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From: werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Strange results in Nature article (fallout...)
Keywords: skepticism debunking
Message-ID: <1930@aecom.YU.EDU>
Date: 31 Jul 88 01:20:31 GMT
References: <1911@aecom.YU.EDU> <6445@megaron.arizona.edu> <492@metapsy.UUCP>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 37

In article <492@metapsy.UUCP>, sarge@metapsy.UUCP (Sarge Gerbode) writes:
> I found the data on the Amazing Randi's investigation of the Nature article
> unfortunate and unsurprising.
> 
> Randi already "knows" that nothing unusual could ever happen.  He is no

	Actually, Randi's only assumption was that "all known laws of physics
are valid." Even Beneviste admits that the results of his Basophil
degranulation experiments cannot be explained by known laws of physics, so
we are left with four explanations:
	1. New laws of physics.
	2. Novel extrapolations from old laws, which is the route Beneviste
took when he tried to explain the experiments by long-lived Hydrogen bonds.
Hey, it is a little known fact that there is no accepted model for the
structure of liquid water -- all models are poor extrapolations from the
structure of solid ice, so this is as good as any other model, if it stands
the test of time.
	3. Artifact
	4. Fraud

	James Randi's place on the investigating committee is to rule out
(3) and/or (4).  Some people give him hell for that, but let's face it, most
of the time he goes out looking for fraud, he finds it. And, when he sets up
a testable experiment, most of the time, "Chance" wins.

	Take a different example: Uri Geller's bent spoons. James Randi
rigged The Tonight Show so that Geller couldn't pull any fast ones, and
sure enough, Geller couldn't make the spoon bend. Now James Randi can
bend spoons with the best of them, and make it look convincing too, and
he won't tell you his secret, but he will be the first to admit that it is
all an illusion.

-- 
	        Craig Werner   (future MD/PhD, 4 years down, 3 to go)
	     werner@aecom.YU.EDU -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
              (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517)
                      "It's tough to incriminate a bread mold."