James Randi’s Fiery Takedown Of Psychic Fraud

Paul O'Flaherty

Recorded in 2007 this TED talk features legendary skeptic James Randi taking a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing 18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world’s psychics: Prove what you do is real, and I’ll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.)

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Posted by: Paul O'Flaherty More post by Paul O'Flaherty

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9 Comments »

Drew P. Wiener September 22, 2011 at 9:25 am - Reply
Hasn’t the challenge gotten a bunch of takers? Just none of them proved to what they said they were under controlled conditions.
Roenmcgloane September 22, 2011 at 9:53 am - Reply
@dfe5b531a342d7b5c4ad4c97deaf1905:disqus Technically, no one has passed the preliminary test to enter the more thorough test.
- Drew P. Wiener September 22, 2011 at 10:12 am - Reply
  Ah, I see.
Gloop524 September 22, 2011 at 10:07 am - Reply
alternate view: OK assume you did prove that you had psychic powers. you get $1million. so? you also get every whack job in the world banging on your door demanding you bless their children and cure their cancer. then you get all the religious psychos trying to kill you. the press hounding you constantly. big businesses and world governments trying to kidnap you so they can use you for intelligence gathering. and really, if you could see the future, you would see that, wouldn’t you? so you might not care all that much about proving yourself to some nobody skeptic that literally means nothing to you.
- David Santamaria September 23, 2011 at 6:48 am - Reply
  And you forget the girls Gloop… The gurls !… Crazy about your rich big stick… What a pain !… http://yhwh1972.blogspot.com/2011/09/1197.html
- Guest October 18, 2011 at 11:56 am - Reply
  “some nobody skeptic” That’s rather disrespectful don’t you think. Especially as he is A world renowned sceptic.
- Paul O'Flaherty October 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm - Reply
  I honestly think that if somebody was capable of winning the $1,000,000 dollars that the very exposure from that should mean they’d easily be able to take their talents and turn it into a 100 million over-night. Even the dumbest of schmoes should be able to capitalize on proving they are psychic and that kind of money, well, that kind of money and publicity pretty much allows you to eliminate all the problems you’ve listed. And people trying to kill you? Seriously, if you were a psychic, how could they ever succeed?
Disbeliever October 3, 2011 at 7:04 pm - Reply
Anyone do a count on how many times he mentioned the James Randi Educational Foundation? : )
- Hogarth October 12, 2011 at 11:06 am - Reply
  He mentions the full name of the foundation 3 times, and mentions it as “the foundation” 2 other times.