Enterprise on VHS

[QuarianRex]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
QR, telepathy and telekinesis and all of that stuff do not work in reality... I know how telepathy could work, if it was more than fiction.

And I am telling you that some people are capable of actions that are considered to be within the scope of what most consider to be telepathy, telekinesis, and such. I have seen the hard data.

Now perhaps your viewpoint is based upon a poor definition of such abilities. If you define telepathy as the ability to look into someone elses head and scroll through their memories like a big vcr (or take over their mind, using them like a meat-puppet), or telekinesis as the ability to levitate cars merely with the power of ones mind, then, yes, you are right, within that limited paradigm such things would not work in this reality.

However, our actual reality is a little bit more complex (and subtle) than that of a comic book. Strange things in this reality tend not to be as flashy as you might like (though even here they can be pretty spectacular). Just because they don't quite live up to our adolescent fantasies doesnt mean that they don't exist. We should try to keep disappointment from clouding our judjement.

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
QR, telepathy and telekinesis and all of that stuff do not work in reality... I know how telepathy could work, if it was more than fiction.

It might not work now or be considered a scifi exclusive thing, but evolution can never be ruled out.

[DavidG]

Originally posted by QuarianRex:

quote:

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Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
QR, telepathy and telekinesis and all of that stuff do not work in reality... I know how telepathy could work, if it was more than fiction.

And I am telling you that some people are capable of actions that are considered to be within the scope of what most consider to be telepathy, telekinesis, and such. I have seen the hard data.

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I recently read an article that said the same thing. (ie that hard data exists) It revolved around a test were subjects were shown one of 4 cards with pics on them and another person in a separate room would say what they wwere. I think the test showed that people on average got like 33% right as opposed to the expected 25%. This was claimed to be "statistically relevant" It just made think "who the heck decided what 'statistically relevant' means. Also could it not also just prove something totally different? ie some people are just lucky.

'Course the reason most people are skeptical about telepathy is like you say, how they define it. I would think telepathy would be commonly thought of as being able to read ones mind fairly reliably not just geting slightly higher that average while predicting one of 4 pictures.

[QuarianRex]

Originally posted by DavidG:
It just made think "who the heck decided what 'statistically relevant' means.

Some musty old guys. They did it around the same time that they were hammering out the scientific method.

Originally posted by DavidG:
Also could it not also just prove something totally different? ie some people are just lucky.

There is some evidence that the most basic level of psi is the manipulation of probability. Luck, if consitent enough, could itself be a manifestation of psi. And when you look at most studies of the wierder aspects of human capability these usually take luck into account. These aren't averaged on 5 or 10 tests where luck could have a substantial effect. These results are averaged over hundreds of tests. If you can keep lady luck on your side that long, well... I think that in itself would qualify as an example of the paranormal.

[Fyron]

Where did adolescent fantasies come into this? That is fairly insulting.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

show me the hard data.

[oleg]

There is no such thing as telekinesis.

Science would be impossible since results of experiments will depend on experimentator mind.

Do you think people did't look very hard on the measuring devises when another brilliant theory goes bust ?

Some experiments are done with extreme accuracy and regardless of the obserever, results are the same.