I’ve always hated this idiot, and now I’m done with him.
Here, James Randi, the famous “scientific” skeptic, “debunks” anthropogenic global warming. Or here. Well, that does it. He couldn’t possibly be a scientist. AGW is real, it’s been proven for many years now. I’ve been studying this issue for ages, and I’m beyond convinced. AGW Denialism is on the order of Holocaust Revisionism. It’s not scientific. It’s politics.
I believe in a lot of stuff that Randi hates, and I don’t think much of “scientistic” types in general.
I’ve used chiropractic for many years, and found it very helpful for back and neck pains.
I’ve used a variety of herbs, and some of them were quite useful. One I use at the moment is Eyebright. Works like a wonder.
I had excellent results with Candex, an anti-Candida therapy. When I took it, I didn’t even believe in candida theory. I thought it was crap. I thought what do I have to lose and had a good result from it. Everyone I have talked to who took this product had some sort of a benefit.
When I was extremely tired, I gave myself B-12 injections for about one year. They worked very well until they finally wore off for some reason. I didn’t believe in B-12 shots either. I thought it was crap. But I had nothing to lose.
I believe in ghosts, but I’ve never seen one. I assume some places are haunted.
You already know how I feel about Bigfoot. About cryptids other than relict hominids, I am not certain. I have not studied them enough.
I’m a Christian. I’m sure Randi thinks that’s evil.
I believe that there is something called “the feeling that one is being watched.”
I believe high cholesterol and a high saturated fat diet clog your arteries, and that eventually gives you heart disease.
I believe in telepathy and clairvoyance, though I’ve had little experience with them. My Mom is a lot better at that. I’ve had only one incident of telepathy in 1979. I believe you can share hallucinations with another person, which is a form of telepathy. Experienced that too, with some chemical help.
I know people who tell when their loved ones are about to call them about 10 minutes before it happens.
I believe that our dying loved ones communicate with us when they are dying, if you are psychic enough to pick it up. My Mom is.
I believe pets can sometimes tell when their owners are coming home from vacation hours in advance. I also believe that pets can tell when certain people are calling on the phone before anyone answers it. Some psychic pets that is.
I believe that sick people smell bad and have funny colors about them, like blue or red, and people sometimes give off heat or cold. If you are psychic enough, you can pick up on that. I knew a near blind guy who could pick up on all that stuff. His eyes went, so he hyper-developed all his other senses.
I believe aliens crashed at Roswell, at the very least. Are they flying around now, watching us? No idea. Maybe. I think that the US Air Force thinks ET-piloted UFO’s exist and monitor their bases. Is the Air Force correct? Not sure, maybe.
I believe in MIB’s. Men In Black. They are military intelligence, top secret. They’re involved in coverups of this and that, and threaten people who know too much. They’re involved with UFO’s and Bigfoot. Anything else, I’m not sure.
I’ve seen a UFO once. I haven’t the faintest idea what it was.
I believe you can communicate your thoughts, or the character or your thoughts, at significant distances, possibly up to 100 feet. I don’t mean I’m thinking of a word in the dictionary or a number and you can tell. I mean the emotional content of your thoughts. When I drive down the street wearing sunglasses, I believe that pedestrians can determine the emotional content of my thoughts, happy, sad, angry, mean, etc. These are called vibes, and they are readily transmissible to others.
I don’t believe you can hide your feelings from people. Or at least I can’t. Maybe a real sociopath could.
I believe in near death experiences, but I’ve never had one.
I believe Bush stole the 2000 election and then hacked the 2004 election with computer voting.
About the entire panoply of other woo/conspiracy, etc. stuff, I’m quite skeptical.
Randi thinks this is all a crock, and I’m a woo for believing it. Fine. But he’s the biggest woo of them all for being a AGW Denialist. What a turd.
