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Originally Posted by TheDragon
That prize is almost as make-believe as those who try to claim it, though. Have you read the criteria required in order to even qualify to be judged? You have to be a member of the media or have something published, and your claim of proof has to be reacted in front of a panel.
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Not a member of the media, but have media exposure. Be (even minimally) famous in other words. This is because they had endless crazy people applying, people that would take years to negotiate a protocol, couldn't understand anything, that sort of thing. So they put in the additional requirements to filter out some of that. It's not difficult to get though, I think they also accept signed affidavits from people in science or education (i.e. a prof).
And the claim has to be done in front of a panel yes, but a panel chosen by both the claimant and the JREF. And the test protocol is decided and agreed upon by both sides with the intent that the result be self evident, i.e. something that it is undeniably a pass or fail and undeniably paranormal.
This is to protect both sides.. so that the claimant can demonstrate their ability and get the prize (the JREF is legally bound to give it) with no ability for the JREF to give excuses, and so the JREF has a clearly defined protocol for the person to meet and they can make sure it's not just some dumb luck thing that wins it (some guy guesses 10 numbers in a row once).
The money is real, the prize is real, and people have applied and been tested, with protocols they themselves designed, and failed.
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There's almost no way to prove "ghosts" are real, because you can't really tell the ghost "Okay, show up here at this time so I can prove to the judges you're real," assuming such is the case. In almost all cases, paranormal activity is sporadic and unpredicted.
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The thing is most people who claim to be able to communicate with
ghosts do it for a reason; to tell the future, to tell people about their families, etc. So while yes I agree unless you have a very reliable ghost who can manifest on cue, proving the existence of
ghosts that way would be difficult. But people who tell the future or do psychic readings with
ghosts are VERY testable. When's the last time you saw a psychic say "you know what, I can't take your $$ today because
ghosts are sporadic and I'm getting nothing today
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Furthermore, should an entry make it pass the preliminary requirements, there's likely a very large panel of judges who can sit there and "prove" that any of the recorded data has been staged, photoshopped, or is a natural phenomenon that debunks it as anything supernatural or abnormal.
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No, the panel is agreed upon by both sides, and the result has to be self evident. So something like a single photo or even a ream of photos wouldn't qualify, that's not the nature of the test.
Remember it's not the "JREF this prize proves there's no paranormal", it's the JREF Paranomral Challenge, i.e. do something paranormal and you win $1 million. So not every claimed paranormal thing is going to be testable by that kind of setup.
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As mentioned before, no science is 100%, not even the stuff we know is real. There's always room for reasonable doubt, and in this case, as long as there is reasonable doubt, nobody will be able to claim the prize.
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Like I said, that's why the protocol has to be designed in a way that no one can question the outcome. If someone can read minds, create a list of 10 random numbers from 1 to 100, have one person think of them, the other person reads their mind and records it. Get a statistically significant number right (9 of 10), win $1 million. Or if you claim to move things with your mind, do so in a controlled environment that removes any trickery (i.e. blowing). Or if you claim to be a medium, provide real accurate information about the subject from a spiritual source without the feedback from cold reading. Etc...
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I'm not picking sides, here... but it really grinds my gears when this gets used as an argument. I don't necessarily believe in ghosts either, but I know for a fact that some things fall under the category of unexplainable, and not even the FBI or Nasa can properly explain them outside of educated guess.
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True, the JREF prize doesn't prove there's no
ghosts, but it is useful to point out to people that they can get $1 million for their abilities.. a put up or shut up kind of thing.
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Originally Posted by Textcritic
By very definition "supernatural" and "paranormal" are completely untestable, are they not? So, in the—in my opinion, very unlikely—event that someone is even able to present a good case of paranormal or supernatural activity, in order for it to pass muster it would necessarily need to be reclassified as a natural phenomenon. This would then disqualify it from contention for the prize money.
All rather silly stuff.
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True, but they can't do that after the fact; if they accept the test challenge and the claimant succeeds then they get the money. And like you say if that then means the definition of reality is changed, all the better, I'm sure they'll be glad to hand it out! What's $1 million compared to a whole new area of science?
