[ExI] Psi (no need to read this post you already knowwhatitsays )

[spike]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org 
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of 
> Damien Broderick
> ...
> 
> By chance, about 25% of the guesses would have been correct. 
> In fact, on average 42% were correct. The present experiment 
> was an attempt to replicate previous tests, and was filmed 
> for television. The participant and her callers were all 
> sisters, formerly members of the Nolan Sisters band, popular 
> in Britain in the 1980s. We conducted 12 trials in which the 
> participant and her callers were 1 km apart. Six out of 12 guesses
> (50%) were correct. The results were significant at the p=0.05 level.
> 
> 
> For full text in html or pdf formats linked at site>
> 
> Spike's expected response: well, hmmm, there's got to be a 
> technical reason for this, but I've got to feed the kid now 
> so I'll think about it next week if I can remember... Damien Broderick


{8^D  I do need to go spend some quality time with my favorite larva, but
before I do that, I would conjecture that an explanation for p=.05 is not
necessarily needed.  Many such experiments could have been done, but the
only ones we hear about are those which go beyond 5% weird.  

Regarding the phrase "...was filmed for television..." that makes me
suspicious right up front, because it forms a filter: in such a medium, only
noteworthy stuff is worthy of note.  Consider the Monty Python comedy troupe
from the 70s.  Their stuff was mostly unscripted, ad-lib, and yet it was
hilarious, ja?  One wonders how they could possibly be so funny, in front of
a live audience no less.  Well, they would clown around for hours, then pick
the stuff that the audience loved, and that concentrated the laughs to where
you have knights that say NI and so forth.  They might have had to cut up
for 20 hrs to get a good hilarious hour of TV.  Similarly, there could have
been a number of sister acts, and the only ones that made it to prime time
were the Nolans.  

The most astounding thing about this experiment is not that they managed
statistical significance, but rather that one pair of humans could spawn
five larvae of such jaw dropping comliness as this group of stunning
beauties. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ACght8QFE

Oh my evolution, what a bevy of lovelies are these.  I had never heard of
them before you pointed to it, and for that I do thank you sir.  Their music
is gorgeous too.  With those looks they could have sang like fingernails on
a chalk board, and I would still like them, but that they should all be
sisters and all sing like angels is far more remarkable than their
performance at phone guessing.

spike