I propose to start an "X-Men school".
I think it might be good for JREF to be involved in the setting up of such a school.
Have you seen this ?
Magnetic man and Magnetic Boy
http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/pmag.htm
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_413344.html
I wonder if it is true or is it fake.
The skeptical approach would be to cask doubt in it. The rational approach might try to seek a logical explanation.
Is this paranormal?
This “Magnetic man/boy” reminds me of “Magneto” in the movie X-Men.
If you have not seen it, I encourage you to do so. You’ll see that the leader of X-men (Xavier), despite his special ability, is a very scientific man.
He teaches the children high level physics in one scene.
In the movie, Dr Xavier, helped the talented “mutants” adapt to life and contribute to society.
I feel we should reach out to young people with special ability. (if there are any)
I suggest for JREF to start an “X-Men” School and Scholarship. And attract all the people who truly have “extra ordinary power”
to develop their talent in an “X-Men valley”.
By granting such talented individual a humble scholarship in science, these talented people will be motivated to contribute to science and critical thinking.
Perhaps the ”magnetic” boy may grow up to be a scientist who will be able to arrive at suitable scientific explanation of his own unique phenomenon.
He can then attempt to impart his skill in a tightly scrutinized school. And if s/he is a poor teacher, then s/he should be treated as just that, poor teacher. S/he should be discredited first for the poor teaching, and then secondly consider the announcement of a lost in ability.
It is tempting to say that if these people truly have “paranormal” or “extraordinary” abilities, there will be plenty of people queuing up to turn their ability into commercially viable and economically sustainable business. But I’m skeptical of the merit of the pure capitalist who see only the short term gain. Much less, the integrity of merchants, with their market-making propaganda machinery.
It is my personal impression that many businesses start on the basis of some truly scientific discovery. This is good. But when later scientific investigation disproved the initial findings, many businesses do not handle it with integrity. Instead of retracting and closing down the business, they invented lies or half-truth to sustain it. And then, after a while, they stop selling what are they originally selling as the core product, and start selling “hope”, “dreams”, “feel-good”, “illusions”.
If we have a big group of people, who have paranormal ability, thinking very critically and scientifically, it would make the task of promoting critical thinking easy. An “X-men” school could help to achieve that.
It is not easy to establish a reputable educational institution. I would trust it to be of the highest standard if it is run by Mr Randi. Establishing the school and scholarship is one task. But winning the hearts of “mutants” (people with special ability as in X-men) over to become proponent of scientific and critical thinking is tougher. It'll need a prominent leader with high integrity and standing.
Mr. Randi while not infallible, do have a strong skeptical strength to ensure the high level of integrity needed.
I think, that if indeed a person has special ability, a profit seeking businesses will abuse and milk them for all their abilities’ worth.
And perhaps to continue to abuse them for their publicity and fame, even after they have lost their ability.
There is a need for people who genuinely have special ability, to be protected and guided.
And I would rather have a scientific and critical thinking community nurture them. Leaving them to the hands of self deluding master, or a profit seeking businesses will ruin their future, delude many others, and make the predatory unscrupulous business person richer.
On the other hand, there might not be anyone who genuinely has paranormal ability.
So at this point, I optimistically think that it should be easy to fund an “X-Men” school and scholarship.
And I hope that we are wrong. I hope that there are many amongst us that truly have special ability. Then we have more chance to advance human knowledge, technology and society.
The “Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge” has done well to show the world the fact about paranormal abilities.
It should remain. But it is time to add new things.
Why not allow winners to have a choice to forgo the million for a humble but stringent scholarship in X-Men school?
It'll be cost effective for JREF.
With the humble scholarship, those who disdain money but value their ability need not compromise their integrity.
It will also mean, that those who rely on the disdain of the million dollars to stay out of the challenge will have no excuse to do so.
This will help place JREF on moral high ground.
I think it might be good for JREF to be involved in the setting up of such a school.
Have you seen this ?
Magnetic man and Magnetic Boy
http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/pmag.htm
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_413344.html
I wonder if it is true or is it fake.
The skeptical approach would be to cask doubt in it. The rational approach might try to seek a logical explanation.
Is this paranormal?
This “Magnetic man/boy” reminds me of “Magneto” in the movie X-Men.
If you have not seen it, I encourage you to do so. You’ll see that the leader of X-men (Xavier), despite his special ability, is a very scientific man.
He teaches the children high level physics in one scene.
In the movie, Dr Xavier, helped the talented “mutants” adapt to life and contribute to society.
I feel we should reach out to young people with special ability. (if there are any)
I suggest for JREF to start an “X-Men” School and Scholarship. And attract all the people who truly have “extra ordinary power”
to develop their talent in an “X-Men valley”.
By granting such talented individual a humble scholarship in science, these talented people will be motivated to contribute to science and critical thinking.
Perhaps the ”magnetic” boy may grow up to be a scientist who will be able to arrive at suitable scientific explanation of his own unique phenomenon.
He can then attempt to impart his skill in a tightly scrutinized school. And if s/he is a poor teacher, then s/he should be treated as just that, poor teacher. S/he should be discredited first for the poor teaching, and then secondly consider the announcement of a lost in ability.
It is tempting to say that if these people truly have “paranormal” or “extraordinary” abilities, there will be plenty of people queuing up to turn their ability into commercially viable and economically sustainable business. But I’m skeptical of the merit of the pure capitalist who see only the short term gain. Much less, the integrity of merchants, with their market-making propaganda machinery.
It is my personal impression that many businesses start on the basis of some truly scientific discovery. This is good. But when later scientific investigation disproved the initial findings, many businesses do not handle it with integrity. Instead of retracting and closing down the business, they invented lies or half-truth to sustain it. And then, after a while, they stop selling what are they originally selling as the core product, and start selling “hope”, “dreams”, “feel-good”, “illusions”.
If we have a big group of people, who have paranormal ability, thinking very critically and scientifically, it would make the task of promoting critical thinking easy. An “X-men” school could help to achieve that.
It is not easy to establish a reputable educational institution. I would trust it to be of the highest standard if it is run by Mr Randi. Establishing the school and scholarship is one task. But winning the hearts of “mutants” (people with special ability as in X-men) over to become proponent of scientific and critical thinking is tougher. It'll need a prominent leader with high integrity and standing.
Mr. Randi while not infallible, do have a strong skeptical strength to ensure the high level of integrity needed.
I think, that if indeed a person has special ability, a profit seeking businesses will abuse and milk them for all their abilities’ worth.
And perhaps to continue to abuse them for their publicity and fame, even after they have lost their ability.
There is a need for people who genuinely have special ability, to be protected and guided.
And I would rather have a scientific and critical thinking community nurture them. Leaving them to the hands of self deluding master, or a profit seeking businesses will ruin their future, delude many others, and make the predatory unscrupulous business person richer.
On the other hand, there might not be anyone who genuinely has paranormal ability.
So at this point, I optimistically think that it should be easy to fund an “X-Men” school and scholarship.
And I hope that we are wrong. I hope that there are many amongst us that truly have special ability. Then we have more chance to advance human knowledge, technology and society.
The “Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge” has done well to show the world the fact about paranormal abilities.
It should remain. But it is time to add new things.
Why not allow winners to have a choice to forgo the million for a humble but stringent scholarship in X-Men school?
It'll be cost effective for JREF.
With the humble scholarship, those who disdain money but value their ability need not compromise their integrity.
It will also mean, that those who rely on the disdain of the million dollars to stay out of the challenge will have no excuse to do so.
This will help place JREF on moral high ground.
