Jack comments on Existential Risk and Public Relations - Less Wrong

36 Post author: multifoliaterose 15 August 2010 07:16AM

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Comment author: Jack 22 November 2010 05:04:58PM *  0 points [-]

His point is that they keep starting from an assumption that science knows nothing relevant to the questions parapsychologists are asking, rather than starting from an assumption that known science could be used to make testable, falsifiable predictions.

But he gives no evidence that parapsychologists start from this assumption. Plenty of parapsychologists know that no force fields produced by the brain could be responsible for the effects they think they've found. Thats sort of their point actually.

There are lots of silly people in the field who think the results imply dualism of course-- but thats precisely why it would be nice to have materialists tackle the questions.

Comment author: David_Gerard 22 November 2010 10:27:29PM -1 points [-]

There are no significant results from parapsychologists who are aware of physics. Instead, we have results from parapsychologists that claim statistical significance that have obviously defective experimental design and/or (usually and) turn out to be unreplicable.

That is, you describe sophisticated parapsychologists but the prominent results are from unsophisticated ones.

Comment author: Jack 22 November 2010 10:50:38PM *  0 points [-]

Cite?

ETA: Bem, for example, whose study initiated this discussion has a BA and did graduate work in physics.