"Reality Sick" - James Randi, the rationalist magician has passed away

Carl Sagan dedicated a section to him in his latest book "A Haunted World". The things he wrote then are still true today. In memory of James Randi

The magician James Randi who died a few days ago was perhaps the number one skeptic in the world, at least since the death of the astronomer Carl Sagan. In memory of Randy, we bring quotes from the reference to him in Carl Sagan's last book "A World Haunted by Demons - The Science of a Fiddler in Alta" published by Sefrit Ma'ariv in 1997, translated by Emanuel Lotem, scientifically edited by Miki Elazar.

In episode 13 entitled "Reality Sick" Sagan describes a "hoax" on a massive scale that James Randi carried out for the Australian media network ABC

In 1988, Australia's mass media began receiving important news stories, press kits and videotapes. One of the messages reads: "Carlos is going to perform in Australia".

In the same press file it was also written: "Whoever saw him will never forget it. The brilliant young artist suddenly failed in the middle of his speech; His pulse slows down to the point of danger, and literally stops on the brink of death. The skilled nurse present at the scene, who was tasked with monitoring his condition, is about to call for help."

"But then, in a heart-wrenching burst, the pulse is felt again - faster and stronger than before. The life force has clearly returned to the body - but the entity inside the body is no longer Jose Luis Alvarez, the 19-year-old young man whose unique colorful ceramics have been purchased by many of America's wealthiest. Instead the body was taken over by Carlos, an ancient soul, whose gospel is amazing and inspiring. One entity reached the brink of death, to make room for another: this is the phenomenon that made Carlos, channeled through Jose Luis Alvarez, a new and prominent figure in the consciousness of the new age, even one of the skeptical critics in New York had to admit: "The first and only case of a channeler that presents tangible proof , literally, to a mysterious change in his human physiology."

To be on the safe side, the "organizers" attached to the press file clips in which Alvarez is seen going on stage on Broadway in a magician's performance, as well as quotes he supposedly gave in an interview with the New York radio station WOOP.

When he arrived in Australia, all the TV stations jumped at the opportunity to interview him and already in the interview he entered the character of Carlos.

In the Australian Today program, the interviewer, the host of the program, George Nigos, presented some reasonable and skeptical questions; And then it was discovered how sensitive the people of the New Age are. Carlos cursed the presenter. His promoter threw a glass of water at Nigos. And this as a 'buildup' for the performance. The performance itself eventually took place when the entrance was free and the performance was so convincing that many of those present in the audience said how excited and happy they were.

Needless to say that there is no radio station that uses the WOOP code that the magician, a friend of Randy invited him on stage just to bow in "Carlos" clothes.

The following Sunday, Australia's most popular TV show, ABC's Sixty Minutes, revealed that the entire Carlos affair was a fraud from start to finish. The producers thought it was worth checking how easily it is possible to invent a faith healer or guru who will mislead the public and the media. Therefore, quite naturally, they turned to one of the world's greatest experts on the intricacies of public fraud (that is, apart from those who hold political offices) - the magician James Randi.

Of course, even after the confession there were still many who continued to believe 'Carlos' and claimed that some factor forced the ABC network to fabricate such a confession.

Sagan later writes about Randy: "Scientists are used to dealing with nature, which may be reluctant to reveal its secrets, but maintains the rules of fairness in the struggle. Most of them are completely unable to deal with the uninhibited "paranormals", who play by different rules. The magicians, on the other hand, make a living by holding eyes. They engage in one of those multiple professions - among them theater, advertising, bureaucratic religion and politics - that justify what would be considered a lie in the eyes of the innocent viewer, as if it were an important service for the common good. Some of them use their knowledge to expose charlatans, both within and outside their ranks. Who like a thief is good at catching thieves."

"Not many of the latter face the challenge they have received with enthusiasm and vigor to compare to James "Amazing" Randy, who describes himself as an angry man, and rightly so. He is angry not necessarily at the fact that mysticism and superstitions from before the flood continue to exist in these days, but at those who take advantage of the willingness of many to accept mysticism and superstitions without criticism - for the purposes of fraud, humiliation, and sometimes even murder. Like all of us, he is far from perfect: sometimes Randy shows intolerance and arrogance, and there is no sympathy in his heart for the human frailties that we are so comfortable believing. He is paid for his lectures and appearances, but not at a rate that would be comparable to what he would have received if he had declared that his magic acts stemmed from supernatural powers, or from divine or extraterrestrial inspiration (most professional magicians, all over the world, seem to believe in the reality of psychic phenomena on - natural - according to surveys conducted among them.)

"As a magician, he did a lot to expose remote seers, "telepaths" and faith healers who deceived the public. He demonstrated the simple frauds and deceptions with which psychic spoon-benders heaped upon well-known theoretical physicists, and induced them to believe that they were witnessing a new physical phenomenon.   

(In fact, Randy dedicated years of his life to prove that Geller does not use supernatural powers at all. According to Wikipedia, this caused the end of Geller's career in the US and forced him to move to the UK (and eventually return to Israel AB)

The recognition that the scientists heap on him was expressed in the awarding of the MacArthur Foundation award, known as the "genius award". His critics denounced him as "reality-sick". I wish it were possible to say this about all of our countrymen, about all of our kind."

Randy has been doing more than anyone in recent times to expose fraud and deceit in the faith medicine business that is so prevalent. He rummages through trash cans, reports gossip, listens to the stream of information that one of the itinerant healers "miraculously" picks up - not by spiritual inspiration from above, but by a short-term radio broadcast broadcast to him by his wife behind the scenes. He discovers that those who get up from their wheelchairs and announce that they are cured were never tied to their wheelchairs - one of the ushers asked them to sit in them. He invites government officials to enforce the laws regarding fraud and the illegal practice of medicine. He reprimands the media for avoiding discussing this question. It reveals the deep disdain of faith healers towards patients and their believers. Many of them are clearly charlatans who use evangelical Christianity or the language of the New Age and its symbols to cynically exploit human weaknesses.

By the way, Jose Alvarez was Randy's partner all these years, at a time when homosexuality was illegal. The two were officially married only in 2013. It was a stage name. Alvarez's real name was Dupa Davey Orangel Peña Arteaga. As is known, Randy requested that his body be cremated.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• A demon-haunted world/Homeopathy – medicine of the future or idol medicine?/Galileo
• Who knows, children, what happens if you don't eat?
• Delusions can kill