JTEM
2015-01-08 00:34:05 UTC
The problem with Randi, his organization
and his so-called "test" is that he's
very good at exposing fraud and lousy at
anything else.
There are fraudulent investors, like
Bernie Madoff, but that doesn't mean
that there are no real investors, that
the existence of investments is a
fraud.
See the problem? Probably not...
Randi tests people, not claims. I'm not
interested in anyone who says they have
supernatural powers. I'm only interested
in paranormal claims that are NOT specific
to an individual, that anyone should be
able to experience for themselves...
Sort of.
It's not like any layman can "Experience"
a medical miracle short of undergoing a
miraculous cure themselves. As layman, they
can't get access to medical records, and
they probably can't get direct access to
the patients either, but the "Medical
Miracles" still qualify as far as I'm
concerned.
Someone undergoing an unexplainable recovery
is quite different from someone claiming they
have the power to heal...
See the difference now?
Randi can test the frauds, the people claiming
to have the power to heal your incurable, but
he is useless in investigating let alone
explaining people who have actually been cured
of an incurable disease!
Dowsing outside of Randi's scope. Randi's methods
are inappropriate to test "Dowsing" or any
paranormal phenomenon for that matter. Yes, because
Randi's challenged is set up to catch frauds.
Randi's chief weapon against frauds is changing
the parameters. Some fraud claims they can do
[A, B, C & D] but Randi never tests those things.
He instead offers to test [E, F, G & H]. He's
taking the fraud out of their comfort zone, away
from what he's practiced... what he's accomplished
at pulling over. But outside of the cases of
fraud, testing phenomena and NOT people, this is
unacceptable. It's dumb! It's not even scientific.
By definition, the paranormal does not follow
conventional rules. "Common sense" or even "The
Laws of Physics" as we know them don't seem to
apply. And this is what makes something paranormal
in the first place. If this wasn't true then it
wouldn't be paranormal, it would be normal. So
you can't use "Logic" or "The Laws of Physics" or
even "Everyone Knows" as an excuse to change the
circumstances under which a paranormal phenomenon
is to take place. You can't say, "Well if it
works THERE under THESE conditions, then it has
to work SOMEWHERE ELSE under DIFFERENT conditions."
Again, if the paranormal followed all the rules in
the first place, if it worked exactly as science
and our understanding of nature says things should
work then it wouldn't even be the paranormal. It
would be the normal.
....so Randi's methods are awesome at testing
people, of exposing frauds, but they're useless
at evaluating paranormal phenomena.
And this is bad.
Why?
Because Randi and his test is seen by countless
idiots as "Proof" (or at least compelling
evidence) against the paranormal. Though it is
not testing paranormal phenomena, though it is
incapable of testing paranormal phenomena, Randi's
adherents think that exposing frauds is the same
as dispelling the existence of a phenomenon.
If a performer is caught lip syncing does that
"Disprove" singing? If I expose a jeweler selling
glass as diamonds does that prove there are not
diamonds? If Randi exposes some charlatan does
that rule out the possibility of any unexplainable
phenomena?
Of course not.
-- --
http://jtem.tumblr.com/post/107393192836
and his so-called "test" is that he's
very good at exposing fraud and lousy at
anything else.
There are fraudulent investors, like
Bernie Madoff, but that doesn't mean
that there are no real investors, that
the existence of investments is a
fraud.
See the problem? Probably not...
Randi tests people, not claims. I'm not
interested in anyone who says they have
supernatural powers. I'm only interested
in paranormal claims that are NOT specific
to an individual, that anyone should be
able to experience for themselves...
Sort of.
It's not like any layman can "Experience"
a medical miracle short of undergoing a
miraculous cure themselves. As layman, they
can't get access to medical records, and
they probably can't get direct access to
the patients either, but the "Medical
Miracles" still qualify as far as I'm
concerned.
Someone undergoing an unexplainable recovery
is quite different from someone claiming they
have the power to heal...
See the difference now?
Randi can test the frauds, the people claiming
to have the power to heal your incurable, but
he is useless in investigating let alone
explaining people who have actually been cured
of an incurable disease!
Dowsing outside of Randi's scope. Randi's methods
are inappropriate to test "Dowsing" or any
paranormal phenomenon for that matter. Yes, because
Randi's challenged is set up to catch frauds.
Randi's chief weapon against frauds is changing
the parameters. Some fraud claims they can do
[A, B, C & D] but Randi never tests those things.
He instead offers to test [E, F, G & H]. He's
taking the fraud out of their comfort zone, away
from what he's practiced... what he's accomplished
at pulling over. But outside of the cases of
fraud, testing phenomena and NOT people, this is
unacceptable. It's dumb! It's not even scientific.
By definition, the paranormal does not follow
conventional rules. "Common sense" or even "The
Laws of Physics" as we know them don't seem to
apply. And this is what makes something paranormal
in the first place. If this wasn't true then it
wouldn't be paranormal, it would be normal. So
you can't use "Logic" or "The Laws of Physics" or
even "Everyone Knows" as an excuse to change the
circumstances under which a paranormal phenomenon
is to take place. You can't say, "Well if it
works THERE under THESE conditions, then it has
to work SOMEWHERE ELSE under DIFFERENT conditions."
Again, if the paranormal followed all the rules in
the first place, if it worked exactly as science
and our understanding of nature says things should
work then it wouldn't even be the paranormal. It
would be the normal.
....so Randi's methods are awesome at testing
people, of exposing frauds, but they're useless
at evaluating paranormal phenomena.
And this is bad.
Why?
Because Randi and his test is seen by countless
idiots as "Proof" (or at least compelling
evidence) against the paranormal. Though it is
not testing paranormal phenomena, though it is
incapable of testing paranormal phenomena, Randi's
adherents think that exposing frauds is the same
as dispelling the existence of a phenomenon.
If a performer is caught lip syncing does that
"Disprove" singing? If I expose a jeweler selling
glass as diamonds does that prove there are not
diamonds? If Randi exposes some charlatan does
that rule out the possibility of any unexplainable
phenomena?
Of course not.
-- --
http://jtem.tumblr.com/post/107393192836