First off, I don't believe anything is "paranormal" or "supernatural" -- there are just things and dimensions in reality that we don't understand yet.

James Randi is saying something very BROAD when he uses the word paranormal. WHAT's paranormal? WHAT's supernatural? Is James Randi looking for stuff in Nature that's not produced by Nature?

Second, James Randi is fully aware that something psychic (beyond earth senses), for instance, spirits and ghosts, can't be PHYSICALLY proven. James Randi looking for evidence of non-physical things (spirits, astral projection, etc) is like looking for the wind with his physical eyes. James Randi is fully aware most of the stuff on his paranormal list is non-physical, and therefore can't be proven. Why bothering proving it then?

I don't think highly of James Randi. I doubt he even has a "million dollar prize," but is just an old man with too much time on his hands, devoting the rest of his years to bashing what he's never experienced or doesn't understand.

Astral/etheric projection is a real phenomena, I've done it myself by accident. I can't prove it's real because it was accidential during sleep and I somehow doubt people can see etheric bodies. If I could prove astral projection, I'd quickly grab the million dollar prize, assuming of course Mr. Randi has the prize at all.

It's true.

It could not be about the money, but the proof of supernatural. You can always go without the prize if you want.

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It is easy to prove in a limited sense but thats where you hit a problem.

What Randi's test wants is for you to say what you do and prove it so in the sense of exploration of the afterlife, and specifically partnered exploration, he could argue on partner recieved information from earthbound sources through psychic means and then passed it onto the other partner through psychic means. The other problem is, as stated, you dont have to prove it to rational reasonable people, you have to prove it to Mr Randi, and I have seen the people who hang out on his websites forum. These are hardcore diehard sceptics, you could stand in front of these guys with a 50ft high dragon, chop its leg off to show its flesh and blood, make it breath fire and fly away and they would still accuse you of faking it because obviously dragons aren't real.

I remember seeing on a forum somewhere, maybe this one, that a man had applied to take Randi's test. His thing was that he could survive on only water with no ill effects to his physical and mental health, he put it in writing he wanted to take the challenge as your asked to, all he got back was a rather rude and insulting letter from the Randi foundation.

There is a similar challenge by a UK sceptics website, though only for £10K I think, the first part of the challenge is that they have 10 sets of questions from people and the medium has to answer them. These questions are things like "Fred Smiths dad used to carry a pocket watch in his left jacket pocket, what was inscribed on it" now granted mediums  can get these answers yes but so many specific questions, and then to face the final test which will be more specific questions, these are hardly ideal circumstances.

In short the reason people dont take the test is because nobody believes its a fair and realistic test, maybe when someone proposes a fair and realistic one someon will come forward.

Randi

Aah what complete biggot

If God plainly zapped him with a bolt of lightening, then set his hair on fire , he would still not believe it.

His mindset is set in solid concrete.

There was a german dude whos name i  cant remember who offered to take up randis challenge, and was qutie willing to take his "tests" too.  Randi crapped himself and never replied.

If u actaully look at the stipulations carefully then you can plainly see that his test is bullS**t

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They are just science facists really, and hardcore CLOSE-MINDED skeptics, infact they are not even wortrthy of the name skeptics, if they were all alive in a past life some 300 years ago they would of been burning innocent people at the stake for herecy & witchcraft

One big problem with "proof" of the Randi variety, is it's not what we usually get when communicating with the afterlife...for instance, if someone I didn't before know communicated to me that they heard from John and he said "Why didn't you close up that knothole?", I'd know it was a reference to a joke we had (when we were both so tired that we felt like we'd been "drug through a knothole backwards", he'd say "I *told* you to close up that knothole!").  That would be absolute proof to me...but not to Randi, and I suppose from a scientific point of view, it shouldn't be, after all, I could be making it all up.  But it would be proof to me - even if it was someone who knew me, I'd be dubious about it being "psychic communication" as Randi alway harps on...too obscure and not something fraught with great emotion that I might be "broadcasting" (well, probably now it is...I guess I ruined that as a test! ;>)