James Randi

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James Randi

James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge, August 7, 1928 in Toronto, Canada), more often known as The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician, atheist and skeptic, best known as a debunker of pseudoscience. He is perhaps most known for the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, in which his James Randi Educational Foundation says it will award a prize of one million USD to anyone who is able to show evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. He is also a regular on a television program called Bullshit!, which is hosted by noted skeptics Penn & Teller. His interest in debunking the paranormal started when he was in his early teens.

He was present at a magic show when a magician asked for someone from the audience to help him with his performance. Randi, having experimented with magic tricks himself, raised his hand. The magician responded, "Ah, young man, you're a magician yourself, aren't you?", much to Randi's amazement. After the show, Randi approached the man and asked how he knew this. The man told Randi he did not. It was simply part of his routine and whenever he turned out to be right, he would credit his "magical powers" and whenever he was wrong, he would turn it into a standard quip.

Randi subsequently witnessed many tricks that were presented as being supernatural. One of his earliest reported experiences is that of seeing an evangelist using the "one-ahead" routine to convince churchgoers of his divine powers.

Contents

The Amazing Randi

Randi has worked as a professional stage magician and escapologist since 1946. In 1955, he broke Houdini's record for survival in a sealed coffin (1 hour, 33 minutes) by 11 minutes. In his early career, Randi was part of numerous stunts involving his escape from jail cells and safes.

Randi was the host of The Randi Show on radio in the mid-1960s. He also hosted numerous television specials and went on several world tours. Randi is noted for escaping from a straightjacket while suspended upsidedown over Niagra Falls on Canadian TV program World of Wizards.

Randi appeared as "The Amazing Randi" on a television show entitled Wonderama from 1967 to 1972. In the February 2, 1974 issue of Abracadabra (a British conjuring magazine) Randi defined the magic community saying, "I know of no calling which depends so much upon mutual trust and faith as does ours."

During Alice Cooper's 1974 tour, Randi performed as the dentist and executioner on stage. Also, Randi had built and designed several of the stage props, including the guillotine. An incident where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched the band's lockers during a performance has been cited by Randi as leading him to apply for American citizenship.

Randi is author of Conjuring, (1991) a biographical history of noted magicians. The book is subtitled: Being a Definitive History of the Venerable Arts of Sorcery, Prestidigitation, Wizardry, Deception, & Chicanery and of the Mountebanks & Scoundrels Who have Perpetrated these Subterfuges on a Bewildered Public, in short, MAGIC!.

Career as a skeptic

Randi entered the international spotlight in 1972 when he challenged the public claims of Uri Geller. Randi accused Geller of being nothing more than a charlatan using standard "magic" tricks to accomplish his allegedly paranormal feats, and he backed up his claims in the book The Magic of Uri Geller. The original edition contained a number of factual errors, including the claim that Geller had been convicted of fraud in a criminal trial, and misstatements about whether there was a clear view of the window in the room where Geller did his work, a place Randi admitted he had never been. Randi's critics have seized on these statements, claiming that they are deliberate and that they undermine Randi's credibility. Several publications that reprinted Randi's allegations were successfully sued by Geller, or they settled with him [1]. Randi has since produced a new edition of the book with extensive corrections and revisions, and renamed it The Truth About Uri Geller.

Randi was a founding fellow and prominent member of CSICOP, the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Randi later resigned from CSICOP during the period when Uri Geller was filing numerous civil suits against him. CSICOP's leadership, wanting to avoid becoming a target of Geller's litigation, requested that Randi refrain from commenting on Geller. Randi refused and resigned. He still maintains a respectful relationship with the group and frequently writes articles for its magazine.

Randi has gone on to write several books criticizing beliefs and claims regarding the paranormal. He has also been instrumental in exposing frauds and charlatans who exploit this field for personal gain. In one example, his Project Alpha hoax, Randi revealed that he had been able to orchestrate a years-long compromise of a privately-funded psychic research experiment. The hoax became a scandal and demonstrated the shortcomings of many paranormal research projects at the university level. Some said that the hoax was unethical, while others claimed his actions were a legitimate exercise in debunking poor research techniques.

Randi's comprehensive expos� of faith healer Peter Popoff resulted in a sharp decline in Popoff's influence and popularity.

Randi was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award in 1986, drawing upon his conjuring skills to write and educate the public on superstition and pseudo-scientific matters.

In 1987, Randi became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1996, Randi established the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi updates the JREF's website on Fridays with a written commentary titled Swift: Online Newsletter of the JREF. Randi also contributes a regular column, titled "'Twas Brillig", to The Skeptics Society's Skeptic magazine.

Asteroid 3163 Randi was named after him.

Legal disputes

The rivalry between Randi and his opponents has ended up in court on several occasions. These episodes include the following.

  • In an interview with Twilight Zone Magazine, Randi accused Uri Geller and Eldon Byrd of being the ringleaders in a criminal blackmail plot aimed at destroying Randi [2]. Byrd sued Randi; the jury found that Randi's claim regarding Byrd was defamatory, but awarded Byrd $0 in damages (thus preventing further appeals by Byrd) apparently based on their rather low opinion of him (see news story).
  • In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Randi was presented as saying that Uri Geller had driven a close friend to "shoot himself in the head", which Randi afterwards claimed was a metaphor lost in translation (see [3]). However, Randi made a similar statement ("The scientist shot himself after I showed him how the key bending trick was done.") in the August 23, 1986 Toronto Star that seemed to validate Geller's charge. Since the referenced suicide victim died of natural causes, Geller successfully sued both the newspaper and Randi in the Japanese courts. Randi could not participate in the trial, did not recognize the court's authority (since "insult", as opposed to "libel", is not a legally cognizable basis for a civil action in the U.S.), and refused to pay the $2,000 judgement that was awarded.
  • Randi once commented that Uri Geller's tricks are of the same quality as those Randi read on the backs of cereal packets as a child. Geller sued both Randi and CSICOP. CSICOP disavowed Randi, pleading that the organization was not responsible for Randi's statements. The court agreed that including CSICOP was frivolous, and they were dropped from the action. Geller was ordered to pay substantial damages to CSICOP. [4] The order specifically excluded Randi from receiving any of the damages. At this time, Randi and Geller had both run up huge legal bills amounting to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars. In a private meeting they achieved an out-of-court settlement, the details of which have been kept private. This case, as noted above, was directly responsible for the decision of Randi to part company with CSICOP.
  • Alleged psychic Allison DuBois, on whose life the television series Medium was based, and whose alleged abilities and other claims Randi has questioned, threatened Randi with legal action for using a photo of her from her website in his December 17, 2004 Commentary without her permission. [5] Randi removed the photo, and now uses a caricature of DuBois when mentioning her on his site, beginning with his December 23, 2005 Commentary. [6]

The $1 million challenge

Main article: James Randi Educational Foundation
(JREF)

The JREF currently offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. In 1964, Randi put up $1,000 of his own money payable to the first person who could provide objective proof of the paranormal. Since then, the prize money has grown to the current $1,000,000, and the rules that surround claiming the prize are official and legal. No one has gotten past the preliminary test which is set up and has to be agreed upon by both Randi and the applicant.

In the conditions and rules governing his one million U.S. dollar challenge, Randi plainly states that both parties (himself and the party accepting the challenge) must agree in advance as to what conditions of the test constitute a "success" and what constitutes a "failure". He also refuses to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the test they intend to undergo.

Randi's caustic style

Parapsychologists generally try to downplay the Randi challenge because of attacks on Randi's character, and also because of his harsh, uncompromising style of writing and presentation, which has won him enemies among those who claim to be paranormal experts. Randi's supporters note that there are other organizations of skeptics that have similar standing offers to prove the existence of paranormal abilities, and anyone claiming to be an expert in their field of the paranormal can apply for any of these other prizes, avoiding Randi altogether. In his weekly commentary, Randi often gives examples of what he feels is the nonsense that he deals with every day, to explain his lack of patience. [7]

Although some find Randi abrasive or even aggressive, the book The Faith Healers explains his anger and relentlessness arising out of compassion for the helpless victims of frauds. Also, in his weekly commentary, which he publishes every Friday, Randi often expresses dismay that he has to frequently expose various frauds owing to the fact that few others do so.

Recently, Randi has accused Sylvia Browne - a well-known, self-proclaimed psychic medium and author of numerous books on spirituality, who has performed thousands of one-on-one readings and assignments with a wide variety of groups and individuals - of avoiding the $1,000,000 challenge despite agreeing on Larry King Live in September 2001 to accept it. Randi keeps a clock on his website recording the number of weeks that have passed since Sylvia accepted the challenge without following through.

Private life

According to a special announcement on the JREF website, on Thursday February 2, 2006 Randi underwent emergency coronary artery bypass surgery. The circumstances surrounding his admission to the hospital were not clear at the time but it appeared to be unexpected. As of early February 2006, he was declared to be "in stable condition" and "receiving excellent care" with his recovery "proceeding well". The weekly commentary updates to his website are to be made by guests while he is hospitalized. [8]

Awards

See also

Bibliography

TV and film

Actor

Himself

  • Fornemmelse for snyd (2003) TV Series (also archive footage)
  • Horizon - Homeopathy: The Test (2002) TV Episode
  • Inside Edition- Episode dated 20 January 2006 (2006) TV
  • Magic (2004) (mini) TV Series .... Himself
  • [[Mit� ihmett�?]] (2003) TV Series
  • NOVA James Randi Special
  • Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
    • - Signs from Heaven (2005) TV Episode
    • - ESP (2003) TV Episode
    • - End of the World (2003) TV Episode
  • Spotlight on James Randi (2002) (TV)
  • The Art of Magic (1998) (TV)
  • The Power of Belief (1990s) (ABC News Special) (TV)
  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
    • Episode dated 4 January 1972 (4 January 1972)
    • Episode dated 21 January 1972 (21 January 1972)
    • Episode dated 22 March 1973 (22 March 1973)
    • Episode dated 22 April 1986 (22 April 1986)
    • Episode dated 27 May 1986 (27 May 1986)
    • Episode dated 29 July 1986 (29 July 1986)
    • Episode dated 13 November 1986 (13 November 1986)
    • Episode dated 3 November 1987 (3 November 1987)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: James_Randi
  • The Search for the Chimera - Lecture given by James Randi at Princeton University in 2001. Made publically available on the internet by Princeton (300k Windows Media Streaming version).


References

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