Editing James Randi (section)

===Skeptic===
[[File:James_Randi_demonstrating_'psychic_surgery'_on_ITV_series_"James_Randi,_Psychic_Investigator".jpg|thumb|right|Randi using sleight of hand to duplicate "[[psychic surgery]]" on his [[Open Media]] series for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in 1991]]
Randi gained the international spotlight in 1972 when he publicly challenged the claims of [[Uri Geller]]. He accused Geller of being nothing more than a [[charlatan]] and a fraud who used standard magic tricks to accomplish his allegedly paranormal feats, and he presented his claims in the book ''[[The Truth About Uri Geller]]'' (1982).<ref name="Taft" /><ref name="Rensberger">{{cite news|first=Boyce|last=Rensberger|title=Magicians Term Israeli 'Psychic' a Fraud|work=The New York Times|page=29|date=December 13, 1975|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/13/archives/magicians-term-israeli-psychic-a-fraud.html|access-date=July 19, 2020|archive-date=July 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719143137/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/13/archives/magicians-term-israeli-psychic-a-fraud.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="iYmd2">{{cite news|title=God's Chariot! Science Looks at the New Occult|first=Michael|last=Kernan|author-link=Michael Kernan|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 11, 1978}}</ref>

Believing that it was important to get columnists and TV personalities to challenge Geller and others like him, Randi and [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|CSICOP]] reached out in an attempt to educate them. Randi said that CSICOP had a "very substantial influence on the printed media ... in those days."<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|20:05}} During this effort, Randi made contact with [[Johnny Carson]] and discovered that he was "very much on our side. He wasn't only a comedian ... he was a great thinker."<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|21:15}} According to Randi, when he was on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'', Carson broke his usual protocol of not talking with guests before their entrance on stage, but instead would ask what Randi wanted to be emphasized in the interview. "He wanted to be aware of how he could help me."<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|21:30}}

In 1973, Geller appeared on ''The Tonight Show'', and this appearance is recounted in the ''[[Nova (American TV program)|Nova]]'' documentary "[[Secrets of the Psychics]]".<ref name="Secrets" />{{efn|A two-minute clip of this documentary with the Geller segment has been widely circulated on the Internet since Randi acquired permission to use it from NBC, and Carson paid for the expensive and complex transfer from the original, physically degraded, two-inch videotape recording.<ref name="QGmHu">{{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-03/032307hope.html#i9|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090711011032/http%3A//www%2Erandi%2Eorg/jr/2007%2D03/032307hope%2Ehtml#i9| archive-date=July 11, 2009|title=Geller on the Ropes|date=March 30, 2007|access-date=December 22, 2007}}</ref>}}{{efn|James Randi discussed obtaining the clip of Uri Geller on ''The Tonight Show''.}}

In the documentary, Randi says that Carson "had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed [[paranormal]] powers, so before the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery". Per Randi's advice, the show prepared its own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them". When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said "This scares me" and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me." Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying "I don't feel strong" and expressing his displeasure at feeling like he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson.<ref name="Secrets">{{cite episode|last=Charlson|first=Carl|title=[[Secrets of the Psychics]]|date=1993|series=[[Nova (American TV program)|Nova]]|network=PBS|time=8'25"|ref={{harvid|"Secrets of the Psychics"}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Unforgettable Uri Geller Appearance on Carson Tonight Show – 08/01/1973|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD7OgAdCObs|website=YouTube|publisher=Official Johnny Carson YouTube channel|access-date=March 22, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210322185421/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD7OgAdCObs|archive-date=March 22, 2021|date=March 19, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="6ZPaj">{{cite book|title=How We Got Here: The '70s|last= Frum|first= David|author-link=David Frum|year=2000|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|isbn= 978-0465041954|page= 132|url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/132}}</ref> According to Adam Higginbotham's November 7, 2014, article in ''[[The New York Times]]'':<ref name="scientific skeptic1" />
{{blockquote|text=The result was a legendary immolation, in which Geller offered up flustered excuses to his host as his abilities failed him again and again. "I sat there for 22 minutes, humiliated," Geller told me, when I spoke to him in September. "I went back to my hotel, devastated. I was about to pack up the next day and go back to Tel Aviv. I thought, That's it—I'm destroyed."}}

