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Funny there was no mention of why this societal obsession mostly faded away in the 1980s and 1990s: Every single experiment into tele-whatever and psychic which

Funny there was no mention of why this societal obsession mostly faded away in the 1980s and 1990s: Every single experiment into tele-whatever and psychic whichever under suitably controlled conditions revealed no result or outright fraud. No exceptions. And the person responsible for defining suitably controlled conditions was magician James Randi. As a magician he recognized the tricks that con artists like Uri Geller were using. The scientists of that era like Puthoff and Targ had no understanding of perception hacking (which is what stage magicians do) so they were easily fooled by con artists who did know perception hacking. James Randi put a stop to all that with several investigations of his own that made public fools of such scientists, and he funded a 1 million dollar prize for anyone who could prove they had psychic abilities under controlled conditions. The prize was never claimed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

Izkata 2y ago
The application process for that prize is always brushed under the rug, and in general it doesn't surprise me no one has won it. The criteria set you up for failure, for example demanding a far higher success rate than the psychic claims themselves. Sometimes to the point where they'd have to go through months of continuous testing, then be disqualified by a single off day.
LawrenceKerr 2y ago
James Randi was notoriously biased, stubborn, and dismissive of any evidence contrary towards his views. His Million Dollar Challenge has been criticized for its lack of transparency and fairness. The challenge was not conducted under the auspices of an impartial third party. Instead, only Randi himself and his organization set the conditions and judged the outcomes. This raises questions about bias, as Randi had a vested interest in maintaining his stance that psi phenomena do not exist. Despite the fact that several participants in the Stargate Project, such as remote viewer Ingo Swann, produced results that were statistically significant under controlled conditions, Randi dismissed these findings outright. He did not engage with the data or attempt to replicate the experiments. Instead, he simply declared that because psi phenomena _cannot exist according to his understanding of the laws of physics_, any positive results must be due to fraud or error. Furthermore, Randi's challenge required 100% success rate for claimants to win the prize. In any scientific experiment, such a requirement is unreasonable as it does not account for statistical variance. Even established scientific phenomena cannot always be demonstrated with 100% accuracy due to various factors such as measurement errors or environmental influences. Lastly, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The fact that no one claimed Randi's prize does not conclusively prove that psi phenomena do not exist. It could simply mean that the conditions set for the challenge were too stringent or biased. Or... the sheep-goat effect really does exist, and the attitude & beliefs of the experimenter affect the result.

Izkata 2y ago

The application process for that prize is always brushed under the rug, and in general it doesn't surprise me no one has won it. The criteria set you up for failure, for example demanding a far higher success rate than the psychic claims themselves. Sometimes to the point where they'd have to go through months of continuous testing, then be disqualified by a single off day.

LawrenceKerr 2y ago

James Randi was notoriously biased, stubborn, and dismissive of any evidence contrary towards his views. His Million Dollar Challenge has been criticized for its lack of transparency and fairness. The challenge was not conducted under the auspices of an impartial third party. Instead, only Randi himself and his organization set the conditions and judged the outcomes. This raises questions about bias, as Randi had a vested interest in maintaining his stance that psi phenomena do not exist. Despite the fact that several participants in the Stargate Project, such as remote viewer Ingo Swann, produced results that were statistically significant under controlled conditions, Randi dismissed these findings outright. He did not engage with the data or attempt to replicate the experiments. Instead, he simply declared that because psi phenomena _cannot exist according to his understanding of the laws of physics_, any positive results must be due to fraud or error. Furthermore, Randi's challenge required 100% success rate for claimants to win the prize. In any scientific experiment, such a requirement is unreasonable as it does not account for statistical variance. Even established scientific phenomena cannot always be demonstrated with 100% accuracy due to various factors such as measurement errors or environmental influences. Lastly, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The fact that no one claimed Randi's prize does not conclusively prove that psi phenomena do not exist. It could simply mean that the conditions set for the challenge were too stringent or biased. Or... the sheep-goat effect really does exist, and the attitude & beliefs of the experimenter affect the result.