[ExI] Psi in a major science journal, J. Personality and Social Psychology

[John Clark]

On Oct 19, 2010, at 12:00 PM, Damien Broderick wrote:

> According to Bem, practicing the words after the test somehow allowed the participants to "reach back in time to facilitate recall."

I assume esteemed Professor Bem misspoke and he mente reach forward in time to facilitate recall, reaching back in time to recall something isn't much of a trick, it's called memory.

> The results clearly suggest that average "non-psychic" people seem to be able to anticipate future events."

So any experimental subject can do it, the experiment is cheap, easy to perform, and the results are clear; but Bem is the first person in human history to accomplish it. If you believe that then there is some swamp land I'd like to sell you, and if you don't want the land I offer you the following bet: If an article confirming Bem's results appears in Science, Nature, or Physical Review Letters before October 20 2011 I will give you one thousand dollars, if it does not you will give me one hundred dollars. I believe my offer is more than fair.  
> 
> 
> I await John Clark's explanation that this is all BULLSHIT because he's never heard of Professor Bem, or Cornell University, or Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

I would never say that Damien, I would never say that I've never heard of Professor Bem, or Cornell University, or Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and it's all BULLSHIT because that just would not be true; I have heard of Cornell University. By the way, your message reminded me of one you sent on June 6 2008, that one involved some professor of welding (!) nobody ever heard of who claimed he had proven that cold fusion was true. At the time I said:

"So, esteemed professor Homer J Bumblefuck joins the long
list of similar nonentities that have reported cold fusion
over the last nineteen years, every single one of which has
fallen into a well deserved black hole of oblivion."

Time has proven me absolutely correct, Mr. Bumblefuck did indeed fall into a black hole of oblivion, but in 2008 you said this:

> "This is known as "the argument from local repute in Backwater, Fla."
> Japanese scientists and onlookers might have a different assessment, 
> since Professor Yoshiaki Arata was reportedly awarded the national 
> Japanese Order of Culture in 2006. "Yoshiaki Arata, Professor 
> Emeritus, Osaka University is one of five. He is awarded for his 
> great academic achievements in high temperature engineering and new 
> welding science. The Order of Culture (Bunka-Kunsho) is the highest 
> ranked award in Japan. The awarding ceremony was at the Imperial 
> Palace, Tokyo on 3rd November, Culture Day in Japan."
> So he's not a truck driver, he's a bunco-gumshoe welder, haw haw haw. 
> With a lifetime annuity from the Japanese government."

I have no doubt that Bem, just like Yoshiaki Arata  has entered the black hole of oblivion.

> the kind of water-tight objection dubbed by Richard Dawkins in another context as "the argument from personal incredulity."

No, all I'm saying is that I'm not particularly impressed to learn that Professor Bem knows how to type.

  John K Clark 




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