However, this appearance on ''The Tonight Show'', which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham:<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/>
{{blockquote|text=To Geller's astonishment, he was immediately booked on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]''. He was on his way to becoming a paranormal superstar. "That Johnny Carson show made Uri Geller," Geller said. To an enthusiastically trusting public, his failure only made his gifts seem more real: if he were performing magic tricks, they would surely work every time.}}

According to Higginbotham, this result caused Randi to realize that much more must be done to stop Geller and those like him. So in 1976, Randi approached [[Ray Hyman]], a psychologist who had observed the tests of Geller's ability at Stanford and thought them slipshod, and suggested they create an organization dedicated to combating pseudoscience. Later that same year, together with [[Martin Gardner]], a ''Scientific American'' columnist whose writing had helped hone Hyman's and Randi's skepticism, they formed the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]] (CSICOP).<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/>

Using donations and sales of their magazine, ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'', they and secular humanist philosopher [[Paul Kurtz]] took seats on the executive board, with [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Carl Sagan]] joining as founding members. Randi travelled the world on behalf of CSICOP, becoming its public face, and according to Hyman, the face of the skeptical movement.<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/>

András G. Pintér, producer and co-host of the [[European Skeptics Podcast]], called Randi the grandfather of European skepticism by virtue of Randi "playing a role in kickstarting several European organizations."<ref name="theesp.eu">{{cite web|url=http://theesp.eu/podcast_archive/episode_016_james_randi.html|title=Episode #016, feat. James "The Amaz!ng" Randi – The European Skeptics Podcast|date=March 30, 2016|access-date=September 3, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807021751/http://theesp.eu/podcast_archive/episode_016_james_randi.html|archive-date=August 7, 2017}}</ref>

Geller sued Randi and CSICOP for $15&nbsp;million in 1991 and lost.<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/><ref name="Petit">{{cite news|first=Charles|last=Petit|title=Bay Magicians Back Uri Geller's Critic|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|page=A27|date=May 23, 1991}}</ref> Geller's suit against CSICOP was thrown out in 1995, and he was ordered to pay $120,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit.<ref name="Levy">{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Levy|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/BN/lib00142,0EAF986A6473E6E1.html|title=Group Gets $40,000 From 'psychic' Geller Starts Paying Debunkers $120,000|work=[[The Buffalo News]]|date=March 13, 1995|access-date=December 29, 2007}}</ref> The legal costs Randi incurred used almost all of a $272,000 [[MacArthur Foundation]] grant awarded to Randi in 1986 for his work.<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/> Randi also dismissed Geller's claims that he was capable of the kind of [[Nensha|psychic photography]] associated with the case of [[Ted Serios]]. It is a matter, Randi argued, of trick photography using a simple hand-held optical device.<ref name="Carroll">{{harvnb|Carroll|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA313 313]}}.</ref> During the period of Geller's legal dispute, CSICOP's leadership, wanting to avoid becoming a target of Geller's litigation, demanded that Randi refrain from commenting on Geller. Randi refused and resigned, though he maintained a respectful relationship with the group, which in 2006 changed its name to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). In 2010, Randi was one of 16 new CSI fellows elected by its board.<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/><ref name="SJUYS">{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/about/csi_fellows_and_staff/|title=CSI Fellows and Staff|website=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]|publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]]|location=Amherst, NY|access-date=July 23, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130714111426/http://www.csicop.org/about/csi_fellows_and_staff/|archive-date=July 14, 2013}}</ref>

Randi went on to write many articles criticizing beliefs and claims regarding the paranormal.<ref name="jref-randi-bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/bio.html|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710002246/http://www.randi.org/jr/bio.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 10, 2009|title=About James Randi|publisher=JREF|access-date=December 29, 2007}}</ref> He also demonstrated flaws in studies suggesting the existence of paranormal phenomena; in his [[Project Alpha (hoax)|Project Alpha]] hoax, Randi successfully planted two fake psychics in a privately funded psychic research experiment.<ref name="OdWU0">{{cite news|title=Magicians Score a Hit On Scientific Researchers|first=Philip J.|last=Hilts|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=First Section; A1|date=March 1, 1983}}</ref>

