Foundation for Rational Inquiry
The Foundation for Rational Inquiry, often abbreviated as the FRI, is devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. Currently based in the University of Queensland, its goal is to become Australia’s premier academic body for investigation of claims of the paranormal and set up research units in the other major universities.
It has many contacts throughout the occult, police, media and computer enthusiast (hacker) communities, with significant influence in the academic sphere and a small amount of ad hoc funding available for special investigation activities. Its motto is “We seek the Truth”.
The Public Facade
The FRI was founded by Professor Michael Hawker, a computer scientist and noted skeptic, with money provided by corporate backers. Disaffected with the lack of action by existing skeptics, mostly limited to offering prizes for people who could prove paranormal abilities (which no one ever attempted), Michael Hawker decided to actively investigate and directly debunk paranormal claims.
In the early days this initially led to many failures such as run ins with the law, as the claimed psychics he confronted reported his harassment to the police, however he was able over time to build a public exposure database networking various occult figures together, using several contacts in the computing world to keep it running when various groups tried to have it shut down.
The breakthrough came when he was pivotal in helping the police exposing a local cult and rescuing several young students that had gone missing, receiving some lucky timely media exposure. Michael was due to take a sabbatical from work and used the time to promote the organisation, building contacts where he could and using his temporary media popularity to engage in public debate with religious and new age leaders, holding them to account for their claims.
Although well received the tour almost bankrupt the academic, and it looked like the end was approaching for the network and information resources he had set up. At the last hour he was approached with some corporate grant funding that would keep his servers online and to “set up an organisation dedicated to the Truth”, and at the same time somehow came to the notice of the chancellor of the university, leading to the formation of a scientific investigation unit, backed by the private organisation, the Foundation for Rational Inquiry.
The FRI went from strength to strength, its online databases growing with more and more information submitted on occult activity, and it becoming an authority on the subject for both the police and the media. It is regularly involved in altercations with religious and new age organisations, particular where they claim the FRI databases contain stolen or proprietary information.
Of course this information is used responsibly. All information received by the FRI is screened and released to the police first, if it possibly relates to illegal activities, and or the wider media, if the organisation needs to be exposed.
Through the diligent work of the FRI, many religious and occult organisations have been exposed at frauds, and many reported miraculous events have been shown to be either fabricated (such as nothing but someone playing a practical joke), or completely explainable with everyday science.
Michael Hawker has now earned a PhD in occult studies and a professorship from his work, with the unit being a joint operational between both the science and anthropology departments, although these days he spends more time actively involved in running the organisation than in teaching.