The “scientistic” mindset is a drag. I don’t care if it’s the truth. It sucks all the joy, wonder, mystery and glory out of life and death and crunches it all down to a bunch of lousy atoms, molecules and particles.
It’s an utterly miserable mindset, and so is atheism. I don’t care if atheism is true. I lived that misery for decades. It’s a bleak and hopeless grey world. I’ll believe in my religion, even if it’s crap. Life just feels better that way, and there’s no harm in being mildly religious anyway. What’s going to happen to me for being slightly religious? Is my head going to fall off? And if there’s a 1/1000 chance it’s true, I’m in like Flynn. So there.
“Here, James Randi, the famous “scientific” skeptic, “debunks” anthropogenic global warming. Or here. Well, that does it. He couldn’t possibly be a scientist. AGW is real, it’s been proven for many years now. I’ve been studying this issue for ages, and I’m beyond convinced. AGW Denialism is on the order of Holocaust Revisionism. It’s not scientific. It’s politics.”
Scientists have debunked global warming with the scientific research used being proven to be falsified.
Remember the whole Climategate scandal?
Global warming promoters are political with an international agenda who use global warming as means of population control.
As for Holocaust revisionism to be fair it is the mainstream historians who refuse any scientific research at Auschwitz and other camps while Ernst Zundel and Gamar Rudolph presented scientific findings who have since been thrown in prison in Germany.
”I believe aliens crashed at Roswell, at the very least. Are they flying around now, watching us? No idea. Maybe. I think that the US Air Force thinks ET-piloted UFO’s exist and monitor their bases. Is the Air Force correct? Not sure, maybe.”
Have you ever heard the theory that the white race came from another planet?
Seems like an intergalactic version of the Solutrean thesis or Superman. lol!
No John, you are wrong. Climategate didn’t prove a single thing. AGW is the real deal, and Climategate didn’t change any of that. I forget the exact details of it, but it certainly didn’t cause the hypothesis to be rejected or effect the conclusions.
I believe that Climategate involved some problems with the models. We know that AGW is occurring, but the models don’t seem to work right. It had to do with the oceans. Maybe they were supposed to be warming or cooling more according to the models, but the data was showing the opposite of the models.
You’re right to distrust “scientistic” types. They’re normally just trying to sell something. “Scientific” is a loaded word. It is meant to shield something from debate while using the guise of science, and at the same time imply someone is stupid or silly because they’re being “unscientific”. Whenever I hear someone say something is scientific and then back that claim up with biased condescending bullshit, I often just think they might as well just called their opponents racist.
Thank you very much Wade!
“Scientific” is a loaded word. It is meant to shield something from debate while using the guise of science, and at the same time imply someone is stupid or silly because they’re being “unscientific”.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
Great comment.
Yes… and yet no. Science is imperfect, and certainly scientists are imperfect (I’m not aware that Randi is any kind of scientist, btw), but I think the scientific method gives ordinary, intelligent people the tools to call out the various skull farmers out there on their crap. Randi seems to be going head on AGAINST the scientific consensus here, throwing himself in with creationists, etc. whom he claims to despise.
What’s a skull farmer?
Sure, there’s snake oil, crap, BS, looney tunes and woo all over the place. No argument there. But some of the stuff they call woo I call real. Like ESP stuff. And a lot of the stuff they claim is quackery actually worked for me and others. At some point, I don’t care what the studies say, if there were any. If it works for me, it works. Who cares about the mechanism? Who cares about studies. I want results.
“Yes… and yet no. Science is imperfect, and certainly scientists are imperfect (I’m not aware that Randi is any kind of scientist, btw), but I think the scientific method gives ordinary, intelligent people the tools to call out the various skull farmers out there on their crap”
I’m not taking about actual science. I’m talking about psuedointellectuals trying to justify something stupid by calling it scientific when the really don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
“Scientific” is a loaded word. It is meant to shield something from debate while using the guise of science, and at the same time imply someone is stupid or silly because they’re being “unscientific”.
