X-Message-Number: 18250 Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 23:25:27 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #18234 (Telepathy) Olaf Henny suggests animals may have telepathic ability, though I'm sure this has not been scientifically verified (CSICOP has never reported it, for instance). Animals do have incredibly acute senses well surpassing humans in many cases, and I think that could account for cases of seeming telepathy. I remember how a cat at an apartment I once shared with my brother and a friend could always tell when they drove up by the sound of the vehicle (my interpretation), where I couldn't distinguish it from others in the parking lot, which was not visible from the main window. Then there's the case you may have heard about of Hans the clever horse, able to do arithmetic problems and tap out the answer (assuming it was a whole, positive number) with his hoof. For instance, if his trainer asked what was the cube root of 343, Hans might tap seven times. The horse couldn't get the answer unless the trainer himself knew it, so he wasn't really a math whiz, but he still could have been telepathic. Instead it appears he was just very sensitized to small nuances of the trainer that told him when to quit tapping but escaped the notice of the audience. >When working in Iran >some of us had horses and we were in the habit of letting them >set there own pace, while we carried on a conversation. It >happened time and again, that they broke from easy walk into >straight gallop. We could never tell, which one the instigator >was. Had there been a reaction time from one horse to the other >of only a tenth of a second, it would have shown. Are you sure? Have any studies of this effect been done with high-speed video? I heard the human brain takes about half a second to integrate sensory data and create the illusion that one is perceiving events instantaneously, just as they happen, which is not really the case at all. The apparent simultaneity of events would need to be verified by recording. There are also many tales of persons who were "contacted" at the "exact moment" some tragic event happened, such as the death of a loved one. I remember a certain relative who, it was said, had a plate drop off her wall and break at such a time. In some cases, I suspect, the memory of the subject in question undergoes changes over time that make the original event seem more remarkable than it originally was, without the subject realizing it. I don't have the answer to all claims of paranormal effects and cannot rule out the possibility that some are true, but I think it's safe to conclude that, so far, none have been solidly established scientifically, despite some claims in that direction too. Once again, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. To tie this to cryonics, I am one of those who feel it's important *not* to associate cryonics with any belief in the paranormal--unless and until some really extraordinary evidence is forthcoming. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18250