James Randi has died
- Thread starter Tek81
- Start date
Which is when he should have told people that he was merely an entertainer and did not have special powers, instead he gave incorrect information in a disgusting attempt to keep up the falsehood of his abilities.
There were no terrible consequences? We'll have to agree to disagree, I'm sure the family and friends could have done without a charlatan giving them false hope for his own selfish benefit.
Geller is trash.
Love it. What a don.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 29 Mar 2003
- Posts
- 57,388
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
How would you like it if some charlatan pretended to give members of your family hope by pretending he had magic powers?
I don't know how you can't see this is wrong!
lol they asked him 
he didn't attempt to trick them maliciously he was simply caught in his careerial(is that a word?) lie - any harm caused from that is interpreted (unless there is some newspaper article I'm yet to read) and therfore so is its weight.
I'm not saying it's not wrong, I never really got the whole Uri Gellar thing, but I am saying I don't think it justifies sabotage on that basis and I do think the basis was in fact jealousy... however, I only heard of the guy from this thread today and picked up on one comment (I apologise for any derailment) which felt out of place. Turns out it appears to be quite a telling highlight.
he didn't attempt to trick them maliciously he was simply caught in his careerial(is that a word?) lie - any harm caused from that is interpreted (unless there is some newspaper article I'm yet to read) and therfore so is its weight.I'm not saying it's not wrong, I never really got the whole Uri Gellar thing, but I am saying I don't think it justifies sabotage on that basis and I do think the basis was in fact jealousy... however, I only heard of the guy from this thread today and picked up on one comment (I apologise for any derailment) which felt out of place. Turns out it appears to be quite a telling highlight.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 29 Mar 2003
- Posts
- 57,388
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
You call it a telling highlight and I call it debunking fraudsters.
lol yes I understood the obvious task, I was referring to the motivation behind it which you previously agreed with...
The fact you feel Uri was such a nefarious fraudster either because of Randi or due to personal reasons is why you cannot see any wrong doing in sabotaging another entertainers performance and career. I feel that part is unsubstantiated, thus Randi was more than a bit arrogant.
The fact you feel Uri was such a nefarious fraudster either because of Randi or due to personal reasons is why you cannot see any wrong doing in sabotaging another entertainers performance and career. I feel that part is unsubstantiated, thus Randi was more than a bit arrogant.
As for the "Leave poor Uri Gellar alone, he's only an entertainer" defense; play the worlds smallest violin. The guy was a fraudster who made a fortune from telling lies, that's basically all there is to it.
To be fair to Randi, what made his approach quite unique, is that he never really set out to 'debunk' anybody outright, including Uri Gellar. He merely challenged these individuals to simply substantiate their claims of supernatural powers and gave them every chance in a fair, agreed environment to do so. He never actually set out to debunk anyone, nor did he ever make the claim afaik, that supernatural powers don't exist.
To be fair to Randi, what made his approach quite unique, is that he never really set out to 'debunk' anybody outright, including Uri Gellar. He merely challenged these individuals to simply substantiate their claims of supernatural powers and gave them every chance in a fair, agreed environment to do so. He never actually set out to debunk anyone, nor did he ever make the claim afaik, that supernatural powers don't exist.
Yeah the tonight show with Johnny Carson, seen the clips of it yonks back, funny watching him cringe.
What's the point of asking "Who?" when you have an internet connection and the means to find out....Post count ++ i suppose.
I think it was John Maddox who, as editor of Nature, infamously proclaimed Sheldrake's book "the best candidate for burning there has been for many years." As he elaborated for the BBC in 1994, "Sheldrake's is not a scientific theory. Sheldrake is putting forward magic instead of science, and that can be condemned, in exactly the language that the Pope used to condemn Galileo, and for the same reasons: it is heresy. Whether or not "formative causation" turns out to be true, that it's a scientific theory is a simple fact. By denying this fact, Maddox sinned against science. Perhaps dimly aware of his disloyalty to the project of clarity and enlightenment, Maddox projected his heresy onto Sheldrake rather than face up to his own failings.
Morphic resonance may indeed sound like magic, but it is a testable scientific hypothesis. That is the difference. It is a legitimate scientific question where Sheldrake summarised the evidence for morphic resonance and discussed 10 new tests in the new edition of his book A New Science of Life. He did not claim that the evidence is conclusive, only that the question was open. It doesn't matter who considered it pseudoscience or who latches on to it.
Last edited:
It was rhetorical babe, thanks for the reply.
Good video. Interesting how Randi committed totally to living a life as close to reality as he can, avoiding alcohol, drugs and anything that could cloud his perception and judgement.
I saw Derren Brown perform (and expose) "psychic surgery" a few years ago when he was touring his "Infamous" show.
The full show is now on YouTube. That part is from 31 minutes in.
lol bit defensive, I was not defending Gellar I was condemning Randi
That's not exactly true now is it, considering the live performance sabotage...
Last edited:
Do I have some mind openers for you
I've been reading up on that Shreldake fella and it's quite spooky as I've been telling people my whole life that there is some form of non-verbal communication between closely related humans where family members can know if another is in trouble without ever being in physical contact. Then when I studied quantum mechanics I got freaked out.
Interesting theory, I will keep reading. Thanks to whoever mentioned him
Last edited: