James Randi Foundation to end the Million Dollar Challenge
Conspiracy of Doves
2010
http://www.randi.org/joom/content/view/144/1/#i4
They decided that since no one will be winning the money, they could
use it better in other ways.
Apparently, most of the people who tried out for the money honestly
believed that they had supernatural powers and simply didn't
understand how the rules of science worked. The true charlatans, the
people for whom the challenge was intended, know enough to stay far,
far away from it. They know they would never be able to pass any real
test.
jcon
You can view at least some of the challenges here:
http://forums.randi.org/archive/index.php/f-43.html
Given the stakes, I'm surprised how few outright
charlatans there appear to have been. Most of
the stories are kind of pathetic. People honestly
believed they had paranormal abilities, and either
dropped out when any attempt was made to
establish controls, or rode it out and were
sincerely shocked to fail.
As you say, most simply didn't understand the
concept of a controlled experiment. For
example, this woman claimed she could
command a dog "telepathically", but only
if she were in the same room where the dog
could see her!
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=29622
Of course, we can count on the kooks to
say Randi is only discontinuing the prize
because he knows he's going to lose.
-jc
Conspiracy of Doves
>
> Of course, we can count on the kooks to
> say Randi is only discontinuing the prize
> because he knows he's going to lose.
>
> -jc
Nice. With most of those, the testing never actually took place. Any
stories of claimants who actually went through the test and their
reactions when they lost?
George
> Nice. With most of those, the testing never actually took place. Any
> stories of claimants who actually went through the test and their
> reactions when they lost?
Yup.
Read the Challenge page.
Most if not all of the latest Challenge email and letter exchanges are
there.
http://forums.randi.org/archive/index.php/f-43.html
or buy the book Flim Flam for the historical ( when the Challenge was
a cheque that James Randi would produce and ask the claimant to do
what they claimed under controlled conditions...
Hatter
Oh poo. They should just invest the money in some AAA rated bonds and
live off the interest.
Hatter
Conspiracy of Doves
>
> Of course, we can count on the kooks to
> say Randi is only discontinuing the prize
> because he knows he's going to lose.
>
> -jc
"I will demonstrate psychic ability by identifying the gender of of a
male and female over the internet, as they type a neutral sentenmce to
me, such as a nursery rhyme. The male and female will alternate who
types, based on a throw of the dice. Male types to numbers 2, 4 and 6.
This will be repeated 30 times. I expect to correctly identify 25 of
30 throws. I will select the male and female in advance. During the
test they will be in a seperate location. contacting me through a
computer. I will carry out this test in the UK, and it can be
monitored via telephone & video information."
Hold on a second...
"I will select the male and female in advance."
Riiiiiiiight. She picks who the man and woman are going to be so they
can signal her with capitalization or some other subtle hint in the
text.
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
news:7cd556b9-7c3d-4b49...@c4g2000hsg.googlegroups.c
om:
> Given the stakes, I'm surprised how few outright
> charlatans there appear to have been.
They take one look at the conditions, and the people who will be
participating, and they *know* they'll not only fail, but get caught.
And don't try.
> Of course, we can count on the kooks to
> say Randi is only discontinuing the prize
> because he knows he's going to lose.
>
Yeah, but they won't be saying it for two more years.
--
Terry Austin
"There's no law west of the internet."
- Nick Stump
jcon
It would be nice if they separated out the ones that actually
went through the test, but as far as I can tell, you
have to slog through the list to find them:
http://forums.randi.org/archive/index.php/f-43.html
All of them that I found ended amicably. Sometimes
the person "didn't understand what went wrong". In
one case, the person actually thanked them for
showing him the truth.
This one's kind of entertaining
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=89877
The woman claimed she could make someone
urinate by praying for 15 minutes. The whole thing's
on YouTube (see link near end of thread).
Of the few that have taken the preliminary
challenge, none have passed. If they had,
they would still have had to repeat the test
in Randi's presence to win the money.
-jc
jcon
<terry.notaniceper...@gmail.com> wrote:
> jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote innews:7cd556b9-7c3d-4b49...@c4g2000hsg.googlegroups.c
> om:
>
> > Given the stakes, I'm surprised how few outright
> > charlatans there appear to have been.
>
> They take one look at the conditions, and the people who will be
> participating, and they *know* they'll not only fail, but get caught.
> And don't try.
>
Well, one could go to pretty great lengths for $1M, like
having a subcutaneous transmitter installed.
Although Randi routinely monitors RF signals for
telepathy tests.
Still, it's shaking my faith in conmen that no one
had the cojones to even try!
-jc
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
news:dd7689b8-46f9-49ba...@21g2000hsj.googlegroups.c
om:
> On Jan 4, 3:21 pm, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
> <terry.notaniceper...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote
>> innews:7cd556b9-7c3d-4b49...@c4g2000hsg.googlegro
>> ups.c om:
>>
>> > Given the stakes, I'm surprised how few outright
>> > charlatans there appear to have been.
>>
>> They take one look at the conditions, and the people who will
>> be participating, and they *know* they'll not only fail, but
>> get caught. And don't try.
>>
>
> Well, one could go to pretty great lengths for $1M, like
> having a subcutaneous transmitter installed.
>
> Although Randi routinely monitors RF signals for
> telepathy tests.
>
> Still, it's shaking my faith in conmen that no one
> had the cojones to even try!
A few have tried. But usually, they don't get past the point of
having to objectively describe what they claim to be able to do,
and agree to a testing protocol. But mostly, they know that, while
Randi may not have been the best magician in the history of stage
magic, he's very, very good at catching fakes. And Randi has a long
history of doing so (like his Tonight Show appearances), and doing
so in ways that publicly humiliate his target.
Michael Gray
An inevitable decision, I'm afraid.
It had turned into a psychiatric consulting service for the seriously
deranged.
Still, the woo-woo crowd have 2 years left to sharpen their ESP
skills.
Time enough, I think!
Michael Gray
<mark...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Jan 4, 12:48 pm, jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote:
:
>Nice. With most of those, the testing never actually took place. Any
>stories of claimants who actually went through the test and their
>reactions when they lost?
A heap of dowsers went through the preliminary tests, (and still do).
They all fail abysmally, of course.
It is sad to see just how delusional a grown adult can be.
jcon
<terry.notaniceper...@gmail.com> wrote:
> jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote innews:dd7689b8-46f9-49ba...@21g2000hsj.googlegroups.c
> om:
>
>
>
> > On Jan 4, 3:21 pm, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
> > <terry.notaniceper...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote
> >> innews:7cd556b9-7c3d-4b49...@c4g2000hsg.googlegro
> >> ups.c om:
>
> >> > Given the stakes, I'm surprised how few outright
> >> > charlatans there appear to have been.
>
> >> They take one look at the conditions, and the people who will
> >> be participating, and they *know* they'll not only fail, but
> >> get caught. And don't try.
>
> > Well, one could go to pretty great lengths for $1M, like
> > having a subcutaneous transmitter installed.
>
> > Although Randi routinely monitors RF signals for
> > telepathy tests.
>
> > Still, it's shaking my faith in conmen that no one
> > had the cojones to even try!
>
> A few have tried. But usually, they don't get past the point of
> having to objectively describe what they claim to be able to do,
> and agree to a testing protocol. But mostly, they know that, while
> Randi may not have been the best magician in the history of stage
> magic, he's very, very good at catching fakes.
Yes, but I wasn't able to find any who tried to cheat *during*
the test and got caught. In most cases either the cheat
was caught while setting up the protocol, or the person
sincerely believed it was going to work and failed.
> And Randi has a long
> history of doing so (like his Tonight Show appearances), and doing
> so in ways that publicly humiliate his target.
>
Sounds like a good time to dig out my favorite YouTube
clip of Uri Geller tanking on Johnny Carson (after Carson
got a little advice from Randi)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9FjjrbQabw
-jc
Christopher A.Lee
wrote:
>Yes, but I wasn't able to find any who tried to cheat *during*
>the test and got caught. In most cases either the cheat
>was caught while setting up the protocol, or the person
>sincerely believed it was going to work and failed.
http://www.atheistnation.net/video/?video/00903/atheist/james-randi-exposes-james-hydrick/
Terry Austin
news:5a78a168-4a4b-49b4...@t1g2000pra.googlegroups.com:
That would be consistent with a scam artists who knows he's up against
someone who is good enough to catch him, and won't hesitate to expose
him.
>
>> And Randi has a long
>> history of doing so (like his Tonight Show appearances), and doing
>> so in ways that publicly humiliate his target.
>>
>
> Sounds like a good time to dig out my favorite YouTube
> clip of Uri Geller tanking on Johnny Carson (after Carson
> got a little advice from Randi)
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9FjjrbQabw
>
Anything that humiliates Geller is good.
--
Terry Austin
Beware the other head of science. It bites.
Kenneth Doyle
Wait....I'm having a psychic moment....I predict that one day after the
deadline, someone who's name begins with "S" ... wait ... I'm getting
"S.B"... or maybe "J.E"...or maybe something else, will piss and moan
about having been cheated by Randi who denies them the chance to prove
their powers, just when they were finally ready to take the challenge for
real.
Michael Gray
wrote:
>On Jan 4, 4:52 pm, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
Look at the Benveniste "homeopathy" trials.
Michael Gray
wrote:
I'm sure that he will have some sort of exception for these high
exposure blood-sucking frauds.
In any case, should say the delightless Ms. Browne apply, I have
little doubt that JREF could raise over $1million in outright gifts
overnight.
Their must be a million people whom she has ripped off, or who hate
her guts for being a parasite without a conscience, or who are merely
curious to see the outcome.
Piece of cake.
Peraps it is a lure of that very type.
(Altho9ugh I have given the game away now. And I'm betting that Sylvia
and John are regular contribu8tors to alt.atheism!!)
jcon
> On Sat, 5 Jan 2008 08:21:45 -0800 (PST), jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com>
Was that done to win the challenge? I thought Randi
exposed Benveniste acting as an investigator (for Nature??).
-jc
Michael Gray
wrote:
>On Jan 6, 2:55 am, Michael Gray <mikeg...@newsguy.com> wrote:
Randi tried and tried to get Benveniste to accept the challenge, but
was forced to rely on his investigations into Benvenist's claims
himself, or by proxy, as I am given to understand that if they had
proven to reveal a scientifically repeatable result, Benveniste would
have discovered an entirely knew force, hitherto unknown to science,
and would have deserved the prize even without applying.