Magician Shares His Skepticism In College Appearance

Magician Shares His Skepticism In College Appearance
By Alan Gallagher
11/25/2003



[Editor's Note: This article was written as a requirement for a journalism
class at SUNY Oswego by a student. Publication in a local news outlet is part
of the requirement. Any views in the article are the author's own.]

SUNY Oswego college students were mystified last Wednesday when author,
international magician, and paranormal investigator James Randi did a
presentation on modern skepticism and magic.

He began in front of the podium on stage and adjusted the microphone in front of
him. Fixing his glasses, he began to tell his audience a little bit about
himself, and what he does for a living. His voice was muffled, but audible
through the speakers. The audience made no comment.

But he had us all fooled. Within the first 5 minutes of speaking, Randi
illustrated to the audience one simple fact that would be a prevalent theme
throughout his presentation: assumptions rule our lives. The frames on his face
had no lenses, and the microphone in front of him wasn't turned on. He had used
a ruse. He stood in front of the microphone to make us assume he was using it.
He instead was using a simple radio microphone on his chest. He wore frames to
make us assume they had lenses.

It is these things that Randi says we take for granted. They are assumptions
that we pass off as fact because they're almost always true. This is the nature
of skepticism that Randi advocates.

Randi is a professional skeptic. He currently makes a living investigating the
paranormal and debunking many self proclaimed "miracle workers." Randi is
offering a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove evidence of paranormal
activity. All they need to do is pass one of his straightforward tests. Prove to
him, on his terms that paranormal activity exists, and the million dollars is
there for the taking.

Randi is a vehement opponent to "Faith Healers," televangelists who claim to use
the power of God to heal the sick and cure the diseased. Randi believes that
ideas such as these; along with psychic readings, and "cold readings," (TV's
John Edwards comes to mind) are dangerous and harmful practices. They do society
little to no good. He has made it one of his life goals to debunk these
"Charlatans," as he calls them.

He ended the presentation with two magic tricks. He didn't reveal the secret to
either. One trick involved a card prediction. Another was a telepathic reading
in which he correctly stated what word on a piece of paper a woman in the
audience was looking at.

He left his audience, asking "What are the chances of me getting those answers
correct?" He answered the question himself finally, "one hundred percent." He
explained that, because it was a trick, he knew how it would turn out. If you
know the answers to a test, you'll get a perfect score. Magic is the same way.
The point is that you're supposed to be skeptical of the things you take for
granted and never accept them as universally true.

You can reach his website at www.randi.org

To date, no one has passed the million-dollar test.

http://www.oswegodailynews.com/homea...twork=oswe go

-30-

"Garrison Hilliard" wrote in message
...
Magician Shares His Skepticism In College Appearance
By Alan Gallagher
11/25/2003

To date, no one has passed the million-dollar test.


And no no one will ever pass his million-dollar test, because it's fixed.
Read the web site carefully. "Applicants must state clearly what they claim
as their special ability, and test procedures must be agreed upon by BOTH
parties before any testing will take place. All tests must be designed in
such a way that the results are self-evident, and no judging process is
required."

You will only be allowed to take the test after you demonstrate your psychic
abilities to Randi's satisfaction. There are no impartial 3rd party judges.
Randi is the only judge of whether you pass the "preliminary" or the "formal
test" itself. James Randi may be flamboyant, but he ain't stupid.

I was reading in the bathroom when I ran across an item written by
"Kilolani" on Mon, 08 Dec 2003 06:10:23
GMT, which said:

Try again:

All tests must be designed in
such a way that the results are self-evident, and no judging process is
required."

It's *you* who says, later, "Randi is the only judge..."

The testing is done by an independent third party, such as the New
England Skeptical Society, and the part about "All tests must be
designed in such a way that the results are self-evident" means simply
that the applicant must succeed in his stated endeavor more times than
could be accounted for by mere chance. That the success must be
unequivocal argues against your claim because it means that the
results are obvious to all.

For example, if a self-proclaimed telekinetic claims he can make a
quarter come up "heads" 90% of the time, then the criteria for giving
him the award would be whether he can flip a quarter 100 times and
have it come up heads 90 times. Presumably, the test will involve
several runs of 100 tries. I've seen a couple of reports on such
trials by NESS, and they are always videotaped and otherwise
documented. Among other things, this is to guard against lawsuits and
other objections, such as yours, that the judging is rigged.


-------------
Beady's 11th Law of Social Harmonics: "Your spouse is precisely the kind of person someone like you would choose to marry."

There are no impartial 3rd party judges.
Randi is the only judge of whether you pass the "preliminary" or the "formal
test" itself. James Randi may be flamboyant, but he ain't stupid.



Not true!! Randi has signed over his $1 Million to the control of various
television companies, and agreed that the money be paid out if the results of
the test proved positive. One such trial involved homeopathy, and involved labs
and universities all over the world. The TV company would love to have seen
Randi lose his money, because that would have guaranteed huge ratings, yet the
trial proved negative. Homeopathy is nothing more than placebo. Surprise
surprise. Cary on deluding.

"GFHWalker" wrote in message
...
There are no impartial 3rd party judges.
Randi is the only judge of whether you pass the "preliminary" or the
"formal
test" itself. James Randi may be flamboyant, but he ain't stupid.

Not true!! Randi has signed over his $1 Million to the control of various
television companies, and agreed that the money be paid out if the results
of
the test proved positive.


That's certainly NOT what it says on his web site.