The Denier Movements Critique Evolution, Climate Change, and Nonlocal Consciousness Stephan A

SCHWARTZREPORT

Trends That Will Affect Your Future... The Denier Movements Critique Evolution, Climate Change, and Nonlocal Consciousness Stephan A. Schwartz

tion that may prove to have fatal conse- consciousness and matter interact. Collec- The SchwartzReport tracks emerging quences. tively they are defining a new paradigm. trends that will affect the world, particu- Consciousness deniers are materialists The three denier movements—creation- larly the United States. For EXPLORE, it who conceive of all aspects of conscious- ists, climate change, and consciousness— focuses on matters of health in the broad- ness as entirely a construct of physiologi- all share certain commonalities. Deniers est sense of that term, including medical cal processes, in spite of hundreds of stud- from all these movements always make a issues, changes in the biosphere, technol- ies demonstrating this conclusion is not point of defining themselves as skeptics, ogy, and policy considerations, all of which justified. This, just as creationists, in the so we should begin by noting that skeptic will shape our culture and our lives. face of hundreds of studies, demand that comes from the Greek root skepsis, mean- evolution be considered no more than an ing inquiry and doubt. Yet any objective unproven theory, or climate deniers see analysis of these movements makes it clear n our culture right now we have sev- extreme snow storms as proof climate that their hallmarks are a lack of interest in eral “denier” movements actively en- change is a myth. As a result of these de- further inquiry, and an absence of doubt nier efforts, research in all three areas has concerning their own positions. So if de- gaged in trying to impede the free de- been made more difficult, and this has had niers are not skeptics what are they? velopment of science: the creationists, I both unfortunate scientific and social im- I believe they represent examples of the climate change deniers, and the con- plications. classic defense positions concerning a sciousness deniers—those who cannot, or The denier disruptions created in evo- cherished paradigm, slowly moving into will not, consider consciousness as any- lutionary and climate research are well crisis, just as described by the physicist thing other than materialist processes. For known. The impact of consciousness de- and philosopher of science Thomas all their lack of substance, these move- niers is less known or understood. But Kuhn.3 With creationists, it is the iner- ments are powerful forces in the culture, here is one consideration: progress in un- rancy of the Bible and the presentation in with substantial detrimental effects. derstanding the nature of consciousness, Genesis of the creation of the world. For Creationism, on its face, seems medi- particularly that aspect—the nonlocal— climate deniers, it is the conviction that eval and absurd, but The Pew Research that has not been explained by physiology human intervention is not the source of organization, which has tracked the cre- but is addressed by nonlocality and quan- massive climate change. For conscious- ationist question for many years, reports tum processes, has a very direct social con- ness deniers, it is a materialist perspective. that 55% of Americans believe the world sequence. The nonlocal aspect of con- In this essay, although I draw compari- was created within the last 10,000 years, sciousness may very well account for the sons amongst the denier movements, I with all the species pretty much as they are insight of genius, for religious epiphany, particularly focus on the consciousness 1 today. As appalling as that is, I want to as well as for the experiences known as psi. deniers, because their attacks and the dis- point out, in the context of this essay, that In an age when the acquisition and analy- ruptive friction they produce have a par- it is getting worse. Creationists are win- sis of information as well as fostering of ticularly deleterious effect on many of the ning the hearts and minds of the Ameri- innovation that produces breakthroughs lines of research covered in these pages. can public. Consider the 2005 poll by the will be critical determinants of societal If one follows the threads of conscious- Harris organization, shown in Table 1.2 success, learning how individuals make in- ness-denier criticism over the past century, Climate change deniers have seriously tuitive leaps that change the game is no it is notable that, although in the early impeded the development of rational pol- small matter. More profoundly, these years attacks mostly centered on method- icies to deal with what the best science tells studies, the collective product of multiple ology, after an exchange of comments be- us is happening with our climate, a distor- disciplines, are beginning to describe how tween denier psychologist Ray Hyman