Randi appeared on numerous TV shows, sometimes to directly debunk the claimed abilities of fellow guests. In a 1981 appearance on ''[[That's My Line]]'', Randi appeared opposite claimed psychic [[James Hydrick]], who said that he could move objects with his mind and appeared to demonstrate this claim on live television by turning a page in a telephone book without touching it.<ref name="lookatpast">{{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-09/092206bad.html#i11|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090709213130/http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-09/092206bad.html#i11|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2009|title=A Look at the Past|last=Randi|first=James|date=September 22, 2006|work=Swift|publisher=JREF|type=Newsletter|access-date=September 20, 2013}}</ref> Randi, having determined that Hydrick was surreptitiously blowing on the book, arranged [[Foam peanut|foam packaging peanuts]] on the table in front of the telephone book for the demonstration. This prevented Hydrick from demonstrating his abilities, which would have been exposed when the blowing moved the packaging.<ref name="Cmycr">{{citation|title=James Randi exposes James Hydrick|via=YouTube}}</ref> Randi writes that, eventually, Hydrick "confessed everything".<ref name="lookatpast"/>

[[File:Randi 1983.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Randi speaking at the first [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|CSICOP]] Conference, in Buffalo, New York, 1983]]

Randi was awarded a [[John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation|MacArthur Foundation]] [[MacArthur Fellows Program|Fellowship]] in 1986. The fellowship's five-year $272,000 grant helped support Randi's investigations of faith healers, including [[W. V. Grant]], [[Ernest Angley]], and [[Peter Popoff]], whom Randi first exposed on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in February 1986. Hearing about his investigation of Popoff, Carson invited Randi onto his show without seeing the evidence he was going to reveal. Carson appeared stunned after Randi showed a brief video segment from one of Popoff's broadcasts showing him calling out a woman in the audience, revealed personal information about her that he claimed came from God, and then performed a laying-on-of-hands healing to drive the devil from her body. Randi then replayed the video, but with some of the sound dubbed in that he and his investigating team captured during the event using a radio scanner and recorder. Their scanner had detected the radio frequency Popoff's wife Elizabeth was using backstage to broadcast directions and information to a miniature radio receiver hidden in Popoff's left ear. That information had been gathered by Popoff's assistants, who had handed out "prayer cards" to the audience before the show, instructing them to write down all the information Popoff would need to pray for them.<ref name="Faith Healers">{{harvnb|Randi|1987|pp=139–181}}</ref><ref name="Heavenly Messages">{{cite news|title=Skeptics' Revelations: Faith Healer Receives 'Heavenly' Messages Via Electronic Receiver, Debunkers Charge|first=John|last=Dart|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-11-me-5518-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 11, 1986|access-date=June 5, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015155733/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-11/local/me-5518_1_faith-healer|archive-date=October 15, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Randi Debunks Popoff">{{citation|title=James Randi Debunks Peter Popoff Faith Healer|via=YouTube}}</ref>

