Re: THE $10 MILLION PRIZE FOR PROOF EVOLUTION 2.0

  G wrote:

Of course it was impossible to win Randi's prize, you had to demonstrate
psychic or paranormal powers, and no such thing exists.

Ah!  You're a scientific illiterate!  Why didn't you
just say so!
In order to "Win" the prize, in theory, you had to pass
a test.
Claimants who say that they could achieve some paranormal
feat, and Randi would test something else.
Every time.
Randi would pretend that both sides "Agreed" to the
conditions of the test, but that was never true. It was
never an "Agreement," it was an ultimatum:  "You perform
this test or walk away."
And, again, the test NEVER mapped to the claimed
paranormal abilities.
But even if you complied with the conditions imposed
upon you, they never had to and never would pay you the
money. The law simply was never going to force them to.
In one example where I know for a fact that someone
passed a test, Randi gave out some "Code" and asked
people to tell him what it meant. It turned out to be
the Library of Congress number for a book of his, I
believe, and the people who identified it never
collected a dime.
If you were scientifically literate, you might (and I
did say "Might") be able to deconstruct a claim, come
up with an accurate test. Randi certainly could, but
never once did.
Partly because he himself was a performer, he did
magic tricks. He knew how, what was involved. So he
wanted to avoid a situation where someone who designed
and practiced a trick got to perform it. He wanted to
take people out of their comfort zone. But he never
did that in a scientifically valid way.
Again:  Deconstruct the problem. What are you denying?
What are you doubting? Be as specific as you can. How
do you test THAT specific point?
Randi never did that.
--
http://jtem.tumblr.com