Quote:
Originally Posted by Miguel  The problem with 'psi' is that it means a lot of different things to different people.
Some may say psi is any sort of anomalous result in a psychological-like experiment. Such results exist, of course. It would be practically impossible for them not to. |
I didn't have much time when I wrote this but I have more to say.
When someone asks me if psi is real my short answer would be 'no', of course. That is because what most people associate with psi are spoon-benders, psychics, mediums, the lot. They think of super-powers, of stuff that looks suspicously like magic but is supposedly non-trick.
I think that super-powers don't exist for the same reason I think that bigfoot does not exist. Yes, there is evidence for both.
EG there were bigfoot prints found and there is also this movie. But where is the other stuff like bones, shed fur, a carcass even. Such unambigous evidence should exist if the movie or the prints were real. We're left with ambigous evidence, evidence that could have been forged. I simply find the evidence incompatible with the existence of a bigfoot species.
In the same way we have lots of testimonials for super-powers. We have even videos where people demonstrate feats that really look like magic all the while affirming they don't use tricks. But where's the unambigous stuff? Why doesn't one of them grab the Randi-prize? Why aren't parapsychologists all over that?
The evidence is simply incompatible with human super-powers.
Some will point out that this does not rule out sporadic psi, weak psi, psi that is not under conscious control, etc... That is true. But what is actually the evidence for psi of such kind? It's pretty much the same evidence that we have for super-power psi. Anecdotes, testimonials... But if super-power psi did not live up to its promise then why should weak psi?
Last there is again the issue of what psi is anyways. If you ask what is a rock, I can show you a rock. If you ask what is an electromagnetic wave, I can show you the equations. But if you ask what is psi? You can only say this is psi or maybe not. It is psi or chance or a hoax or an error...
It's only psi if it's not something else... D'uh. But what is psi?
What's the difference between psi and something else?
I'll quote David because I think he said something that nearly all believers would agree on (please correct me if I'm mistaken):
My overwhelming hunch is that if psi is real, the explanation will be BIG - up there with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, and will come with a real explanation of consciousness.
That's how we tell the difference. If the explanation isn't awesome like that it wasn't psi after all.
All senses accepted by mainstream tell us nothing about consciousness. What if there is evidence that we can perceive without using any of the known senses. Wouldn't it be most obvious to suppose that there must be another sense like those we already know? And even if it's a completely new type of sense, why would one think it has a deep connection to consciousness in a way the conventional senses don't?
So to wrap up the long answer: Psi is simply not something that exists or not but something that is deeply connected to a certain class of dualistic world-views (mainly spiritualism). It is for spiritualism what miracles are for catholicism.