The news coverage generated by Randi's exposé on ''The Tonight Show'' led to many TV stations dropping Popoff's show, eventually forcing him into bankruptcy in September 1987.<ref name="Bankruptcy">{{cite news|title=Evangelist Popoff Off Air, Files Bankruptcy Petitions|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-26-me-2461-story.htm|first=John|last=Dart|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 26, 1987|access-date=June 5, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305090833/http://articles.latimes.com/1987-09-26/local/me-2461_1_peter-popoff|archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref><ref name="uUQxQ">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIxgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT316|title=The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority|last=Crease|first=Robert P.|date=2019|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0393292442|quote=The magician James Randi once exposed a popular televangelist by playing recordings of secret transmissions between an audience plant and the televangelist. The televangelist declared bankruptcy the next year.|author-link=Robert P. Crease|access-date=October 8, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831220139/https://books.google.com/books?id=bIxgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT316|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the televangelist returned soon after with faith-healing infomercials that reportedly attracted more than $23&nbsp;million in 2005 from viewers sending in money for promised healing and prosperity. The Canadian Centre for Inquiry's ''Think Again! TV'' documented one of Popoff's more recent performances before a large audience who gathered in [[Toronto]] on May 26, 2011, hoping to be saved from illness and poverty.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZo0DLKriDY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/oZo0DLKriDY| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|title=Secret Footage of 'Faith Healer' Peter Popoff in Toronto May 2011|via=YouTube|date=June 7, 2011|work=Think Again! TV|publisher=Centre for Inquiry Canada}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In February 1988, Randi tested the gullibility of the media by perpetrating a hoax of his own. By teaming up with Australia's ''[[60 Minutes (Australian TV program)|60 Minutes]]'' program and by releasing a fake press package, he built up publicity for a "[[Mediumship|spirit channeler]]" named Carlos,<ref name="scientific skeptic1"/> who was actually artist José Alvarez, Randi's partner. While performing as Carlos, Alvarez was prompted by Randi using sophisticated radio equipment. According to the ''60 Minutes'' program on the Carlos hoax, "it was claimed that Alvarez would not have had the audience he did at the Opera House (and the resulting potential sales therefrom) had the media coverage been more aggressive (and factual)", though an analysis by ''[[Australian Skeptics|The Skeptic]]''{{'}}s Tim Mendham concluded that, while the media coverage of Alvarez's appearances was not credulous, the hoax "at least showed that they could benefit by being a touch more sceptical".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mendham |first=Tim |year=1988 |title=The Carlos Hoax |journal=The Skeptic |volume=8 |issue=1 |access-date=April 19, 2013 |issn=0726-9897 |oclc=53994493 |url=http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theskeptic/2ndcoming/skepticism.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419063417/http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theskeptic/2ndcoming/skepticism.pdf |archive-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> The hoax was exposed on ''60 Minutes Australia''; "Carlos" and Randi explained how they had pulled it off.<ref name="xsxlM">{{cite web |url=http://www.skepdic.com/carlos.html |title='Carlos' hoax |work=The Skeptic's Dictionary |publisher=[[Robert Todd Carroll]] |access-date=June 15, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605100136/http://skepdic.com/carlos.html|archive-date=June 5, 2009}}</ref><ref name="NEQPg">{{cite interview|last=Randi|first=James|interviewer=Paul Willis|title=James Randi and the Great Carlos |work=The Correx Archives |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=May 7, 1998|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/correx/archives/randi4.htm|access-date=June 15, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715171756/http://www.abc.net.au/science/correx/archives/randi4.htm|archive-date=July 15, 2009}}</ref>

In his book ''The Faith Healers'', Randi wrote that his anger and relentlessness arose from compassion for the victims of fraud. Randi was also critical of [[João de Deus (medium)|João de Deus]], a.k.a. "John of God", a self-proclaimed [[Psychic surgery|psychic surgeon]] who had received international attention.<ref name="JohnofGod">{{cite journal|last=Randi|first=James|date=February 18, 2005|title=The ABC-TV Infomercial for John of God|journal=Swift|type=Newsletter|access-date=November 18, 2006|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/021805a.html |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710000748/http://www.randi.org/jr/021805a.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 10, 2009}}</ref> Randi observed, referring to psychic surgery, "To any experienced conjurer, the methods by which these seeming miracles are produced are very obvious."<ref name="VH6f8">{{cite web|author=Randi|year=1995|url=http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/psychic%20surgery.html|title=psychic surgery|access-date=November 26, 2006|archive-date=October 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024040559/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/psychic%20surgery.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Image:PipSmith DickSmith Klass Sheaffer JohnMerrell Randi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Randi (far right) at 1983 CSICOP Conference in Buffalo, New York, with (from left) Pip Smith, [[Philip J. Klass]] (standing), [[Dick Smith (entrepreneur)|Dick Smith]], [[Robert Sheaffer]], and John Merrell]]
In 1982, Randi verified the abilities of [[Arthur Lintgen]], a Philadelphia doctor, who was able to identify the classical music recorded on a [[Gramophone record|vinyl LP]] solely by examining the grooves on the record. However, Lintgen did not claim to have any paranormal ability, merely knowledge of the way that the groove forms patterns on particular recordings.<ref name="Randi_2002">{{cite journal|last=Randi|first=James|date=November 1, 2002|title=Reading Records|journal=Swift|type=Newsletter|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/110102.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100620232826/http://www.randi.org/jr/110102.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 20, 2010|access-date=July 11, 2010}}</ref>

