James Randi
Search for the Chimera
An Overview of How Science
has pursued Magic and Miracles
in the 20th Century and into the 21st Century
Wednesday, October 4, 2000
7:00 p.m.
University of California Irvine
Social Science Hall, Bldg. 212
James Randi exposes
popularly-accepted fakery by discussing with his audience everything from
UFOs to the Bermuda Triangle, from the Von Däniken "Chariots of the
Gods" fraud to the notion of a lost continent named Atlantis.
Randi reveals what really took place in the last three decades in the labs
of various prestigious "think tanks" that verified a series of
simple magician's tricks as genuine miracles, thus launching a world-wide
plague of misinformation, the repercussions of which can still be felt
today.
This unique and
provocative lecture is not only educational but also highly
entertaining. It attracts persons of all educational and social
backgrounds and provides a rational perspective on the seemingly
paranormal and otherwise unexplained happenings in our day-to-day life.
Mr. Randi illustrates
how a "politically correct" attitude has blinded scientists --
who should know better -- to the fact that they are not proficient at
detecting fraud, often managing to fool themselves, when the prize is
sufficiently attractive. And he puts up a million-dollar award as
bait!
James Randi brief
biography: James Randi has an international reputation as a magician
and escape artist, but today he is best known as the world's most tireless
investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific
claims. Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed
the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water
"with a memory," and generally has been a thorn in the sides of
those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the
supernatural. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, is
the subject of a PBS-TV NOVA documentary, and is the author of
numerous books including The Truth About Uri Geller, The Faith
Healers, Flim-Flam!, and An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds,
and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. His lectures and
television appearances have delighted--and vexed-- audiences around the
world. In 1996, the James Randi
Educational Foundation was established to further Randi's work.
Randi's long-standing challenge to psychics now stands as a $1,000,000
prize administered by the Foundation. It remains unclaimed.
This is a Free
Event
sponsored by:
Campus
Freethought Alliance
UCI Dept. of Logic & Philosophy of Science
UCI Interdisciplinary Program in the History and Philosophy of Science
Center for Inquiry-West
For additional
information contact:
Students for Science
& Skepticism
http://spirit.dos.uci.edu/sss/randi
Doug Hill, E-mail sss@uci.edu
voicemail & fax: 1-206-201-8828
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