SchwartzReport EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 131 Table 1. Do Man and Apes Have Common Ancestry?a This is important because what Hyman is conceding is that the way in which the Do You Believe Apes and Man Have a Common Ancestry or Not? July 1996 June 2005 kinds of laboratory experiments described Yes, apes and man do have a common ancestry. 51% 46% in this paper are conducted, and the way No, apes and man do not have a common ancestry. 43% 47% in which they are analyzed, is no longer a Not sure/decline to answer 5% 7% matter for dispute. Nonlocal perception aTaken from The Harris Poll.2 Base: all adults. Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to cannot be explained away as some artifact rounding. resulting from how the data were collected or evaluated. and statistician Jessica Utts that line of that psychic functioning has been Nor is this research vulnerable to criti- criticism largely ceased. Why did this hap- well established. The statistical re- cisms based on blindness and random- pen? In 1995, the United States Congress sults of the studies examined are far ness. No other field of science is so ob- commissioned the American Institutes for beyond what is expected by chance. sessed with the gold standard issues of Research (AIR), a Washington, DC–based Arguments that these results could be blindness and randomness. due to methodological flaws in the not-for-profit think tank with a long his- English biologist Rupert Sheldrake con- experiments are soundly refuted. Ef- ducted a survey of leading journals pub- tory of work in human performance and fects of similar magnitude have been close government ties, to assess the reality replicated at a number of laboratories lished between October 1996 and April of remote viewing in research the US gov- across the world. Such consistency 1998 (Table 2). The papers these journals ernment had previously funded. Remote cannot be readily explained by claims had published were broken into three cat- viewing is a protocol for obtaining objec- of flaws or fraud. egories: “(1) not applicable: papers that tively verifiable information that can only The magnitude of psychic func- did not involve experimental investiga- be obtained through accessing nonlocal tioning exhibited appears to be in the tions, for example, theoretical or review awareness, the aspect of consciousness range between what social scientists articles; (2) blind or double-blind method- outside of space/time. call a small and medium effect. That ologies used; and (3) blind or double- means that it is reliable enough to be To make the assessment, AIR selected blind methodologies not used.”7 The replicated in properly conducted ex- nationally recognized statistics professor periments, with sufficient trials to reader may find the results surprising. As Jessica Utts of the University of Califor- achieve the long-run statistical results can be seen in Table 2, parapsychology as nia, Davis, and well-known skeptic, Pro- needed for replicability.5 a percentage of published papers over- fessor Ray Hyman, a psychology professor whelmingly utilizes this protocol more on the faculty of the University of Oregon Hyman, responding to Utts’ report, than any other discipline. and a fellow of the Committee for the Sci- wrote: Five years later, in 2004, Caroline Watt entific Investigation of Claims of the Para- and Marleen Nagtegaal, working at Edin- normal (now the Committee for Skeptical I want to state that we agree on many burgh University, restudied the use of the Inquiry). Both had previously written on . . . points. We both agree that the double-blind protocol in the various dis- this topic and were notably sophisticated experiments (being assessed) were ciplines of science and reported that in the in the issues involved. Utts had already free of the methodological weak- ensuing years little had changed.8 addressed the question Congress was ask- nesses that plagued the early...re- With the Utts/Hyman exchange, and ing in a 1991 paper published in the jour- search. We also agree that the...ex- the work by Sheldrake, and Watt and 4 nal Statistical Science. periments appear to be free of the Nagtegaal on record, the deniers have more obvious and better known flaws Hyman and Utts were each asked by been denied the line of attack that that can invalidate the results of AIR to produce an independent report by parapsychological methods are typically a fixed date. Utts complied and submitted parapsychological investigations. We agree that the effect sizes repor- faulty. Their focus now is centered on rep- her report by the deadline. Hyman did ted...aretoolarge and consistent to lication rates—it works but not as well as not. As a result, he was able to see her be dismissed as statistical flukes.6 we demand it should—and the fact that a report before writing his own, and the ap- proach he chose to take, when he did Table 2. Blind Methodologies Used By Various Disciplinesa write, was largely a commentary on her analysis. To compensate for this ineq- Number of Number with Blind Methodologies uity, AIR allowed Utts to write a re- Area of Science Papers and as % of Total (0.00%) sponse that was incorporated into the Physical science disciplines 237 0 final document submitted to the Con- Biological science disciplines 914 7 (0.8%) gress. It is in this unplanned form of Medical science disciplines 227 55 (24.2%) exchange that the essence of the two po- Psychological and animal behavior disciplines 143 7 (4.9%) sitions is revealed. Utts’ initial statement Parapsychology 27 23 (85.2%) is remarkable for its clarity. She wrote: aFrom Sheldrake.7 Numbers of papers reviewed and the number involving blind or double-blind methodologies in a range of scientific journals. Only papers reporting experimental results were included in Using the standards applied to any this survey; theoretical papers and review articles were excluded. All publications appeared in 1996-8 unless other area of science, it is concluded otherwise indicated.

