[ExI] Psi and gullibility

[John Clark]

On Jan 26, 2010,  Max More wrote:
Me:
>> > Damien suppose just for the sake of argument, that psi did not exist,
>> > don't you think that many and perhaps most members of the human race
>> > would nevertheless think that it did?
> 
> Suppose that super-powers did not exist. (No one actually has super-strength, speed, intellect, agility, immortality, flight, invisibility, the ability to grow or shrink, etc. etc.) Don't you think that most members of the human race would nevertheless think that it did? This seems like an exactly parallel question. If we exclude psi powers as a super-power, it seems very clear that the correct answer is: No.

I don't understand, why would we exclude psi as a super-power? And psi is not alone, there is another super- power that is believed even more universally, prayer; and prayer doesn't work any better than psi does.

Damien Broderick wrote:

> That's what scientific protocols are for--to put such wishes under pressure, and see if the phenomenon at issue actually is there, and what constrains it, and finally to generate a theory able to accommodate it. The first is established, the second is somewhat in hand (given the astonishingly sparse funding compared to burger advertising or particle physics or sports or religion, not bad), the third is hardly begun.

The proof of psi's existence is somewhat in hand? After a century's effort parapsychologist have precisely nothing to show for their efforts, they might as well have kept their hands in their pockets for a hundred years. And if psi was real you wouldn't need a 10 billion dollar accelerator to discover it, the 12 hour operating expenses of one Burger King restaurant would be more than enough to fund a study to prove definitively that psi existed; provided of course that it did exist.  

Let me expand on my question a little, assuming psi did not exist what would the mainstream scientific community say about it? They would say we can find no evidence of psi. What would most people tell the scientists? They would say you're too hidebound and aren't trying hard enough and you need to keep trying the same thing over and over again and spend more money and never ever give up and move on to something more productive. Sound familiar? 

 John K Clark  



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