NECSS Presents: An Evening With James Randi

well I have had good introductions before but that was a winner a winner yes indeed now I must say that I am very honored to see a full house I've seen full houses before but this one is chock full right to the very rafters as it's it's a little frightening in a way because the washroom is all the way down there and if you don't stand out of the way I may be rushing through well let's not get into all those details ladies and gentlemen you see before you a very mature man who increasingly and truly admires a Sun rises somewhat more than sunsets though of course both these phenomena are wonderful to experience and who travels internationally reciting the undeniable facts of evolution the glory of our species the fictions of all paranormal and supernatural claims and the happy circumstances that nonetheless allow us all to somehow survive together that's a miracle in itself yes it's a constant configuration a constant skirmish in need of careful tending wise shaping and molding bear that in mind have you folks seen our documentary film and honest liar how many have well for those of you who haven't seen it yet I'd like to demonstrate one of the minor miracles showing there and thereby proved to you that I am as advertised a professional magician I have an opportunity proof yet may I have two strong gentleman volunteers from the audience please to come up the stairs I think there's tears on either side just two volunteers and he will do they've got to be brave there we go there's one right there and all right I knew that and you are I give that to Michael you stay right where you are in Charlie you can step a little closer I don't bite not yet now let's go into the center of the stage here so that you'll be good okay now Oh silly me I forgot to ask do you have a piece of rope about that long oh well why it's trained if somewhat contrived coincidence I do have a piece right here and I'm gonna ask you to test this rope hold onto that end with both hands please hold on to that end and pull on it very tightly to make sure that it doesn't break or come apart or anything like that are you satisfied say yes okay I'm going to ask these two gentlemen I'll remove my wristwatch it's a cheapy butch head I love it so I'll just put this in my pocket for safety safekeeping didn't like the look on his face all right now let's let's just move a little bit this way both ways okay now I'm going to ask you to tie me tightly tie my two hands together behind my back in such a way that I won't be able to remove it you got the picture now okay all right now you grab your end that's your end right there that's it hold on grab your and that's it now pull out it very tightly oh very that's not tight come on tight okay now bring it around on top and side the other hand on top make sure the audience can see though that's fine is it room for another not entire no they're not oh my that's what I call tight why not same price I must work what the heck oh okay now all right step back into place please gentlemen now I'm going to try to free myself from this triple is it quadruple not now yeah oh I'd call it a quadruple step back move it how no idea just really no you stay right where you are you're okay oh the road seems to have fallen off how about that thank you very much I want to applaud for these two gentlemen every time that they come up here in helps me thank you thank you gentlemen oh my I've been doing that thing quite a few years now to say the least and it it usually accomplished a certain amount of applause and I thank you very much for your kind attention folks I've been very fortunate to have met so many well-known personalities in science and literature and in politics who have made my battle against pseudoscience and outright flummery rather easier and more efficient certainly any and all members of the skeptical community around the world and that includes so many people here have hastened it to advise me and to inform me on subjects outside of my expertise and I of course very grateful for this freely given assistance my primary purpose as a skeptic a lecturer and an author has always been to present to the public a rational logical and scientific view of the constant barrage of paranormal pseudoscience pseudo scientific presently advertisements and presentations of harebrained theories that most certainly make what the media call to be news because they simply sound good and will produce appropriate news and ahhs from an uninformed audience now if that were the only damage done the need for my strident voice on TV and radio the lecture stage and in print might not exist but it does because the damage that is done by the media in this regard can be lasting and very damaging to the public and particularly to the young folks among us and I emphasize that very strongly please pay close attention to the younger generation those are the people who can be very adversely steered in the wrong direction now today on the internet and television commercials we all know this in fact by all the media the American they're being offered merchandised medical assistance financial services and investment plans that pursuit of opportunity on the part of the entrepreneur is what we call the American Way and we must of course applaud originality at an applied work ethic but when business becomes hucksterism the public needs to be protected how valid are these how the hell are these offers that promise instant weight loss renewed vitality overnight youth and magical cures for everything from high cholesterol to / circulation and more importantly how can we educate young people to judge these claims for themselves I refer now to medical quackery let me give you a prime example of the sort of nonsense with which we have to deal major drug chains across the u.s. are offering as part of their off-the-shelf cure-alls homeopathic preparations that have zero content and zero effect now I'll not go into my usual tirade on the worthlessness of this ancient notion called homeopathy but I'll offer you a brief example of two of what it really is or two of what it really is first a demonstration of this demonstration I have done many times all around the world and it has always been successful but if the claimants of the homeopathy are correct I should be committing suicide I have a doctor friend here who is there we are doctor we haven't really met yet oh yes we have okay oh ho ho come right up on the stage with you and tell us what you have in your magic plastic bag homeopathy and colonial plastic I'll be alright keep your feet yes homeopathic sleeping pills and what kind are they did you show us free [Music] Highland oh hi Lindsey I I showed them my commit suicide with Highlands but this is an unopened box correct okay brand-new box and all the instructions right here I hope I'll ignore the instructions for the moment I can put that down there now this is a sealed bottle alright we do all for me about please breaking the seal and you've had this in your possession since you purchased it yeah okay and what do we got in here oh these are the size of aspirins are like much smaller ones but hold your hand out would you please and I'll put these into your hand and now would you admit it to them to me one of those hi I'm