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From: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.philosophy,net.physics
Subject: Re: More on ESP and the "feeling"
Message-ID: <248@rti-sel.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Jun-85 13:11:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: rti-sel.248
Posted: Wed Jun 12 13:11:15 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Jun-85 02:39:29 EDT
References: <459@ho95b.UUCP>
Reply-To: wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly)
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, NC
Lines: 38
Xref: watmath net.religion:7118 net.philosophy:1918 net.physics:2599
Summary: 

In article <459@ho95b.UUCP> ran@ho95b.UUCP (RANeinast) writes:

>Let me relate something that happened to me.  I was driving down I80
>in Pennsylvania, and suddenly got the feeling that there was a radar
>trap ahead.  I slowed down, and voila', there was a cop just over the
>hill.  AHA!  ESP!
>
> ...
>A valid analysis of the statistics in these cases show NO significant,
>extranormal effect.  If this type of ESP exists, it is
>indistinguishable from chance occurences (another way of saying
>it doesn't exist).

And even if your ability to 'predict' radar traps in this way DOES
show a better-than-chance edge in the direction of success, it proves
nothing. Radar cops set up their traps in a nonrandom fashion. For
example, they may set one up just around a bend so drivers can't see
the trap in advance, or just over a rise. You may have been analyzing
the lay of the land each time you observed a speed trap without being
aware of it, and 'subconsciously' derived the principles that Smokey
uses when he sets up his speed traps. Nothing magical to it at all.

There have been instances of alleged counting horses and other
super-smart animals that illustrate this principle. In one well-known
case (unfortunately, I can't remember the horse's name) the horse
would read subtle body signals from its owner while it was counting,
signals the owner wasn't even aware of. When the owner was removed
from the horse's presence, Voila! The horse's I.Q. suddenly dropped to
normal horsey levels.

Unless an ESP investigator can demonstrate that there's NO possibility
that subtle environmental cues of this nature are involved in alleged
paranormal performances, his results are in doubt. It's interesting to
note that the quality of results in some experiments have declined as
experimental controls have been tightened to eliminate this sort of
subtle cueing (I can't give a reference, but perhaps someone else in
the group can).
                                 -- Bill Ingogly