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From: dsi@unccvax.UUCP (Dataspan Inc)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: Parascience
Message-ID: <216@unccvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Jun-85 09:53:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: unccvax.216
Posted: Mon Jun 17 09:53:08 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Jun-85 04:00:10 EDT
References: <272@sri-arpa.ARPA>
Organization: UNC-Charlotte
Lines: 22


    Actually, most paranormal experiences (again, including the crapola
on the oft-cited PBS dreck 'Nova') can be explained legitimately by 
radical behaviourism.  Without getting into some really nit-picky technical
arguments, one can arrive at a behavioural "scenario" for virtually any
of these observed pheonomena (such as 'pre'cognition) which does not 
require that one throw out 'repeatability' and all that other good old time
Physics stuff...

    Does anyone know the structure of one of those devices used to 'prove'
paranormal/PK existence? It was a series of lamps connected in an approximately
circular shape, and an electronic circuit that would presumably step a ring
counter "up" or "down" (or a shift register, containing a single '1' or '0'),
driven by a 'random' source.  When left alone, the next state (would the light
clockwise or counter clock wise to the present light be the next one illumin-
ated) had a 'random' probability, but under the influence of some observers,
it has been 'shown' that they can 'will' the shift register to shift right
or shift left for a large number of trials.

    
dya
.