[ExI] re psi`

William Flynn Wallace foozler83 at gmail.com
Fri Jun 5 00:20:08 UTC 2015


I looked into this a few decades ago and found little to interest me.
Journals don't publish negative results.  Experts debunk everything ever
found.

But you know what?  Doubt gets planted in people's minds by something like
this:

In the psych class I took long ago we did the Rhine card thing and no one
scored much above chance except this one guy was doing around 80%.  He came
back the next day and did it again.  Then he went to chance and stayed
there.  Did he have it and lost it?  Did he just not know how to use it
properly?

I am the world's biggest skeptic and I think they will never find anything
like what they are looking for.

But here is another point:  why did it take so long for people to discover
and use the scientific method?  I think it is because it is not a natural
thing for the human mind to do.  The mind is far more likely to use
superstition and stories people tell than to use the scientific method.
"You saw what?  A chariot in the air carrying a guy to Heaven?  Cool!
Let's write it up.  What more proof do we need?"

I am weak in history but think that most civilizations were authoritarian
in nature, and so people didn't read, weren't encouraged to think, but to
believe what the kings and priests said.

When rebellions happened the same form of government, more or less, was
used except with new people.

When our revolution occurred, more people wanted to stay with a king even
when we got separated from England - Tories to the last gasp.

"Just tell me what to do and what to think and that will take my mind of
these stupid complex questions.  It makes my head hurt."  It's so easy that
way.

I don't know if that fully explains why it took science so long to develop,
but it's my best shot.

Bill W
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