A documentary about the claims and scrutiny of Derek Ogilvie. Extraordinary People: The Million Dollar Mind Reader | Watch Free Documentary Online
the kids are looking at him like, "this makes more sense than everything else in my life" and the adults are like, "what the hell is this a troll?"
He seems rather mental to me. I don't think he is lying about seeing images or hearing shit, i just dont think it is the baby, it is all in his head as proven by the first 2 tests he completely failed.
interesting. I would agree that the tests were a bit tilted for him to fail but then again that's the point I think. Of course I can think of other ways to test if he's telling the truth without him being so far out of his element (giving the kids pictures of their parents in the first test might have helped while keeping the ability to do a "cold reading" away). I like James Randi but he always comes off as biased. Not that that's a bad thing but I think you can doubt that people have these abilities and then you can be cold to them. I think he's overly cold toward people that make these claims, i think that's why most don't take up his challenge. There's always an emotional part to these "abilities" and I think James always puts people off when they go to take his test. Of course it's not like James doesn't have any stake in disproving people either, after all 17 years of it and the super-skeptic is still going strong. I hope this guy keeps trying Randi's test but I'm willing to bet that Randi has something that says they only get one try or some other stipulation like that. There's always something behind the scenes when people are that skeptical and have that much stock in proving people wrong.
I would mostly disagree. The tests he went through were very basic double-blind psychological experiments; the kind that most psych students learn in their first year of lectures. Any kind of improvements or experimental ratification was sure not offered by the participant. I think Derek is extremely self-deluded and was simply trying to offer his logical gymnastics on why he performed no better than sheer chance. Well first off, anybody who undergoes the Randi Million Dollar challenge (which has since been retired) has mutually agreed upon the conditions of the experiment. I think the whole 'emotional coldness' was just derek grasping at straws. He realized in the first experiment that his abilities might indeed be cold reading, so he needed a rationale in the next couple of days of why he wouldn't be able to perform. Not only does he pick a strongly subjective qualitative environmental factor to blame his lack of ability, but we also forget that the child that was picked, was picked by Derek, based on their ability to communicate telepathically and to have a good report. Even with all that, you expect, if he did has SOME powers, that he would at least get slightly better than sheer chance. Not 9 out of 10, not 6 out of 10, not even 4 out or 10, but maybe 2 or 3 would have me consider the possibility. Actually quite the opposite. Randi, in the last couple years, addressed letters to Sylvia Browne. She turned down the challenge claiming that her powers will not work for her own greed (despite how it seems to finance her entire lifestyle, that fraud), so Randi retorted that she should claim the prize (with ease, should he claims be truthful), and donate the money to charity. Randi could stand to make much more than a million dollars by being the first publisher of peer-reviewed and documented paranormal abilities. If we're gonna to attack a character, and appeal to base desires, then we should at least do so in a way that considers the biggest cash-in, which would be headbutting scientific paradigm with irrefutable evidence.
Also i think randi was a bit mental offering 1 million dollars for a 1/6000 chance of getting it right
I should say the test itself I didn't have a problem with, it covered all it should have. I just think the way he greeted him and ignored calling the guy by his first name and the way he just generally ignored him other than to tell him were to go and what to do. A very clinical personality, which isn't required for the test. I could see how, if your claimed ability has a emotional connection to it, that would affect how well it works. But your correct, he also didn't offer any changes to the test so that it wouldn't be as bad and still be a good test, but also remember these people aren't usually scientists and I doubt they would know what a good test is. It was very clear that Derek does have a good ability to control a situation and achieve what he wants, I just looked at the test to see if there was any other way it could be tested and have less direct impact on changing the scenario, it's easy to prevent the cold reading part but can you leave the rest of the interactions in tact (as in the child being comfortable because their parents are right there with them. I realize I'm nit picking the test apart but I think if there is any way we can improve a test I think it should be done. That's why there is peer review in all the science papers I think just because no one's gotten a positive result yet means we should still try and improve the tests. Again I think just giving out pictures during the first two tests would have changed the results if only a 2/10 instead of 1/10. The point being even if you don't agree with it there is a way to alleviate the concern that he had and still maintain the testing standards. There is plenty of evidence that with visual aids people can have a better or worse experience. Edward Casey said he had to stop "using" his abilities because he was getting sick from "people using it to get rich/selfish reasons" so she is not the first to try and make that claim. But again that isn't dealing with the test so it's nothing we can do about it. Sure he would stand to make a ton of money from it but he also knows it would have to go through all the normal checks to see if his results are true or if there was some flaw in his testing. I meant my comment as Randi just always comes off as if he is annoyed that people keep making these claims and then don't want to take his test to prove themselves true. It's as if he's calling them a douche bag and then saying, 'Come over here so I can prove you wrong.' Not exactly a tester you want to have when your trying to prove your livelihood, whither they are frauds or not.