Do you think someone could ever win James Randi's 'One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge'?

Question

Here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation#The_One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge

I doubt the prize will ever be claimed.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Anyone with genuine paranormal abilities could easily win and that is why it hasn't been won.

Answer 2

I could win.

With some intimidation, a gun and a pair of pliers. The prize would be mine in no time at all.

Answer 3

no it can't be unless its just rigged 4 some one 2 one day win

Answer 4

The prize cannot be claimed.

The purpose of the prize is to attract people who have claims of paranormal abilities and thoroughly humiliate them in the name of promoting skepticism. The money's real enough, but Randi likes changing the variables of how things work instead of actually trying to get to the truth of the matter.

He's not willing to accept that someone might be able to do something paranormal, because to him everyone who might possibly make a claim is already a fraud. Thus, changing the variables around doesn't bother him a bit: it's not about truth, it's about proving that he's right. And all it will take is someone smart enough about what they do to prove him wrong.

And, as anyone with any kind of background in Critical Thinking knows, it's impossible to prove a negative. Thus, it my inconsiderable opinion (meaning: I'm no expert on the matter) that James Randi is a fraud.

Answer 5

I agree...

I don't believe in the paranormal and a British chap called Derren Brown gets the same results as 'clairvoyants' and 'mediums' by using a technique called cold reading and watching the client/victim's reactions to see if they react to what vague clues he is giving them. He is very good at what he does and can reproduce the results of these people while acknowledging that he is not doing anything unnatural.

I find watching mediums very interesting - they may believe what they are doing is paranormal but as soon as you OBJECTIVELY analyse their results they become much less impressive. Like objective reading horoscopes, they are pretty hit-and-miss and the audience/recipient of the reading tends to remember the 'hits' and gloss over the 'misses'...and the medium often minimises the impact of a false reading by telling the person that the meaning of what they said will become apparent in the next few days or so..... Hmmm.

Answer 6

No. think Randi has made sure that no one will win.

Remember...he's a magician. It's a trick.

Answer 7

I have an open mind and there are many things that we have no understanding of. I would like to see someone claim the prize but the problem is it is very hard to create or perform under controlled lab conditions.

It is difficult for those being observed to exhibit their talents on demand and 90% of the time it just doesn't happen and that's where the skeptics have a field day and rubbish everything they have no hope of understanding.

I think of it like when you are sitting for an exam and you have your teacher hovering around you, you get nervous and tense and you end up getting lower scores. Okay not everyone reacts the same, I am only using it as an example. The principle is the same no matter what the situation. Maybe a better example would be the Observer effect where the observer can effect the outcome of an experiment:

Answer 8

I agree with Deenie.. it's impossible for a person to win it. Those big meanies demand paranormal evidence and that's just not fair to psychics!

Answer 9

With the given rules of the challenge no I do not think anyone will ever claim the prize. I think it is nothing but a rouse to insult everyone daring to believe in something other than scientific facts.

But that is just my opinion.