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demonstrate their abilities. Psi researcher Peter Phillips, publicized their feats, albeit cautiouslyuntil Randi exposed his scheme. |
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Randi's current claim to fame involves his offer of $1 million to anyone who can prove they have psychic powers. Of course, Randi expects the psychic to be tested according to his standards and on his turf, which is likely to involve some pretty negative attitudes and auras. (If you want to contact him for details, his Web page is http://www.randi.org.) |
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Randi, like other skeptics, argues that all psychic demonstrations are actually cleverly concealed tricks. This criticism isn't new. In fact, some of the first scientists to investigate psi were conscientious about inviting magicians to witness the experiments in order to rule out fraud. |
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In 1923, the independent founder of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research in London, Harry Price, performed a series of PK experiments with a young woman of seemingly astounding abilities named Stella Cranshaw. Her séances involved impressive displays, such as levitation of tables and severe drops in temperature, but she soon refused to continue the work. Although Price did much to further psychic research, including inventing machines to measure psi and detect fraud, records after his death suggest he may have engineered a little foul play at Stella Cranshaw's séances. |
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In the mid 1950s, another amazing feat was the ability of a British physician, Dr. Rolf Alexander, to move cumulus clouds. Before beginning a demonstration, he would point out which parts of clouds would separate and rejoin in another formation. And, sure enough, as he concentrated during his four-minute demonstrations, the clouds |
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