132 EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 SchwartzReport single paradigm-achieving theory has not flapped. “There was a dreamy faraway, yet perconscious or soul mind; and may emerged. To anyone familiar with Kuhn, inward look on his face,” Hoffman said, but, and does communicate with like of course, consciousness research is evolv- “No sign of stress. No outward indication of minds, and the subconscious or soul ing just as it should, and equally predict- intense concentration.”10 Neither assistant force becomes universal. From any ably, the deniers are mounting increas- felt he could say a word. After a few minutes, subconscious mind information may ingly implausible paradigm defenses just Einstein would suddenly come back to nor- be obtained, either from this plane or as the Kuhn’s model predicts.3 mal consciousness, “a smile on his face and from the impressions as left by the What the deniers do not acknowledge is an answer to the problem on his lips.” Hoff- individuals that have gone on before, as we see a mirror reflecting direct that paradigms do change and that it is man said the ideas “seemed to come from that which is before it...Through theories, and the experiments that test left field, to be quite extraordinary.”10 the forces of the soul, through the them, that create paradigms. Further, they Brahms described his moments of cre- mind of others as presented, or that do not recognize that no one discipline ative breakthroughs this way: have gone on before; through the can create a new paradigm, only many dis- subjugation of the physical forces in ciplines reaching a consensus can do that. . . . in this exalted state I see clearly this manner, the body obtains the This is the process now going on and, in what is obscure in my ordinary information.14 this context, consciousness researchers moods; then I feel capable of drawing inspiration from above as Beethoven such as parapsychologists are simply early- How is it that the great geniuses of his- adapters as science, in its many manifesta- did....Those vibrations assume the form of distinct mental images.... tory in both science and the arts, as well as tions, finally grapples seriously with con- ordinary remote viewers, and one of histo- sciousness and nonlocality—a quest Straightaway the ideas flow in upon me...andnotonly do I see distinct ry’s great clairvoyants have reported simi- deniers refuse to join. themes in the mind’s eye, but they lar experiences in the process of attaining How ironic it is then that Kuhn, whose are clothed in the right forms, harmo- insight, and yet consciousness deniers feel mind conceived the paradigm concept in nies, and orchestration. Measure by this is not an appropriate area for scientific science—and paradigm is the core of all measure the finished product is re- inquiry? Inasmuch as our history is largely denier arguments—fully, if somewhat un- vealed to me when I am in those rare comfortably, recognized the nonlocal. In inspired moods...11 defined by the breakthroughs resulting his classic book, The Structure of Scientific from such insights, surely understanding Revolutions, he wrote: Mozart and Copland also seem to have the processes involved should be of pri- had similar experiences.11 In Mozart’s mary importance. case, the connection was so clear and Because they are not data based, all No ordinary sense of the term ‘inter- strong the pages of his compositions show three denier movements have a certain an- pretation’ fits these flashes of intu- tique quality about them. Each speaks ition through which a new paradigm few alterations; they look like finished is born. Though such intuitions depend transcriptions. about the field it attempts to debunk from upon the experience, both anomalous and Remote viewers say of their experien- a position far behind the cutting edge of congruent, gained with the old paradigm, ces: “I kind of space out,” or “It’s sort of the science being attacked. This antique- they are not logically or piecemeal linked like focusing my mind at some middle dis- ness is a sure sign that denier arguments to particular items of that experience as tance.” They describe the moment itself by are based on attitude, not data. Deniers all an interpretation would be [emphasis 3(pp122,123) saying, “It came in a flash,” or “It was like a display what can only be called willful ig- added]. hologram . . . . Images are all there . . . as if it norance. In the case of the creationists, were a hologram hanging in my mind.”12 this is easy to see since, to maintain it, they Comparing this with the statements Poincaré described his work on a math- basically have to discard geology, paleon- made by people upon whom history con- ematical problem in the same vein: “One tology, anthropology, chemistry, astro- fers the title genius, prophet, or seer re- day, as I was crossing the street, the solu- physics, astronomy (among other disci- veals that Kuhn echoes their words almost tion of the difficulty which had brought plines), and the rest of modern science— exactly. me to a standstill came to me all at except perhaps for medicine—to hold their As Einstein explained it, “I feel certain I 13 once.” position. am right while not knowing the reason.”9 Consider also one of history’s most re- Climate change deniers simply will not Einstein’s assistant Banesh Hoffman, him- nowned psychics, Edgar