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From: king@kestrel.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.astro,net.bio,net.singles,net.social,net.women,net.med,net.philosophy,net.religion
Subject: PSI:  Yes I see it / No you don't
Message-ID: <8300@kestrel.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 21-May-86 18:15:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: kestrel.8300
Posted: Wed May 21 18:15:55 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 24-May-86 19:39:15 EDT
Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA
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   From: sunny@hoptoad.uucp (Sunny Kirsten)
   Newsgroups: net.astro,net.bio,net.singles,net.social,net.women,net.med,net.philosophy,net.religion
   Date: 12 May 86 00:51:57 GMT
   Reply-To: sunny@hoptoad.uucp (Sunny Kirsten)
   Keywords: PSI Psychic Paranormal Metaphysical Spiritual Occult ESP Clairvoyance

   For those of you who insist that psychic phenomena can't exist because
   if that pile of /dev/null had ever proven to have any value, there
   would have been large headlines nobody could miss;

One question to those who claim the existence of psychicic phenomena:

Evolution theory predicts that if it exists and is useful it would be
the norm as those with the ability would outbreed those without.

Who can deny the utility of the ability to detect a stalking tiger at a
distance?  To cloud a prey animal's thinking to prevent him from
bolting?  To know what lies under concealment?  To perform telekinetic
manipulation?

In short, every psi ability I have heard described would be
sufficiently useful in the paleolithic world that a person who claims
psi exists must explain why it is not the norm, like sight and
hearing.  This is in addition to performing repeatable experiments
which don't fail to work in the presence of doubters but which are
claimed to work in the claiment's own lab, provided there are only
true believers present...