Hi LindaLou

Yes I gathered they were trying to get Randi involved and I gathered he didn’t want to be suggesting that they should just sign up for the challenge if they wanted to involve the JRef or Randi. Like I said he’s a grumpy old man these days and definitely set in his ways. As a personality I don’t like the man but I think there is merit in what he does. Have you read the transcripts of some of the tests the JRef has conducted over the years? Interesting work.

And I have to agree with the Sceptics site you linked too. The Randi challenge is not a valid scientific test but then I don’t know of anyone who claimed that it was. The rules demand that the tests are set up to be rigorously scientific but, as was pointed out, science does not settle such questions on one test even if it is well conducted. That’s a show biz approach and Randi is a showman. I would suggest that the sceptics, at least those sited and the ones I am aware of take the Randi Challenge seriously but they take it for what it is and it’s not designed to be a scientific test of these claims. To suggest that the JRef challenge is a publicity stunt is overstating it, it is a showbiz styled contest not a scientific test but it is run with scientific rigor and it does present the very real possibility that someone who actually has ‘supernatural’ powers could claim the prize. That is not the case with many such challenges such as Dr Dino’s challenge to prove evolution which is worded in such a way that claiming it is physically impossible regardless of the validity of your claim. That makes Dr Dino’s ‘challenge’ a publicity stunt, I don’t believe the JRef’s challenge is. If you read the details no one from the JRef gets to judge, independent experts get to do that, and the rules for a given test are jointly written by the claimant and the agreed experts with controls added by the JRef to avoid cheating, that’s where the magician’s expertise comes in.

I’m interstate for work at the moment, have been for a couple of months, so I don’t get much time to put into this discussion but I’d be interested to see some details on the “Dogs that know” experiments. I’ve seen a couple of “dog’s that know experiments” run here with apparently positive results until the scientists got involved and pointed out the flaws in the methodology and it all fell to pieces. I’d be interested to see how Sheldrake’s experiments handle the issues raised here.

If you need time to get over whatever bug you’ve got please take it and get back to me. I’m not going anywhere and I know what a pain it is trying to get your head around difficult topics when your head is fuzzy.

All the best Linda

Russell