New German "Randi Prize"

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These German Scientists Will Pay You 10,000 Euros if You Can Prove That You Have Superpowers
September 14th, 2018
Oddity Central

Think you can move small objects using only the power of your brain? Can you find water using a simple divining rod, or maybe just transmit thoughts telepathically? If you can prove your superpowers, a group of scientists in Germany would love to reward you with €10,000 ($11,700).

The Society for the Scientific Investigation of Para-Sciences (GWUP) is a group of German physicists, biologists and psychologists who believe that people who claim to have super-powers like telekinesis, telepathy or divining abilities should not be dismissed as mere charlatans, but actually studied and allowed to prove their abilities in controlled laboratory conditions. Every year, they invite candidates to the University of Würzburg, in Würzburg, Germany, to show off their super-powers and potentially win a cool €10,000 prize. Over 60 people have been tested in recent years, but none of them have been able to claim the coveted prize.

“We’re not here to make people look ridiculous,” says Rainer Wolf, a perceptual researcher and the man who oversees the yearly tests at the University of Würzburg. “We just want to show that many such claims are nonsense.”

Apologies if this story was posted before.

It did appear last week on Mysterious Universe, but apparently based on an out-of-date press report:

Mysterious Universe has a little article on a cheapskate German version of Randi's Prize, with a link to a Google Translate version of a news report on one claimant:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/09/w...per-power/

MU calls the organisation offering the prize "The Society for the Scientific Investigation of Para-Sciences", though Googe Translate interprets it as "Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasitic Sciences". Their website has the subtitle, "Die Skeptiker" and a large picture of Randi on the main page. Apparently the challenge has now grown to 50,000 Euros, and is aimed specifically at homeopathy. The probability of succeeding by chance seems to be about 2x10^-9.

I really appreciate challenges like this, I think they set the right precedent of "put up or shut up".

For those who think it's arrogant or unscientific or whatever keep in mind challenges just like this exist in pretty much every other area of science, especially engineering. I.e the old darpa autonomous vehicle challenge that I'm not sure still runs.

I really appreciate challenges like this, I think they set the right precedent of "put up or shut up".

For those who think it's arrogant or unscientific or whatever keep in mind challenges just like this exist in pretty much every other area of science, especially engineering. I.e the old darpa autonomous vehicle challenge that I'm not sure still runs.

Obviously it depends on the conditions of the challenge.

If I understand correctly, the conditions of the Randi Prize would have disallowed the kind of laboratory studies that are generally used in experimental parapsychology - in which statistical evidence of a relatively weak effect is accumulated by running a large number of trials.

Certainly that kind of challenge can be useful in testing people who claim to have some kind of dramatic psychical powers that can be exercised at will. It's fair to cite the fact that no one ever won the Randi Prize as evidence against claims like that. But it's nonsensical to make that argument against the existence of the weaker psi effects for which lab experiments provide prima facie evidence.

Obviously it depends on the conditions of the challenge.

If I understand correctly, the conditions of the Randi Prize would have disallowed the kind of laboratory studies that are generally used in experimental parapsychology - in which statistical evidence of a relatively weak effect is accumulated by running a large number of trials.

Certainly that kind of challenge can be useful in testing people who claim to have some kind of dramatic psychical powers that can be exercised at will. It's fair to cite the fact that no one ever won the Randi Prize as evidence against claims like that. But it's nonsensical to make that argument against the existence of the weaker psi effects for which lab experiments provide prima facie evidence.

I understand there were other problems with the Randi test.  Eg. You couldn't take anybody else or any recording equipment with you or take legal action or make a public complaint if you felt you were wrongly treated or the test wasn't carried out fairly.  The contract was heavily biased.  Randi made sure there could be no comebacks!

For a critical account of the Randi prize:

https://www.dailygrail.com/2008/02/the-m...challenge/

For anyone who is not familiar with Randi, this piece from the Daily Telegraph should be informative (even for those who have heard of Randi).

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film...nkers.html

For a critical account of the Randi prize:

https://www.dailygrail.com/2008/02/the-m...challenge/

For anyone who is not familiar with Randi, this piece from the Daily Telegraph should be informative (even for those who have heard of Randi).

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film...nkers.html

I'm sure Randi is a tricky customer, and there were other unfair aspects of the prize than the huge odds against chance required for success.

But I find it very difficult to believe that the other aspects have thwarted any claimants who would otherwise have won the prize. The Daily Grail article puts the combined odds of the preliminary test and the test proper at 10,000,000 to 1. Does anyone really believe there are people who could produce a demonstration like than, except in the context of a lengthy experimental study?

I'm sure Randi is a tricky customer, and there were other unfair aspects of the prize than the huge odds against chance required for success.

But I find it very difficult to believe that the other aspects have thwarted any claimants who would otherwise have won the prize. The Daily Grail article puts the combined odds of the preliminary test and the test proper at 10,000,000 to 1. Does anyone really believe there are people who could produce a demonstration like than, except in the context of a lengthy experimental study?

YouTube clearly demonstrates there are people whom claim extraordinary ability that do not rely upon statistical analcyst. Are you familiar the man  Basava Premanand? He started the Indian Skeptics. As you may be aware India is a rather mystical society overall. He and his fellow skeptics have roamed India investigating people who claim extraordinary abilities. Though it's been years since I took a look at what they are up to except today they were never able to find one extraordinary individual as far as I've heard.

YouTube clearly demonstrates there are people whom claim extraordinary ability that do not rely upon statistical analcyst. Are you familiar the man  Basava Premanand? He started the Indian Skeptics. As you may be aware India is a rather mystical society overall. He and his fellow skeptics have roamed India investigating people who claim extraordinary abilities. Though it's been years since I took a look at what they are up to except today they were never able to find one extraordinary individual as far as I've heard.

Yes - no doubt people claim extraordinary abilities. I was asking whether people here believed in the existence of the kind of abilities that could produce odds of ten million to one without a lengthy series of experiments.

I'm sure Randi is a tricky customer, and there were other unfair aspects of the prize than the huge odds against chance required for success.

But I find it very difficult to believe that the other aspects have thwarted any claimants who would otherwise have won the prize. The Daily Grail article puts the combined odds of the preliminary test and the test proper at 10,000,000 to 1. Does anyone really believe there are people who could produce a demonstration like than, except in the context of a lengthy experimental study?

In a card-guessing test with a 1 in 5 chance of success, if it was 50 trials long you'd only need 26 correct to get 1,000,000 to 1 odds. If it was 25 trials, you'd need 16. At least one person on here has got 11/25 a few times in those tests, so it seems doable.