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A parapsychologist writes about leaving parapsychology

PSP-"My entire PhD was an empirical test of precognition and I did not find any good evidence for believing in the paranormal. What I did discover is that human beings don't really understand concepts like chance and randomness, and they like to make patterns and links between random events in their lives."
Now that would make an interesting thesis!
 
davidsmith73 said:
I ask because I think the Bem experiments look very promising in terms of producing a replicable effect. I think its a shame that someone like yourself, who was in the position to perform replication attempts, has not taken this line of inquiry forward (or perhaps you have but I've not seen the paper).
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David,

Can you not take this line of inquiry forward? Do I recall you saying that you are a parapsycologist (at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh Uni.) ?
 
Welcome, PSP.

A question burning in my soul for years: What is actually going on? Why are psi experiments successful? Protocol leaks? Bad statistics? Innocent data filtering? Blatant cheating? Massive file drawers?

Do you have a feeling for what is happening?

~~ Paul

P.S. By the way, you're coming to TAM5, right?
 
Hi Paul.

Just call me Louie :)

A question burning in my soul for years: What is actually going on? Why are psi experiments successful? Protocol leaks? Bad statistics? Innocent data filtering? Blatant cheating? Massive file drawers?
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All of the above and more. To be honest if you look at the evidence for precognition say (my specific area of research) there are no fantastic spontaneous cases - and people only began looking at the question empirically because people report paranormal experiences. There are lots of normal reasons why people have weird experiences.

And from all of the empirical work I've looked at, most of it is non-significant. Researchers say 'well just because so and so didn't find something, I'm going to' and plod along regardless of the evidence, prompted by their belief. I call it a house of cards. Poor studies piled on poor studies lead to a very muddy interpretation of what is essentially just a lot of noise (from various different sources).

I'm going to nail my colours to the mast. There is no god. No life after death. No ghosts, ghoulies or goblins. Parapsychology has existed for over 100 years and trust me, there's no good evidence.

Or don't trust me, trust the other parapsychologists, who are invested in the area.

I'll try and write something this week for my blog, giving some good examples of the dubious scientific practices I've found in parapsychology.

Oh and as for coming to TAM5. I would love to. But quitting parapsychology and running a science and atheism blog, doesn't leave me with huge funds. Perhaps I should've stayed and milked the publics' guillibility for my own profit. But I just couldn't do it.
 
Lothian said:
David,

Can you not take this line of inquiry forward? Do I recall you saying that you are a parapsycologist (at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh Uni.) ?
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I remember him saying he was based in Edinburgh. In fact I think his "location" said just that for a while. But he always said he was just an interested observer, not an actual parapyschologist himself. I could be wrong, though.
 
PSP, is there a place online where I can read about your dream esp studies? I've never heard of that kind of study being done before. Is dream precognition something that has been researched often before?
 
latent aaaack said:
PSP, is there a place online where I can read about your dream esp studies? I've never heard of that kind of study being done before. Is dream precognition something that has been researched often before?
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There's quite a bit of dream ESP work out there and I'm sure google can help. Dream precognition used to be quite popular mainly thanks to Dunne's 'An Experiment With Time'. There's nothing very impressive though.

A couple of years ago, I studied a man who produced paintings based on his 'precognitive' dreams (including a couple of the twin towers collapsing, years before the actual attack). Was he really psychic? I was not convinced. Although we couldn't empirically test his claim, plenty of events (past and future) matched most of his pictures.

Lesson learned. Don't get too excited about any of it.
 
psp02ls said:
Just call me Louie :)
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"Louie, Louie" it is... ;)

psp02ls said:
Parapsychology has existed for over 100 years and trust me, there's no good evidence.

Or don't trust me, trust the other parapsychologists, who are invested in the area.
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Heck, we don't have to trust anyone. We can just look at the evidence.

....(looks around).....

Oh, well.... :confused: :)

psp02ls said:
Oh and as for coming to TAM5. I would love to. But quitting parapsychology and running a science and atheism blog, doesn't leave me with huge funds. Perhaps I should've stayed and milked the publics' guillibility for my own profit. But I just couldn't do it.
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There are scholarships, you know. Very popular! :)
 
CFLarsen said:
Heck, we don't have to trust anyone. We can just look at the evidence.
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But you see, believing anything said by another human IS a matter of trust. You can't be there, next to every scientist or every person that makes a claim to information. Even if information is confirmed by others, that is no guarantee of veracity.

I'm merely saying, be careful who you trust or believe. They may be telling you a pack of lies.
 
psp02ls said:
There's quite a bit of dream ESP work out there and I'm sure google can help. Dream precognition used to be quite popular mainly thanks to Dunne's 'An Experiment With Time'. There's nothing very impressive though.