In 1988, [[John Maddox]], editor of the prominent science journal ''Nature'', asked Randi to join the supervision and observation of the [[homeopathy]] experiments conducted by [[Jacques Benveniste]]'s team. Once Randi's stricter protocol for the experiment was in place, the positive results could not be reproduced.<ref name="gLcUx">{{Cite journal|last1=Maddox|first1=John|last2=Randi|first2=James|last3=Stewart|first3=Walter W.|date=July 28, 1988|title='High-dilution' experiments a delusion|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/334287a0|journal=Nature|volume=334|issue=6180|pages=287–290|doi=10.1038/334287a0|pmid=2455869|bibcode=1988Natur.334..287M|s2cid=9579433|issn=1476-4687|access-date=January 22, 2020|archive-date=August 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801082332/https://www.nature.com/articles/334287a0|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Image:JREF TAM9 Beard Photo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The James Randi Beard Photo, taken at the JREF [[The Amazing Meeting|Amaz!ng Meeting]] 9 ("TAM 9 From Outer Space"), July 16, 2011]]
Randi stated that [[Daniel Dunglas Home]], who could allegedly play an accordion that was locked in a cage without touching it, was caught cheating on a few occasions, but the incidents were never made public. He also stated that the actual instrument in use was a [[Harmonica|one-octave mouth organ]] concealed under Home's large mustache and that other one-octave mouth organs were found in Home's belongings after his death.<ref name="MGgXc">{{cite web|author=Randi|year=1995|url=http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Home,%20Daniel%20Dunglas.html|title=Home, Daniel Dunglas|access-date=August 18, 2008|archive-date=May 31, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531151913/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Home,%20Daniel%20Dunglas.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Randi, author [[William Lindsay Gresham]] told Randi "around 1960" that he had seen these mouth organs in the Home collection at the [[Society for Psychical Research]] (SPR). Eric J. Dingwall, who catalogued Home's collection on its arrival at the SPR does not record the presence of the mouth organs. According to Peter Lamont, the author of an extensive Home biography, "It is unlikely Dingwall would have missed these or did not make them public."<ref name="Lamont302">{{harvnb|Lamont|2005|p=302}}</ref> The fraudulent medium [[Henry Slade (medium)|Henry Slade]] also played an accordion while held with one hand under a table.<ref name="ADVCX">{{cite magazine|first=William|last=Robinson|author-link=Chung Ling Soo|year=1898|title=Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena|publisher=Munn & Company|magazine=[[Scientific American]]|location=New York City|pages=105–106}}</ref> Slade and Home played the same pieces. They had at one time lived near each other in the U.S. The magician [[Chung Ling Soo]] exposed how Slade had performed the trick.<ref name="7HSBC">{{cite book|first=William|last=Robinson|author-link=Chung Ling Soo|year=1898|url=https://archive.org/stream/spiritslatewriti00sooc#page/105/mode/2up|title=Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena|publisher=Munn & Company|pages=105–106|quote=Dr. Henry Slade was, of course, identified and recognized as the principal slate-writing medium, but at various times he presented other phenomena, one of which was the playing of an accordion while held in one hand under the table. The accordion was taken by him from the table with his right hand, at the end containing the strap, the keys or notes at the other end being away from him. He thus held the accordion beneath the table, and his left hand was laid on top of the table, where it was always in plain view. Nevertheless, the accordion was heard to give forth melodious tunes, and at the conclusion was brought up on top of the table as held originally; the whole dodge consisting in turning the accordion end for end as it went under the table. The strap end being now downward, and held between the legs, the medium's hand grasped the keyboard end, and worked the bellows and keys, holding the accordion firmly with the legs and working the hand, not with an arm movement, but mostly by a simple wrist movement. Of course, at the conclusion, the hand grasped the accordion at the strap end, and brought it up in this condition. Sometimes an accordion is tied with strings and sealed so the bellows cannot be worked. This is for the dark séance. Even in this condition the accordion is played by inserting a tube in the air-hole or valve and by the medium's using his lungs as bellows.}}</ref>

