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I disagree. If Randi has the ability to dismiss the results of his tests by merely showing how claimants *could* have cheated, what would prevent him from doing this if a claimant succeeded through truly paranormal means? Since Randi apparently takes no pains to ensure that his tests are properly controlled and conducted, plausible fraud scenarios will never be very difficult for him to come up with. Hence, even if the paranormal exists, his challenge will never be won.

>Hence, even if the paranormal exists, his challenge will never be won.

I agree that the Challenge will never be won, and that Randi has stacked the deck in his favor. Personally I have no doubt that some paranormal phenomena are real. But they have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In this case, Yellow Bamboo handled the preliminary test so poorly that I think Randi is justified in saying they've proved nothing.

But is his ability to dismiss tests justifiable? I don't think it is since, as I said previously, if Randi can do this to Yellow Bamboo, he can do it to any claimant who succeeds, regardless of whether fraud was actually used or not. To clarify: I don't think the Yellow Bamboo people have proven their claim, but I also don't think Randi is justified in being able to dismiss his test of it.

>if Randi can do this to Yellow Bamboo, he can do it to any claimant who succeeds, regardless of whether fraud was actually used or not.

That's true, and it's one of several reasons why I think the Challenge is worthless.

For a good critique of the Challenge, see:

http://www.alternativescience.com/james-randi.htm

Having thought about this some more, I now agree with the commenter who wrote:

"If Randi has the ability to dismiss the results of his tests by merely showing how claimants *could* have cheated, what would prevent him from doing this if a claimant succeeded through truly paranormal means?"

This is true. Ex post facto explanations can be invented to "explain" anything. The bottom line is that Yellow Bamboo claimed they could knock a Randi representative to the ground without physical contact; the test was carried out; the rep was knocked to the ground and was unaware of any physical contact. (This is not to say that no contact occurred, only that he didn't perceive it.) Therefore Yellow Bamboo passed the preliminary test. It does no good to come up with ad hoc explanations after the fact. Randi should have invited Yellow Bamboo to Florida for a decisive test, rather than cavalierly dismissing their claim on the basis of a mere supposition.

I have fully followed the randi scam- no where in the agreement between yb and randi does it even SAY it has to be videod.

1. It was videod and it was getting dark because RANDIS person was late not yb.


2. Joko testified that he was knocked down and not know how it was done.


3. Randi has a journalist sitting 3 meters from the test- if anything was amiss we would have heard from the journalist.

Anyone is invited to go to bali to try it themselves. at yellowbamboo.info there is video fo people from all over the world doing the knocking down in bali

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