✠ Favorite quotes

[Moje ime]

[Ford]

[Lemgrant]

Randi is gay and was rejected by magician Uri Geller, that's how his whole obsession with psychics started.

lol, as if I care if he is gay. Russian scientists inspired by him and made a similar challenge in Russia in 2015, called the 'Harry Houdini Prize' challenge. No one won the prize yet. The challenge aims to draw public attention to the problem of non-critical perception of statements about the existence of paranormal phenomena and supernatural abilities, as well as to show the significance and primary importance of scientific and rational approaches.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-...where-41917018

A group of Russian researchers have decided to call out TV shows about clairvoyants for promoting fake science.

The group, led by scientist Alexander Panchin and sceptic Mikhail Lidin, say they will use the latter's YouTube channel to "show viewers why they shouldn't believe everything they see on their TV screens," Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports.

They are the people behind Russia's Harry Houdini Prize, which regularly invites the stars of psychic shows to replicate their feats under controlled conditions for a prize of one million roubles ($17,000; £13,000).

Mikhail Lidin told the paper "these programmes lead to people using faith-healers and fortune-tellers, signing up for worthless or even potentially harmful psychic training courses, and handing over money to swindlers".

In response to suggestions that viewers should have enough sense to know they are watching an entertainment programme, Mr Lidin points to the consistently high levels of belief in the paranormal in Russia, especially since the fall of he Soviet Union. The shows should at least carry an on-screen warning that "everything you see here is fiction", he adds.

'Anti-prize'
Apart from explaining how various feats of clairvoyance can be faked, the campaigners highlight more serious matters such as times when psychic TV shows have tried to intervene in the conduct of legal cases. The impressive fees and free airtime the stars receive do not go unexplored either, they say.

Russia's education ministry has also shown concern over paranormal programmes, and gave an "anti-prize" to the TNT entertainment channel's Battle of the Clairvoyants as part of its True Science awards earlier this year. Some officials have suggested recognising "achievements in unmasking pseudo-science" as part of these awards.

Some TV soothsayers have been game enough to take part in the Harry Houdini Prize tests, most prominently Bakhyt Zhumatova, a finalist on Battle of the Clairvoyants, but with no success. As to why she and others would expose themselves to ridicule, Komsomolskaya Pravda concludes that "there's no such thing as bad publicity".

Not all TV mediums get away with it. Komsomolskaya Pravda reports the case of Yuri Oleinin, a contestant on Battle of the Clairvoyants, now serving three years in prison for defrauding 20 people via a radio call-in programme.

[Peterski]

There are numerous problems with Randi's challenge, for example the criteria were much more rigorous than the criteria normally applied to prove something in scientific experiments. For many people it means that the cost of proving their abilities would exceed the value of potential prize of 1 million dollars, so the challenge was simply not worth it because it would cost them more than one million dollars to win one million dollars. You can find many articles and documentaries about it.

I will just quote one of them:

"Unreasonable Levels of Proof Demanded: 1 in 10 million!

To demonstrate Randi's unreasonably high levels of proof, requires huge sample sizes and costly research.

Randi insists on results that are much higher than generally accepted in scientific research.

Scientific convention operates with P-values of less than 0.05 for results to be considered statistically significant within the social sciences.[5]

Up until Randi made a 'drastic change to the rules', candidates for the test claimed that Randi required P-values ranging from p < 0.005 to p <= 0.0000001![6]

Equally Impossible Odds now disguised in two tests:

In response to widespread criticism, Randi switched to two tests. The first, a preliminary test, is 1 in 100 or p < 0.01 and then replication requires in 1 in 100,000 or p < 0.00001. Now, this supposed 'lowering of the bar' may sound reasonable. However, by requiring two separate tests, the probability of success must be measured by both tests. This can be estimated by multiplying the probability of each test. Therefore, a winner is still required to outperform odds of up to one in ten million (100 x 100k) or p < 0.0000001. With a sleight of hand and mathematical incompetence (see footnote[3]) the odds are now the same as the most demanding previous claims!"

[Lemgrant]

There are numerous problems with Randi's challenge, for example the criteria were much more rigorous than the criteria normally applied to prove something in scientific experiments. For many people it means that the cost of proving their abilities would exceed the value of potential prize of 1 million dollars, so the challenge was simply not worth it because it would cost them more than one million dollars to win one million dollars. You can find many articles and documentaries about it.

I will just quote one of them:

"Unreasonable Levels of Proof Demanded: 1 in 10 million!

To demonstrate Randi's unreasonably high levels of proof, requires huge sample sizes and costly research.

Randi insists on results that are much higher than generally accepted in scientific research.

Scientific convention operates with P-values of less than 0.05 for results to be considered statistically significant within the social sciences.[5]

Up until Randi made a 'drastic change to the rules', candidates for the test claimed that Randi required P-values ranging from p < 0.005 to p <= 0.0000001![6]

Equally Impossible Odds now disguised in two tests:

In response to widespread criticism, Randi switched to two tests. The first, a preliminary test, is 1 in 100 or p < 0.01 and then replication requires in 1 in 100,000 or p < 0.00001. Now, this supposed 'lowering of the bar' may sound reasonable. However, by requiring two separate tests, the probability of success must be measured by both tests. This can be estimated by multiplying the probability of each test. Therefore, a winner is still required to outperform odds of up to one in ten million (100 x 100k) or p < 0.0000001. With a sleight of hand and mathematical incompetence (see footnote[3]) the odds are now the same as the most demanding previous claims!"

You can watch the Russian challenge on youtube. The rules are very simple. Psychics fail every time.

[Peterski]

You can watch the Russian challenge on youtube. The rules are very simple. Psychics fail every time.

Uri Geller has a net worth of $20 million. Other most succesful people who claim having paranormal abilities have similar wealth. Why would such people - the best psychics - want to go through painstaking procedures and to risk their reputation against impossibly high odds just to win a small prize (compared to their wealth)? They just don't need it. That's why they never applied to the challenge. But there were also pepole who applied and got rejected by Randi right away.

For example that Russian guy who claimed that he has not eaten anything since 1998 - Randi did not let him participate in the challenge.

[magyar_lány]

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde

[Dick]

"Shit happens"

[Ice]

bonus

[Lemgrant]

Uri Geller has a net worth of $20 million. Other most succesful people who claim having paranormal abilities have similar wealth. Why would such people - the best psychics - want to go through painstaking procedures and to risk their reputation against impossibly high odds just to win a small prize (compared to their wealth)? They just don't need it. That's why they never applied to the challenge. But there were also pepole who applied and got rejected by Randi right away.

For example that Russian guy who claimed that he has not eaten anything since 1998 - Randi did not let him participate in the challenge.

You like fairy tales right?

Russians managed to put in prison some of those psychic charlatans, exactly because those psychic and clairvoyant scams aim for money of naive people. Two examples are Yuri Oleinin and astrologist Alexander Zaraev who were put in jail for 3 years in Russia for defrauding.