I first heard of James Randi many years ago. My first impression was he's cool because he very cleverly exposed some fraudulent 'psi' people who were making outlandish claims. The program was on mainstream TV.
I saw him again a few years later and he had become (or certainly seemed to have become) smug and condescending, and seemed to take a mocking tone with anything and everything 'paranormal'.

Now, as I'm older and have lived & learned, as it were, I don't rush to judgement. I've seen some things first hand that our beloved science can't explain, resolve and wrap up with a pretty ribbon. I agree with Skyfloating's statement. There are people that possess incredible abilities that can't be simply dialed up at will.
Some of the best psychics don't even want to be psychic. They see their visions unexpectedly.

Randi thinks that if a person is psychic, they should be psychic all the time. Like bowling. A good bowler will always roll a decent score, won't they? The skeptics have their place. They help weed out the loonies and the con-men....but It would be nice to hear one of them admit that there just might be a chance of something unexplainable out there.

James Randi was proven to be a fraud years and years ago. This isnt anything new. I agree with a previous poster about him having become smug and condescending of all things supernatural.
The supernatural is one of those things that if you have never experienced it, its hard to accept.

"Actually, that is just another false claim..."



False claim according to who? Mainstream science? The same mainstream science who tells us the fluoride in our water is "good" for us? lol really?

double post

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
He has no intention of ever giving anyone a million dollars...

Because there is no such thing as psychics.... so none of them will ever demonstrate their claims under controlled conditions!

He is nothing more than a real life troll, just trying to hassle people

Actually the ones claiming "psychic" powers etc. are the real life trolls.

Remember, Randi has $1million that any real psychic etc. could very easily win, but funnily enough all who have tried have failed, and the real psychic frauds like Geller do not even try, as they know that they would fail!

People keep posting that Randi's a fraud and it's been known for years; how is he a fraud?

edit: aside from the OP

Originally posted by foreverbores
People keep posting that Randi's a fraud and it's been known for years; how is he a fraud?

By simply pointing out and showing that psychics are just faking it, and people who believe in psychics do not want their beliefs destroyed, so they claim Randi is a fraud, with zero evidence to back their claims up.

Who did stanton friedman best? there was someone. was it Randi?

James Randi is an idiot.

Every test he does is flawed and geared towards smearing the psychic community.

There is a HUGE difference between being a skeptic (which he claims) and being a cynic (which he is).

Just my opinion.

Hold on a second. What "joy" will Rupert Sheldrake get from arch skeptic, Chris French? hmmm..

I think the beliefs of those people working with Randi are immediately projected onto whoever the claimed psychic is. In addition the psychic lives in a world surrounded by disbelief constantly anyway, two factors that could disempower the psychic from accomplishing thier "proofs"

I believe in a collective human consciousness type energy. It's a broadband energy consisting of the heat our bodies emit (Infrared light), a subtle magnetic interference from the hemoglobin in blood(fact!!), and an attenuating of microwaves because of the water in our bodies. I think whatever these forces or energies are that we posess as humans, multiplied by our human population of 7billion makes for some cumulative total "energy effect" which is what I think human collective consciousness is. Also, there is a bone in the nose called the Ethmoid that contains magnetite and the human brain can be sensitive to magnetic pulses applied to the temple in that those pulses can affect decision making ability. I think these factors are at surely at work when it comes to devising and testing some method of proving psychic abilities.

Also, any tests like this, wherein the intentions of certain participants is Required......can't really fit into any conventional scientific test methods because the individual is a dynamic factor, constantly changing from one moment to the next. In general scientific studies need constants so they can solve for variables. In these cases, the psychics are multidimensional variables that complicate any experimental method.

I think the beliefs of others around you can affect the way you feel or act or respond to stimulus. Imagine the psychic travelling through a world of disbelief to the test location, where there are more disbelievers inside waiting for them. The disbelievers have a world of others beliefs supporting them and the psychic has only them self, plus maybe a coven or meditation group sharing their beliefs, plus some crazies, and maybe a spirit guide or two in support of their side. The odds are stacked very unfavorably against the psychic being able to prove anything in the face of such opposition.


Just because these types of paranormal activities or powers haven't been proven does not mean in my mind that they do not exist. I think psi stuff is still a bit of a black swan......for now.