Not really.
If someone presents an argument you would logically won’t them to back that up with facts with independent scientific research and analysis otherwise it is just an opinion.
Sorry want not won’t.
“If someone presents an argument you would logically won’t them to back that up with facts with independent scientific research and analysis otherwise it is just an opinion”
Once again, I’m taking about people who call things scientific who don’t know what they’re talking about. For example, people have basically tried to justify almost every human behavior by claiming it’s natural and based on science. Another one you see often is people who make arguments based on evolution but don’t know shit about evolution. (See above sentence)
James Randi has more class in one of his fingernails than you ever will. Let’s face it, you have this irrational hatred for Randi because he’s a homosexual and you’re a Christian bigot. It’s homophobia, pure and simple.
As someone else posted, you’ve been taken in by the Climategate conspiracy. Instead of realizing he’s right and you’re wrong, you just keep on believing. Just like a good Christian: when the evidence comes out against you, go out swinging.
Anyone who believes in AGW at this time is either a Conspiracy stooge or a complete fool. Which are you. bigot?
I don’t know what I am but I know what you are. Banned. I don’t get it. Haven’t you commented here before? Haven’t you read the comments rules.
Anyone who believes in AGW at this time is either a Conspiracy stooge or a complete fool.
Pretty much. Or they’re just ignorant. I went into this AGW things very skeptically, but I’ve been studying it for years, since Earth in the Balance and some other books I read in the early 1990′s. The evidence is overwhelming. I urge any rational skeptic to please look into it. The anti-AGW folks are full of snake oil and lies. Go gather up a bunch of their lies and take over to a good climate blog and watch them take them all apart for you. I’ve done that.
There’s a lot of stuff still up in the air about AGW. We don’t know how it’s all going to work out. We don’t know what the precise mechanisms are going to be across the board. Especially the oceans are a huge question mark. Last, we don’t know how bad it’s going to be. But is it happening? Um, yeah?
So you’re a fool then?
“It’s homophobia, pure and simple”
Speaking of trying to silence debate….
Dear Robert
I get very annoyed when someone compares CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels with the CO2 emitted by our lungs and the lungs of all animals. It is like comparing the flow of rivers into the oceans with the melting of the icesheets on Greenland and Antarctica.
Why don’t the rivers increase the water level of the oceans? Answer: because they are part of a cycle of evaporation, precipitation and river flows. The icesheets are outside the cycle. If they melt, the ocean level WILL increase. Similarly, the fossil fuels buried in the ground are outside the cycle of photosythesis and decomposition.
When, say, a wheat plant grows, it takes CO2 out of the air and absorbs solar energy through photosynthesis. When we eat the wheat, the CO2 is released back into the atmosphere through our exhalation and we receive energy. There is a cycle which leaves the concentration of the CO2 in the air unchanged as long as the total plant mass on the earth is the same.
Remember your highschool biology. Photosynthesis is CO2 + H2O = CH2O + O2. Decomposition is CH2O + O2 = CO2 + H2O. Plants are the photosythesizers and animals are the decomposers. They are part of a cycle.
The icesheets and the fossil fuels can be compared to an inventory. When we run down an inventory, we increase the flow. The melting of the icesheets increases the flow of water into the oceans, and the burning of fosil fuels increases the flow of CO2 into the air.
I agree with Wade that the word scientific is often used to shut up people that we disagree with. However, there is science and there are scientists. Scientists and others may not always be scientific, but we still should try to believe in science, which is simply evidence-based examination of reality throught observation and experimentation.
Cheers. James
Beautiful post by Robert, one of the best I’ve seen here. Definitely agree about scientism and the people like Randi who, uh, preach it.
I think it’s kind of an intelligence test, or maybe more precisely a smartness test or a wisdom test. I mean, OK, everyone with an IQ above a certain not-all-that-high threshold can understand the concepts of falsifiability, double-blind controlled experiments, Ockam’s Razor, etc. We get it. Robert gets it. He’s talking about something else, and these scientism types like Randi are too clueless to follow the ball. All they know is to debunk.