Randi distinguished between [[pseudoscience]] and "crackpot science". He regarded most of [[parapsychology]] as pseudoscience because of the way in which it is approached and conducted, but nonetheless saw it as a legitimate subject that "should be pursued", and from which real scientific discoveries may develop.<ref name="Terzian-Bilson">{{harvnb|Randi|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_mo4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA170 170]}}.</ref> Randi regarded crackpot science as "equally wrong" as pseudoscience, but with no scientific pretensions.<ref name="OzNtJ">{{cite journal|editor-last=Ripin|editor-first=Barrett H.|date=June 1995|title=Trio Takes Aim Against Spread of Pseudo-Science|journal=APS News|volume=4|issue=6|issn=1058-8132|access-date=October 9, 2013|url=http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/199506/pseudo-science.cfm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228153120/http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/199506/pseudo-science.cfm|archive-date=December 28, 2013}}</ref>

Despite multiple debunkings, Randi did not like to be called a "debunker", preferring to call himself a "skeptic" or an "investigator":<ref name="westdefense">{{cite web|last=West|first=Mick|author-link=Mick West|title=In Defense of Debunkers|url=https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/in_defense_of_debunkers|website=CSI|access-date=March 12, 2019|date=June 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618205936/https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/in_defense_of_debunkers|archive-date=June 18, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=(...) if you go into a situation calling yourself a debunker then it is as if you have prejudged the topic. It's not neutral or scientific, and it can turn people against you.}}

Skeptics and magicians [[Penn & Teller]] credit Randi and his career as a skeptic for their own careers. During an interview at [[The Amazing Meeting|TAM! 2012]], Penn stated that ''[[Flim-Flam!]]'' was an early influence on him, and said "If not for Randi there would not be Penn & Teller as we are today."<ref name="Penn">{{cite web|title="38 Years of Magic and B.S.: A Conversation with Penn & Teller" – TAM 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99_upx8URLI|website=YouTube| date=May 10, 2013 |publisher=James Randi Foundation|access-date=August 25, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906194746/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99_upx8URLI|archive-date=September 6, 2013}}</ref>{{rp|1:40}} He went on to say "Outside of my family ... no one is more important in my life. Randi is everything to me."<ref name="Penn" />{{rp|5:34}}

At the [[NECSS]] skeptic conference in 2017, Randi was asked by [[George Hrab]] what a "'skeptic coming of age ceremony' would look like" and Randi talked about what it was like as a child to learn about the speed of light and how that felt like he was looking into the past. Randi stated "More kids need to be stunned".<ref name="p5aJV">{{cite journal|last=Dobler|first=Russ|title=NECSS 2017: Skepticism Making Connections in Midtown Manhattan|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=2017|volume=41|issue=6|pages=8–9}}</ref>

At [[The Amaz!ng Meeting]] in 2011 (TAM 9) the [[Independent Investigations Group]] (IIG) organized a tribute to Randi. The group gathered together with other attendees, put on fake white beards, and posed for a large group photo with Randi. At the [[CSICon]] in 2017, in absence of Randi, the IIG organized another group photo with leftover beards from the 2011 photo. After Randi was sent the photo, he replied, "I'm always very touched by any such expression. This is certainly no exception. You have my sincere gratitude. I suspect, however that a couple of those beards were fake. But I'm in a forgiving mood at the moment. I'm frankly very touched. I'll see you at the next CSICon. Thank you all."<ref name="AiEqM">{{cite web|last1=Gerbic|first1=Susan|author-link=Susan Gerbic|title=CSICon Photo Tribute to James Randi|url=https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/csicon_photo_tribute_to_james_randi|website=www.csicop.org|date=December 5, 2017|access-date=March 6, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205195251/https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/csicon_photo_tribute_to_james_randi|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2019 ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' magazine article, [[Harriet Hall]], a friend of Randi, compares him to the fictional [[Albus Dumbledore]]. Hall describes their long white beards, flamboyant clothing, associated with a bird (Dumbledore with a phoenix and Randi with Pegasus). They both are caring and have "immense brainpower" and both "can perform impressive feats of magic". She states that Randi is one of "major inspirations for the skeptical work I do ... He's way better than Dumbledore!".<ref name="Dumbledore">{{cite journal|last1=Hall|first1=Harriet|author-link=Harriet Hall|title=Better Than Dumbledore|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=2019|volume=43|issue=1|pages=54–55|publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquirer|url=https://www.skepdoc.info/better-than-dumbledore/|via=ScepDoc|access-date=April 15, 2021|archive-date=April 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415100654/https://www.skepdoc.info/better-than-dumbledore/|url-status=live}}</ref>