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Originally Posted by Larry Boy  I'm copying my reply from the "Bashing the skeptics" thread:
The "scientific community", however you wish to define that, has not got a consensus when it comes to psi. Most surveys actually seem to show that about 30-50% of scientists (depending on their particular field of study) think that psi exists or is a likely possibility. (See, for instance, the surveys being cited in Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer's Extraordinary Knowing.)
But why does it even matter what orthodox scientists have to say about psi? It isn't like all of them have done PhD dissertations on the experimental quality of parapsychological research, or something else that would qualify them as reliable commentators in these matters. Most of them probably aren't even aware of the research that's actually being done. I mean, take for instance the fact that most textbooks in introductory psychology that even mention parapsychology seem to discuss only research with ESP cards! (I think it was in The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin I read about that.)
As for skeptics not reading the research reports, I agree that's an unfair and generalizing claim. Ray Hyman, Richard Wiseman and Susan Blackmore have surely read a great deal of reports through the years. It is true of some skeptics, though, that they don't bother to read about the actual research. But then again, that's true of many believers in the paranormal as well. |
Good points. It's certainly true that many scientists are open to psi, but equally true that most are very private about it.
Of course, it's not a question of whether Skeptics "read" research, but whether they really read research
