[extropy-chat] Re: Damien grants psi evidence

[Damien Broderick]

At 03:16 PM 12/18/2004 +1100, Brett wrote:

>As I understand it the judges are only there to increase the sensitivity of
>detection enough to pick up weak effects

The judges are there precisely because of what Hyman noted: that the 
percipient sometimes follows his own associations down an idiosyncratic 
path, given partial and elusive contact with the target. So too can the 
judges, but by having several judges looking from a more distanced 
perspective, there's an enhanced chance for structural similarities to lead 
them to aspects of the target image subsequently masked in the percipient's 
near-hallucinatory ideation. Maybe in the long run this turns out not to be 
as effective as just showing the options to the RVer; if so, use that 
protocol henceforth. Or use both, adjusting the weights.

But the key point is that *it doesn't matter* from the standpoint of 
evaluating the probabilities of the matches that occur. If the RVer and the 
judges are all obsessed by football and their mothers, those options will 
be called and matched very often; however, since targets of that sort will 
only come out of the randomizer infrequently, they will yield amazing hits 
every now and then and far more frequent errors the rest of the time. I 
can't believe this isn't obvious.

Damien Broderick