[ExI] Psi in a major science journal

[Richard Loosemore]

BillK wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 11:46 PM, Ben Zaiboc  wrote:
>> My take on the whole thing isn't focused on whether there is some barely
>> detectable evidence of some unexplained ability in certain people under
>> certain elusive conditions, but rather on whether there's anything /useful/ there.
>>  And there is absolutely zero evidence for that.
>>
>> Until psi starts giving real results in the real world, it's just not that interesting,
>> and ranks with astrology, wood-touching and homoeopathy, for usefulness.
>>  Actually, you could claim that homoeopathy is more useful, because of the
>> placebo effect.
>>
>>
> 
> 
> That's pretty much my outlook as well.
> Show me the money!
> 
> I read hundreds of articles on Physorg about weird stuff being worked
> on in labs, effects in colliders, string theory discussions, etc. etc.
> Most of them just get filed in the box 'Interesting - maybe it will
> come to something'. Much of it will never be heard of again, but some
> items will develop into, say, new spintronics computers.  Hurrah!
> 
> So psi research reports also get filed in that box.
> 
> But so far, after many, many years of 'interesting' research, none of
> of the psi items have emerged, blinking, into the daylight as a
> wonderful new product.
> Maybe they will  - one day. But until then they remain filed.
> 'Interesting', but filed.

That position is pretty close to mine, if you put it that way.

However, Ben Zaiboc did NOT put it that way.

He added one more thing.  He said that those "hundreds of articles on 
Physorg about weird stuff being worked on in labs, effects in colliders, 
string theory discussions, etc. etc." (as you put it) are to be ranked 
alongside "astrology, wood-touching and homoeopathy, for usefulness".

That is actually an attempt to smear by association.

I would not for one moment make any kind of comparison between those 
exotic physics papers and "astrology, wood-touching and homoeopathy".

I mean, sure, some of those papers *might* end up being no more useful 
than that, but that is not the point.  The point is the attempt to smear 
the topic by classifying it alongside trash.



Richard Loosemore