Cayce, describing self a major physicist, observed, “When deal with the mass of data collected show- what he was doing. Speaking from his self- ing not only that climate change is real, excited discussions failed to break the induced trance state in 1923, in response but that human activity—not natural cy- deadlock [of a problem], Einstein would to a question about the process and source cles—is the dynamic driving it. This creates quietly say in his quaint English, ‘I will of his nonlocal ability: have a little tink.’”10 As Hoffman and severe political problems for the democra- Leopold Infeld, Einstein’s other major as- cies where endless debate becomes a The information as given or obtained weapon. Nobel Laureate economist Paul sistant (also a major physicist) looked on from this body is gathered from the in silence, Einstein would pace the room, sources from which the suggestion Krugman has described the denier’s be- coiling and uncoiling his signature hair may derive its information. In this havior in the debate leading up to the pas- around a finger as he walked, his sockless state the conscious mind becomes sage by the U.S. Congress of the Waxman- ankles winking into view as his pants subjugated to the subconscious, su- Markey climate-change bill:

SchwartzReport EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 133 If you watched the debate...you The denier commentaries do not seem ion channels critical to synaptic func- didn’t see people who’ve thought to apprehend that some of the largest, tion, contemporary physical theory hard about a crucial issue, and are most important, and best-funded research must in principle be used when ana- trying to do the right thing. What studying consciousness and nonlocality lyzing human brain dynamics. The you saw, instead, were people who have been done in disciplines other than new framework, unlike its classic physics-based predecessor, is erected show no sign of being interested in parapsychology—Leibovici and van Lom- directly upon, and is compatible the truth. They don’t like the politi- mel being only two examples. Let me cite cal and policy implications of climate with, the prevailing principles of a few more lines of inquiry to give a sense change, so they’ve decided not to be- physics. It is able to represent more of how far behind the times the conscious- lieve in it—and they’ll grab any argu- adequately than classic concepts the ment, no matter how disreputable, ness denier community actually is. And let neuroplastic mechanisms relevant to that feeds their denial.15 me point out that all of this could be dis- the growing number of empirical covered in half an hour by a college soph- studies of the capacity of directed at- omore searching a freely available, recog- tention and mental effort to system- Notably, corporations which live in the 21 nized index such as PubMed. atically alter brain function. continuing glare of profit and loss, in its First, this from a paper by three leading way a more stringent standard even than physicists who have explored the issue of Second, let me cite a report by Frecska scientific protocol, have no time for such consciousness, in the context of physics. and Luna of the National Institute for Psy- unworldly bias. As I write this essay in Jan- Because of its unequivocal clarity, I quote chiatry and Neurology in Budapest, in uary 2010, at the United Nations Investor the entire statement: which they present a neuro-ontological in- Summit on Climate Risk, 450 of the terpretation of spiritual experiences: world’s largest investors have issued a statement calling on the United States and Neuropsychological research on the The prevailing neuroscientific para- other governments to “act now to catalyze neural basis of behavior generally digm considers information process- posits that brain mechanisms will ul- development of a low-carbon economy ing within the central nervous system timately suffice to explain all psycho- and to attract the vast amount of private as occurring through hierarchically logically described phenomena. This organized and interconnected neural capital necessary for such transforma- assumption stems from the idea that 16 networks. The hierarchy of neural tion.” the brain is made up entirely of ma- networks doesn’t end at the neuroax- The US, European, and Australian in- terial particles and fields, and that all onal level; it incorporates subcellular vestor groups, who together represent $13 causal mechanisms relevant to neuro- mechanisms as well. When the size of trillion in assets, have called for “a price on science can therefore be formulated the hierarchical components reaches carbon emissions” and “well-designed car- solely in terms of properties of these the nanometer range and the number elements. Thus, terms having intrin- bon markets” to provide “a cost-effective of elements exceeds that of the sic mentalistic and/or experiential 16 neuroaxonal system, an interface way of achieving emissions reductions.’” content (eg, ‘feeling,’ ‘knowing’ and In consciousness deniers, willful igno- emerges for a possible transition be- ‘effort’) are not included as primary tween neurochemical and quantum rance can similarly be seen. They speak causal factors. This theoretical restric- physical events. ‘Signal nonlocality,’ about a parapsychology that has not ex- tion is motivated primarily by ideas about accessed