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Challenge solved: ‘Randi owes me $1 million’
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 UNITED STATES. Arch sceptic James Randi’s most recent stunt to “disprove” the existence of paranormal powers has sensationally failed.
As part of his $1 million offer to the first person to provide him with convincing, testable proof of supernatural powers, Randi had set up a remote viewing challenge involving the contents of a special sealed box held at his educational foundation’s offices in Florida.
But two cryptographers have correctly identified the object inside the box as a DVD or CD and – tongue in cheek – have told Randi that either a money order or certified cheque for $1 million will be acceptable.
The good news for Randi is that Matt Blaze (above) who solved the challenge, along with Jutta Degener, is a fan of Randi and has no intention of claiming the prize. He also came up with the answer not by remote viewing across 1,000 miles from the Penn Engineering faculty in Philadelphia, where he is an associate professor of Computer and Information Science, but by using his mental powers to decipher a cryptic clue published by Randi.
 The problem for publicity-seeking challenges like Randi’s is that they rely to a large degree on trust. But psychics don’t trust the American magician and he disbelieves their claims.
So, when Randi (left) hid something in a box at the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) in Fort Lauderdale, there would inevitably be those who would expect him to cheat by denying even correct remote visions of the box’s contents, perhaps by switching them before opening the box.
To overcome such allegations and be able to prove the challenge was fair, Randi decided in January to publish an encoded description of the box’s secret contents:
0679
4388
66/27
5-14
It took Blaze and Degener only a short while to suspect – or, they say, “if you prefer, we had a divine inspiration” – that the first 10 digits might represent the ISBN number of a published book. An Internet search confirmed it was for the 1995 edition of the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary.
When the cryptographers eventually obtained a copy, they turned to page 275 (/27 5) and counted up 14 lines from the bottom (-14), where they discovered a description of a compact disc.
The not-so-amazing Randi had failed to realise that gifted cryptographers might be more successful than the psychics he was challenging and who, by and large, treat his various contests with contempt.
Randi’s encoded description – cryptographers call it a “commitment function” – proved to be reversible, which was why Blaze and Degener were able to crack it. But they also point out that it was subject to “collisions”, by which they mean it could be interpreted in different ways.
For example, instead of counting 14 lines from the bottom of page 275, they (or Randi) could have claimed that it referred to the first column, fourth entry on that page, in which case the object in the box would have been the Communist Manifesto instead of a compact disc.
In other words, Randi could have been accused of exploiting this ambiguity.
It is claimed on the JREF forum website that Randi’s remote viewing challenge was only aimed at well-known remote viewer Ed Dames and seven colleagues. Even so, had the encoded message been solved by an unscrupulous cryptographer who, in turn, contacted Ed Dames and told him the answer, and if Dames decided to teach Randi a lesson by using the information, instead of remote viewing, then Randi could be $1 million worse off right now.
If nothing else, this episode proves how futile Randi’s challenges are and how sloppy the protocols are that he tries to impose. It astonishes many parapsychologists that his sceptical reputation is largely built on such shaky foundations.
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Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Category: Paranormal
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