Chuck Huff wrote:
> But I like more Myer's comment below that: "The scientific attitude
> blends curious skepticism with openminded humility. It demands that
> extraordinary claims be supported by clear and reliable evidence."
>
> Humility seems an excellent scientific virtue.
Agreed on all counts. I think that there's a chance that some of these
things will pan out in the long run - stranger things have happened.
However, a TIPSter asked me offlist what I think about this stuff, and I
thought I'd share my response onlist as well:
===================
I'm not bothering with a close look, and here's why. The only reason we
have any notion at all that there might be an ability to transmit thoughts
or do this kind of "remote reading" (or whatever they call it) is informal
reports of such abilities. Right? People made this kind of claim, and so
people thought it worth investigating.
So the original notion is that there is some kind of ability, and
(here's the important part) that the strength of the psychic effect is
strong enough to be detected with informal observation.
So we go looking for such effects. We fail to find a strong effect, so
we look harder, using more sophisticated methods. Eventually we (perhaps)
manage to find some tiny effect that seems to survive our rigorous controls.
But we can only see that effect when we use the kinds of methods that go far
beyond informal observation. Doesn't that fall FAR short of the kind of
thing that inspired the investigation in the first place? IF it exists
(something I'm definitely not ready to concede), it is obviously not the
same kind of thing that people were originally interested it.
It's as though you said "Hey, there's another bright object in the night
sky - I saw it last night rising in the east". Then researchers train the
new large telescopes in that direction, and eventually _think_ that they've
detected a hereforeto unknown 14th magnitude object in that general
direction. Well, whether it's there or not, it sure as hell ain't what you
think you saw with your naked eyes.
Frankly, I'm not interested until and unless it has been consistently
demonstrated, and even then, it's probably not all that important. It's not
magic ESP mind reading psychic ability, that's for sure.
====================
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