pleased and I'm eating I've got a glass of water yes all right have it right here and well keep going oh yeah got a hurry along can't wait to die sure yeah I'll probably at the bottom oh my goodness we've got a lot more oh yeah yeah that makes it easier to swallow okay what are they chalk oh yeah my dogs are getting carried along and how many we got left for here all right keep going keep going oh there's more in here yes all right yeah oh my goodness no your goodness had nothing to do it that's a Mae West lime yeah an awkward table will be red long I [Laughter] see you reckon Oh positive we're getting on to the end suicide is never had this difficult I know that's almost over them didn't anybody jobs on adapter sir thinking far too much time to do this but goodbye cruel world out they didn't gentlemen what I just thank you thank you very much doctor run applause of the doctor booth now when that walks as I read there says take one tablet every two hours well I rather hurried it up there were quite a number of tablets in there I took almost the entire thing but it's such a chalky and nasty taste that I I give it up what do I just consume well the list of ingredients says they have on the box says having a sativa 1x double strength as the major medic and that was in that huge handle of pills folks that's Latin for oats Oh 80s so baby I had a breakfast cereal and didn't know it just like in Quaker rows Cal Amelia is the second ingredient as one part in 100 thats one percent that's an extract of a common flowering weed but also listed as a third major ingredient of this sleep inducing medication is whom ulis lupulus I bet you wonder what that is I don't care much but it's hops as they use in making beer the weed used to make beer well how much of these did I get when I choke down all 20 or 30 of those Oh more than that 30 or 40 Oh pills in that package how much medication zero it's made like this this is a familiar thing with Donald Trump too this is what he uses a gesture all the time an American sign language it means zero nothing but that his youth not mine says on the label of the case in case of accidental overdose contact a medical professional or poison control center immediately and I'm not going to bother to do that I don't know their lists of ingredients and a home of Catholic medicine I have the bottle of right here somewhere it's very slow thank you very much I'm glad you came along I brought them for that very purpose yes right here I think you'll love this this is our SEM AR Sen period alb period 30 C this comes from Ames worse which is a very very in fact I think the major pharmaceutical house in the UK and inside this our pills of arsenic and yet it's given two children and two adults of all ages and I mean all illnesses aren't all compounds of arsenic poisonous from this preparation be sold openly on store shelves oh yes another medication sold it the same drug chain this one for a nervous strain is 9 X poison ivy one would think that ingesting poison ivy would cause a certain amount of discomfort rather than relieve nervous stress but folks when you buy these crack preparations you're buying nothing but fillers that was all lactic acid in those pills there was no content and there at all the point to this demonstration is not to prove that homeopathic compounds are safe they certainly are but to show you that they are useless now I have a bit of videotape to show you which I think will amuse you and it's tape of a very old friend of mine Johnny Carson I did think 44 shows all together live shows with Johnny Carson and many of them were repeated on weekends and says Johnny and I were pretty close I I hate to tell you this but Johnny smoked all the way through his programs now that was well after the decision of the made that time by the authorities that no host of a show or no participant in the show would smoke on camera but Johnny actually had a small what we call a muffin fan in electronics a very small fan electric fan tall both fan beneath the table in which he sat and I'll tell you what is also sort of funny but it's sad at the same time Johnny Carson was such a dedicated smoker he had a cigarette lit cigarette and a special holder underneath the desk and he would wait for the camera and he looked at the monitor up top there he glanced at it every now and then he'd be talking to to the guests and then looking up like this in quick glances at the monitor and you can see tapes of his former shows you can see tapes in which he is doing this he's waiting to see when the director of the program turns the camera over and uses only the picture of the guest on the show so that he can quickly reach beneath the table grabbed a cigarette do a few puffs on it like that and then put it right back in place and go break back and did the same expression that he had just a moment ago that's a talent it really is but John did this all the time I can hardly believe that Johnny has left us because he should have lived he should have lived if he had not had this dreadful habit and I'm saying to young people particularly young people in this audience the smoking is a deadly habit now I've never involved myself in it smoking of any substance as a matter of fact and that's my choice I don't think it should necessarily be everyone's choice because it is it is legal actually as an alcohol is legal to and think about the damage that that does to you and beings as well but folks I don't want to be a kill sport you know I don't want to give you rules to live by or anything like that but I will suggest written things tobacco is deadly now I'm quite a different matter one that they the jrf has been very concerned with recently federal and the state agencies police departments the FBI US Customs and the Border Patrol are annually spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of their budgets on devices and systems that have been tested by other federal agencies and found to be useless at best and fraudulent at worst how can these agencies ignore the results of these extensive tests well some years ago the James Randi Educational Foundation made formal complaints to the FBI and to the FTC about a seemingly high-tech device that was advertised to be able to detect almost any object or substance even without batteries wait a minute I have one of these devices right here this is a device called the Quadro it's got a rotating hand on it here is it spins around very easily and it has an attachment that you're supposed to make to it and this is the attachment the brass cup that you see here I took it apart of course being the kind of person I am he and curious actually took it apart it's soldered together and I found what was in it was a bent composition resistor in electronic resistor he just one that was bent and put in there as something to rattle in there and it was filled with the green powder and I thought it looked familiar so I looked it up in an aquarium store and he was green aquarium sand in this brass container here oh but there's much more to it it goes on and on and on forever just about this is a dowsing rod now there dozen rods using is fork stick and that jumps up and down depending on how much can you put on the arms of this work but this thing is very freely rotating as you see I'm very adroit with