Have you guys heard of Darryl Sloan? He's one of the most philosophical and intelligent critical thinkers I've ever seen, and one of the few people I watch on YouTube. If you listen to him, you'll see why he's worth listening to.
His channel has a lot of controlled psi wheel experiments, some under a glass bowl too. They demonstrate a very real, small but measurable effect.
YouTube - darrylsloan's Channel
His book "Reality Check" is one of the best critical thinking books I've ever read. He puts into words what a lot of us have felt and creates an impeccable chain of logic. The more you listen to him, the more you admire him. You can get his book from his site at www.darrylsloan.com
This guy is one of the truest skeptics I've ever seen. He asks big questions and analyzes different sides very deeply. There's no question that he's sincere. Watch his videos and you'll understand why.
Thanks,
Winston
SCEPCOP
Here Darryl Sloan explains why he thinks the JREF Challenge doesn't mean anything. He addresses the question that his fans posed to him, "why don't you take the Randi challenge?" and points out that JREF followers have an irrational faith based belief that Rand is true, honest and objective, even though they really don't know that for a certainty and just take his word for it. In reality it is really faith based. Excellent point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujqVwcZg_mA
Here Darryl Sloan calmly expresses his disgust with the Randi crowd and their attacks on his telekinesis experiments. Wow look how rational he is. The part where he says that the paradigm of the skeptics is that "The known laws of physics are the ONLY reality" is spot on and so true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyF87JKYjF4
Sorry but bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. An MDC challenge can be set up and run by anyone with the right credentials. Randi doesn't even have to be there. All it requires is correct protocols to ensure no outside assistance or trickery. Reasonable? If you don't think so and your so called hero thinks he is on the straight and narrow then sorry, but you are fatally misguided.
You should know that I, along with most other skeptics, would be absolutely delighted to acknowledge any marvellous power or ability if evidenced. You present none worthy of the name so we can discount this as tosh pretty quickly. Thanks for trying though. always good to see how well or badly people try to establish their case. usually , as here, on the latter end of the scale.
Welcome back WWu, you've previously shown yourself on this forum to be stupid and gullible, have you improved at all?
The first link is boring and pathetic. All he's doing is reading supposed emails from Christians and mocking them. You think that that is admirable?Originally Posted by WWu777
On the JREF challenge his position can be summarised as: "lie, lie, lie, straw man, lie, strawman, lie, lie, straw man, lie, strawman, lie, lie." Almost nothing he says is true. What total shit. You find a stream of lies "excellent"? based on the way he lies about skepticism how are we to trust that anything else he says is true? Psychic? Prove it liar. Got silly emails from Christians? Prove it liar.
The last link is no better, boring, straw man nonsense. The part where he says that the paradigm of the skeptics is that "The known laws of physics are the ONLY reality" is rubbish and a lie.
It is obvious WWu that you still have some growing up to do. Why not find out about real skepticism rather than listening to some boring attention-seeking lying twat?
I watched this video up to about 6:30. This guy is just WRONG.
An example at about 6:10
NO! NO! NO!Things like telekinesis are deemed impossible [by skeptics] because they appear to defy the laws of physics
If that's what he thinks skeptics think he is wrong.
They are deemed UNLIKELY to be possible because they appear to defy the laws of physics. Big difference.
However, all you do have to do is perform experiments which show otherwise and which are open to PEER REVIEW and REPRODUCIBLE and everybody would be very happy. Has Sloan done that?
The rest of the video is full of shite as well
Perhaps this is because these 'laws' are not the fanciful invention of a show man - they have been tested in many different ways and perform as expected. But as anyone knows, Newtons laws have been found inadequate and thus replaced by relativity, which failed to adequately explain quantum interactions leading to further theories, which are known to be inadequate hence the push for a 'theory of everything' etc.
So no one is suggesting that the current laws are the 'truth', except those who wish to convince you that the impossible is everyday. What they deliberately overlook is that the new laws when developed must explain all (or at least more than the current laws) current observations, so there is no good news for telekinesis there.
So what does this mean for con artists trying to sell telekinesis? The burden of proof remains with them - they are proposing something improbable - but provide independently verifiable evidence that this is a reality (i.e. reproducible in controlled circumstances by a number of unconnected individuals or groups) then this would become an observation requiring further modification of the laws. But like ghosts and gods, simple being possible in ones imagination is not evidence.
It's possible he's convinced himself he can move small pieces of foil by the power of his mind, but before anyone vaguely skeptical believed him, they'd want to know the full situation, and what attempted controls there have been.
For instance, what happens if there are tiny movements of the table it's on, even if due to innocent things like a subconscious shifting of weight - does the effect persist if done on a solid concrete floor slab?
How can we be sure that there are no tiny air currents - a demonstration with a hairdryer blowing all around the base of the bowl and achieving nothing would be nice, or parcel-taping the bowl to the table so no air could get in.
What about heat under the table causing air movements inside the bowl, or even a recently-removed cup of tea, or a bowl different in temperature to the table, or either bowl or table different in temperature to the air?
Moisture from sweat evaporating off the foil and changing the balance?
If he prepared the setup and left it in front of the camera for N minutes to stabilise, could he produce the effect as reliably?
Obviously, there'd be no reason to expect that telekinesis would work any less well after a decent interval
And that's just thinking of some things that could be accidental.
Moving something metallic and so light by electromagnetism isn't hard, nor would be a tiny amount of something magnetisable on the wheel, and a magnet under the table, deliberately adding evaporating liquids, etc.
Since there are numerous ways to get an accidental effect (even he says it doesn't work reliably), and other ways to cheat, why should anyone believe he's doing something scientifically revolutionary, rather than making a mistake or pulling a fast one?
There are three possibilities.
a) He's sincere, and is really getting telekinetic effects
b) He's sincere, and he's somehow fooling himself
c) He's cheating
If he's geniune, and has looked at all the possibilities for accidental outside influence he can think of, then he should try and get one or more skeptics to see if they can see any other potential flaws.
That way he can reduce the chances of b) substantially, and maybe to a negligible amount.
If other people are happy that b) is sufficiently unlikely, they may be willing to put in the time to work with him, since they'll either find something important, or unmask a fraud, both of which could be fun.
Other people may be less interested in putting in effort merely to show someone they were fooling themselves - if b) is happening, it may be better for the person to find out quietly in private, then they can at least have the option of coming forward and saying they found out they were mistaken, the honesty of which, most decent people would respect.
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