Can geomagnetic activity affect telepathy? (Michael Persinger)

[ben m]

I just want to quote from WSEN's sciforum post:

He possibly can't be lying. He truly believes in his stuff and that's why he would keep researching and hold onto his theory for this long. If he KNOWS that his theory is false, then why would he keep researching and publishing the same theory? I just cannot understand his psychology. Sure, if you invested 30 years into it, then you would hold onto your beliefs (as you have your time and ego attatched to it as you sweat blood and tears doing meticulous research, and, the longer you have your beliefs, the longer you have your beliefs, the less likely you are to get rid of them. I personally know a lot about belief systems), but wouldn't you know that you're wrong, if you're wrong, and let it go? I mean, he's continuously kept his theory and researched it and published it, adding new data. Thus it must mean he is correct! Unless he has brain damage.

This is, to say the least, naive. WSEN, you overlook the thousands of ways that people can form wrong ideas, hang onto them, overreact to meaningless confirmatory hints, convince themselves to dismiss contrary evidence, etc. It happens all the time. I have never before seen someone make your claim---"this guy believes in it so strongly, it can't be wrong!"

 

[Darwin123]

I just want to quote from WSEN's sciforum post:



This is, to say the least, naive. WSEN, you overlook the thousands of ways that people can form wrong ideas, hang onto them, overreact to meaningless confirmatory hints, convince themselves to dismiss contrary evidence, etc. It happens all the time. I have never before seen someone make your claim---"this guy believes in it so strongly, it can't be wrong!"

You are wrong, not WSEN.

WSEN did bit say that the guy was wrong. WSEN said that the guy was lying. WSEN does not believe the guy was RIGHT, only that the guy BELIEVES what he is saying.

WSEN is hypothesizing that if a person repeats the same thing over and over again, then that person believes what he is saying. I am not sure about this, either. However, I feel it is highly likely that a person who makes a claim repeatedly PROBABLY believes that claim.

I can think of more counterexamples to what you are saying than to what WSEN is saying. I concur that the fellow you are both talking about BELIEVES what he is saying, but is extremely WRONG. Thus, this fellow may be MISTAKEN, not LYING!

 

[Darwin123]

In 1974 Michael Persinger proposed that extremely low-frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves may be able to carry telepathic and clairvoyant information.

I looked at your links and others. I didn't find this claim.

Persinger suggested in your link that pizoelectricity form tectonic strain fields could produce lights that are mistaken for UFOs or the Virgin Mary. It has been somewhat established that pizoelectricity could cause lights. However, the electric fields in those cases are huge. They are comparable to the type of electric fields that precede a lightening discharge.

He also did experiments showing that extremely strong magnetic fields can cause hallucinations. He thought some of them may demonstrate remote viewing. However, the magnetic fields applied to the persons head was enormous. To stimulate the hallucinations (or remote viewing), he had to apply magnetic fields thousands of times greater than the geomagnetic fields.

Hardly the sort of fields that would carry clairvoyant information. The human body generates magnetic fields on the order of 40 nanoTesla. The earths magnetic field has a magnitude on the order of 40 microTesla. The fields that Persinger applied to the brain was much higher than the geomagnetic field (maybe >1 milliTesla).

I assure you that if someone hits you on the head with a two by four, you will see visions provided you live. Mike are talking about very strong ELFF. We are not talking about the bodies ELFF.