it just about took my head out that's alright now I'm going to ask for someone in the audience who has some knowledge of electronic circuits I'm sure we can find somebody with that knowledge is there anybody who would volunteer to come up on the stage and ease out yes sure I'm going to open this up okay this gentleman yes I I know this gentleman but you haven't been asked to come up here just to help me out to meet me right okay I'm going to open this up would you hold that certainly end of it this is the other end of it here you see the electronic circuitry here now it's a little bit loose this is an original dowsing rod that costs up to $8,000 and it has all kinds of resistors and capacitors whole search of things on there but there is a serial number down in one of the corners here and a model number I looked it up this is a very early version of a Marconi remote control for a television set it has nothing to do with dowsing or finding substances whatsoever and this interesting thing this is the rod you see the connection coming out you do there's no wire going to it it does seem to be disconnected so this thing is not connected at all it's just a big warm to sticking out into the air would you say that this might have any use yes and it does rattle I noticed that but look around here you see little bits of foil stuck on here different colored wires of all kinds and just corrected connected at random into the circuit it doesn't work and it never hazards but this thing they get $8,000 for plus tax I'm sure to be honest of course you wouldn't want to be deceptive thank you very much for your expertise sir and our out of applause for the gentlemen if you please now that's the kind of thing that we're being swindled with all the time and who falls for that kind of scam endless endorsement from Chiefs of Police and custom agents who have used this device to locate drugs and weapons really we at the foundation checked out those affidavits and found them supported we'd not heard any response from the FBI or from the FTC to our warnings but listen to this when we discovered that retired FBI agents were investing in $40,000 franchises to sell the quadrille locator this device here as it's called and we informed the FBI office in Beaumont Texas our phones lit up with interest at the James Randi Educational Foundation for the next two months we obtained and forwarded to the FBI every scrap of information we could come up with and finally the agency moved in and shut down the Quadro operation because they were selling to FBI agents but why didn't they close it down well before that when the public was buying these things and not just FBI agents Oh FBI agents are much more valuable obviously currently the Quadro scam has reemerged in there different guys this time as a gimmick that is supposed to detect human heartbeats over long distances and through any barriers well the James Randi Educational Foundation in contact with Sandia Labs in Albuquerque New Mexico suggested to them an experimental protocol that was then followed and definitive tests of the decay out Lifeguard device showed clearly that it simply did not work it was nothing more than a dowsing rod and they bought several of them as an investment and found that the circuitry inside was different in every one of them no similarity whatsoever they were using other remote controls from other television sets some discarded television sets that had already been junked there's been another carrot offered in the Quadro and dkl investigation we firmly should notice the managers and personnel of both companies that we would award any one of them are a million dollar prize if they could actually make the device work they ignored that offer that would seem to indicate that they rather suspected themselves that the thing didn't work anyway yes the million-dollar prize is admittedly a flamboyant gesture but it proves our case every time any homeopathic manufacturer can earn that money just by being able to sell homeopathic fills from dummy pills it's that simple and that direct any astrologer can win by casting a true horoscope any of the graphologist employed by the US employment agencies to search out honest from dishonest potential employees can retire in style if they can prove their abilities yet Wall Street investors are sold horoscopes to guide their clients yes I would ask your stock broker next time that you got into a car position with him or her to use horoscopes you might be surprised the million-dollar prize is an irritant the scam artists and they would dearly like to see it go away now if the American public had a better understanding of astronomy and they do of astrology if they knew more about numbers than about numerology they would be better able to defend themselves against the charlatans who function freely unfortunately the public's understanding of science is very weak a large percentage of those who regularly scoff at the progress of Medical Science would simply not be here if we're not for the advances in our understandings of the world around us and I'm a next example of that fact that's exactly what science is all about science is part of our survival mechanism it works and can be shown to work if the quacks and scam artists out there do not have a record of success and they don't they leave behind them broken hearts crippled bodies and shattered dreams the recent National Science Foundation survey shows that though an overwhelming number of Americans support scientific research and government-sponsored sponsorship of the same half of the Americans surveyed were unable to answer fundamental science questions about the world around them historically there has been a close relationship among perception misperception based on apparent reality and scientific knowledge derived from critical analysis and education in the process of critical thinking investigating why we think what we think trains students to fill in the gaps and inconsistencies in their knowledge base and to more accurately separate fact from fantasy now the US Patent Office at one time issued patents only after a working model of a proposed device or system had been produced regulated a plans for perpetual motion and free energy machines cheap and easy counterfeit money detectors control systems triggered by thought waves and devices that magically find drugs guns manuals gold and oil are received by that office our working example still required for the office know the law has been changed now it seems that all of its need is for a master to look over the application and to rubber-stamp it ladies and gentlemen we like to believe that we're sophisticated and aware that we can't be fooled but we're human beings with all the failings of our species customs agents police officers legislators patent examiner's even scientists and technicians are also big to bad judgment from time to time it's inevitable but much of that weakness can be avoided by education at an early age we owe it to our kids to inform them and train them how to think notice I emphasize kids again that's another generation and we've got to do well by them we have failed this generation let's not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of anymore we can and we must oppose those who would cheat us in my work