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Could Professor X. Win The Million?

SPQR

Darwin's Dachshund
SPQR
Joined
Mar 25, 2006
Messages
453
Or any other mutant with telapathic powers for that matter?

The JREF prize is for anyone who can demonstrate "paranormal" abilities, but if X-Men-type mutations were real, they would most certainly be natural. So, would the X-Men be eligible for the prize? Just curious.
 
SPQR said:
Or any other mutant with telapathic powers for that matter?

The JREF prize is for anyone who can demonstrate "paranormal" abilities, but if X-Men-type mutations were real, they would most certainly be natural. So, would the X-Men be eligible for the prize? Just curious.
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Fictional characters rarely apply. Characters with fictional abilities, OTOH... :)

So if a telepathic mutant showed up, he would get the million. In the fictional Marvel universe, I don't know.
 
SPQR said:
Or any other mutant with telapathic powers for that matter?

The JREF prize is for anyone who can demonstrate "paranormal" abilities, but if X-Men-type mutations were real, they would most certainly be natural. So, would the X-Men be eligible for the prize? Just curious.
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If X-men type mutations were real, I doubt there would BE a prize. If the world were crawling with people who could fly, shoot laser beams out of their eyes, generate and manipulate intense magnetic fields, turn into metal, etc. then someone claiming they could bend spoons with their mind or find water with a forked stick would raise hardly an eyebrow.
 
SPQR said:
Or any other mutant with telapathic powers for that matter?

The JREF prize is for anyone who can demonstrate "paranormal" abilities, but if X-Men-type mutations were real, they would most certainly be natural. So, would the X-Men be eligible for the prize? Just curious.
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IF the sort of mutants featured in X-men were real, there would be no need for the prize.
Since there would be overwhelming evidence for telepathy, telekenesis, healing factor, weather control, optic blasts, superstrength, phasing (the ability to walk through walls), ice creation and manipulation, flying ability, spoon bending (well one of the things magneto can do).

The same goes for Spider-man, fantastic four, HULK, daredevil etc.

IF there actually were people with superpowers, one of them would have snatched up the prize long ago.

Or Prof X might be stopping the mutants from laiming the prize in order to keep the mutant fever on the down low.
 
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Sure, if mutants were real, their most likely wouldn't be a prize. But wouldn't mutations be considered natural and therefore, within the realm of science, even if science had not yet discovered how or why these mutations occur? IMO, a mutant with telapathic abilities could not win the prize since that mutant could not demonstrate any "supernatural" abilities. Since the proof of telepathy has obviously been shown time and again in the X-Men universe, that abilitiy would no longer be considered "supernatural."

Or maybe I'm just crazy.
 
My understanding of the challenge, and I am not a spokesperson for the JREF so my word is non-binding, is that any ability, currently unexplained or documented in science, would qualify. The essence of the challenge is to have demonstrated the ability, not to find the cause thereof.
 
If such things were normal, then Uri Geller would have real powers too. After all, he guest starred in an issue of Daredevil with his magic spoon bending powers!
 
It's been a long time since I've gotten into a discussion about whether a comic-book character could accomplish some daunting task in the real world (fourth grade, if I remember correctly). My considered opinion: it's a moot point, since the thing about comic-book characters is they aren't real.
 
[nerd]Actually, mutants aren't natural at all, according the Jack Kirby's The Eternals, Space Gods came down and seeded humanity with superhuman potential for some great, unknowable experiment.[/nerd]
 
This is just another "no one can win the JREF because if they pass, then the ability isn't paranormal" type of argument.

Yes, Prof X can win the JREF because telepathy is a paranormal ability. After he passes the test, he wins . The ability won't be considered "paranormal" anymore, but he still will have one million more dollars to add to his bank account.
 
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If X-Men abilities were real, the challenge wouldn't have come about in the first place, because there would have been empirical evidence for their existence long ago and Randi would never have needed to throw down the gauntlet.

However, if tomorrow a bald guy in a wheelchair sends in an application, and he really does have Prof X powers, then yes, he would win.

But you're talking about taking a character out of a universe where such powers are not disputed, and putting him in a universe where they are. You might as well ask, in the X-Men universe, would there be such a thing as the JREF Challenge. Psychic abilities are not paranormal in that world, so no, there wouldn't, unless perhaps there were other dubious claims that interested Randi.

If the X-Men story came true, then there would be a 'first' psychic, if he applied he would win because he actually does have the powers. The reason no-one has won so far is that they don't. It doesn't matter if it's because of a mutant gene or sky goblins, the list of paranormal abilities is as stated.

If the gene were identified and proved before any psychics had applied, maybe Randi would withdraw that aspect of it, who knows? As you say, it wouldn't be paranormal anymore so what would be the point?
 
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To be even more clear--it doesn't have to be ACTUALLY paranormal, it just has to be something that JREF thinks is paranormal. Which is a much more realistic standard.
 
And more to the point, even if a "first psychic" did emerge, it wouldn't change the fact that there are countless fakes. And, since a large part of the point is to challenge the fakers to prove their abilities, it would still be valid. Doubting someone's claims of psychic abilities would still be the proper course of action, until people lying about it are outnumbered by those who actually have it.

Any Marvel stories about Professor X kicking the arse of someone pretending to have psychic abilities and duping the public?
 
SPQR said:
Or any other mutant with telapathic powers for that matter?

The JREF prize is for anyone who can demonstrate "paranormal" abilities, but if X-Men-type mutations were real, they would most certainly be natural. So, would the X-Men be eligible for the prize? Just curious.
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If Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny got into a knife fight in a seedy bar down on the docks, and Santa Claus had a Walther PPK in his boot, and the Easter Bunny had ninja stars hidden behind his ears, and the DJ kept turning up the music and put the BeeGees on infinite repeat, and the strobe lights were turned up all the way... who would win?
 
Gr8wight said:
If Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny got into a knife fight in a seedy bar down on the docks, and Santa Claus had a Walther PPK in his boot, and the Easter Bunny had ninja stars hidden behind his ears, and the DJ kept turning up the music and put the BeeGees on infinite repeat, and the strobe lights were turned up all the way... who would win?
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Batman..if he was prepared.
 
Gr8wight said:
If Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny got into a knife fight in a seedy bar down on the docks, and Santa Claus had a Walther PPK in his boot, and the Easter Bunny had ninja stars hidden behind his ears, and the DJ kept turning up the music and put the BeeGees on infinite repeat, and the strobe lights were turned up all the way... who would win?
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Santa would win. Everyone knows that the Easter Bunny is not real.

And the JREF prize would be a fictional $1m.
 
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