How to Get Conjurer James Randi to Give You $1 Million (Video)

This is the second of our two-part interview (part one ran yesterday) with Conjurer and Investigator (his words) James Randi, whose organization, the James Randi Education Foundation, has a long-standing offer: prove you have paranormal abilities and they'll give you $1 Million. They say they've recently made this award easier than ever to win. Note that, lower bar or no, Randi claims the last time a conjurer's illusion fooled him was many years ago, when he was very young. It was one done by the famous Chan Canasta -- and Randi claims that in the end he figured it out, anyway. So forget the $1 Million, relax, and enjoy James Randi. He's a great raconteur, so we can all be jealous of interviewer Rob Rozeboom (samzenpus) for having made this great video even as we enjoy watching it.

Comments

One of us?

[XanC]

So samzenpus has never seen The Sting, nor heard of Richard Feynman?

Re:Jealous of samzenpus?

[SJHillman]

Damnit, stop anthropomorphizing Slashdot. It hates that.

An Element of the Divine

[Anonymous Coward]

In the early 80's, I recall seeing "An Element of the Divine" on Arthur C. Clarke's Strange World I think it was called. Randi and Clarke were testing dowsers. Randi predictably declared all the dowsers bogus after a small experiment. Clarke disagreed, saying that there were two experiments, one to find water and the other to find metals. The water dowsers apparently had a much higher rate of success than the metal dowsers. Randi didn't even raise his eyebrows. Not saying he is a fraud or doesn't believe in what he is doing, but his objectivity seems highly suspect to me. His convictions seem to get in the way of his thinking, and I am pretty sure that the money will never be awarded no matter how well the subject matter may be demonstrated.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[MetalliQaZ]

I am also pretty sure the money will never be awarded. But that's because MAGIC ISN'T REAL.
I haven't seen that program you mention, but it is very hard to do Good Science on a television show. It's too boring. That is probably why Randi didn't play along.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[h4rr4r]

More water is likely available.

It will never be awarded because magic is fake. No one has even come close, because magic is fake. If dowsing was real a trained dowser would do better than an untrained one.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[realmolo]

Dowsing is crap.

You know why the "water dowsers" had higher success? Because in most places on Earth, if you dig a few feet, you will find water.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[ravenscar]

Thank you. The more abundant something is, the more likely someone is to "discover it." Let's say that I got a large cage. On the bottom of the cage I put a piece of paper that was 60% white, 30% blue, and 10% black. I then found two blind lab rats and said that one could find black and the other could find blue. I noted that the rats would stop moving when they were on the color they were "able" to find. Ruling out external factors such as the black squares being warmer (and, as such, attracting the rats), I think we would all expect the rat that can find the color blue to have the highest success rate.

Judging from a quick google image search of groundwater maps of the US and iron ore maps of the US I think it's likely that a water dowser would be much more successful than a metal dowser.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[DrXym]

Scientific credentials doesn't stop someone from being fooled. Read up on Project Alpha where two mentalists were able (with the assistance of Randi) to con a paranormal research group into thinking they had genuine psychic powers. The con was simply to kick up a fuss until the protocols went their way and bend things when people weren't looking. The scientists were even ready to announce their results to the world when Randi stepped in and revealed the hoax to them. Scientists are not necessarily equipped to spot frauds from occurring whereas magicians and confidence tricksters might well be. They have much to learn from each other especially when paranormal claims are being examined.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Joce640k]

In the early 80's, I recall seeing "An Element of the Divine" on Arthur C. Clarke's Strange World I think it was called. Randi and Clarke were testing dowsers.

This?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqoYrSd94kA

t his objectivity seems highly suspect to me. His convictions seem to get in the way of his thinking, and I am pretty sure that the money will never be awarded no matter how well the subject matter may be demonstrated.

Rubbish.

The experiments he does are always designed so that the result is obvious to anybody watching. Results are black/white, yes/no. No interpretation or judgment is needed from him.

The participants are asked at every stage if they're happy (mainly so they can't claim afterwards that they weren't...). They get trial runs, things are altered as needed so they're sure they can perform.

Randi couldn't possibly be more fair in what he does, yet the million goes unclaimed...

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Joce640k]

How come nobody can demonstrate dowsing under controlled conditions?

All you need is two underground pipes and a valve. Pick the pipe with water in it with better than random results, claim your million bucks.

Why has nobody done it?

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Joce640k]

You're right about that, but the show in question was hosted by Arthur Clarke, someone who, unlike Randi, actually had genuine scientific credentials.

Randi's credentials are in fooling other people. To me that seems more relevant than "science" for detecting fraudsters.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Arker]

Randi is a Fundamentalist Materialist. Just about as annoying as the other Fundamentalists, in his own way, though he certainly has a charming side as well. But you are right, objectivity? He has none, he has faith in materialism just as unquestioning as the faith others hold in supernaturalism.

