For those of you who don’t know, James Randi is a professional stage magician who goes by the moniker The Amazing Randi.  He is exceptional at what he does, but he is even more exceptional at his “side project”, which is debunking the paranormal.  As a magician, Randi knows there is no such thing as real magic, and that all of his tricks are illusions intended to deceive the audience into believing something that isn’t real, solely for entertainment purposes.  Unfortunately, many of his peers are less scrupulous on the subject, and they claim to have real “magic” powers – paranormal abilities that allow them to talk to the dead, predict the future, bend spoons with their minds and what-not.  Gullible folk believe in this stuff, and waste huge amounts of effort and money in vain.  It is not harmless.  In fact, it is very harmful, so James Randi has been waving the bullshit flag for over 3 decades now, and waving it hard.

Since 1998, Randi has offered a million dollar prize (for nearly twenty years prior to that, it was $10,000) to any paranormalist who can prove their abilities under controlled conditions, using the rules of scientific experimentation designed to remove cheating from the equation.  Since paranormal powers are not real, of course, nobody has ever claimed the prize.  In fact, Randi has debunked so many charlatans that most so-called “psychics” and other paranormalists steer as far clear of Randi as possible, inventing every lame excuse under the sun why their powers mysteriously disappear under controlled conditions.  (There is actually no mystery – it’s because their “powers” simply aren’t real.)  Randi has really only tested self-deluded types who have fooled themselves:

It was March 6th, 1998, when the JREF Million-Dollar Challenge first came into existence. That’s almost ten years ago. It’s always been a simple, direct, matter: do what you claim you can do of a paranormal nature, and walk away with the prize. Our expectations at first were that we’d attract major personalities by this means, but they’ve avoided having to take the test by simply not applying; those who have actually applied are generally honestly self-deluded persons who have difficulty stating what they can do, which can be understood if they really don’t know what they’re experiencing; we at JREF have gone through involved procedures to help them recognize their problems. Usually, they have indicated that they don’t know what real scientific rules are, when it comes down to their actually being properly tested.

After 10 years, Randi has decided enough is enough, and he is rescinding the challenge as of 2010:

The JREF Million Dollar Challenge

The James Randi Educational Foundation Million-Dollar Challenge will be discontinued 24 months from this coming March 6th, and those prize funds will then be available to generally add to our flexibility. This move will free us to do many more projects, which will be announced at that time.

This means that all those wishing to be claimants are required to get their applications in before the deadline, properly filled out and notarized as described in the published rules.

Now, we’re sure that there will be those who will offer all kinds of objections to this decision – though they could have simply applied and won the prize. There will be accusations that the JREF is concerned about the safety of the prize money – which was never any sort of concern, I can assure you – and there will be more claims that the money was never there in the first place. I can see the professionals out there sighing in relief that they no longer have to answer questions about why they won’t take the prize, and they’ll just wait out the remaining period that the prize is available. All that’s to be expected.

Ten years is long enough to wait. The hundreds of poorly-constructed applications, and the endless hours of phone, e-mail, and in-person discussions we’ve had to suffer through, will be things of the past, for us at the JREF.

Those who believe they have mystic powers now have two full years to apply… Let’s see what happens.

And why not rescind?  The prize will never be claimed.  Randi has more than proven his point.  Regarding any claims that “the prize cannot be had”, that’s right, but not because the challenge is fraudulent. It’s because Randi has made a sure bet – paranormal trickery is simply that - trickery – and there’s no way to perform it under controlled conditions using the rules of scientific experimentation.

(Actually, I can think of one reason not to rescind the offer.  Its very existence serves as a constant reminder of the fakery of such claims; it is something that one can point to and say, “If your claims are valid, why not go and win the prize?”  Alas, I suppose it will have to suffice to point to it in retrospect and ask why the prize was never claimed.)

As a tireless advocate of reason and critical thinking, James Randi is a hero of the highest order.  He is a man who has devoted thousands of hours to a cause very near and dear to his heart, trying to prevent harm from coming to others through fraud, to no particular benefit of his own.  I applaud his efforts to educate the masses, and I hope he’s helped a life or two here and there.  As to the frauds he works so hard to uncover, shame on you, every last single one of you.  You know that what you’re doing is nonsense, but since you have the moral scruples of the common thief and petty liar, you are perfectly willing to do it anyway while taking advantage of vulnerable people for monetary profit, which makes you a pathetic loser who is unable to make his or her way in the world by honest means.  I’m looking at you, Sylvia Brown, Uri Geller and John Edward, among hundreds of others.  Lastly, to those of you who are genuinely self-deluded and are not especially trying to scam anyone, I’m sorry you can’t see what you’ve fallen prey to.  You are, in fact, scamming yourself, wasting time better spent on more worthwhile pursuits.  The sooner you reconsider, the better off you’ll be.

Here are some classic Randi ownage moments for your amusement and education:

Uri Geller Fails on The Tonight Show
James Randi on Astrology
James Randi demonstrates how to fake psychic powers
James Randi exposes James Hydrick
James Randi tests an aura reader
James Randi, Penn & Teller on skepticism Part 1
James Randi, Penn & Teller on skepticism Part 2