Gary Schwartz and the HBO experiments

[Fredrik]

A few years ago I read an article called "HBO Experiments" on Gary Schwartz's old web site (openmindsciences). I would like to read it again. Did anyone here save a copy of it before the site went offline? If you have it as a pdf or something, let me know, and I'll PM my E-mail address.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I think most skeptics are wrong about Schwartz's methods. The biggest flaw isn't that the mediums might be able to cheat. It's that almost anything they say will be interpreted as a hit (so there's no need to cheat). The HBO Experiment is a beautiful example of this.

For example, Schwartz noticed that one of the mediums only asked the sitter five yes/no questions, and decided that that was a good reason to compare the results of the first five yes/no questions that the mediums asked. Schwartz then assumed that the probability of each answer being yes was 50%, and calculated the probability that the mediums would get as many correct answers as they did. This probability was very low, and he interpreted this as evidence of paranormal abilities and of the existence of an afterlife.

But look at the first five questions that one of the mediums asked: (I posted this on a Swedish forum years ago, so I could get this part of the article from there).

MEDIUM: Now, I don't know if they mean this by age or by generation, but they talk about the younger male that passed. Does that make sense to you?
SITTER: Yes.
MEDIUM: Okay, ‘cause wherever he is is claiming he was the first one in the room. So I guess he wants the credit of coming first. He states he's family, that's correct?
SITTER: Correct.
MEDIUM: This I don't understand. If you do, say yes, you understand, but don't explain. He speaks about his dad, does that make sense?
SITTER: Yes.
MEDIUM: I don't know why yet. I don't know if he's trying to tell me his dad is there or if he's calling to his dad. So don't say anything, I want them to say it. Also, another male presence comes forward to you and says, "Dad is here." Is it correct your dad is passed?
SITTER: Correct.
MEDIUM: Okay, ‘cause he's there. But this younger male, these are two different people, correct?
SITTER: Correct?

 

[RSLancastr]

Dang. I thought this was going to be about the first book in a new series by J. K. Rowling...



Yes, that's certainly a pretty lousy set of yes/no questions. "Does that make sense to you?" is an old cold-readers standby, and a reply of "yes" can mean that the statement preceding that question was correct, or it could simply mean that the sitter understood the words that the reader said.

There are other things wrong with the questions (or, more properly, with Schwartz's assertion that they were 50/50 questions).

 

[Zep]

I think this session may have been with John Edward... Shows his calibre!

 

[Fredrik]

I did a search a few minutes ago to see if I could find the funny articles by Gary Schwarz that I mentioned when I started this thread three years ago. For entertainment purposes only, I'm posting the links I found:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030803125419/http:/www.survivalscience.org/schwartz/frame1.htm

I used to think that he took down his old web site because stuff like this was too embarrassing, but then I found the same stuff in his book:

http://www.amazon.com/Afterlife-Experiments-Breakthrough-Scientific-Evidence/dp/0743436598/

Use the "search inside this book" feature and find Appendix C in the back matter, e.g. by searching for the word "replicability". Appendix C also contains a reference to a journal where this stuff was published. The journal's web page says that "All papers submitted to the Journal are strictly peer-reviewed, and any opinions expressed are those of the authors alone."

This stuff is actually an interesting read. It shows more clearly than anything I've seen before just how deluded that man is. Actually when I read it the first time I had a very hard time believing that it was even possible that he was serious. I still don't know what to think about that.

 

[Ersby]

The whole paper seems to be readable on Amazon but if you need an offline version, I have it in a word document.