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View Full Version : Skeptic James Randi Withdraws His Million Dollar Challenge


Son of Mr. Gordo
06-16-2008, 06:01 PM
http://www.pr.com/press-release/84975

Skeptic, James Randi Breaks-Off Negotiations on "Dogs That Know" Experiment

Noted Skeptic, James Randi has decided not to participate in ongoing research investigating Dr. Rupert Sheldrake telepathic dog claims.

Del Mar, CA, May 14, 2008 --(PR.com)-- James Randi has a reputation of taking on challengers who claim psychic abilities, but his recent negotiations with a team of researchers investigating whether dogs are telepathic has ended in a stalemate. According to Skeptiko host and research sponsor, Alex Tsakiris, Randi’s about-face came as a surprise:

“…this is exactly the kind of independent research, by a major university, James Randi has been calling for. We even agreed to forgo the million dollar prize he offers in order to secure his involvement and resolve this question scientifically, but he refused.”

Tsakiris’ negotiations with Randi began in September of 2007, when Randi appeared on the Skeptiko Podcast and called for an independent investigation into claims of canine telepathy. In April of 2008, Skeptiko released a video showing the successful results of their first trial. Commenting on the future of the research, Tsakiris added:

“…of course the research will go forward. The real question is whether claims of unexplained canine to human communications are true. Our preliminary findings suggest they are, but much more work needs to be done before we’ll have a definitive answer.”

James Randi, and the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) offer a Million Dollar Challenge to those demonstrating telepathy, ESP or other psi phenomena. In recent years, James Randi has been an outspoken critic of research suggesting dogs have a telepathic ability that allows them to know when their owners are coming home.

MythMath
06-17-2008, 01:17 AM
In recent years, James Randi has been an outspoken critic of research suggesting dogs have a telepathic ability that allows them to know when their owners are coming home.

He's obviously never lived with a dog... :rolleyes:

m1thr0s
06-17-2008, 02:13 AM
Randi's way out of his depth with Sheldrake anyway...there's very few scientists alive that know how to walk the cutting edge of science with as much integrity as Sheldrake...

Skeptics bore me anyway...it's such a vanity really...it always seems to boil down to petty egocentricity with most skeptics...scared shitless to take a chance and maybe even raise the bar a little in so doing...

They have their place...like moths...

m1thr0s

frater luciferi
08-19-2008, 01:00 AM
huh, well i still think we need skeptics like him to weed out the charlatans. it will only end up postive because only the true mages and mystics will float up to the top.

Octarine Prince
08-19-2008, 03:32 AM
That's my thought. Remove the charlatans.

The funny thing is, those that keep this stuff "real" usually don't try to even bother with the skeptics, yet the fakes are all in their faces.