James Randi and Astrology in Business

A financial astrologer and a city analyst compete to see who can make the most profit trading on the stock market over a five week period. The astrologer loses.

From episode 2 of 'James Randi - Psychic Investigator' (1991)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• james
• randi
• psychic
• paranormal
• investigator
• astrology
• astrologer

[bobbytimberlake]

Every one of them has an excuse. "Oh but I failed miserably because of your negative energy." "Oh but the system works, I just didn't implement it correctly." "Oh but I do better readings when I've had time to get to know the person." "Oh but it's not 100% correct which is why I had to list 40 names and their variations to find one he responded to."

[UncleFeedle]

You don't need to be an expert to answer such basic questions. The fact that astrology has been around for a long time doesn't mean anything. Most of the population was deluded when they believed the Earth was flat or that the sun was a god - beliefs that similarly persisted for millennia.

[kingluke2]

@xXxStellaAquaticaXx well I don't discount it entirely - but there are thousands of different technical analysis methods, usually involving looking for shapes and patterns in graphs - and their empirical efficacy at predicting the future hasn't really been proven. I've met a lot of practitioners who continue to lose money but talk about their pet methods with an almost religious zeal

[xXxStellaAquaticaXx]

@kingluke2 How is technical analysis almost as superstitious as astrology?

[kingluke2]

technical analysis is almost as superstitious as astrology, despite the scientific sounding name

[DrIdaho]

I like the trumpet music before the two were introduced.

[RdHertsUni]

It's clear why he is an astrologer - he can't make good money doing anything else, apart from being a Baldrick look-a-like.

[causeandmistake]

the astrologer Roy Gillard makes a fair point; without going too far into the 'central dogma' of the trading practice half the battle is following one's own system/analysis. there's certainly large room for deviation in outcome between what predictive accuracy indicators possess (reflect success of an analysis system) and what actual trades are made. resultant equity is the result of the latter and not necessarily the former. this is one of the few poorly controlled tests Randi has presented

[deathman1021]

if we sat down with my notes, which are not written yet, we will see how right i am in hindsight

[12caredee21]

Let's pit this novice crew team member who's been using rowboats for years against this olympic rower who's trained on erg machines all his life. Their comparative health stats will answer whether the outdoors or the gym are conductive to human health. The results? The olympian is healthier and rowboats have no value.

[MarcfromTreasureNet1]

This show should have been called James Randi- bitter old man and self loathing skeptic.