I especially liked the last paragraph of the post. Nietzsche said that life is literally impossible without lies. He was talking about really basic metaphysical “lies”: our concepts of identity, of cause and effect, even abstractions like lines and planes. They don’t correspond with reality, but we literally couldn’t live without them. Truth and life are incompatible values. I think the same might be true of the metaphysical lies (no offense) referred to in Robert’s last paragraph (of course Nietzsche would disagree on those). You can have a reasonable life without those metaphysical lies, but not the best kind of life.
That said, I personally lack the integrity or wisdom or whatever it is that’s needed to embrace these life-affirming beliefs. I can admire Robert’s choice but I can’t make it myself. I’ve been an atheist since I was old enough to think about these things. I’m just stuck there, not able to embrace any other faith.
Randy (and high profile sceptics in general) may come as phony, but i don’t see anything wrong with scepticism itself. People believe in a lot of weird shit and never stop to think whether the shit they believe has any basis.
I agree. Well Randi has made an offer of a million dollars to anyone that can credibly prove under scientific conditions anything we regard as paranormal or psychic. Nobody has yet claimed the prize.
I would love to live in the world of mystery that Robert desires, but if such thing as parapsychology exists, it would be nice if one of them would prove it. Simply guess the next number in a deck of cards beyond what would be randomly expected, then walk away with a free million dollars. Why hasn’t one person on planet earth been able to do this?
I believe that his offer is rigged if I am not mistaken. Because otherwise the offer would have been claimed. For instance, there have already been a number of studies that appeared that the “feeling of being watched” is in fact real. It’s just that the skeptics don’t like them. The CIA and the USSR conducted research into ESP for decades. The conclusion was that the effect is real, but only some people have it, and the effect is small.
I’ve had a couple of ESP experiences myself. My Mom has had them too. They’re not the sort of thing that you could tease out in a study, that’s the problem.
I guess the problem is that I know people who had ESP experiences. I have had one or two myself. We had a well known haunted house near us, a hotel. Many reasonable people saw the ghosts. The feeling of being watched is well known and I believe in it. I know people who can tell a friend is going to call before they do. Chiropractic helped my back. B12 shots made me less tired. Eyebright herb works for my eyes. Anti-candida therapy helped me and everyone I know who took it. Robitussin helps my cough. My near blind friend could smell sick people and see colors in feel strong heat in people.
Randi and the scientistics say that this is all crap and lies. Fuck James Randi.
I go with what I and my friends experience, not some stupid study. If it works, it works. If I experience it, it’s real. And not everything is testable anyway.
OTOH, I am basically a science minded person myself.
My mother and grandmother each had experiences with what they called ghosts, though I’m not certain that’s what they were. I used to dream that family members were going to die about a month before they did. That stopped when I became a teenager.
Re: “the feeling one is being watched.” I used to sometimes look out of my 2nd-floor office window into the eyes of people coming in from the parking lot, to see if and how they reacted. I could see them, but they could not see me. If they were alone and undistracted, nearly half of the people would immediately become uneasy and start to look around. A few would look directly back into my eyes even though they could not see me. There was something a bit sinister about the ones who looked back.
Huge thumbs up for both chiropractic and herbal medicine. In Germany, doctors prescribe medicinal herbs–supposedly, one in three prescribed meds in Germany is herbal (don’t know the source, but I’ve seen this factoid more than once recently). Lots of German herbal formulas sell very well here (e.g. Perika, Kira, Kwai, Ginkoba, others) because they are well-researched re: proper dosing and standardization for the right effective components. The U.S. ought to be doing the same. I blame big Pharma.
“I used to sometimes look out of my 2nd-floor office window…”
I’d say that’s an extremely refined people detection/threat module ability. Or “subconscious” visual recognition of where people are located and what they are doing.
My sense of it is that we emit something (?) along our line of sight that some people can detect.
I have wondered if Autistic people, who are very sensitive to eye contact, are especially sensitive to whatever it is. My autistic son will yell at me to stop watching him when I am e.g. looking at the back of his head from across the room. Autistics have been shown to have fight-or-flight responses to all eye contact, whoever it comes from and whatever the context.
Other primates can be very touchy about eye contact–don’t know about that “eyes in the back of the head” phenomenon though!
I’m at least somewhat skeptical about a lot of these things (not global warming though–I’m not an idiot), but I’m still willing to be convinced otherwise. I’m even undecided about UFOs despite having once seen what appeared to be four flying saucers. I don’t believe I was seeing things, but I make no assumptions about what they actually were.
About everything I really really do care if it’s the truth, even if the truth isn’t what I hoped for. (There’s joy, wonder, mystery and glory in those atoms, molecules and particles too.)
Even as a kid I never believed in Santa, the tooth fairy, imaginary friends, or monsters under the bed. Though nowadays I actually do believe in things like angels and demons and even consider myself a born-again Christian (albeit still a non-church-goer). It took what could be considered two miracles to convince me to take that leap of faith. God knows I tend to be a skeptic.
(There’s joy, wonder, mystery and glory in those atoms, molecules and particles too.)
I agree. Good noble atoms have been vilified to no end.
I know for many years James Randi’s nemesis was Uri Geller. And he was hell bent on proving that his spoon bending was trickery. I’ve heard from people I totally trust say they saw Geller bend a key by gently stroking it and that he wasn’t faking. I’d like to see it myself to know for sure.
I believe that the consensus is that this guy is a fraud as far as telekinesis goes anyway. It’s not been yet proven that he was really bending any of those spoons. Apparently it was some sort of magic trick.
“I’m a Christian. I’m sure Randi thinks that’s evil.”
I would not believe you but we are talking about Christianity in America which is a fake Christianity and is really anti-Christ heresy with its rapture nonsense and devotion to the Jews and Israel.
Robert what do you think about Ayn Rand.
Her movement is getting a lot of attention now especially in the conservative movement in the US and the major think tanks, tea party, politicians and media are promoting Ayn Rand, her book Atlas Shrugged and her philosophy.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was a follower of Ayn Rand.
CIA worm Buckley on Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand on Israel and the Middle East
“Robert what do you think about Ayn Rand”
*BARF*
The fact that anyone pays attention to her garbage is proof that american has a big problem with sucking balls. The randian world is the world of ghetto blacks.
The randian world is the world of ghetto blacks.
Interesting observation. This fellow is basically Howard Roark:
[i]The randian world is the world of ghetto blacks.[/i]
Can you elaborate? It sounds like an odd idea.
“Can you elaborate? It sounds like an odd idea.”
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/08/02/ayn-rand%E2%80%99s-superman-a-serial-killer-and-rapist/
” Her diaries from that time, while she worked as a receptionist and an extra, lay out the Nietzschean mentality that underpins all her later writings. The newspapers were filled for months with stories about serial killer called William Hickman, who kidnapped a 12-year-old girl called Marion Parker from her junior high school, raped her, and dismembered her body, which he sent mockingly to the police in pieces. Rand wrote great stretches of praise for him, saying he represented “the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. … Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should.” She called him “a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy,” shimmering with “immense, explicit egotism.” Rand had only one regret: “A strong man can eventually trample society under its feet. That boy [Hickman] was not strong enough.””
I think this gives you a pretty good idea about Rand’s “thought”. The only part I dislike is when this author call Rand “Nitzchean”. I can’t agree with that. I think Nietzche would have found Rand to be repulsive. Rand was just another moron who distorted and abused his ideas.
