Two ways to be fooled
RECENTLY, a group of students from a well-known private college for women in Quezon City called me in connection with a research paper they were doing on telekinesis.
They had heard of my course on ESP (extra sensory perception) that covered telekinesis, among other psychic abilities.Their teacher, who did not believe in “such psychic stuff,” told the students to look up a certain website on the Internet about an offer of US$1 million to anyone who could prove telekinesis (or any other psychic powers, like telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.) was true.
They asked if I was aware of such a website. I told them I was aware of such an offer but had not seen the website. They must be referring to the challenge American magician James Randi (who calls himself the Great Randi) made to anyone who could prove that telekinesis was true.
I told the students not to pay attention to James Randi because he was just a de-bunker of psychic phenomena. When somebody comes up to prove telekinesis, Randi changes the rules. Randi always finds loopholes so that, in the end, he concludes nothing has been proven.
For years, Randi hounded and harassed well-known Israeli psychic Uri Geller, saying he was nothing but a fake psychic, that it was not true Geller could bend metallic spoons, keys and rings with his mind alone, despite numerous public demonstrations that the psychic was able to do so.After years of ignoring and trying to get away from Randi, Geller finally fought back. He filed a harassment suit against Randi and won.
The court ordered Randi not to come within a specified distance from Geller or he would be arrested. Randi was also asked to pay Geller a certain amount for all the mental torture and emotional trouble he caused.
Although Randi was forced to stop harassing Geller, the court order did not include other people. So Randi still manages to harass those who believe in psychic phenomena. He heads a small but noisy group called the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (PSICOP) and publishes the Skeptical Inquirer, the main purpose of which is to show that those who believe in such things are nuts!
However, serious academic and scientific researchers like Dr. Robert Jahn of Princeton University, Dr. Russell Targ, formerly with the Stanford Research Institute, among others, simply ignore the antics and wild accusations of Randi.
At Princeton University’s Anomalous Phenomena Department, for example, engineer Robert Jahn and psychologist Brenda Dunne have been quietly researching telekinesis for the last 15 or 20 years. They have proved, under strict laboratory conditions, that telekinesis exists. They did this by having subjects influence the fall of the dice on a roulette machine using only the power of their thoughts.
They meticulously calculated the mathematical probabilities to show whether this was purely by chance or if it was influenced by their minds.The two wrote a pioneering book, “Margins of Reality,” detailing the methodology they used and the results they obtained. Every skeptic should read this book before he/she opens his/her mouth regarding the reality of telekinesis.
I am not really interested in proving to skeptics that psychic powers and paranormal phenomena exist. This is not my job or my intention. I only want to share with interested people and readers strange but true events that are normally and routinely ignored by established science and the academic community.
Psychologist Gertrude R. Schmeidler of the City College of New York conducted a series of studies on the relationship between ESP and personality traits way back in 1975.
She divided people into two classes. Those who believed in ESP she called “sheep.” This group scored higher in ESP tests. Those who did not believe in ESP she called “goats.” This group did poorly in ESP tests. Randi definitely is a “goat” and thinks like one.
I told the students it was good to maintain a healthy skepticism, not to accept at face value everything a person told them, but to verify everything. This way they might learn something their teacher would never learn because she kept her mind closed to the true nature of reality.
As I have often said here, according to philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what is not true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
http://showbizandstyle.inq7.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=28286
They had heard of my course on ESP (extra sensory perception) that covered telekinesis, among other psychic abilities.Their teacher, who did not believe in “such psychic stuff,” told the students to look up a certain website on the Internet about an offer of US$1 million to anyone who could prove telekinesis (or any other psychic powers, like telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.) was true.
They asked if I was aware of such a website. I told them I was aware of such an offer but had not seen the website. They must be referring to the challenge American magician James Randi (who calls himself the Great Randi) made to anyone who could prove that telekinesis was true.
I told the students not to pay attention to James Randi because he was just a de-bunker of psychic phenomena. When somebody comes up to prove telekinesis, Randi changes the rules. Randi always finds loopholes so that, in the end, he concludes nothing has been proven.
For years, Randi hounded and harassed well-known Israeli psychic Uri Geller, saying he was nothing but a fake psychic, that it was not true Geller could bend metallic spoons, keys and rings with his mind alone, despite numerous public demonstrations that the psychic was able to do so.After years of ignoring and trying to get away from Randi, Geller finally fought back. He filed a harassment suit against Randi and won.
The court ordered Randi not to come within a specified distance from Geller or he would be arrested. Randi was also asked to pay Geller a certain amount for all the mental torture and emotional trouble he caused.
Although Randi was forced to stop harassing Geller, the court order did not include other people. So Randi still manages to harass those who believe in psychic phenomena. He heads a small but noisy group called the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (PSICOP) and publishes the Skeptical Inquirer, the main purpose of which is to show that those who believe in such things are nuts!
However, serious academic and scientific researchers like Dr. Robert Jahn of Princeton University, Dr. Russell Targ, formerly with the Stanford Research Institute, among others, simply ignore the antics and wild accusations of Randi.
At Princeton University’s Anomalous Phenomena Department, for example, engineer Robert Jahn and psychologist Brenda Dunne have been quietly researching telekinesis for the last 15 or 20 years. They have proved, under strict laboratory conditions, that telekinesis exists. They did this by having subjects influence the fall of the dice on a roulette machine using only the power of their thoughts.
They meticulously calculated the mathematical probabilities to show whether this was purely by chance or if it was influenced by their minds.The two wrote a pioneering book, “Margins of Reality,” detailing the methodology they used and the results they obtained. Every skeptic should read this book before he/she opens his/her mouth regarding the reality of telekinesis.
I am not really interested in proving to skeptics that psychic powers and paranormal phenomena exist. This is not my job or my intention. I only want to share with interested people and readers strange but true events that are normally and routinely ignored by established science and the academic community.
Psychologist Gertrude R. Schmeidler of the City College of New York conducted a series of studies on the relationship between ESP and personality traits way back in 1975.
She divided people into two classes. Those who believed in ESP she called “sheep.” This group scored higher in ESP tests. Those who did not believe in ESP she called “goats.” This group did poorly in ESP tests. Randi definitely is a “goat” and thinks like one.
I told the students it was good to maintain a healthy skepticism, not to accept at face value everything a person told them, but to verify everything. This way they might learn something their teacher would never learn because she kept her mind closed to the true nature of reality.
As I have often said here, according to philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what is not true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
http://showbizandstyle.inq7.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=28286
posted by Misteryo Philippines Network (MPN) at 4:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home