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And contrary to popular opinion he was not a skeptic. He wanted to believe things were true, and so went to great lengths to verify the claims.
He was a stage magician and illusionist for years, so he knew all the tricks.
The question now is what happens to the million dollars that was up for grabs for anyone that could prove conclusively their claim?
Interesting that he went to his grave with it still being unclaimed.
that's not really accurate.
he absolutely was a skeptic, and a proponent & popularizer of scientific skepticism. that was the primary goal of the james randi educational foundation. his foundation organized 'the amazing meeting' which is a conference to promote skepticism & critical thinking. he appeared at other skeptic conferences, appeared on skeptic podcasts like 'the skeptics guide to the universe.'
so i think he by definition was a skeptic. his position was what anyone's position ought to be: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
he had great contempt for people who claimed to have powers or abilities & targeted naive or less discerning folks and bilked them out of their money.
james randi vs james popoff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BQKu0YP8Y
randi vs geller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnDHPOWXFVI
God damn. Where the fuck was he with Kenneth Copeland? BLOW THE COVID19 away. He should be bankrupt too.
shareI agree that technically he was a skeptic, but he always came across to me as someone who would be happy to be proved wrong, and gave people making claims the opportunity to do so.
Having worked in magic and illusion for a large part of his life, he knew how to spot fakes and knew how to expose them.