Thinking Atheist

James "The Amazing" Randi

The Canadian magician and escape artist James Randi has become best known for his work as a paranormal investigator. It's a crusade of sorts to fight for people's right not to be cheated out of their money by people claiming abilities they don't have.

Magicians are practitioners of deception, but there's an ethics to deception and we often walk a very fine line trying to squeeze every last piece of wonder and amazement out of the world while recognizing that in order for society to flourish, people need to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible. 

This short interview was filmed by Seth Andrews, who produces The Thinking Atheist podcast, at the 2017 American Atheists convention in Charlottesville. (Hundreds of atheists gathered together to watch an eclipse... what could be wrong with that?)