I've seen firsthand their gravities of superstition and misinformation it's appalling I can tell you kids are checked out of reality and adopted fantasies rather than facts adults who have abandoned any efforts at improving themselves and want to hire gurus to run their lives now I mentioned the film an honest liar the reaction to that film has been wonderful internationally and nationally you can see it on Netflix or you can buy a DVD or a blu-ray of the the disc itself and I urge you to take a look for it it's simply found on TV on your book for TV programme channel and I ask you to take a look at it please my personal heroes are few but large Carl Sagan was a good friend of mine oh my how I miss him isaac asimov as close to me in many ways Martin Gardner was a minor god of mine he laughed if he heard that richard fineman and i exchanged many youthful thoughts and richard dawkins of oxford has supported me in the James Randi Educational Foundation in many ways but heroes should be more abundant lest you get any notion that this depends upon nonsense is new to us let me read you a quotation heroes have gone out quacks have come in the rain of quacks have not ended with the 19th century the scepter is held with a firmer grasp the Empire has a wider boundary we are all the slaves of quackery in one shape or another one portion of our being is always playing the successful quack to the other that was spoken by Thomas Carlyle a prominent philosopher and historian in the year 1881 135 years ago has the picture changed no not very much we are it seems reliving a bad aspect of our own history we should learn from that and put an end to it folks I'm honored to have been asked here today to speak to you and I sincerely thank you for this very great privilege thank you very contagious we will now have a question and answer period I would like the lights to be brought up so that we can see one another oh there you are I knew you were out there someplace and my goodness this crowd goes a block away literally a block away and to believe that that's a block away right to the back so I don't know how we're gonna quite do this this is it's always sort of sort of an awkward think we can ask for people to come up oh we've got we've got the microphones up well we do have the microphones here oh yes I'm sure okay all right we've got people at the microphones already and we'll start on this side okay thank you the question I had I don't know if you want to open up this can of worms but I was wondering what your reaction was to the later presidential election I know I I hesitate to comment on this sir because national politics are not an expertise of mine I have my opinions of course but I I think we've got to be careful of anyone who sits in positions of power and particularly the White House I've been to the White House and had had a wonderful visit there I have in my living room at home I have a picture of me shaking the hand of Betty Ford and she has a little red handkerchief stuck in her belt at a future and I should briefly tell you the story of that my only does it do the White House I must admit but it was quite extensive and very very rewarding I was invited you see to entertain the children of the diplomats they were in Washington at Christmas several years ago of course and the the forge administration and as I as I walked in was setting up the props and such I saw Betty Ford walk in with a couple of Secret Service men on either side of her and I made bold to walk over to her in myself the secret servicemen bristled of course and that's their job bristling and and protecting people one they needed to be protected and they were doing their duty and I said to mrs. Ford I said mrs. Ford I have to ask the audience my audience had not come in yet you see the children of the diplomats and I said I have to ask for a small handkerchief and I have one right here would you be kinda and I reached towards her and the Secret Service man step forward he said the first lady does not take part in magic shows which I had already assumed I didn't know that she was known for that talent you think and mrs. Ford looked at him said Frank that was his name gave it away she reached out to me and she took a handkerchief from me little red hat mr. stuck it in her belt she said mr. Randy I'd be proud to wear your colors that's my kind of a system don't you think but I was quite touched by that and Betty Ford showed me around the White House in person we marched up and down stairs and in elevators and out her for husband wasn't home at the time so I didn't get a chance to meet him but I will never forget that experience my tour of the White House by the first lady of the nation and I'm very very proud of that fact other question hello hello miss Randi um from all the Charlatans that you've dealt with have you felt that they've all in their hearts believed what they were doing or have you felt have you met some that perhaps you know of their own soft belief of their own delusion and very good questions many of them do and we we encounter the ones who really believe they have the powers genuinely and we find that their self deceived the reason that that I can say that with a certain amount of confidence is that when they do answer the million dollar challenge they come in full of enthusiasm and very confident and such and then a routine like this will happen now for example if he's doing a reading of a person and he can tell about their family and he'll say something like you have a member of your family in mind sir yes I do I'm getting this this is a lady no it's a man oh well Oh in that case I'll I'll go for the the husband he looks a bit bewildered me say well wait a minute is there an urn are in your name and if I says no I was getting both a be on a w and an energy should be be oh there is a be in your name you see and that's the kind of reaction you get from he makes a whole number of guesses wrong and one of them happens to be rightly said see see I've got it you see these people in many cases they do actually believe that they have the power but they don't know how to evaluate their powers I do and and when we do we find that what's the digit oh yes zero I I do remember that that's my favorite digit when when we come out of those meetings but the million dollar prize has been offered at meetings of the James Randi Educational Foundation and said which incidentally has changed it its main motivation since I've effectively and officially retired from the J ref as we call it that those facilities are offered and then they the money behind them have been offered to people who are suggested by skeptical groups and there are many skeptical groups here represented so if you're skeptical group finds something that they don't quite understand and figure they it might be a paranormal or well that's a magical power of some kind then get in touch with us and give us the information and at our next meeting we will test this person now it's always the result is always failures and I I feel very badly about that because if they really believe they've got the powers and then they find that they can't pass the test of course they then say all it wasn't properly conducted I don't do though I test that way well that's the way we do them because that's called the reasonable and just and proper and correct way of doing it so yes the the answer to your question some of those people really do believe that they have the powers another question hi I'm mr. handy I must say it's a pleasure to speak with you today and I come here on the behest of my father who is an evolutionary psychologist who recently retired he wanted me to tell you that he became an evolutionary psychologist because he saw you on Johnny Carson performing psychic surgery on Carson and it was at that moment that he realized oh my god I'm a skeptic so my question to you sir is what is the moment where you became a skeptic thank you at what time did I actually become a skeptic I I was an amateur magician first of all first of all and this is a sort of an awkward story to tell you but I was one of those child prodigy things and not a very happy existence as a child I must say I was allowed to stay out of grade school most of grade school and I found ways of visiting theaters and libraries and wonderful places that wouldn't normally be available to me during his school days and I went to the casino theater the casino theater on Queen Street in Toronto Canada where I was born and raised all almost raised and I saw Harry Blackstone the great magician oh my he made a girl float in the air right before my eyes I was in the second balcony and I was looking down on it my eyes were bugging out against my glasses I'm sure he made a woman float of the air now he had a speech impediment and I for magicians who knew they used the give me some laughs what I and I do this little imitation of him ladies and gentlemen you've seen this young lady floating in the air between heaven and earth she could remain there should I so desire 4000 years in a day but in the interest of your patients and of mine I will cause her to descend to the coach from which she rose only a few moments ago ozra descend and she would start coming down oh I remember that experience and I gave up the dreams I had had of becoming an explorer and two other things like that and I decided to go into show business and I've been in show business ever since for the for the better or the worse I'm not too sure but I certainly hope for the better and that that memory of old Harry ascends Ezra I'll never forget it that was a big thrill in my day and I realized that being a magician could invoke that kind of wonderment in an audience and I've had many experiences of where I've been able to invoke that wonder one but every single time I am close with my my performance with what you see is the result of illusion created psychologically to deceive you I trust that you will accept it as honest deception that was my reading today by my saying good night got questions my favorite illusion is the next one I'm about to do as a matter of fact I have a have a bit of videotape I want to show you this this videotape is well some people may be a little disturbed by it I River it's another Carson show and I pull I always post your pictures I can't help myself I must say that this this one is something that that I remember very very fondly because as I said Carson was a pretty good friend of mine he was the I was the only one that he would come to the to whom he would come to the dressing room that's not the right sense but you know what I mean because when he would knock on my dressing room door about five minutes before he started taping the show was always done in the afternoon so they could do editing if they had to it was pretty weird I would hear this tap on the door and I'd answered the door and it would be John he would come in and I'd look over his shoulder and there'd be people there looking and wondering why he was going into my dressing room because he had a firm rule that everybody knew about he didn't want to meet any of the act before they actually went on camera and we were being recorded and yet here he was knocking on my door and asked to ask him to be admitted and I brought him in and he'd always asked me what should I mention for hey James what do you what do you want me to say and anything that you're plugging he was trying to give him the advantage he liked very much the kind of work that I did and he it was kind to me in that particular way so the video tape you're about to see I we'll be rather interesting I ask you to pay close attention to it and see if you come to the same conclusions that we did I got a phone that's always a good time the people who might just have to and in a little word of warning here if you have a queasy stomach the sight of blood bothers you we suggest you don't watch this this is James Randi who's gonna give you an idea of what the psychic surgeons in the Philippines actually do on people who go down there and pay good money you all set indeed all right we have our patient it's all yours oh now this is the time to look away if you if you need to because it's going to get a little Dory from now on the thank you surgeons the Philippines are they think sandy okay everything's fine they're pretty heartless folks they just don't much care for the feelings of people they don't certainly care for their health at all and of course they're not in any way trained to do this sort of thing they just put on an act as if they are trained now what you're about to see is a barehanded operation which appears to take place by actually penetrating the body believe me what you're seeing is strictly special effects it's sleight of hand and nothing more and this is the way it looks catch anything that pitched down there we don't get it on your trousers you can't help it you see ah terribly getting worse and worse uh come out wow that doesn't come out a bonus that's a bit better just a second just one second now may be better for you you don't feel any better and the strange thing is after this operation is all over now mind you folks I want you to bear in mind please that people are shown this as if it were really serious as if it actually did take place and as if surgery or really performed people do this they go to the Philippines they spend their money and they frankly return home in most cases to die it's a little bit funny to watch it perhaps and you say gee I know it's play-acting it's not play-acting when they go by the tens of thousands every year Sanford I want to thank you for being a wonderful volunteer I think you deserve a round of applause [Applause] [Music] well I wonder if we have any more questions that we get asked here for these crying yes ma'am louder please oh we've got a microphone honey wait very well I have a device for you to debunk okay it's sorry I took a picture of it it's supposed to make your wrinkles around your eyes and your crow's feet disappear it's an LED light like a mask that you put on for three minutes a day yeah and then after maybe eight weeks you're supposed to have regrown collagen or something in your skin and it costs one hundred and fifty nine dollars well but it worked it would be worth it would it not yes it's called a ray band light emitting diodes LEDs have been proven to boost collagen making wrinkles less noticeable have you used this it's actually a famous dermatologist dr. Dennis gross oh yes well I'm a to email it to your organization yes I'd like to know more about that all right I don't have