In 1964, magician James Randi offered to pay anyone who could provide objective proof of the paranormal a prize of $1,000.
Since then the prize has grown and is now known as the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) officially say that they “offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.”
Their requirements for proper observing conditions are very reasonable and are aimed only at preventing cheating by participants (something that has often been attempted). To date, no one has made it past the preliminary testing, with each of the more than thousand applicants having been exposed or failed.
It is because of such things as the Challenge that I am a skeptic. The word “skeptic” comes from the Greek skeptomai, which means “to look about, or consider.”
To be a skeptic means that you apply a philosophy of systemic doubt to the world, choosing to approach life with a rational perspective.
As a skeptic, you constantly consider cui bono (“Who profits?”) in each situation. A skeptic always requires evidence that is commensurate with the answer and with the audacity of the situation.
I do not believe in ghosts or psychics. While I cannot prove a negative, it seems fairly evident that neither of them exist.
I have never seen any proof of their existence which was not purely anecdotal (“I once moved a pencil across the desk with my mind.”)
Inevitably, such phenomena are presented in just such a way as to avoid any reliable data-gathering.
I tend to be rather vocal about my beliefs in this regard, and the question which I am often asked is, “What harm does it do?”
Why call John Edward a fraud if the people who go on his show “Crossing Over” obtain comfort when he allegedly contacts their dead relatives?
Why sneer at psychic investigators like Allison DuBois, on whom the show “Medium” is based, if their interventions might give the families hope? What’s wrong with Uri Geller claiming he can bend spoons, if it’s entertaining to watch?
John Edward performs a technique known as “cold-reading,” wherein a magician reads the facial expressions and body language of a subject, as well as examining such details as their clothing, ethnicity and age, and from these he manages to deduce information which would seem impossible for them to know.
It is extremely impressive, especially when performed by a showman like Edward, but it has been reproduced over and over by people who freely admit that it is a trick, and they are magicians.
Edward, on the other hand, claims ghosts are speaking to him and lies to their families. That is despicable.
Allison DuBois claims she has led police to kidnap victims and solved murders by speaking with the victims and other such intriguing events. She claims that she has solved many cases in cooperation with the Texas Rangers and the Glendale, Ariz. police department. She claims a great deal.
But interestingly, neither the Rangers nor the police have ever used psychics on cases, including DuBois. This did not stop her from writing a book about her supposed cases (a book which is suspiciously free of any identifying details), nor did it stop NBC from making a show based on the book.
NBC can be forgiven, as TV executives are by all accounts Morlocks at this point. But the public can’t be forgiven for so enthusiastically accepting the word of a con woman. That is sad.
Uri Geller has been caught on camera bending a spoon with his fingers and then claiming he used his mind. That is just funny.
You might still be inclined to believe in ghosts or psychics. After all, for every example or reason I depose, there are 10 new ones spawning in all the corners of the world.
Ultimately, you simply have to use your reason. The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge is not the only one out there; several other organizations have similar contests existent. If there are true mediums or psychics out there, why hasn’t any one of them been able to at least mount a credible challenge to one of these contests?
Even if they didn’t need the money, they could prove their advocates’ faith was not misplaced and give the prize to charity.
Ultimately, we need to ask which of two things we know for sure exists: human greed or the paranormal?
More details about the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge can be found at the JREF website, http://www.randi.org/