• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

James Randi passes

deprogrammed

Active Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
183
Likes
252
Location
Dayton Ohio

bobbooo

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 30, 2019
Messages
1,479
Likes
2,079
Skepticism is a very powerful tool in any scientific inquiry or search for truth. We need more people like Randi in the world, especially in this age of fake news and pseudoscience profiteering.
 

VeerK

Active Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Messages
257
Likes
318
Location
NYC
Unfortunate, but his legacy is set. Really enjoyed reading about his exploits back in the 70s and 80s, healthy skepticism is something I wish was more prevalent nowadays.
 

Blumlein 88

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
20,524
Likes
37,057
You might replace his skepticism. But hard to replace it with someone having high level stage magician experience that he had. Made him very good at finding out what tricks other people were doing. I've seen skeptical people fooled by magicians who are more adept than most people appreciate is possible.

Randi was one of a kind.
 

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have had a big impact on the willfully ignorant.
 
Last edited:

Nemo

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
May 9, 2019
Messages
103
Likes
112
Location
Spain
Unfortunate, but his legacy is set. Really enjoyed reading about his exploits back in the 70s and 80s, healthy skepticism is something I wish was more prevalent nowadays.

I can't agree more: this is one of the most significant losses that 2020 has brought for what it matters to me.

He will be sorely missed, but we will continue to celebrate his work, his life and his humanity.
 

Krusty09

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
257
Likes
165
Did anyone ever win the million dollars?

He was fun to watch.
 

MattHooper

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
7,201
Likes
11,817
Very sad about Randi, though he sure held on for a long and rich life!

I've been in to "Skepticism" for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up I was excited about the prospects of a real Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, psychic powers and all the rest. I remember even convincing myself at some point that I had a dream that was prophetic, and that maybe I moved a pencil on a table with my mind (early teens). But when I encountered the Skeptic mags, e.g. The Skeptical Inquirer (CSICOP) and others, I was enthralled by the application of clear thought and careful empiricism to these claims. I still occasionally buy the magazines, including Skeptic. Naturally Randi often featured and he was a Hitchens-like figure in terms of his acerbic take-no-prisoners approach, which was cathartic :)

I watched that Uri Geller tonight show footage again last night - there is the long "full show" version which is even more telling than the short one above. Talk about a huckster caught out! Just imagine the flop sweat of knowing the shtick is being blown up in front of millions of people!

And yet...Geller went on to continue to fool people and a long career. Even as Peter Popoff came back. It just goes to show the fallibility of human nature, and for me, why the light of enlightenment thinking needs to be continually nurtured against the habit of superstition and magical thinking.
 

pozz

Слава Україні
Forum Donor
Editor
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
4,036
Likes
6,827
You guys remember that tricked he pulled on a few researchers with a matchbox? That was a good one.
 

Phorize

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
1,533
Likes
2,060
Location
U.K
Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have had a big impact on the willfully ignorant.

True, turns out that bad ideas spread faster and further than good ones.
 

deniall83

Active Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2018
Messages
182
Likes
213
Location
Australia
A really terrible loss for humanity. If I remember correctly, the million dollars was put up in a blind cable test that Michael Fremer of Stereophile was going to do. The test never went ahead and Michael blamed Randi for changing the conditions. I believe the manufacturer was the one who pulled out in the end but it caused a lot of Audiophiles to really denounce Randi and blind-testing in general.

EDIT Found it https://gizmodo.com/pear-cable-chickens-out-of-1-000-000-challenge-we-sea-315250
 

Krusty09

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
257
Likes
165
Wow. When I asked the question i had no idea about that challenge i only knew that he had a million bucks in some fun and use to challenge people to win it . That's a great one for this forum. Nice find.
 

ptman

New Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2016
Messages
2
Likes
1
RIP. Wonder if anyone saw it coming? Sorry, it was there and I had to take it.
 
Top Bottom