Randi to pull the plug on the Million Dollar Challenge

**Skeptical**

It would appear that The Amazing Randi has gotten tired of waiting for someone with real psychic powers to step up and claim his million dollars. He now says that, if no one claims it by March 2010, the Challenge will be discontinued.

I am not familiar with all of the criteria Randi has set up for his tests. i know that some have complained that, any time someone who shows promise steps forward, the rules get changed. Here is an interesting essay from the Daily Grail on the subject:

http://www.dailygrail.com/features/the-myth-of-james-randis-million-dollar-challenge

As for me, I think it is likely the human mind has abilities which are not fully understood and have not been fully explored. I don't think these abilities have an on-off switch of which we have perfect control. We may not know enough about these abilities yet to even devise a suitable test.

S
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**dr wu23** · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 2158 Location: Indiana

A very interesting article and after reading it one can see why those with psychic abilities would not be happy with Randi's guidelines and hurdles required before even moving ahead with the actual experiment.
Randi represents the bad or negative side to honest skepticism imo.
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**TheScamDetective** · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 1337 Location: California

"He now says that, if no one claims it by March 2010, the Challenge will be discontinued."
~
Oh darn!!! I have been perfecting my psychic abilities and planned to take the challenge in 2011!!!
Sigh..I was soooooo close to being a millionaire!!!
Smile

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**Skeptical** · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject:

I had a strange premonition you'd say that, Scam! Wink

S
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Informant · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 33

Randi is as slippery as an eel. Before you can get to Randi's final, scientifc, double-blind test for the $1 million, you have to pass through a series of preliminary trials, which are not required to be double-blind or to adhere to basic scientific protocols. Randi refuses to test certain applicants (such as Ed Dames), while incessantly pestering people who have shown no interest in taking his challenge (such as Sylvia Browne). To date, only one applicant (the Yellow Bamboo Society) has actually passed Randi's gauntlet of preliminary tests, and the results of that applicant's preliminary test were rejected by Randi, so the applicant was not allowed to move on to Randi's final test for the $1 million.

Meanwhile, the $1 million remains in the bank, gathering an inordinate amount of interest, and thus income, for a non-profit organization--and that money is not being accounted for. My suspicion is that Randi is pocketing a great deal of it.

In the same vein, the first thought that popped into my head when I heard Randi was setting a deadline for his challenge, was the question of what will happen to the $1 million if nobody can win it by March 2010. I don't think that it would be legal for Randi or his organization to reappropriate money donated for the sole purpose of being a prize for Randi's challenge to other endeavors, but I suspect that's exactly what Randi intends to do with it.

**Skeptical** · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject:

I think that magicians or illusionists tend to be the biggest skeptics when it comes to ESP and such. But I think this is a natural outgrowth of the work that they do. After all, they make their living off of the fact that the human sensory apparatus can be fooled rather easily.

Being skeptical is one thing, but it is quite another to be mean-spirited about it. Randi and others (like Penn Gillette for example) don't do the art of skepticism any favors by being so damned unpleasant about it. I think Phil Klass did the same for UFOs - his antics probably won a good deal more converts to the pro-UFO camp than to his own point of view.

S
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." -- Thomas Jefferson

Jeremy Vaeni · Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 460 Location: New York

Will God pull the plug on Randi by 2010?
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roadghost · Joined: 08 Aug 2007 Posts: 146

The whole one mllion dollar challenge served no more purpose than to act as a huge red herring. It was a comfort blanket for the casual skeptic and a prop for those of a more petty, mean spirited bent, nothing more. Unfortunately it has served to drive a wedge between the open minded on both sides and that will be it's dubious legacy. I too suspect that any monies will be appropriated in a less than honest way by those claiming they are the vanguard of truth and integrity.