[SkepticalBry]

Mcairo asked:
> Do you know that no one has ever been accepted for the JREF Million Dollar Challenge?

I did not know that -- for the very good reason that it is false.

JREF has accepted and tested quite a few claimants. Under the rules, JREF and the claimant negotiate the test, and to win the million dollars the claimant has to demonstrate twice. The 100% failure rate of tested claimants to do what they said they could do means that they've all failed on the first, preliminary, test. Contrary to Mcairo's reporting, the early and obvious failure of the psychics does not mean that JREF did not accept the challenge.

The million-dollar sponsorship is a fairly recent development. For some years before, Randi offered several thousand dollars of his own money. One can find video of some of the tests. Several professional psychics tried, but in general they learned that their tricks would not work. With the pros steering clear, and then with the prize up to a million dollars, JREF has spent most all their time in the past few years dealing with kooks. The recent rule-change to require a “media presence” is an attempt to avoid that.

Is the JREF challenge a "stunt"? Is Mcairo right about "bias being the obvious"? Absolutely! But make no mistake: the stunt is legit on JREF's part. We skeptics think that psychics will either avoid the test, or re-cast their demonstrations to be within ordinary bounds, or fail. So far that expectation has been correct 100% of the time.

Is there "antagonism and nastiness that surrounds the JREF" challenge? Yeah, O.K., you got me there. We skeptics have not always done ourselves proud on that. Randi has retracted allegations, and at least once he did so only when clearly caught claiming to know what he did not. Some challenge applicants have faced unsportsmanlike conduct. Sorry. I'm still a Randi and JREF supporter, because I believe they are fundamentally correct, and I have never, not even once, seem them run from a legit test.


Mcromer: If you want to really challenge skeptics, you'll need to claim something paranormal, and you'll need to write clearly. Your "challenge" rules here do not make sense. Beyond the basic issues of coherent writing, if you want to "draw media attention to consciousness survival research" you might try demonstrating a result showing survival of consciousness. What have you got?


-Bryan