Flat Earther: The world is flat as a board!
Skeptic: Are you sure? I mean, it looks flat, but has anyone tested it?
Flat Earther: Tested it? Look around, man!!! Open your eyes!!! The truth is right in front of you, but you refuse to see it!!!
Skeptic: Well, that may be, but no one's really checked it, have they? I mean, maybe it's square or round or something?
Flat Earther: Round? Are you nuts? Things would roll off the side!! You're talking crazy here!! Thinking you know everything, and you know nothing!!! Round, hah!!!
Skeptic: Look, I'm not saying it is, but the stars and planets seem to be round, why should the earth be different? And if it is flat, that's a whole new area to study. Of course, it's meaningless to speculate until we test to find out if it's flat. I haven't seen any test showing it's flat, so I'm not really sure.
Flat Earther: You're so damn negative. I swear, we can't even beat the obvious into you. You're so down on everything, it's like dogma!!! Test, when you can see it with your own eyes!!!! You and your agenda can go fall off your round earth, I'm going home to discuss things with rational people who can see how flat the earth is!!!
Anything in that sound familiar?
Olaf, the flat earthers were the ones who didn't bother to test or examine their beliefs. And in any case, the idea that a majority thought it was flat is something of a myth. The educated have known the earth was round since the ancient Greeks. In fact, Eratosthenes made the first accurate measurement of the Earth's diameter (using the distances at which the base and top of a tower were visible). These were the people who questioned, who tested, who wanted evidence that made these discoveries.
Also, contrary to what you wish were true, it is not only the job but the responsibility of science to critically examine EVERY new idea. Read my sig. If an idea is true, then the tests will show it; it can't be torn down by legitimate study and experiment. People claim skeptics cry foul in psychis experiements because we want tighter controls; if the effect were real "psychics" should be lining up for such strict testing. With every real effect through the history of scientific thought, stricter testing and tighter controls have caused an effect to be more pronounced, more obvious, and told us more about the effect. In psi, the opposite seems true, which leads one to a different conclusion.
Now, I am not saying there is or isn't anything to RV. I can say I have yet to find anything that convinces me. However, the ONLY way to find out more, and the ONLY way to get it accepted in the scientific community at large, and the ONLY way to silence the skeptics, is to do those stricter, more tightly controlled tests and prove the effect is there. A simple, objective test that can be easily scored without requiring any subjective grading. Several ideas have been posted here and in other threads, many requiring not much more than a bit of time and some volunteers. The fact that these tests are not done, or very poorly documented by those who claim to have done these types of experiments, is highly suggestive that the effect is not due to any sort or paranormal ability. As others have mentioned, there's a million dollars if an RVer can pass a simple test similar to those people have suggested here; in any case if the ability were real, and I could do it, I would be RVing the hell out of corporate board meetings and retiring in style on the huge profits I made doing insider trading, just for one example.
My point, to sum it all up: If the effect is real, stricter and better testing can only further reveal it. If the effect is not real, such testing can help us put it in the dust bin and get on to other, more promising research where our time and money can be more productively spent.
