timtyler comments on Parapsychology: the control group for science - Less Wrong

62 Post author: AllanCrossman 05 December 2009 10:50PM

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Comment author: scav 09 December 2009 01:30:52PM 0 points [-]

Here's a closer look: to accept psi, you would have to reject evolutionary biology.

It would be such a humungous advantage to communicate telepathically, see the future or remote locations, or manipulate the physical world by thinking, that there's no way evolution wouldn't have optimised the f* out of it by now.

We don't wonder whether birds have wings, or whether dogs have a sense of smell. That we can wonder whether we might have psychic powers means we DON'T, to a very high probability indeed.

Comment author: timtyler 09 December 2009 04:15:08PM 5 points [-]

Cellphones are advantageous too - yet their evolution seems to be currently in progress. That should be enough to indicate why this line of argument fails.