Since 1964, magician James Randi has been offering a prize to anyone who can offer proof of anything paranormal. The JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) prize is currently US$1,000,000. To date, 650 people have applied to be tested, but none have been able to negotiate terms of a test that both parties consider fair.

In JREF’s January 12, 2007 Newsletter, Randi created a special challenge for “remote viewers” who claim to be able to sense objects from a distance. From the newsletter:

…all they have to do is “remote” to Fort Lauderdale and discern what’s in the special “target” locker in my office. It’s a test object best described by:

0679
4388
66/27
5 -14

That’s a definitive encoding, since we always call our shots in advance.

Ten days later Matt Blazer and Jutta Degener announced that they had successfully visualized the contents of Randi’s locker. Matt’s blog details how they did it:

Matt Blazer | James Randi Owes Me a Million Dollars

Blazer and Degener are cryptographers. 0-679-43886-6 is the ISBN number of the 1995 Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. On page 275 the 14th entry from the bottom is the definition for compact disc. Randi confirmed that it was, in fact, a CD, but there was nothing paranormal about the solution. So remote viewing is still bullshit until proven otherwise.

For more info on JREF and the million dollar challenge, this FAQ is a good place to start.

:: Kottke.org :: Wired

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