Posted on 01/15/2011 11:19:28 PM PST by neverdem
They should have seen it coming.
In recent weeks, editors at a respected psychology journal have been taking heat from fellow scientists for deciding to accept a research report that claims to show the existence of extrasensory perception.
The report, to be published this year in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is not likely to change many minds. And the scientific critiques of the research methods and data analysis of its author, Daryl J. Bem (and the peer reviewers who urged that his paper be accepted), are not winning over many hearts.
Yet the episode has inflamed one of the longest-running debates in science. For decades, some statisticians have argued that the standard technique used to analyze data in much of social science and medicine overstates many study findings — often by a lot. As a result, these experts say, the literature is littered with positive findings that do not pan out: “effective” therapies that are no better than a placebo; slight biases that do not affect behavior; brain-imaging correlations that are meaningless.
By incorporating statistical techniques that are now widely used in other sciences — genetics, economic modeling, even wildlife monitoring — social scientists can correct for such problems, saving themselves (and, ahem, science reporters) time, effort and embarrassment.
“I was delighted that this ESP paper was accepted in a mainstream science journal, because it brought this whole subject up again,” said James Berger, a statistician at Duke University. “I was on a mini-crusade about this 20 years ago and realized that I could devote my entire life to it and never make a dent in the problem.”
The statistical approach that has dominated the social sciences for almost a century is called significance testing. The idea is straightforward. A finding from any well-designed study — say...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I knew the ‘memorial’ in Tuscon was going be a political rally long before the event.
See, ESP is real.
Smack EMP and all will be good.
There’s a convention of ESP personalities next week.....
Without being able to posit a mechanism for the phenomena they are purporting to examine here, most “scientists” will not want to touch the matter with a ten foot pole.
I believe such an experiment will prove dangerous in more than one way — dangerous to the materialists’ point of view perhaps, but also dangerous to the participants who are probably dabbling in demonic phenomena. If the devils have decided they want to cooperate with “science” then we basically have magicians.
You’ve just got to convince a few politicians that it’s in their interest to pretend it is real and worthwhile and bam! ESP as the new Global Warming.
Remember back in the day when the Russkies claimed that they were spending kajillions researching this stuff? They called it “parapsychology” and were perennially dropping hints that they were just a year or two away from acquiring “the power to cloud men’s minds” (cue “The Shadow” theme).
I think even “60 Minutes” did a show on that.
If magic were real then our world would resemble “Conan” or “The Lord of the Rings”. The Harry Potters would be ruling us.
The CIA blew millions on this too, including ‘research’ on LSD.
I remember Coast to Coast covering stuff like this years ago.
Just like Global Warming.
I believe that magic can be real, but that it is mediated by supernatural beings that have their own wills and which are often constrained by the Supreme Being (God). So nothing like science as we know it can grasp or grok the phenomenon, and would-be Harry Potters are going to be mostly disappointed or meet private disaster. It is a theological scale issue.
Magic, witchcraft, voodoo, hoodoo, etc. has always been around. The naive and ignorant are the greatest supporters of it. The bottom line is money and power. If you can make your enemies think you are powerful thru some trickery or hoax, then you have won half the battle...
More than plausible, imho.
I see...I see...I see...A Frito under my desk.
If that was the case, wouldn't the rulers disguise their magick?
They already know where those jobs are and just go there.
There used to be a fellow on t.v. that was really good at reading minds. A typical conversation with someone in the audience would go like this:
Mind reader: I”m seeing someone with a brother that died recently. Is that you?
Sucker: I had an aunt that was sick about ten years ago.
M R: Your father was her brother, I just felt the word brother and had a chill.
Sucker: No, it was my mother’s sister.
M R: But she felt brotherly toward your father, you know I’m picking up the sound of an automobile, did she drive or was driven or once had an accident involving an automobile?
Sucker: Yes! Yes! Her car was keyed in the parking lot!
M R: Isn’t that truly amazing?!!!
Right. No secret was safe from this guy.
Plus they know what the caller is going to ask before they answer the call. Quite the time saver!
Baysian statistics is the language of hate and is the cause of much of the violence in the world today. /s
Here in central Illinois we had our very own “renowned” psychic. A local woman turned up missing and our psychic predicted that she would be found “where a 4 wheel drive could go”. The missing woman was eventually located in Texas, very much alive, where she had run off to on her own. Amazing perception by that psychic. A 4 wheel drive can indeed go to Texas!
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