He's been putting out this 'reward' offer for something demonstrably 'paranormal' many years. A counter-offer was also made, many years ago, for something demonstrably 'normal.' Neither reward has been claimed and likely neither ever will be.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Darinbob]

Scientists are very easily fooled. This is an old problem where figures of authority are often implicitly trusted by others, enough so that figures of authority often convince themselves that they are more reliable than they really are. The classic one I like is Arthur Conan Doyle, who was often praised for his logical stories of Sherlock Holmes (which when read carefully are amazingly full of plot holes and faulty logic); Doyle later believed the two girls who said that they had taken pictures of fairies in their yard, declaring the photographs to be authentic.

Scientists were also trivially fooled by Uri Geller with what was basically stage magic. Scientists are just not trained to deal well with test subjects who are intent on fooling them. Lab rats and monkeys and aren't devious like fake psychics are. Psychics love scientists because they are dubious, but psychics hate magicians because magicians know the tricks of the trade.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Paradise Pete]

I eventually had my own direct experience with non-ordinary reality.

Why are you so sure you weren't fooled or simply mistaken? That's far far more likely than magic actually existing. But if it were genuine magic, the consequences are so enormous that relegating it to a mere anecdote is almost criminal.
If it's something you merely can't explain, making the leap to "magic" is no better than invoking a god to explain it.

Re:An Element of the Divine

[Paradise Pete]

If Randi takes time to study someone exhibiting telekinesis and determines that their brain is producing some quantum effect, plucking at the stuff of spacetime itself and creating gravitons, then he just explained it and there is no mystery. No $1M.

Explanations are not involved. You make a specific claim. They devise a test of that claim. If you pass the test you get the money. You don't have to offer any explanation of how you did it, you don't have to categorize it or give it a name, you just have to do it.

Richard Feynman

[damacus]

Interviewer didn't know who Richard Feynman was? Missing out on that one.... please renew your geek card.

Re:Richard Feynman

[Quirkz]

Shame. I highly recommend his book, "Surely You're Joking, Mister Feynman." It's interesting and funny, great tales of crazy ideas and safecracking adventures, and good science, too. It convinced me to major in physics, I liked it so much.

Startgate Project

[Sabathius]

They should talk to Joe McMoneagle, the remote viewer who worked for the US government's psychic spying program. I believe it was he who revealed the Soviet's new Typhoon-class submarine (hello Red October!) before anyone else knew it existed. I think Joe would take his money.

Re:Startgate Project

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah...he's super reliable. After all, he said he made accurate predictions so it must be true that he did. Why would we need independant confirmation when he said he did it. Good enough for me.

Here are some of his recent predictions from the Wiki article about him...

"McMoneagle's future predictions include the passing of a teenager's "Right to Work" Bill,[16] a new religion without the emphasis of Christianity, a science of the soul,[17] a vaccine for AIDS,[18] a movement to eliminate television,[17] and a 'temporary tattoo' craze that would replace the wearing of clothing.,[19] all of which were supposedly to take place between 2002 and 2006."

100% accuracy!!! Oh wait...i that "1" at the beginning of the number was a typo.

Psychics don't exist, water witching is garbage, magic isn't real. Accept the world as it exists, in reality, have and get on with life.

Re:Startgate Project

[JBMcB]

"created in a lab and seeded onto earth" has a lot more merit than either evolution or creationism

Then who made the beings that made the life on earth? Then who made the beings that made the beings... ad nausem...

Long running bet

[belthize]

I met James Randi when he came to my high school in '83 as guest lecturer in our physics course, then met him again as an undergrad in '87 in a paranormal physics course (basically describing the physics, quantum or otherwise, required for certain paranormal activities to be possible).

Both were fascinating visits, in the first he performed a psychic surgery demonstration. Even standing beside him, knowing it was fake, it sure looked real.

The bet was 20+ years old then. The only thing that's changed in 50 years is the value of the bet. Still no takers.

He's a man that will be sorely missed in the much too soon future.

Pro tip

[Al Al Cool J]

When a professional magician offers you a chance to win $1 million, you have absolutely no chance to win $1 million.

Re:Believers and disbelievers are all in the same

[DrXym]

Believers and disbelievers are all in the same boat.

False equivalence I'm afraid. Randi was advising scientists to devise tests which preclude the possibility of cheating so the results reflected what the test was intended to measure.

Put another way, I suggest you read the Cargo Cult Science essay by Richard Feynman. In it he refers to an experimenter attempting to test learning in rats and ending up with useless results because the rats could achieve the results with smell, light, vibration etc. Only when he eliminated ways that rats could "cheat" his test was he sure the results reflected what he was attempting to measure in the first place.

Replace rats with paranormal subjects and the same principle applies.