kwh@bentley.UUCP (KW Heuer) (05/15/86)
Somebody in an article I can't find (expired already? or was it some other newsgroup?) mentioned the possibility that it may be nontrivial to test for some types of psychic abilities because they may not work under the test conditions. It sounds like a cop-out (and often is), but it's a valid point. You'd have a hard time proving that photography works if the tester insisted on turning the lights on in the darkroom. The following is not satire. It's true, modulo the disclaimer at the top. I have an ability, which I won't specify, but for the sake of argument let's say it's levitation. This is rather limited; I can't fly like Superman. My limit* is about 1 cm., but I can hold it for 15-20 seconds. However, I have to be in the right frame of mind to do this. If people are watching me, and waiting for something to happen, I get nervous and it doesn't work. Talking tends to break the state too, so I can't yell for a witness after I've begun to levitate. I've had witnesses only once that I can remember; I had a good day where I was able to hold it for 30 seconds after they'd started watching me. (They were impressed.) Btw, I recognize the self-delusion possibility, but I've succeeded under conditions that prove (to me) that it's genuine. Karl W. Z. Heuer (ihnp4!bentley!kwh), The Walking Lint *The purpose of this footnote is to align the margin in the above paragraph.
ethan@utastro.UUCP (Ethan Vishniac) (05/15/86)
In article <824@bentley.UUCP>, kwh@bentley.UUCP (KW Heuer) writes: > > The following is not satire. It's true, modulo the disclaimer at the top. > > I have an ability, which I won't specify, but for the sake of argument let's > say it's levitation. This is rather limited; I can't fly like Superman. My > limit* is about 1 cm., but I can hold it for 15-20 seconds. However, I have > to be in the right frame of mind to do this. If people are watching me, and > waiting for something to happen, I get nervous and it doesn't work. Talking > tends to break the state too, so I can't yell for a witness after I've begun > to levitate. I've had witnesses only once that I can remember; I had a good > day where I was able to hold it for 30 seconds after they'd started watching > me. (They were impressed.) Btw, I recognize the self-delusion possibility, > but I've succeeded under conditions that prove (to me) that it's genuine. > The only way to provide a convincing test is to let people have permission to make tapes or observe you from a hidden position. If you knew exactly when they were watching it would defeat the purpose, so you'd probably have to give some sort of general permission over an extended period of time. BTW when this particularly method is used on spoon benders it gives the unsurprising result that if they think they're not being watched, they cheat. I mention this by way of saying that if you pass this test it would be extremely impressive. -- "Ma, I've been to another Ethan Vishniac planet!" {charm,ut-sally,ut-ngp,noao}!utastro!ethan ethan@astro.UTEXAS.EDU Department of Astronomy University of Texas