James Randi has announced his 2012 Pigasus awards, and in the scientist category has given it to Daryl Bem, for his experiments exploring the case for a precognitive ability in humans. Yes that’s right, Randi frowns upon people doing science. Fail:
The winner of the Pigasus Prize in the scientist category is Daryl Bem, for his shoddy research that has been discredited on many accounts by prominent critics, such as Drs Richard Wiseman, Steven Novella and Chris French. Such examination shows very strange methods used by Bem to prove his case, which ends up unproven – though the popular media, of course, have chosen to embrace it.
Do Drs Wiseman, Novella and French really believe that Daryl Bem should be the winner of an award that Randi says he bestows upon “the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudo-scientists, and faith healers”? And do they believe that Bem’s research employed “very strange methods” and that it has now been “discredited on many accounts” [my emphasis]?
