X-Message-Number: 5826 Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 13:08:07 -0600 (CST) From: N E U R O M A N C E R <> Subject: on pseudoscience (Mac Tonnies) Doug Skrecky wrote: > These experiments are a dramatic improvement over earlier ones in that > they were designed to satisfy the technical demands of PSI skeptics. > Since the results were positive skeptics have no explanation consistent > with their beliefs. I am optimistic that over the next 20 years the > existence or nonexistance of PSI will be definitively established by > similar experiments. I'm very excited over the new experiments in this strange, potentially remarkable field. It's also a vast relief to see investigators shrug off the biases that tainted earlier efforts at "research." **** John K. Clark wrote: >Whenever the claimed occurrence is extraordinary the evidence supporting it >is lousy. In many cases, this is absolutely correct. But truth does not hinge on Sagan's maxim, even though there is an influential contingent that is more than happy to suspend logic and believe that it does. To apply the "proportional evidence" argument toward unpopular research in general is nothing short of moronic. >No good neuroscientist would bother study the paranormal, not now, it's >already been done and found wanting. Nobody can do everything, part of the >scientific method is finding out what avenues to pursue and what to ignore. >There are too many exciting things to do and find out about to waste time >with dead end spoon bending studies. Sarcasm aside, I once again find your arguments convoluted. First, you use the assertion that neuroscientists "haven't found anything" as proof against psi phenomena. Now you maintain that neuroscientists don't partake in serious psi research in the first place. >>He [Carl Sagan] is committed to selling science to the public. >And a very noble commitment it is, I hope he becomes very rich. So do I...but if the price to pay is official denial, then I want out. For all of Sagan's positivity, he is putting himself in the position of a technocrat. I find this position incompatible with good science. >Like the AWESOME discovery that the Tunguska explosion produced a mushroom >cloud 40 years before Hiroshima? Any large explosion will do that. Debating this would quite literally necessitate a new forum, and I feel no need to delve into this. But I feel obligated to make clear my opinion that your wedding of fact and arrogant dismissal is unsuccessful. I sincerely hope others don't fall for it. >Based on conflicting reports from a few illiterate peasants describing >something they saw for 20 seconds 20 years before. Even if this assertion was true (which it most certainly _isn't_), you indicate a ferocious mistrust of human observation and honesty. I might add that the cryonics business itself would like very much to convince the post-industrial "peasantry" that cryonics is deserving of attention. In this case, they are conveniant. When their testimony contradicts some futile whim, it becomes easy to refute, ignore or distort anything they say. >Oh no! Now we have Martians, Martians who look just like us, Martians who act >just like us, Martians who like to make statues just like us. I receive a considerable amount of e-mail requesting that I take my observations elsewhere. If this is the kind of fodder that is deemed acceptable, then, quite frankly, I am amazed. I have tried to be rational from the start, and feel that emotive nonsense like this does more to discredit _me_ more than "icons of rationality" like yourself. In short, I could do without it. And I sincerely hope that the upcoming Mars orbiters are able to provide us with some high-resolution photos of the "statue" in question. It's quite possible that we're in for a large surprise. Mac Tonnies 509 Phillips Hall Northwest Missouri State University Maryville, MO 64468 (816) 562-6716 http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~0211555/apu.html ________________________ /\ /| / \ / | /______________________ / | |\ \ _________ | | | \ / /|| | | \ / / || | | \/________ / || | | | | || | | | | / \ | | | | / | \ | | |________|/ | \ | | / \ | / | / \ | / | / \ | / |/______________________/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5826