Alime.216
net.misc
utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!lime!glenn
Thu Apr 15 00:11:38 1982
PSI: Comments from a skeptic
Seems to me that you (mhuxt!lute) rested your case without ever
making it in the first place. I'm sure glad you're not my attorney.

A few words from Dr. Asimov are appropos here:

      "The scientific view of the Universe is such as to
      admit only those phenomena that can, in one way or
      another, be observed in a fashion accessible to all,
      and to admit those generalizations (which we call laws
      of nature) that can be induced from those
      observations."

      "It is also perfectly possible to say that there are
      [other phenomena] that can indeed be observed, but
      only by certain people and only under certain
      unpredicatable conditions."

      "That may conceivably be so, but it doesn't fall
      within the purview of science since under those
      conditions, *anything* can be said. I can say that the
      Rocky Mountains are made out of emeralds that have the
      property of looking like ordinary rock to everyone
      else but me. You can't disprove that statement but of
      what value is it? Far from being of value, such
      statements are so annoying to people generally that
      anyone who insists on making them is liable to be
      treated as insane."


      From "Extraterrestrial Civilizations", by Issac
      Asimov, Crown Publishers, New york, NY. pp 5-6.

As Joe Presley pointed out, those who believe in the existence of
Christ do so based on their faith, and make no pretense of
scientific rigor in that belief. Psionic enthusiasts are welcome
to state beliefs regarding purported psi phenomena. But, as Dr.
Asimov says, unless they can demonstrate them in a fashion
observable to all, those beliefs do not fall within the purview
of science. To present them as such is to exploit the reputation
of the scientific method.

        - Glenn Golden (BTL Holmdel) (...vax135!lime!glenn)

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