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From: res@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Rich Strebendt, AT&T-DSG @ Indian Hill West)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.misc,sci.research
Subject: Re: Strange results in Nature article
Summary: In Defense of Randi
Keywords: homeopathy
Message-ID: <3229@ihlpe.ATT.COM>
Date: 1 Aug 88 14:12:12 GMT
References: <10465@lll-winken.llnl.gov> <20850@beta.lanl.gov> <2444@cxsea.UUCP> <5826@dasys1.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 50

In article <5826@dasys1.UUCP>, tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes:
> But sending Randi was an insult.  The man is a macrophage.  He makes
> his living from charlatanism as surely as Madame Zolana and her
> palmistry shop down the street.  Madame Z produces it, Randi debunks
> it.  It's a neat ecology.

This is a gross misrepresentation of the man and his works.  Randi has
never advertised himself as anything other than a professional magician
and illusionist.  From his life-long study of the performance of magic
tricks and illusions, he has become an expert in how tricks and
illusions can be performed, and an expert in spotting such things.
Unfortunately, it turns out that scientists in general are very poor
themselves at spotting trickery, since a true scientist HAS to BELIEVE
that the results reported are being reported accurately and in a manner
consistent with the ethical code true scientists follow.  Scientists
are easy picking for a "medium" (or whatever the current stylish nom de
fraud is) or an unscrupulous collegue.

> Research does not take place in a vacuum, political or economic.

Very true.  Unfortunately, neither does unethical activity or self
delusion.

> Sending "The Amazing Randi" [sheesh] after a
> serious experimenter is like sending the Child Abuse Squad to visit
> your bachelor uncle.

Not quite.  What was done was more akin to sending a chemist to the
biology investigation to examine the chemical basis for the claims.
Randi is an expert in an area that none of the other investigators is
an expert, the art and science of illusion.  I am only surprized that
the people forming the team were smart enough to include him!!

> Sure, it's easy to say "if nothing is amiss, they
> won't be able to prove anything."  But tell that to the neighbors!  Tell
> it to the grants board next time around.  Beneviste is not claiming to
> be able to bend spoons for crissake, he's claiming to be able to dilute
> an antibody astronomically but still detect activity via a special
> staining technique.  What's Randi's job, to look for an Algerian midget
> under the lab table?  Maybe a trick microscope?  Disappearing ink in
> the notebooks, perhaps.

I cannot presume to guess what he might look for in this investigation.
I do recognize him as an expert in illusion and trickery, and assume
that his role was to be alert for such during the course of the
investigation.  Certainly, one could not expect trusting scientists to
spot such things!!

				Rich Strebendt
				...!att![iwsl6|ihlpe|ihaxa]!res