By Gary P. Posner
Flim-Flam?!?
This is my first in a series of "Skeptically Speaking" columns
for Tampa Bay Mensa's newsletter, "The Sounding," relating to my
activities as Coordinator of the "Skeptics"
Member-to-Member Service for my fellow Mensans, and as founder of the
Tampa Bay
Skeptics. While my next column will deal more directly with
those two hot potatoes, I prefer now to get right to some Mensa
meat.
James "The Amazing" Randi, who resides in Florida, is a world-renowned conjurer. The author of such books as "The Truth
About Uri Geller," "The Faith Healers," and most recently "The
Mask of Nostradamus," Randi in 1986 was awarded a MacArthur
Foundation "genius grant" for his decades of investigating and
debunking paranormal claims. In his 1982 book "Flim-Flam," Randi
had the following to say about Mensa:
Randi then went on to briefly discuss such Mensa Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) as "Psychic Science," which is still in
operation. Other current pro-paranormal SIGs and Services
include another "Parapsychology" group, as well as those devoted
to "Astrology," "Fortean Mysteries," "Pagan/Occult/Witchcraft,"
"Spiritual Healing," and "UFOs," among others.
Randi noted that "The lead article in the April 1978 Mensa
Bulletin was entitled 'Psi-Q Connection' and asked the pregnant
question, 'Is there a psychic component to IQ?' The author
["Psychic Science" SIG Coordinator] . . . wondered if high IQ scores
could be due to ESP rather than intelligence -- a disturbing
thought indeed for Mensa, which may be composed [if the thesis
is sound] of ordinary folks who cheat and pick up their smarts
from others, a sort of cerebral shoplifting!"
Though I (not being a professional showman) generally employ
less flamboyant rhetoric than does Randi, I am his soulmate with
respect to the argument that, within the arena of science, there
is at present insufficient evidence to justify a belief in the
reality of any of the phenomena enumerated above, or in any
other manifestation of the so-called "paranormal."
Randi has been carrying a $10,000 check in his wallet for about
30 years, and is prepared to hand it over to anyone who can
demonstrate, under proper observing conditions, any paranormal
power whatsoever. Hundreds have tried, and all have failed. Two
years ago the Tampa Bay Skeptics and I issued our own "$1,000
Challenge." But more about that next time.
[1997 Addendum: Randi's
challenge is now worth $1,000,000.]
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"Belief in the paranormal is not restricted to persons of
lesser intellect . . . [but] what surprised me in the extreme was to
find that an organization comprised of the intelligentsia seems
overly committed to this brand of nonsense! The group is known
as Mensa. . . . Like a scalpel that is never put to use by a skilled
hand in a good cause, brainpower is often not put to work."