cooper@pbsvax.dec.com (07/17/86)
The notes about "Bridge Tournament Telepathy" are interesting. It should be pointed out, however, that this would not be usable by parapsychologists as "field" examples of ESP, however well documented. The factor of clever deduction from bidding information would be difficult to exclude, while the contribution of subconsciously perceived subtle sensory cues simply cannot be evaluated. Essentially, very little can be done with data which is derived under the condition where someone with knowledge of the "target" information is in normal sensory range of the percipient. If subtle sensory cuing cannot be excluded it cannot be reliably considered an example of psi. Despite rb's definition, subtle subconscious sensory cuing is explicitly excluded from the technical definitions of both ESP and psi (note lack of caps, please) in parapsychology. Since both terms were coined as technical terms within this field, this can meaningfully be put forward as the "correct" definition. Topher