Re: Paranormal phenomena

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (chris williams)]

In article <MAILQUEUE-101.931208151221.256@afb1.ssc.ed.ac.uk> you write:
>#Kate belives in some very silly things. 
>---> In your opinion...

   Obviously. 

>#Kate is not a scientist. Kate is not a philosopher. Kate writes 
>#songs. 
>---> Which means we can only know that she's *interested* in thes 
>phenomena, not that she *believes* them

   I base my opinion that Kate believes some silly things on several
interviews, not on her lyrics.

>#And as the Dutch videos clearly show, Kate is an absolutely 
>#*dreadful* magician, the single most important skill in testing 
>#"paranormal phenomena". 
>---> Only when dealing with phenomena that can be faked. 

   Randi has done a wonderful job of proving that virtually all
"paranormal phenomena" can be faked.

>Not very useful when dealing with some of the phenomena that are 
>currently investigated in parapsychology.

  Professional magicians simply remove the cheats and frauds. To
date that includes, um, all of them. 

> Nor is it the single most important skill.

  No, skillful observation is the most important thing. Careful controls
are the second most important thing. Parapsychology has been woefully
lacking in both. Magicians help ensure that the correct things are
observed, and the controls are meaningful and work.
 
>  Randi may be a good magician, but he's too 
>theatrical to be a scientist.

   Some of the greatest scientists that have ever lived have been 
among the *most* theatrical (Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein.)
Since when has theatricality been a barrier to scientific ability?

>#James Randi still has his $10,000.
>---> Which challenge he's changed to exclude the Ganzfeld ESP 
>experiments (i.e. the ones which seem to be showing 
>replicable results). 

   I doubt that. Its more likely that the experiments cannot be
preformed under the necessary controls. As I am unaware of the 
nature of the "Ganzfeld ESP experiments" it's hard to say.
E-mail me to descibe them, or give me pointers to information please.

>    Sorry to go on with a subject that's somewhat off-topic, but 
>sweeping statements of this sort annoy me :)

  That's life.


                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)
                                   katefans@chinet.chinet.com (ours)