actually exist. That is, have their “powers” put under the scrutiny of scientists or, his organization. So far, no takers. James is an engaging speaker, brilliant—and I'll bet you’ll enjoy this speech put on by TED.
I've listened to the talk last week. He's got a very good point. I hate how people toy with other's expectations just to get rich out of it. And his talk is extremely entertaining, too.
I have studied the James Randi Educational Foundation's offer of $1,000,000. Unlike most journalists I have actually read the rules and combed the files. The thing is, the offer of a million bucks is totally fake. For one thing, nobody can apply unless they are famous - that is, only if they have a media presence. That eliminates almost everybody. Also, the hoops that the Randi Foundation make one jump through are insurmountable. One is summarily rejected if s/he is deemed crazy. And what is the method of determining that? If they person makes crazy claims, such as being able to bend a spoon with just the mind. Out you go. This is why Randi can claim that nobody ever got through his preliminary testing. Would you trust a test where nobody got past the first round? Randi also fabricates where it suits him. Ask him if he has ever been successfully sued for slander and he will say, "I have never paid one penny inn a court case." That begs the question, but journalists are too timid to follow up (see Bush/WMD). The fact is that Randi has indeed been successfully sued more than once but, as he said, he never paid. He simply defaults. So he is a proven liar. What's more, the very people who offer the money are the judges. Nowhere else is this the case. It is a clear conflict of interest. Randi has put a million bucks into escrow and more than gotten his money's worth in publicity. And when he is done with this racket he still has the money. So what's the point of the Educational Foundation? It impresses people who have not read the rules... and through the donations Randi solicits, he pays himself as the "contest" administrator a cool quarter million bucks annually. That is what I call a racket. Peace, Brother. You have an astounding blog. One of the most interesting I have EVER seen.
You would think that I covered everything in the mammoth post above, but... One more thing. It is not correct to say that Randi's million dollar challenge has had no takers. There have been several thousand, They ALL get weeded out in one of many ways such as I cite above.
I've listened to the talk last week. He's got a very good point. I hate how people toy with other's expectations just to get rich out of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd his talk is extremely entertaining, too.
I think this is the same guy who toured with ALice Cooper in the 1970's and performed the guillotine illusion onstage. Really cool guy.
ReplyDeleteI have studied the James Randi Educational Foundation's offer of $1,000,000. Unlike most journalists I have actually read the rules and combed the files.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, the offer of a million bucks is totally fake. For one thing, nobody can apply unless they are famous - that is, only if they have a media presence. That eliminates almost everybody. Also, the hoops that the Randi Foundation make one jump through are insurmountable. One is summarily rejected if s/he is deemed crazy. And what is the method of determining that? If they person makes crazy claims, such as being able to bend a spoon with just the mind. Out you go. This is why Randi can claim that nobody ever got through his preliminary testing. Would you trust a test where nobody got past the first round?
Randi also fabricates where it suits him. Ask him if he has ever been successfully sued for slander and he will say, "I have never paid one penny inn a court case." That begs the question, but journalists are too timid to follow up (see Bush/WMD). The fact is that Randi has indeed been successfully sued more than once but, as he said, he never paid. He simply defaults. So he is a proven liar.
What's more, the very people who offer the money are the judges. Nowhere else is this the case. It is a clear conflict of interest.
Randi has put a million bucks into escrow and more than gotten his money's worth in publicity. And when he is done with this racket he still has the money. So what's the point of the Educational Foundation? It impresses people who have not read the rules... and through the donations Randi solicits, he pays himself as the "contest" administrator a cool quarter million bucks annually. That is what I call a racket.
Peace, Brother.
You have an astounding blog. One of the most interesting I have EVER seen.
You would think that I covered everything in the mammoth post above, but... One more thing. It is not correct to say that Randi's million dollar challenge has had no takers. There have been several thousand, They ALL get weeded out in one of many ways such as I cite above.
ReplyDelete