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"Science and the taboo of psi" with Dean Radin


Google Tech TalksJanuary, 16 2008ABSTRACTDo telepathy, clairvoyance and other "psi" abilities exist? The majority of the general population believes that they do, and yet fewer than one percent of mainstream academic institutions have any faculty known for their interest in these frequently reported experiences. Why is a topic of enduring and widespread interest met with such resounding silence in academia? The answer is not due to a lack of scientific evidence, or even to a lack of scientific interest, but rather involves a taboo. I will discuss the nature of this taboo, some of the empirical evidence and critical responses, and speculate on the implications.Speaker: Dean RadinDean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and four-time former President of the Parapsychological Association. He holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a masters degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and GTE Labs, mainly on human factors of advanced telecommunications products and services, and held appointments at Princeton University, Edinburgh University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and Boundary Institute. At these facilities he was engaged in basic research on exceptional human capacities, principally psi phenomena.

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: googletechtalks

Length: 34:57
Rating: 4.40
Views: 30913

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j0hnwi11iams (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
You have claimed 40 percent correlation. That is OVERWHELMING. I think the problems with using Randi is that he will expose your FRAUD.
j0hnwi11iams (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Are you trying to tell me what with a 40 percent correlation you couldn't EASILY pass the Randi Challenge? What exactly keeps you from claiming it? Sheldrake has been thoroughly discredited by those observing his methods. Why aren't these guys cleaning up at the casinos? There's no money in it?
MetaphysicsAddict (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
"So significant it would 8 years to claim the Randi Prize. Yeah, right. Color me still skeptical after listening to one guy."Again, he's not the only person doing this kind of research, and the majority of studies described here are *not* his own. He is simply summarizing the results. And btw, meta analysis data produce results that are trillions to one as odds against chance. Further, there are problems with using James Randi as an argument and we can discuss those probems if you would like
MetaphysicsAddict (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
"Even if by some miracle we could attribute some of it to non-local correlation, there is no cause and effect and no information is transfered"Actually, there *is* a transfer of information in the psi studies (here's one example out of many: Sheldrake's ongoing telephone telepathy research - where chance expectation is 25% but results are usually over 40%...). Have read any of the studies Radin talked about here? Or you are just criticising a particular theory of psi mechanisms?
j0hnwi11iams (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
So significant it would 8 years to claim the Randi Prize. Yeah, right. Color me still skeptical after listening to one guy. Even if by some miracle we could attribute some of it to non-local correlation, there is no cause and effect and no information is transfered with random tests. The problem with quantum mechanics is two fold:1) At the human scale quantum uncertainty vanishes.2) At the quantum scale there is only correlation, no cause and effect.
MetaphysicsAddict (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
re #4: He is not the only one doing experiments. Several independent researchers from other universities have done EEG correlation studies. Some people simply cannot accept the fact that methodologically-sound psi studies keep producing highly significant results.
j0hnwi11iams (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
1) If this work had any practical application he would not be needing any funding, he would be emptying out the casinos.2) If he weren't interested in a theory he would be trying to figure out why the experiment works in some cases and not in others.3) The signal he's looking at is so deep in the noise I don't see how it can be attributed to anything.4) Maybe the guy is just lying.
Goomba4001 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Psi is most likely real, but there are so much phonies, it just labels it with a big FAKE.
erdnisnegah (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
My thought experiment is completely wrong. Please ignore it. My brain must have been on vacation yesterday.
erdnisnegah (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
But, as you say, there is a "what if" factor. My thought experiment dont disproof the experiment. But it questions it, and that is always very important when it comes to science. There are plenty of examples of wrong conclusions made on bad assumptions. Another way of looking at it is to say it might indicate something. But if it only works with a few percent, and that it is so vague that it cant be used for "transmitting" something specific as random number, then what is it good for?