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From: weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: Parapsychology
Message-ID: <11526@ucbvax.berkeley.edu.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Fri, 24-Jan-86 05:38:28 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11526
Posted: Fri Jan 24 05:38:28 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jan-86 09:29:14 EST
References: <2835@ut-ngp.UUCP> <11463@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <631@oakhill.UUCP>
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Reply-To: weemba@brahms.UUCP (Matthew P. Wiener)
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[This is a carryover from a net.philosophy discussion]

In article <631@oakhill.UUCP> davet@oakhill.UUCP (Dave Trissel) writes:
>"A recent experiment indicates that inexperienced subjects can bring about
>genetic mutations in bacteria - a finding which has profound implications
>for the health industry and for evolutionary theory.
>		.... .... ....
>        How?  By merely 'wishing'.
>		.... .... ...."

I am unqualified to comment on the bacteria/PK experiment per se.
If it is true, I hope we will hear about it from more investigators.
But because of the (unfortunate) track record of sloppiness in past
psi research, I will remain skeptical.

I am curious, though, how the results (clear vs red) were recorded.
The 'wishing' worries me.  A fun game I used to play with friends
was to convince them that Venus was an airplane, and that if they
stared hard and long enough, they would see it move.  About half of
them could be convinced it was moving.

I would like to point out that even within the traditional sciences
anti-weird bigotry is extremely strong, and fraud is far too common.
And yet the fields advance anyway!  (I can cite examples if you wish.)

>>                    ...                             I mean, why would
>>the same people who see a professional magician/mentalist perform be
>>merely impressed, but when a charlatan does the exact same stunts call-
>>ing it psi/esp powers, they freak?  I mean, really, what is it about
>>people that can make them so self-inducedly gullible and stupid???
>
>Well, it looks like you as many others on the net are still living in the
>parapsychological world of the 19th century.  I have no idea just how valid
>studies like the one above are - but it sure looks to me that the field
>has gone much further than the simple mind-guessing tricks of the last
>century. Certainly not of the magician card gessing game, is it?

See Bassini, Singer, Reynolds, "Occult Powers: Seeing is Believing",
J Scientific Study of Religion, 1981(?)  (Best of memory recall here.)
They describe an experiment where a quickly trained performer did a few
elementary tricks like blindfold reading and rod bending before college
audiences with one of two introductions (possibly psi/definitely magic).

80% of the first kind of audience believed they saw psi, with many of them
(10%?) freaking out (worried about Satan, etc.)  40% of the second kind of
audience believed they saw psi.  (These numbers are hazy, but in the right
ballpark.)

ucbvax!brahms!weemba	Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720