James Randi: fails to explain away Arigo, the surgeon with the rusty knife

So are the sceptics wrong? Not necessarily, and one of the strengths of this book lies in showing why scepticism is such a useful approach. For example, the strength of evidence is typically assessed using standard statistical methods, but as some authors make clear, these can begin to creak under the strain of unconventional results. Then there is the problem of replicability: paranormal effects have proved hard to reproduce reliably in different laboratories. Some think this reflects their inherent weakness, but certainly some now widely attested "orthodox" effects, such as the efficacy of clot-buster drugs, initially proved dismally unreplicable. Sceptics, however, insist it proves they are non-existent.

Rational, objective, and doesn't prove one iota of what you're trying to say.

Jackass, read that again. The book is not one-sided.

Rational, objective, and doesn't prove one iota of what you're trying to say.

Jackass, read that again. The book is not one-sided.

Like the other reviewer said:

"A unique aspect of this book is that while reviewing the strength of the evidence for psi phenomena is an unusually balanced way, it also presents well-reasoned articles explaining why skepticism is still the most useful approach for scientists to take toward certain kinds of anomalies. Standard statistical methods can show intrinsic weaknesses when used to analyze highly unusual results. Scientific protocols have some unavoidable difficulties dealing with results that are so unreliably replicated in a laboratory. "

Bullshit. You're using the Randi approach. These same professionals? Eh? You don't even know what you're talking about.

What you MEAN to say is "other professionals that I have heard about in passing and assume to exist in a large quantity, have been proven to be gullible dorkuses and therefore I have decided to predetermine this is the category in which I shal place all others that strike me as similar."

What, in gratitude for removing tumors?!!!

It's just part of his routine testing.

This other book, Psi Wars, is completely different.

FELLATIO is part of his routine testing? Errrrrrr, any cites for that?

(Now has really disturbing porno running in head oh noes)

There are pictures over at Randi.org. It all started with certain tribes in which the younger males believed swallowing the manjuice of the elder males would make them stronger. James Randi set out to prove that this was not true and hasn't stopped since. His repeated claim, "If sperm has the ability to pass on any traits from its originator, then why am I not getting stronger and more psychic everyday?"

In June 1999, a Mr Rico Kolodzey of Germany wrote to James Randi and challenged for the reputed $1 million prize. Mr Kolodzey is one of several thousand people who believe and claim that they can live on water alone, absorbing 'prana' or life energy from space around them.

Now this claim is, to say the least, extraordinary. It is perhaps even more extraordinary that an individual should offer to prove this claim by submitting himself to a controlled test.

The claim is one that most people would treat with great skepticism, and might well run a mile from. But James Randi is not most people -- he is the person who has publicly claimed that he has $1 million on offer to all comers who challenge him and are willing to submit to rigorous testing, as Mr Kolodzey has offered to do.

It should not be very difficult to arrange a test of Mr Kolodzey's claim. All that is needed is to lock him in a police cell, under CCTV observation, with only water to drink. If he experiences significant measurable weight loss, or asks for food, then his claim is false. If, on the other hand, he does somehow survive on water alone, then Randi is wrong, conventional science is wrong, and Mr Kolodzey has won $1 million.

It ought therefore to have been a very simple matter for Randi to offer to lock Mr Kolodzey up for a week or two. But that is not what Randi did. Instead he ignored Mr Kolodzey entirely. When Mr Kolodzey wrote again to Randi asking about his challenge, he received the following email from Randi (later confirmed with a hard copy):-

Date: 6/18/99 12:03 PM

Mr. Kolodzey:

Don't treat us like children. We only respond to responsible claims.

Are you actually claiming that you have not consumed any food products except water, since the end of 1998? If this is what you are saying, did you think for one moment that we would believe it?

If this is actually your claim, you're a liar and a fraud. We are not interested in pursuing this further, nor will we exchange correspondence with you on the matter.

Signed, James Randi.
(A hard-copy of this letter will be sent by post to you, today.)

James Randi Educational Foundation
201 S.E. 12th Street (Davie Blvd.)
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-1815

So, now we know exactly how much confidence can be placed in James Randi's "challenge" and exactly how Randi behaves when confronted by a real challenger, willing to submit to rigorous scientific testing of his claims.

Randi runs away.

"It is an attempt to attain informed, balanced dialogue about the many controversies in the field, in this case concerning parapsychology. The editors struggled with how to deal with the parapsychology papers, which arise outside mainstream science. The decision was made to allow the parapsychologists to express the "standard view" of parapsychology. This would expose readers equally to parapsychologists' and skeptics' views of the field, letting them judge the merits of each side."

So, even if the editors of have, for fairness' sake, put articles by parapsychologists in the book, the fact that they're there doesn't automatically make them objective. Studies by non-parapsycholgists, ie. people who don't have a vested interest in the subject, usually reach different conclusions. Believe or not, credible scientists have made quite an effort to study claims regarding ESP and other such phenomena, and have come up with nothing. So it's not a case of sceptics dismissing these claims straight away without putting any thought to them.

It would be easier to write these people off as harmless kooks if it wasn't for the fact that several people have died trying to follow their lead.

From that link: "In 1983, most of the leadership of the cult in California resigned when Wiley Brooks, its 47-year-old leader, who claimed not to have eaten for 19 years, was caught sneaking into a hotel and ordering a chicken pie."

(you really think this is Calum? If so, then sort of props, as it's his most intellectually rigorous thread yet, albeit one where he can't actually conprehend anything other than a single, narrow-minded and almost-certainly-wrong approach)

(actually I don't know if I will because you're an insufferable buffoon and I don't want to talk to you)

The funny thing is nobody here has even looked at PSI research, let alone an actual research paper or experimental data on the topic and carefully analyzed it. And certainly nobody here has carefully analyzed all the experimental data as a whole.

There are a handful of books on the subject and the only one here mentioned is Psi Wars, which nobody has read obviously.

My socks get smelly.