wrinkles and as you see I have perfect but I would like to know about it I thank you for informing me about that yes indeed and you you'll let me know I'd like to know your name and address and social I can see in touch with you please okay very good okay hello mr. Andy I have a question regarding the lie-detector tests that are used in criminal cases the polygraph what is your take on the legitimacy of the polygraph tests how do you spell I have been in my eleventh book is coming up very shortly a whole larger chapter on the use of the polygraph the polygraph is a wonderful device with all kinds of Springs and and needles and whatnot in describing graphs of various kinds but the thing that astonishes me is the record of the actual performance of the polygraph it's close to zero as far as really detecting lies from criminals or from people who are suspected of having criminal intent it does not work it is a totally fake device and it all depends on the operator now a friend of mine Charlie Reynolds said many years ago did it he was a photographer but he was very scientifically minded in other ways and he did a test with the Department of Defense and they found out that the thing did not work at all it was just it's not a fake it it's a device that actually does record various impulses that come from the human body and such but it does not detect lies at all it fails every definitive test and yet it is still being used by our present governor government and by agencies because they have nothing better to use it gives a great show big needles moving back and forth and doing strange things but it is an absolute fake it does not work polygraph is something you should not be dependent upon and if you were ever asked to take a polygraph test different laws in different states covering cover these things in various ways so you could determine what those laws are in your particular state and district because sometimes you can refuse the polygraph test and there will be no repercussions from it and most advanced states of the Union have that exact law so be careful find out what your rights are before you refuse or accept any polygraph tests if you're a very good liar like I am as a magician you've got to be an excellent liar I took tests at the United Nations as a matter of fact when they asked me about the polygraph and I told them and I took tests and I sat there and I lied my head off on every question they asked me my initials even are those your real initials no no no they're not they're actually PR and the polygraph couldn't tell the difference between the truth and the lie so do not depend on it don't depend on another thing you heard about it and determine what the law is can you legitimately refuse a polygraph test because in some places you can actually be sent to jail for refusing to check the test so be very careful of that other questions yes mr. Randy Randy will do Rodriguez Randi recently megyn kelly was attack for interviewing alex jones on NBC as we know he has an audience of almost three million people he has attack you directly how do you respond of this to questions was megyn kelly okay doing that interview and what is your response of his attacks against you I'm sorry Alex Jones Alex Jones Alex Jones the conspiracies Jones never heard of them I'm sorry if Alec Germans attacked me not physically but you know in any way in printer I'm sorry Alex I never heard of you before but write me a letter okay we'll see what what could be done other quick yes yes sir right here yeah you gentlemen have the mic we got a mic anyways hello no we want everyone to hear you please there he comes if we call them swifty yeah yes sir pleasure to speak to you mr. Andy so I'm curious from a philosophy point of view of the coming of the humanoid robots especially in Japan we have a robotic rule from the 1970 the uncanny valley the the feeling that humans get when they watch animation and representations of humans and robot forms and the eeriness and the creepiness of it I'm curious how you feel about the coming of humanoid robots and I I personally see a lot of this uncanny valley in magazine photos things of photoshop so much the skin pores are gone I'm a photographer that especially in things like cosmopolitan and where the people start to look almost yeah robotic like because the some of the clues of human skin tone are gone they're so heavily made-up and I just feel we're at this place I'm curious about your opinion about what's coming what's the name of the film that was made I Robot that was a bad remake of mr. a yes a bad rebadow make a robot in caves of yeah yeah indeed I think that we are increasingly dependent upon look at your computer now the computer does wonderful things that you cannot possibly do yourself without spending a great deal of time and a half a lifetime perhaps to do some of the calculations and the speed at which it works now not every computer is perfect and no single computer is ever always perfect of course it will make mistakes but the things that we enjoy has it's just parts of our lives intimate parts of our lives today such things as iPhones and I carry an iPhone around with me all the time and I take photographs with it come on that's almost supernatural right there I pointed out there first and press a button and I get a photograph from it but the the the the idea of robotics I think is closing in on us oh yes I think that we're getting more and more robotic in our lives and that doesn't mean that we're becoming robots but it means that were depending on robotics and upon electronics very very that late electronics like the average computer and I think that this age is upon us we could call this the age of robotics I think very soon yeah and I rather encourage it to a certain extent just as long as you don't fall for any kind of fakery because those things can be done in robotics as well I'm very sure yes so I I have a store in 28th and they're a fortune tellers upstairs with all the usual Hazara all the zodiac signs and the usual stuff and they've been debunked for hundreds of years already but people still go to them and I see them going up and down the stairs so why do you think theory after all your research the top reason why they're popular but also why does everybody I tell this to say oh but I know one who's really good and real oh yeah I don't think that I don't get this all the time - of course but I say come on prove your case that's all there is to it and a million dollar prize is available for that very purpose so come on come forward let's hear from you fortune tellers and such whether it's by the hand or by astrology or whatever they're a very presumptive Bunch and in most cases they know that they can't do what they say they can do but they do make the claim and the James Randi Educational Foundation has been seeking these people for all these years that's most of my 88 years you know but III challenge them I tell them to come forth do what they say they can do it and win the prize that's all there is to it it's that simple Randy thank you sorry all the way back here all right thank you so much for speaking to us today I am a medical student and I have done some work in end-of-life care and a lot of my patients find hope and things that I don't believe will work and I