"Science and the Taboo of Psi" with Dean Radin

[ButterflyWoman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw_O9Qiwqew

Google Tech Talks
January, 16 2008

ABSTRACT

Do telepathy, clairvoyance and other "psi" abilities exist? The majority of the general population believes that they do, and yet fewer than one percent of mainstream academic institutions have any faculty known for their interest in these frequently reported experiences. Why is a topic of enduring and widespread interest met with such resounding silence in academia? The answer is not due to a lack of scientific evidence, or even to a lack of scientific interest, but rather involves a taboo. I will discuss the nature of this taboo, some of the empirical evidence and critical responses, and speculate on the implications.

Speaker: Dean Radin
Dean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and four-time former President of the Parapsychological Association. He holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a masters degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and GTE Labs, mainly on human factors of advanced telecommunications products and services, and held appointments at Princeton University, Edinburgh University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and Boundary Institute. At these facilities he was engaged in basic research on exceptional human capacities, principally psi phenomena.

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Note: It's quite long, and Dean Radin is not the most dynamic of speakers, but the information is extremely interesting. At the end is a question and answer session that I found quite entertaining and illuminating, including the fact that Radin and his associates were interested in participating in the ♥♥♥♥♥ challenge, but ♥♥♥♥♥ wasn't interested....

[Neil Templar]

i read that before - that ♥♥♥♥♥ often isn't interested when some folk want to take up the challenge.
surely if he was so sure of the non-existence of Psi abilities, he'd let everyone have a go..?

[Ouroboros]

i read that before - that ♥♥♥♥♥ often isn't interested when some folk want to take up the challenge.
surely if he was so sure of the non-existence of Psi abilities, he'd let everyone have a go..?

Fascinating, isn't it? It would be interesting to see what ♥♥♥♥♥'s response to this might be. Probably something along the lines of "I don't have the time to take on every challenge that comes my way." Besides, I think one of the stipulations for taking up his challenge is that you have to have a certain level of fame or notoriety.

I'll have to bring some headphones to work so I can watch the interview when it gets slow.

[Korpo]

This is interesting and if I understand where this is aiming at (did not listen to it) then it is totally in line with Charles Tart, who decades ago already wrote that the evidence is there, the science has been done, we know that PSI exists, and we've established that with sound methods. It's more about getting dirty looks than true inquiry... *shrugs*

Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

Well, I've long been of the opinion that ♥♥♥♥♥ only really wants kooks and charlatans. Someone like Radin, with years of data and research and experience designing tests is a little too reliable and/or legitimate for ♥♥♥♥♥'s taste. ;)

You're right, Oliver. Radin and his associates around the world have decades of data, much of it peer-reviewed. There is definitely evidence that psi is real and not just wishful thinking on the part of researchers. Some of the techniques they use these days are very high tech and would be difficult to fudge (stuff like pupil dialation, brainwave patterns, etc.). The data is out there, published, peer-reviewed, and there's a lot of it.

The problem is that nobody is willing to take this data and work a theory with it. Even Radin says, basically, we don't know what's happening. Something is. It looks like mind-to-mind communication, but it could be something else. We have all this data, but no real theory that it fits in. We need theorists to take the data seriously and deal with it.

Unfortunately, the moment you start to consider these years of data valid, you break taboo...

[Korpo]

Well, an amzing book about consciousness is "States of Consciousness" which tries to postulate a possible theory about states of mind without claiming its validity. I guess it is Tart's attempt to put out there his idea where we need to look without taking the full barrage of counter-revolutionary zeal for not being able to prove everything he says about consciousness. It's like daring putting a bigger-than-usual hypothesis out there to seed minds of the next generation with it. That's a possible way.

Oliver

PS - Don't you find it funny - Radin vs. ♥♥♥♥♥. I first thought it was typo. :)

[Beekeeper]

Thanks for the link, OW. I will check it out soon. As for Radin being somewhat dry, so is his writing.