Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions
E39611
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions is a skeptical book by magician and debunker James Randi that critically examines and exposes claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and superstition.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T308216 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions Context triple: [James Randi, notableWork, Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions]
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A.
The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted World is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that champions critical thinking and the scientific method as antidotes to superstition and pseudoscience.
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B.
The Great American Lie
The Great American Lie is a documentary film that examines economic inequality and the cultural values underpinning the American Dream, directed by filmmaker and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
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C.
The Zetetic
The Zetetic was the original title of the magazine now known as Skeptical Inquirer, an early publication devoted to critical examination of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
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D.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal was an organization of scientists, scholars, and skeptics dedicated to critically examining paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methods.
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E.
The Transcendental Temptation
The Transcendental Temptation is a seminal work of secular humanism and skepticism in which philosopher Paul Kurtz critically examines religious and paranormal claims, arguing for a naturalistic, evidence-based worldview.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions Target entity description: Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions is a skeptical book by magician and debunker James Randi that critically examines and exposes claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and superstition.
-
A.
The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted World is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that champions critical thinking and the scientific method as antidotes to superstition and pseudoscience.
-
B.
The Great American Lie
The Great American Lie is a documentary film that examines economic inequality and the cultural values underpinning the American Dream, directed by filmmaker and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
-
C.
The Zetetic
The Zetetic was the original title of the magazine now known as Skeptical Inquirer, an early publication devoted to critical examination of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
-
D.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal was an organization of scientists, scholars, and skeptics dedicated to critically examining paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methods.
-
E.
The Transcendental Temptation
The Transcendental Temptation is a seminal work of secular humanism and skepticism in which philosopher Paul Kurtz critically examines religious and paranormal claims, arguing for a naturalistic, evidence-based worldview.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ skeptical literature ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
debunk paranormal claims
ⓘ
expose pseudoscience ⓘ promote critical thinking ⓘ |
| associatedWith | James Randi Educational Foundation ⓘ |
| author | James Randi ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizes |
UFO abduction stories
ⓘ
clairvoyance claims ⓘ ghost hunting ⓘ mediumship ⓘ psychic surgery ⓘ spoon bending demonstrations ⓘ telepathy claims ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
burden of proof
ⓘ
extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence ⓘ importance of controlled testing ⓘ |
| genre |
critical thinking
ⓘ
popular science ⓘ skepticism ⓘ |
| hasInfluenced |
readers interested in critical thinking
ⓘ
skeptical movement ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | skeptical ⓘ |
| hasReception | well-regarded in skeptic community ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
ESP
ⓘ
UFO claims ⓘ astrology ⓘ faith healing ⓘ fraudulent psychics ⓘ hoaxes ⓘ paranormal claims ⓘ parapsychology ⓘ pseudoscience ⓘ scientific skepticism ⓘ superstition ⓘ |
| notableFor |
analysis of parapsychology experiments
ⓘ
critique of Uri Geller ⓘ critique of faith healers ⓘ popularizing scientific skepticism ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
general readers
ⓘ
skeptics ⓘ students of critical thinking ⓘ |
| usesMethod |
controlled experiments
ⓘ
magicians' techniques ⓘ scientific method ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions Description of subject: Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions is a skeptical book by magician and debunker James Randi that critically examines and exposes claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and superstition.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Randall James Hamilton Zwinge
→
notableWork
→
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions
ⓘ