I don't expect that the million will ever be won, simply because there is no confirming evidence for any paranormal claims to date.
Interpretation
James Randi expresses skepticism toward paranormal claims due to a lack of evidence, implying that belief should be grounded in verifiable facts.
In this quote, James Randi, a renowned skeptic, emphasizes the importance of evidence in evaluating paranormal claims. He argues that without concrete proof, the chances of winning a million-dollar challenge he offered for any demonstrable paranormal ability are slim, highlighting the necessity of skepticism in the pursuit of truth.
In practice
In a discussion about UFOs, you might say, 'I don't expect that the million will ever be won, simply because there is no confirming evidence for any paranormal claims to date.'
Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.
[Psychics] use exactly the same gimmicks that we magicians do - the same physical methods, the same psychological methods - and they effectively and profoundly deceive millions of people around the earth, to their detriment.
Escapology has one thing going for it that probably made Harry Houdini such a superstar in his day and a legend in the present. Everyone wants to escape from something. Taxes, contracts, illness, work, the multitude of burdens that we chafe under are shadows from which we want to escape.
There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.
We have a picture for how complexity arises, because if the universe is computationally capable, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that things are so entirely out of control.
In the original introduction to the word meme in the last chapter of 'The Selfish Gene,' I did actually use the metaphor of a 'virus.' So when anybody talks about something going viral on the Internet, that is exactly what a meme is, and it looks as though the word has been appropriated for a subset of that.
It's quite literally true that we are star dust, in the highest exalted way one can use that phrase. ...I bask in the majesty of the cosmos. I use words, compose sentences that sound like the sentences I hear out of people that had revelation of Jesus, who go on their pilgrimages to Mecca.
In the Radiation Laboratory we count it a privilege to do everything we can to assist our medical colleagues in the application of these new tools to the problems of human suffering.
Evolution is a fact. It is the best explanation of what is known from observations. It's a theory as powerful as the theory of gravity.
This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people. Without fertilizer, forget it. The game is over.
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