wanted your opinion on are there times when you don't share your skepticism are there times when I don't I'm sorry when you don't share your skepticism if you're asking about me personally yes I share my skepticism with everyone oh yeah coming out as I said and I I do radio programs and meetings like this all the time and I do share of my very ardent skepticism now skepticism isn't a negative thing it's something that can be very helpful because if you have a skeptical attitude you can get to the truth much more easily I believe and it depends on the case of course every cases is its own particular story but I think that that I always will be a skeptic certainly and that I always have been since I was I guess about this big when I went to Sunday School that was what did it for me oh I went to Sunday School and they kept tapping the Bible whatever I asked how do you know that's true they would tap the Bible I'd say but who wrote that well that was from John and well who is this taller Corinthians in here a total of eight that's a that's a bunch of them oh really so there are many more authors than I thought I fought them in Sunday school I was well I I made a discovery I must admit this to you I I was given a quarter by my father every Sunday to go to Sunday school and I was supposed to put that in the offering plate you see and I did that the first weekend but a note was get back with me to my parents that I was not very welcome in the sunday-school class because I asked too many questions and yet they they invited me back for one more try if I would try not to ask so many questions questioning the the Word of God you see and so I went back the second time and I didn't go back the third time the next week because I found out that for 25 cents the coin that was given me for 25 cents at Purdy's drugstore on Bayview Avenue on Toronto you could get three flavors of a an ice cream sundae but my friend Gary could only get two flavors because he only paid 20 cents you see and that discovery was quite powerful for me I must say and and folks my parents never found out I would dress up in Sunday mornings and go out now that's a major deception of your own parents and I admit it but those Sundays I'll never forget them never forget them yes ma'am oh sorry oh yeah sure so for how long have you been a magician Dena magician I've never been a magician actually I'm a conjurer let me explain to you the word conjurer is a word used in the UK much more than in the United States of America but conjurer is actually the word that I should be using to describe myself instead of as a magician a conjurer that is a person who approximates the effect of a real magician I can't do that you see I can't do real magic and I admit freely many yield of course but that's so I am a conjurer and not really a magician but ever since I was a small kid about yes about your size they may be a couple of inches shorter I'm not too sure but I began studying these things from some wonderful books that were given to me by a godfather of mine Godfather imagine I had a godfather incredible to admit but it's true and I've never forgotten what I read in those books in fact one of them I still have the book the book is called hocus-pocus junior can you believe that and it's the first book ever published in the UK on the art of prestidigitation that is conjuring what we would call magic perhaps and it has all the fundamental tricks is not all of them but many of the fundamental tricks is there and it's a treasure an absolute treasure so other questions back here Randy over here to your left in the back my left ok Olin that's it ok I see oh yeah there you are ok during the time when you were on a TV circuit there was also a very popular like Mentalist his name was Kreskin the amazing Kreskin if I remember yes I used to think that was a dog food eater Kreskin but remember he was very popular too and he did a lot of card tricks you know cards in your hand and here ask the cards or he has somebody a celebrity holed up of and looked through the newspaper yeah yeah then keep his eyes closed don't show it to and be able to put a magic marker on the words and he would come up with the words can you share some of his strategies with us you know I'm not giving away tricks no I don't give away the tricks of the conjurer's and the Mentalist no it's not pretty fair to do that because some of the medalists Derek Brown for example in the UK he is is not a path now to admit that he is a trickster though he doesn't use the word that he is doing conjuring and it appears to be mentalism I encourage them in this direction of course is a wonderful you've done some fantastic shows I must say but I think that it's it's not not not legitimate it's not really after ethical it's the word I was looking for I thought of my sister Ethel I said that really yes not ethical that's exactly true I don't want to particularly with young people I don't want to take away their their interest in me and the charming art of conjuring and I wouldn't want to do that under any circumstances but I asked them to be honest when they do it now when I do my metal is a Mac and I I do in metal ISM act on occasion but I do a true mentalism act I always close it I say what you've seen here on stage was done by trickery I am a conjurer I'm not a real magician I thank you for your kind attention and after that I often get some people who will come up to the stage talk to me afterwards fella come over and say oh where are you you did that thing with the silvertone so that was really I really enjoyed that but when you told the lady her phone number and you had never met her before that's really sp right no no come on I know the difference between the real thing and the phony stuff because you couldn't have known her telephone number you had never met her before and you'd never seen you before in your life that's what she said and you said now how could you tell her telephone number well there was something that happened in between that he didn't know about you see and that's how mentalism attacks are often done but some people will just get very angry at you if you say that what you did as a mentalism stunt was simply a trick they don't want to hear that do you want to know why don't you both that is hell yes good evening mr. Andy I'm from the paranormal challenge of the Czech Republic and we come across many crazy claims and I would like to ask what's the most creative claim you've ever heard creative yeah so not like outlandish because there's all kinds of you know I don't know alien abductions and alien superpowers so the most creative claim oh that's that's very difficult question I don't know that I have an answer for that because I I've come upon some that are so damn clever I mean that that I they fooled me in Medicaid so this is over many over eighty eight years you know I had been fooled on occasion and I've had to see it for the second time before suddenly dawns on me and oops I guess that's that's the reason that's why this thing happened but I I don't know no I don't have much of a good answer for that question right I wish I wish there was something I didn't really for you with but if I did I would probably have to give you the the secrets behind it as well and I agree I can't thank you ma'am perfectly I I can't really do that and I would not do that to anyone in the profession I'd to be forgiving and try to be understanding and I only ask that they show a little bit of care in who they're showing tricks to and if they're trying to do it unfairly and I'm duly unfairly influence those folks into believing something that is absolutely not so other questions yes hey over here okay um after all this time of dealing with faith healers and different people that claim they have magical healing power yeah you've seen the placebo effect happen in so-called patients how do you describe what the placebo effect actually is what's actually happening in your opinion when somebody is does self cure somehow hi I'm sorry I'm quite understanding you're the placebo effect like when you think that you're taking a medicine that has a cure oh yeah I wasn't hearing that problem I'm very sorry how do you explain oh no the machine effect is very strong it can't that is it can be very strong the visible effect folks is the effect that you take a medicine that's absolutely useless and it seems to have done something for you and in many cases in many cases it's strictly suggestion people suggest it to themselves and or something happens in their body and this is of a serious thing that we inhabit you know something happens in their body that sort of clears up or makes them feel a little bit better for no very good reason except that they're getting better and they look at it and they say oh it must be that medicine that I took and and that that is the way a great deal of that happens unfortunately and the placebo effect however can be very very strong very strong and so you've got to watch out for that that you really are signing a recovery from a disease or an ailment of any kind of pain to the right cause so be very very careful of that other yes sir you frequently have to tell people that they're wrong and people don't like being told that they're wrong so what strategies do you use to get people to actually change their mind and believe facts and truth that's a very deep deep question I must say yes how do you well you sometimes need a lot of time to sit and reason with people you got to look them straight in the eye sit them down and try to work the thing out you tell a story with them and ask them to think about the answers to the questions that you will ask them it's a it's a very difficult thing to do and to give you a a pat answer on how to do this is really very difficult but there are ways of doing it and there are books on the subject that of course I can't think of one now of course as soon as I say there are books on that particular subject I can't think of one but there are books on this sort of thing this kind of reasoning you've got to be very careful how you treat people every person that you run into that's in which you invoke some trust it's got to be serious it's going to be a serious matter for you you've got to be very kind to people who don't understand how their minds work in many cases and the decisions that they come to I I know that well the people who come to me and say you couldn't have told that woman her telephone number so you just have to give up on them because they're the kind who will walk down the aisle and out of the theater and never turn around and look back at you and never want to talk to you again which is not a bad idea in some cases but you've got to be thoughtful you've got to be kind to folks like this yes it's it's a responsibility and I would say treat it with great care don't be adverse to people don't be nasty to them don't be don't insult them don't insult their intelligence that's the one thing you can't do with many people is insult their intelligence and it's important not to do that be kind I'm getting a finger pointing over here yeah do you have a personal definition of what it means to be a skeptic a definition of deaf your personal definition of what it means to be a skeptic person who is skeptical skepticism it is a healthy attitude I think and I've always found it to be a very healthy attitude and it should taught me a great deal I've learned much from being skeptical but I'm not skeptical of everything there are things like love the experience we've all experienced it relatives or friends or from companions we've experienced that and it seems like a flimsy thing it feels like a like a sir no it's not because I have have had people prove to me that they really loved me by doing things that involve sacrifice on my behalf and when you get something like that going for you that makes you a believer and I can be made a believer I'm a skeptic but I can be made into a believer if the evidence is there and I've had that evidence offered to be many times over in my life to my great delight so we have I see people pointing arms in different directions hi there so big data and AI are obviously powerful technologies but along with them comes a lot of woo from crime systems that detect if you're a criminal based off of what kind of features you have to Thera knows trying to sort of do some flim-flam with testing do you see a new generation of skeptics looking into the new technology to try and debunk things that are still a little advanced like the the bleeding edge of technology needs sort of the bleeding edge of skepticism well I I do say looking at this crowd III think I'm allowing very good friends here I certainly hope so and some people who have a certain amount of respect for what I've done in the skeptical field and I hope that too of course and I'm very flattered by it and hobbled by it and when I hear people expressing things like that but I I think it's it's improving myself my observations of the scene especially from some of the books that have come out evolved by Richard Dawkins for example now I swear that you could take a book by Richard Dawkins open it up at any page at random and start to read and find that you can't take your eyes off the page and you have to turn the page to the next one and a book like that that can grab your attention and it's a skeptical book oh yes Dawkins is certainly a born skeptic and and a dedicated skeptic at always to write a book like that to be able to capture your attention and make you turn those pages that's a magical thing just about magical just about not quite but just about so and I don't compromise myself you see but yes I think that attracting your crowd like this of people who I believe our reasonably skeptical would you say that's true okay if we can gather a crowd like this and people who want to know more about skepticism and how to honor it and to practice it I think that's a pretty good sign myself and I I enjoy it and I celebrate the fact I'm ladies and gentlemen I'm I mean in an estranged state I look at this crowd that goes right back to the wall there but the faces of many people here who I know and I've known for years in some cases I'm humbled by it I'm very humbled by it I'm grateful to all of you for having come hear me speak thank you very very much [Applause]

Channel: NECSS

Views: 13,660

Rating: 4.8761063 out of 5

Keywords: science, skepticism, necss, James Randi, NECSS, Science, Fake news, Magic, Woo Woo, Illusion, Paranormal

Id: IKHhqTG9hsc

Length: 83min 51sec (5031 seconds)

Published: Fri May 25 2018