Wednesday, October 29, 2014
James Randi TED Talk and pseudo science
Respond to the James Randi TED Talk we watched at the end of class below. Remember keep your comments in a discussion format. Disagreement is necessary, inevitable and encouraged, but keep it civil and impersonal. You're disagreeing with ideas, not people. Boom.
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Well.....I think that some mediums are real. My evidence: Long island medium. Teresa Caputo gives info that only someone who can communicate with the dead can know. Yes there are some fakes but if you watch the show, she is real. James Randi does have a point with the whole “did their name begin with a J?" but possibly the connection is weak. Maybe when we die we only speak in cryptic messages. Idk. But lots of people claim to see ghosts. Surely those accounts aren't all fake.
ReplyDeleteI too disagree. I think we can't trust television. There are so many special effects and things that people will do to get high ratings. I have watched the show once. She was on a cruise or something. She did exactly what James Randi said: general statements and that first letter of your name thing. I just don't believe it's real. I would need mediums/psychics to tell me something only I or the person would know.
DeleteI agree with Durrell here. Television has too many tricks and deceptions in it and cannot be used as a reliable source for information in most cases. Seeing as we are not witnessing her full sessions and practices ourselves, we can only draw conclusions with indirect observations as evidence. We do not really know what is going on behind the scenes. I have also seen the show, and I have witnessed her fishing for information, saying things such as "I sense some pain, as if there was a recent death." A person seeing a psychic would often go due to being troubled by something such as a death. It is not difficult to draw the conclusion that someone died. The grieving participant in the reading will provide most of the information for the "psychic", whom will only provide affirmation, and will rarely, if ever contradict the views of the person being read.
DeleteI disagree with Jalicia, I think communicating with the dead is impossible. Just because it is on television doesn't make it real. Also, people profiting off of these scams that are performed with pseudoscience need to be stopped as Randi suggested
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I guess you could say I play both sides of the fence. I am an occasional watcher of Long Island Medium with Teresa Caputo, BUT its not for the sake of observing her pseudoscience ways. In fact, I don't believe in pseudoscience concepts whatsoever. There is a lack of evidence to fully reason out the ideas, such as meditation, communication with the dead, feng shui, etc. I also, intuitively, feel as if though this is not right. I really just believe that it is the gullibility humans have to believe in things they are told. We are told since we are children that we need to listen to what we are told. I think it is because of this I fell for everyone of Randi's tricks, whether it be the spectacles, microphone, or sleeping pills. I agree with Moises on the point that the people profiting off of these schemes need to be stopped. It is rather sad to think about innocent people investing precious money into a 20 minute session that may not even have any effect in their lives. Yet, in the same sense, I guess if they fell for the trick to begin with, they must deal with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I just wanted to throw in a psychology term. The Barnum effect says a sucker is born every minute. This also means we take generalizations and make them personal.
DeleteI agree with you Durrell, but I don't think that people who rely on mediums are necessarily always gullible to the point of stupidity- often they chose to visit a psychic or medium when they are emotionally vulnerable and desperate for some sort of reassurance, so it is easier for them to be manipulated (and in their desperation they "take generalizations and make them personal", as Durrell said). I don't really see the benefit in psuedo-science because it is just that- fake science. I think that taking advantage of people when their judgement may be clouded due to a traumatic event is at best cold and deceitful, so I agree with Moises, this form of exploitation should be ended as soon as possible.
DeleteI agree with Christina, but I would also like to add that most people who go to psychics or mediums, and pay for a 20 minute session, do it out of a need for reassurance, as Amanda pointed out. I believe that they may not necessarily be gullible, rather, they want to believe the psychic even though they may have a pre-existing notion of a lack of credibility for psychics. They take comfort in the way that the psychic claims that their deceased loved one is resting in peace, and this lowers their sense of grievance. They come back in a slightly happier mood than the one they went in with. However; it is a scam, either way you look at it, but it isn't a total loss on the "victim's" side. The "victims" may come out happier than before. These sessions could be compared to those given by therapists after a traumatic experience in a sense; they have the same affect on the person, but they have different ways of achieving this effect. Psychics approach it through deception, while therapists approach it through communication. This is why one could debate on whether or not this is an honest way of earning a living.
DeleteI think that the video brought to light the idea that these people who can "talk to the dead" are really just making general statements that they try to make stick and apply to the "victims" situation thus giving them a false credibility. However because some people do not notice this approach they believe in this "supernatural ability" that is advertised.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that this video teaches us to think twice about what we trust and entrust with our money. I believe that if we do not think things through, and weigh the situation, we can be fooled just as easily as the people described by Randi. I also believe that this concept applies to our own persona beliefs, and if we are not solidly resolved upon the foundation of our core beliefs, then we will be more easily swayed by others who may convince us of something ridiculous.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Kamal in the sense that Randi's skepticism about several pseudoscience techniques are very relatable and plausible. I also enjoyed how Rand was able to tie this in with ethics and the morals people are lacking when they are so cunning and deceiving as to trick people into buying these pills and other materials that can make people's lives "better."
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