Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!math.arizona.edu!news.Arizona.EDU!skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu!lippard From: lipp...@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu (James J. Lippard) Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,alt.paranormal,alt.paranet.skeptic Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: Riley's Project Alpha claims Followup-To: sci.skeptic,alt.paranormal,alt.paranet.skeptic Date: 12 Jan 1994 15:26 MST Organization: University of Arizona Lines: 95 Distribution: world Message-ID: <12JAN199415260723@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu> References: <2gvq5v$amd@pipeline.com> <11JAN199421105931@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41 In article , du...@pogo.den.mmc.com (Rick Duffy) writes... >Where can I find more information on this "Project Alpha" thing (I >don't know what it is). "Project Alpha" was a hoax devised by Randi to test parapsychologists. He had two teenaged magicians, Steve Shaw and Mike Edwards, pose as psychics and arrange to be tested by the McDonnell Lab, which had just opened as a parapsychology lab in St. Louis. Shaw and Edwards were believed to be genuine psychics, and a presentation about them was given at the Parapsychological Association--at which most parapsychologists present were *not* taken in. I believe Randi himself suggested controls to the McDonnell Lab, which were imposed and Shaw and Edwards ceased to produce results. The McDonnell Lab published nothing about them, but two other psi researchers, Berthold Schwarz and Walter Uphoff, did. (The latter was quoted in a _National Enquirer_ story touting one of the "psychics.") Randi then revealed the hoax publicly, and awarded a "straight spoon" to McDonnell Lab director Peter Phillips for taking his advice. (This award was listed in Randi's 1982 "Uri" award press release, but not mentioned in the list of awards published by either _Omni_ or the _Skeptical Inquirer_, which led to the letter from Thalbourne in _SI_ cited below.) A number of parapsychologists were annoyed by Alpha, and made the kinds of criticisms which may be found in the articles by Truzzi listed below. Anonymous (1983a) Skeptical eye: Psychic Abscam. @I(Discover) 4(March):10,12. Anonymous (1983b) Response to letter from Peter Phillips. @I(Discover) 4(May):100. Chalmers, J.H. (1983-84) Unnoticed irony of Alpha. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):187-188. Cherfas, J. (1983) The Amazing Randi hoodwinks the spoonbenders. @I(New Scientist) 97(3 February):287. Collins, H. (1983) Magicians in the laboratory: A new role to play. @I(New Scientist) 98(30 June):929-931. Frazier, K., editor (1981) @I(Paranormal borderlands of science). Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus. --- (1982) From Rand to the Pentagon: This year's Uri awards. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 7(1, Fall):11-12. --- (1983a) Uri awards: A straight spoon joins three bent ones in '83. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Fall):9-10. --- (1983b) Correction. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Fall):96. --- (1983-84) The editor responds. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):188. ---, editor (1986) @I(Science confronts the paranormal). Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus. Gardner, M. (1983) Lessons of a landmark PK hoax. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 7(4, Summer):16-19. In Frazier (1986), pp. 166-169. --- (1983-84a) Magicians in the psi lab: Many misconceptions. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):111-116. In Frazier (1986), pp. 170-175. --- (1983-84b) Martin Gardner replies. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):187. Joyce, C. (1983) Now you see it, now you don't. @I(New Scientist) 100(17 November):523-524. McBurney, D.H. and Greenberg, J.K. (1980) Downfall of a would-be psychic. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 5(1, Fall):61-62. In Frazier (1981), pp. 148-149. Phillips, P.R. (1983) Randi's hoax. @I(Discover) 4(May):100. Pinch, T.J. (1983-84) Project Alpha: Preliminary only? @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):186. Pinch, T.J. and Collins, H.M. (1984) Private science and public knowledge: The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Claims of the Paranormal and its use of the literature. @I(Social Studies of Science) 14:521-546. Randi, J. (1981) Innocent "psychics". @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 5(3, Spring):78. --- (1982a) Last word. @I(Omni) 4(May):154. --- (1982b) Extrasensory deception: The strange story of the professor and the psychic. @I(Games) 6(September):58-59. --- (1983a) The Project Alpha experiment: Part 1. The first two years. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 7(Summer):24-33. In Frazier (1986), pp. 158-165. --- (1983b) The Project Alpha experiment Part 2. Beyond the laboratory. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Fall):36-45. --- (1983c) Psience research. @I(New Scientist) 99(28 July):300. --- (1983-84) James Randi replies. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):186-187. --- (1984-85) James Randi responds. @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 9(Winter):188. Thalbourne, M.A. (1984-85) Phillips's "Straight Spoon". @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 9(Winter):187-188. Truzzi, M. (1983) Trickery in the name of science. @I(Omni) 5(May):117. --- (1983-84) Project Alpha: Sabotage? @I(Skeptical Inquirer) 8(Winter):187. --- (1987b) Reflections on "Project Alpha": Scientific experiment or conjurer's illusion? @I(Zetetic Scholar) 12/13(August):73-98. Jim Lippard Lipp...@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Dept. of Philosophy Lipp...@ARIZVMS.BITNET University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 [Missing from this bibliography was Michael A. Thalbourne, "Science Versus Showmanship: A History of the Randi Hoax," _The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research_, Vol. 89, October 1995, pp. 344-366, online at: http://www.aiprinc.org/para-c05_Thalbourne_1995.pdf Thalbourne's paper had apparently been circulating at the time I wrote my bibliography, but I wasn't aware of it, and it wasn't published until the following year. (Note added 5 February 2013.)]