[extropy-chat] Elvis Sightings

[Ben Goertzel]

John K Clark wrote:
> "Damien Broderick" <thespike at satx.rr.com>
>
>   
>> Which psi experiments do you mean
>>     
> that have no controls?
>
> I had no particular psi "experiment" in mind, you don't think I waste my
> time actually reading this stuff do you? 

A truly skeptical attitude, IMO, would involve not making strong 
assertions (positive OR negative) about things you have not carefully 
researched yourself.

Knee-jerk negative reactions not grounded in research are no more 
intelligent, scientific or laudable than knee-jerk positive ones.

-- Ben


> No, I was thinking of the thing
> that induced these people to do their silly little "experiments" in the
> first place, the anecdotal evidence.  You hear all the time about the man
> who had a premonition that his grandmother will die and she does, but I have
> heard of a control only once, by Richard Feynman in his book Surely Your
> Joking. One day when he was in college for no apparent reason he had a very
> powerful feeling that his grandmother was dead, but it turned out that
> grandma was doing just fine.
>
>   
>>   Or will you default to your fallback position of "Jahn and the others
>> are probably just inventing their data"?
>>     
>
> I assume all data is made up unless I have reason to think otherwise.
>
>   John K Clark
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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