Granted also, the guy who is being talked about in this passage was probably white. My main point is that the Randian world is not some paradise that could be. It already exists in almost every different type of hellhole filled with sociopathic morons. Lafleur’s clips demonstrates this quite well. So do the worst black ghettos.
what a prude. What’s the fuss about her then?
“What’s the fuss about her then?”
Becuase she literally has a cult following called “objectivists”. Hopefully, modern objectivists will take their cue from Jim Jones and company.
Ayn Rand is the Antichrist. You’re not really allowed to defend her on here too much, ok?
@Robert Lindsay
Her novel Atlas Shrugged is said to be the biggest selling novel of all time and is considered a masterpiece in writing.
America is the anti-Christ and the NWO which the Randian philosophy is promoted and incorporated into the American establishment.
Anything Britain and America promotes whither it be liberalism, Communism, free market, Ayn Rand, Open Society, etc. has a NWO anti-Christ agenda behind it.
Ayn Rand philosophy seems to match Karl Popper/George Soros Open Society which are both philosophical movement born from the anti Stalinist Communism of the 30’s and after WW2.
I wonder if Ayn Rand factored into Poppers philosophical development of his Open Society.
It’s not a good book and it is not very well written either. It’s crap and so is she and all of her slimy followers.
@Robert Lindsay
What is the story about in Atlas Shrugged?
It would be good if you did a piece on Ayn Rand.
The Tea Party are Ayn Rand followers and through the Libertarian movement which seems to be heavily Ayn Rand influenced like Ron Paul are gearing it up as a new third party alternative or a new Conservative movement to project US imperialism under the guise of soft power like using Islamic mercenaries like we do in Chechnya and in Bosnia and Kosovo trained in private security companies linked to western intelligence and US military bases instead of using the US military.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/84302/thread/1297985567/last-1297986586/Articles+of+London+based+Chechen+training+camps+in+the+US
Ayn Rand institute videos.
Atlas Shrugged and the Tea Party Revolts
Why Businessmen Love Atlas Shrugged
To Francois Trembley
James Randi has more class in one of his fingernails than you ever will. Let’s face it, you have this irrational hatred for Randi because he’s a homosexual and you’re a Christian bigot. It’s homophobia, pure and simple.
You are the first to bring up Randi’s sexuality…. Rob didn’t mention it at all in his article….. he is more like a new testament commie Christian and doesn’t give a crap if you put your weenie into another man’s mouth or anus so long as it’s consensual and the guy is an adult.
Robert, I tend to stay off of the numerous other interesting posts you have simply because there isn’t enough time in the day . . . Your “Language Families” thread is an excellent example, I could ride that vibe for as long as Paul West does a metaphor . . . But I am contravening myself here in order to offer my humble two p. I, for one, have always been grateful for Randi’s willingness to expose cheesy channellers, sophistic spoon-benders, and flaky floaters as well as other specimens from that grotty grab-bag of con artistes our increasingly utilitarian world culture manufactures in ever increasing numbers. But I must confess to being puzzled by his placing Global Warming in his crosshairs, is he just seeking attention, what?? But whatever one’s opinion there a larger reality looms, to wit: Global Warming, or AGW, or, as it should actually be referenced, Global Climatic Chaos(GCC), is quite frighteningly real and a degree in any one — or many — of the scientific disciplines isn’t necessary to understand this. Climategate has, by and large, been discredited, while anyone with a functioning head atop their shoulders should be able to recognise through simple personal experience the ever more rapidly occurring climatic extremes that are in the process of subsuming the day-in and day-out pattern of climatic ‘routine’. In response, the bogtrotters unflinchingly haul out and put on parade their favorite straw man — ” . . . the naturally occurring cycles of nature.”, a fallacy so flimsy that it would be laughable were not the consequences of this particular suspension of disbelief so shattering. That this bromide never fails to find an audience perhaps even more so. But then, our capacity, yea, even willingness, to participate in own demise seems to know no bounds . . . Cheers!