A couple of years ago, I studied a man who produced paintings based on his 'precognitive' dreams (including a couple of the twin towers collapsing, years before the actual attack). Was he really psychic? I was not convinced. Although we couldn't empirically test his claim, plenty of events (past and future) matched most of his pictures.

Lesson learned. Don't get too excited about any of it.
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Is much of this other work done with people who can't be empirically tested?

If I'm laboring the point it's because I've had such repeated dream precognition/coincidences and have often wondered if there's a way I can tell if I'm being rational about it or if it's bound to be just too subjective, like the guy that makes paintings.
 
latent aaaack said:
Is much of this other work done with people who can't be empirically tested?

If I'm laboring the point it's because I've had such repeated dream precognition/coincidences and have often wondered if there's a way I can tell if I'm being rational about it or if it's bound to be just too subjective, like the guy that makes paintings.
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It's pretty normal actually. I experience coincidences all of the time. I'll give you a trivial one: I was recently up on a step ladder and hit a door into my head. I cursed atheism and said, 'cmon god, i'll believe in you if you're nicer to me'. I then stubbed my foot very hard.

You see we have lots of thoughts running through our heads (and we all probably dream every night). Is it surprising sometimes mental events occasionally tally with events going on in the external world? It's just chance. What would be strange is if this never happened!
 
Lothian said:
David,

Can you not take this line of inquiry forward? Do I recall you saying that you are a parapsycologist (at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh Uni.) ?
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No, I just live in Edinburgh. An interested observer as Ersby says. If I had the opportunity to do some parapsychology and get paid for it, I would. I'm more optimistic about all this than Louie seems to be.
 
psp02ls said:
I'm going to nail my colours to the mast. There is no god. No life after death. No ghosts, ghoulies or goblins. Parapsychology has existed for over 100 years and trust me, there's no good evidence.
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Louie,

I'm curious as to why your writings on your blog, and here, tend to focus on notions that parapsychology is searching for some kind of proof of god or life after death and that it is a "thinly veiled theistic pursuit". Granted, there certainly are parapsychologists who openly assume and embrace that the phenomena they purport to study would necessarily be interpreted as such. But I, for one, do not entertain any notion of god, life after death or theism when I look into parapsychological phenomena. In fact, I've been an atheist for as long as I remember and also been interested in psi for a long time too. If we assume for a moment that such things exists, would you consider the reality of psi phenomena to simply represent a natural aspect of consciousness and/or the brain interacting with its environment?
 
David.

Good for you, that you're an atheist. But if we are all part of a vibrating membrane floating in 11 dimensions, there is still no god and the universe will still not have been made for us.

I have considered the evidence. My own belief was that precognition was a kind of death avoidance - a time reversed reflex to stop people being killed. I thought there was evidence. There are some very interesting cases associated with the Titanic and the Aberfan mining disaster which suggest people have premonitions before disasters.

I looked at the empirical evidence and you know what? I received funding of over £10,000 pounds to try and breed a psychic beetle. For real. When I was conducting the research, I imagined I'd get a Nobel prize. And what did I fine. Perfect chance scores.

I've tested lots of humans too and not found anything which I now consider remotely interesting.

The point is, humans do not understand how big the universe is and how long it has been here. Chance and randomness are important concepts which we constantly underestimate.

I really am not interested in parapsychology any more. If you choose to waste what little life you get on it, so be it.
 
psp02ls said:
£10,000 pounds to try and breed a psychic beetle. For real. When I was conducting the research, I imagined I'd get a Nobel prize. And what did I fine. Perfect chance scores.
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I would have done it (or tried to do it and fail?) for 9,000.

psp02ls said:
I really am not interested in parapsychology any more. If you choose to waste what little life you get on it, so be it.
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Very well said.

Just curious - you're still in academia I presume? Is it now tough getting employment with a background in something so woo?

(I just realized you may cover this in your blog. I'll have to take a look.)
 
Hi Senorpogo.
Just curious - you're still in academia I presume? Is it now tough getting employment with a background in something so woo?
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See this post on work. I think you may have to ask me that in a year or so though.

I'm hoping that since theism can generate huge funds and motivate others, that maybe atheism and science can do the same, with tangible benefits (not empty promises of a better afterlife).

So I'm just waiting for a rich atheist benefactor to start the ball rolling and I can really get going with my plans.

Since everything is pointless, what's the worst that can happen? Spend my life studying precognition?
 
davidsmith73 said:
No, I just live in Edinburgh. An interested observer as Ersby says. If I had the opportunity to do some parapsychology and get paid for it, I would. I'm more optimistic about all this than Louie seems to be.
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Why do you need to get paid for it? Surely, you can find spare time to replicate just one of the experiments you find "promising"?
 
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