Until I’m shown otherwise by a single good example, every one of them are either self-deluded or frauds.
Would you mind explaining to me what was so unfair about the JREF Million Dollar Challenge? Please reference the words of the Challenge itself, not the bizarre claims made by others about it.
Again, please point out what was unfair about the Challenge.
What it was was a test of claimed abilities, designed in such a way by both participant and tester that the end result was completely unambiguous and totally resistant to interpretation by either side.
At least partially, clause 12 is unfair as it requires that anyone wishing to apply have a ‘media presence’. This eliminates a large number of potential contenders.
What do you mean exactly by “polarizing”? Do you mean giving someone every chance in the world to prove their abilities? He does that for every single participant that bothers to follow the simple instructions laid out in the Challenge. What he won’t do is allow the participant to get away with reinterpreting the results in a favorable manner.
That is a recent development. For quite a few years the Challenge was open to all that could fill out a coherent application form(and believe me, there was, and still is, a sizable percentage of applicants that couldn’t), but two problems arose after awhile:
With a limited staff and a limited amount of time, the backlog of claims became unmanageable, and
People started claiming that JREF was testing all those minor psychics to avoid testing the “real” psychics, because they supposedly knew that the “real” psychics could pass such a test easily.
These are the reasons that rule was added just recently.
That’s not unfair. If someone has super powers or at least had a passable claim of super powers one would expect the media would eat it up. Making it a requirement is kind of like a pre-screening for pathetic goofballs who can’t even put one over on the gullible media. Why should JREF bother with knuckleheads who can’t fool the masses?
ETA: Me type slow.
Yes, really - I know it’s mostly showbiz, but even in those episodes of Bullshit! where he’s dealing with out-and-out nutjobs, it often seems like he’s cutting them off or talking over them. It’s nearly all a quirk of presentation style, I’m sure, but as I say, I think he could quite successfully argue for something patently false, just by applying the same punchy presentation style - and that isn’t really a good thing, IMO - because we’re not listening to the facts speaking for themselves, we’re just being persuaded by some guy.
I don’t think the Randi Challenge really says to much one way or another. If I had cool supper powers I would not want to get involved with such an incredible hostile challenge. If I really had psychic abilities I would think it would be easy to make cash without putting up with such a hostile environment. People are willing to give money to obvious fakers it should be easy for folks with real skills. Who gives a fuck what the skeptics think.
I wonder if James Randi had a psychic vision that came true, or accidentally moved his coffee cup across his desk by the power of his own mind. Faced with the potential humiliation of having to award himself the million dollar prize (which, if nothing else, would have major tax implications) he chose to end the contest instead.
At least, that’s what the spirits tell me. Or maybe my brain just made that up. Hard to tell the difference sometimes.
Oddly enough, Randi’s targets are not “real” psychics, assuming any exist. (He assumes they don’t.) It’s the ones making money on the misfortunes of others, who proclaim loudly to one and all that they speak with the dead, and such bullshit. The fact that they avoid his challenge like the plague speaks volumes about their true nature.
As for the money, so what if they don’t need it? Passing the test should be but the work of a moment. Surely they know some worthy charity that could use a cool million.
It is run by people that are openly hostile to the idea of real psychics. They get to dicker with you endlessly about what constitutes passing the test. That may be what is necessary to separate the true psychics from the frauds but to say it is not a hostile environment is silly.
The Challenge is seen as “hostile” because it’s a simple pass/fail, with no room for ambiguity or meta-analysis that would allow the participant to save face.
I simply don’t think that is true. Can you provide examples of anyone being dickered with endlessly about what constitutes a pass?
Inasmuch as no true psychic has ever been separated thusly, I’m not sure what you mean. But all Sylvia Browne would have to do is perform in a controlled setting the same way she claims to do in her act, and she would pass the test. Hostility has nothing to do with it.
I have a friend who claims to be able to dowse. All sorts of things. Water. Floor joists. Underground cables. Copper lines. And he needs money badly. I showed him the Challenge. Cue the crickets chirping. Maybe he thought it was hostile, I don’t know, but if he can do it he can do it. Why not give it a shot?
I think there are examples that can be interpreted that way - reading the forum, there was a time when Kramer (staff member, I think) was being pretty much an obstructive dick and was making what seemed to be arbitrary impositions on specific challenges (they sacked him in the end, I think).
ETA: IIRC, he was probing too deeply into details of how the claim was supposed to work - a topic which the framework of the claim itself is not supposed to be interested in the least.
Stipulating that for the sake of the argument, it hardly constitutes the JREF being “run by people that are openly hostile to the idea of real psychics,” who “get to dicker with you endlessly about what constitutes passing the test.” Nor does it excuse anyone who *currently *claims psychic ability, if the one guy who was a dick is gone.
I misspoke. They are hostile to people who say they are psychics. They guy puts out a magazine, that among other things, exposes psychics as frauds how can you not see that as hostile.
Perhaps I don’t understand the challenge but I thought that the Randi folk got to choose the rules for the tests. They work with the person taking the challenge but ultimately they are the ones who get to decide things.
I think that something like what Randi wants to do is what it would take to convince skeptics (and myself) that psychics are real. I just see that people like Sylvia Browne have an huge amount to lose and not a whole lot to gain by taking Randi test. She already has a lot of people convinced that she is the real deal it looks like she has a good lifestyle I see she is advertising a psychic experience cruise. I have been on cruises with featured guest speakers that looks like a good gig for the speaker.
