An Honest Liar: A Great Documentary About The Well-Known Skeptic And Professional Debunker James Randi

James Randi who is arguably the most well-known (and the most successful) individual debunker of paranormal claims and pseudoscience is the main subject of a very interesting documentary by Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom. Titled An Honest Liar, the movie documentary chronicles Randi's journey from a stage musician to a professional debunker. If you watch BBC, you may have seen the documentary under the title Exposed: Magicians, Psychics, and Frauds in November last year.

For people who are not too familiar with Randi and what he does, An Honest Liar makes for a great introduction into his work. Running for an hour and a half, the documentary discussed Randi's most well-known antics such as his shaming of televangelist Peter Popoff on national television, his numerous take-downs of the Israeli spoon-bender Uri Geller, and the elaborate hoax he perpetrated around a made-up spirit channeler named Carlos.

Several well-known people (mostly magicians, skeptics, science educators) make an appearance on the documentary. The rock star Alice Cooper was interviewed about the stunts that Randi cooked up for him. Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, writer and science educator Michael Shermer, and magician Penn Jillette were also around to give their thoughts on Randi's work. Bill Nye the Science Guy got onscreen to say "James Randi is in love with the truth."

A still from the documentary An Honest Liar.

It's a well-made documentary that can be very fascinating if you are interested on things like skepticism, debunking paranormal claims, and fighting pseudoscience. Around halfway through the documentary, the focus got directed more on Randi's personal life, most especially on his relationship with his long-time partner Jose Alvarez. This abrupt change in the flow of the documentary can disinterest some people but if you are one who wishes to see a more personal side of the Amazing Randi, it's definitely worth seeing.

You can watch the official trailer for An Honest Liar here. It's unlikely that the film will be screened in theaters near you so check out the film's official website to learn more on how you can see it.

Rare And Collectible Merchandise From The James Randi Documentary 'An Honest Liar'

If you are a fan of the Amazing James Randi, you might want to check out these cool items being sold in connection with the film documentary An Honest Liar. The official website for the film is selling these rare collectibles. Pictured below are the custom-designed and etched wood coasters and decks of cards. Also on sale are signed movie posters, signed books, and rare posters from Randi's early years as a magician. You can check them all out here.

An Honest Liar is a "film about deception, told through Randi’s life and acts using never-before-seen historical footage and many of the original people involved. The film also follows Randi and his partner through this latest dramatic – and potentially devastating – twist in their lives." It just won the Audience Award for Best Feature in the annual AFI DOCS, the American Film Institute’s 12th documentary film festival in the Washington, DC.

Deepak Chopra Says That The Kind Of Skepticism Advanced by James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, And Jerry Coyne Is Harmful

It "does far more harm than good". This is how Deepak Chopra described the kind of skepticism being advanced by the likes of James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss and Jerry Coyne. Chopra wrote an article for the San Francisco Chronicle as a follow-up for his one million dollar challenge to skeptics. In the article, Chopra argues that there is no real need for the skeptic movement to exist. It has a "very small, even insignificant role to play" he adds.

Proclaiming himself as "one of the major confronters" of this skepticism, Chopra sends a warning by saying that it is his "primary goal to defend the truth of spirituality". He compares skeptics to Elmer Gantry, a character from a novel by Sinclair Lewis. This character in the book is a minister who is a greater sinner than the lost folks he preached to. The skeptical movement, according to Chopra, is "much more close-minded and blindly irrational than anyone they expose". Chopra is basically saying that James Randi is more close-minded and blindly irrational than Uri Geller and Peter Popoff (two of the most prominent figures that Randi debunked and exposed for the liars and frauds that they are).

Chopra also tagged the skeptic movement as a "society for the suppression of curiosity". The rest of the piece has Chopra expounding on his One Million Dollar Challenge to the Skeptics. He describes his challenge in a variety of ways:

1) He is offering one million dollars to "any skeptic who could prove how electrochemical activity in the brain produces the appearance of a three-dimensional world, the point being that debunkers of the paranormal can't come close to explaining the normal."

2) He says his offer focuses on "What is consciousness, how does it create reality, and how far does this reality extend?"

3) He calls it a "challenge against materialism".

Chopra's challenge for skeptics generated mostly negative feedback. The challenge video which Chopra posted on YouTube has 1,096 dislikes and 286 likes. The feedback for the follow-up video is identical, that is it got more dislikes than likes.

In the article he wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, Chopra dismissed this negative feedback saying "Within twenty-four hours, my challenge met with the predictable reaction. My skeptic fans decried the video as silly, ridiculous, a publicity stunt. But in what way was my offer any different from Randi’s?"

Well, Chopra asked for the difference between his challenge and Randi's so a viewer of the video and reader of the follow-up article named Per Nordin has stepped up to the plate and answered the question.

Here's Per Nordin's answer in full which he posted as a comment on the YouTube video of the challenge: "In a very fundamental way. Randi's challenge does not ask for proof in how the paranormal abilities work. His only challenge is to show that it works! He does not ask even for any attempt to explain how it works, let alone any proof of the scientific underlaying mechanisms and absolutely no demands on peer-reviewed scientific papers on how it works. He asks only to show that one can demonstrate paranormal powers of any kind. 

Your challenge - in stark contrast - does not ask to show that consciousness works, but for proof positive scientific peer-reviewed explanation on how it works! The equivalent challenge (as you want to know about consciousness) would be "Show me you can think, that you are conscious, and you win". That you falter to see the difference between his and your challenges is amazing."

Chopra ended the article on The San Francisco Chronicle with a "To be continued." He said he will further explain his challenge in his next post.

Here's Chopra's challenge if you haven't seen it:

Here's the follow-up video:

James Randi has responded sort of to Chopra's challenge by posting a meme photo on his Facebook page which says "Woo shall not pass." See the meme photo here. Woo is a term often used to describe pseudoscience and paranormal claims.

James Randi To Deepak Chopra: "Woo Shall Not Pass!"

A few days ago, Deepak Chopra uploaded a video on YouTube wherein he sent a challenge to James Randi, Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer. Having seen the video, I don't know exactly what the challenge is but you can go here and watch it yourself. Chopra is obviously trying to knock on the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge by the James Randi Educational Foundation. Many have tried to collect the JREF offer. All of them have failed.

As to Chopra's challenge, Randi has responded, sort off. He posted the following photo on his official Facebook page. And it's amazing. Chopra's challenge is a BIG joke so it deserves to be made fun off.

Photo from the James Randi Facebook page.

Chopra's one million dollar challenge:

A follow-up video by Chopra: