The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/magazine/the-unbelievable-skepticism-of-the-amazing-randi.html

By ADAM HIGGINBOTHAM
NOV. 7, 2014


James Randi in front of a painting done by his partner, the artist José Alvarez. Credit Jeff Minton for The New York Times

A few minutes before 8 o’clock one Sunday evening last July, around 600 people crowded into the main conference hall of the South Point casino in Las Vegas. After taking their seats on red-velvet upholstered chairs, they chattered noisily as they awaited the start of the Million Dollar Challenge. When Fei Wang, a 32-year-old Chinese salesman, stepped onto the stage, they fell silent. Wang had a shaved head and steel-framed glasses. He wore a polo shirt, denim shorts and socks. He claimed to have a peculiar talent: from his right hand, he could transmit a mysterious force a distance of three feet, unhindered by wood, metal, plastic or cardboard. The energy, he said, could be felt by others as heat, pressure, magnetism or simply “an indescribable change.” Tonight, if he could demonstrate the existence of his ability under scientific test conditions, he stood to win $1 million.

The Million Dollar Challenge was the climax of the Amazing Meeting, or TAM, an annual weekend-long conference for skeptics that was created by a magician named the Amazing Randi in 2003. Randi, a slight, gnomish figure with a bald head and frothy white beard, was presiding from the front row, a cane topped with a polished silver skull between his legs. He drummed his fingers on the table in front of him. The Challenge organizers had spent weeks negotiating with Wang and fine-tuning the protocol for the evening’s test. A succession of nine blindfolded subjects would come onstage and place their hands in a cardboard box. From behind a curtain, Wang would transmit his energy into the box. If the subjects could successfully detect Wang’s energy on eight out of nine occasions, the trial would confirm Wang’s psychic power. “I think he’ll get four or five,” Randi told me. “That’s my bet.”

The Challenge began with the solemnity of a murder trial. A young woman in a short black dress stood at the edge of the stage, preparing to mark down the results on a chart mounted on an easel. The first subject, a heavyset blond woman in flip-flops, stepped up and placed her hands in the box. After two minutes, she was followed by a second woman who had a blue streak in her hair and, like the first, looked mildly nonplused by the proceedings. Each failed to detect the mystic force. “Which means, at this point, we are done,” the M.C. announced. With two failures in a row, it was impossible for Wang to succeed. The Million Dollar Challenge was already over.

Stepping out from behind the curtain, Wang stood center stage, wearing an expression of numb shock, like a toddler who has just dropped his ice cream in the sand. He was at a loss to explain what had gone wrong; his tests with a paranormal society in Boston had all succeeded. Nothing could convince him that he didn’t possess supernatural powers. “This energy is mysterious,” he told the audience. “It is not God.” He said he would be back in a year, to try again.

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[cbayer]

2. I would like to think I would share his reaction.

I'm the kind of person that has difficulty sleeping after telling a fib. I got caught shoplifting at 16 and never thought about stealing again. And in my forays into politics, I became profoundly disturbed when I recognized that I was taking positions that I didn't really believe it because it greased the wheels or was expedient or furthered my career.

And I would like to think that most of us, at least most of us here, are like that as well.

But it's not everyone, I recognize that.

Glad you enjoyed the article. He is a fascinating character, imo.

[pinto]

3. Fascinating article and life profile.

I've had the opportunity to be a guest at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and get to meet a few of the magicians after the show. The best, imo, were really clear that they were skilled, practiced performers. And like most actors felt that the "play's the thing". Shill was not part of the repertoire. Interesting folks.

[cbayer]

4. Agree. Some of the most fascinating performances I have seen never included

the supposition that it was really supernatural or magic.

I am very respectful of those that do it well.