by means of quantum en- isted in decades, if it ever did, and even the natural world that have been known tanglement is an essential feature of more revealingly they ignore all the other to be fundamentally incorrect for more the quantum physical domain. The than three-quarters of a century [emp- areas of research where work is going on presented interface may imply that hasis added]. Contemporary basic some manifestations of altered states that is essentially parapsychological under physical theory differs profoundly another name. Therapeutic intention re- of consciousness, unconscious/con- from classic physics on the important scious shifts have quantum origin search, such as immunologist Leonard matter of how the consciousness of with significant psychosomatic impli- Leibovici’s study on remote retroactive in- human agents enters into the struc- cations.22 tercessory prayer,17 or the near-death ex- ture of empirical phenomena. The new principles contradict the older perience studies of cardiologist Pim Van Nowhere in any of the denier commen- Lommel et al,18,19 are two examples. One idea that local mechanical processes alone can account for the structure of taries is there any recognition of this work. wonders if they are even known to the all observed empirical data. Contem- Clearly there is a whole world beyond ar- denier community? This is not really a porary physical theory brings directly guing whether nonlocality is real or a sta- rhetorical question. At a conference in and irreducibly into the overall tistical artifact or a magic trick. But one Vancouver, British Columbia, when asked causal structure certain psychologi- would not know it from reading contem- directly in open session whether he was cally described choices made by hu- porary parapsychological criticism, just as familiar with the remote viewing litera- man agents about how they will act. one would know nothing of modern pale- This key development in basic ture, I recall well-known psychologist and ontology reading a creationist tract, or physical theory is applicable to neu- denier Richard Wiseman, recognizing he roscience, and it provides neurosci- fully comprehend the acidification of the was about to be asked a specific question entists and psychologists with an al- world ocean reading climate change de- about this line of research, confessed he ternative conceptual framework for nier literature. had not read it, and did not know where it describing neural processes. Indeed, Another hallmark of denier criticism is was to be found.20 owing to certain structural features of that nothing ever really changes and, de-

134 EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 SchwartzReport pending on the audience, issues long set- portant than actual data. As George Or- the geologic age of the canyon. “In order tled will emerge from their crypts to dis- well said in his novel 1984, “And if the to avoid offending religious fundamen- tort and confuse once again. Remember facts say otherwise, then the facts must be talists, our National Park Service is the exchange between Hyman and Utts? altered. Thus history is continuously re- under orders to suspend its belief in ge- Well here is an example of what I mean. written.”25 ology,” said Public Employees for Envi- Almost five years after his exchange with This leads to a final point, a very sad ronmental Responsibility Executive Di- Jessica Utts, Professor Hyman, in July one that only rarely turns up in the schol- rector Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that 2002, was interviewed by a reporter from arly community, where a conscious and the official position of a national park as the Austin American-Statesman. purposeful commitment to integrity is a to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon Presumably on the assumption that a basic part of science. There is a propensity is ‘no comment’ ”27 reporter in Texas was unlikely to know in denier movements, all of whose mem- Consciousness deniers similarly main- that a government white paper like the bers ostensibly ground their arguments in tain an active media-influencing program. AIR report even existed, Hyman said, science, to behave in ways that are demon- Because it is both representative and re- “The issue is, what kind of evidence do strably unscientific and, even on occasion, veals a state of mind, I want to draw atten- they have? I didn’t see any science at all, of dubious ethicality. tion to one particular example. To do that any evidence they got anything right other In climate change, where there are vast I rely on the published words of principal than pure guesswork.”23 sums at risk, the frauds are biggest and players in these events: a nationally prom- Even if remote viewing worked, Hyman most complex, carefully filtered through a inent astronomer; highly regarded profes- stated, it would be too erratic to rely on. network of denier institutes and think sors of psychology and sociology, and the “People who believe it admit that only tanks. One brief account will serve as rep- professor of philosophy and founder of 15% of what Remote Viewers tell you is resentative. Mitchell Anderson, a Vancou- the organized American expression of the true, which means 85% is wrong,” he re- ver-based researcher and writer and former consciousness denier movement. This marked, although he did not mention the staff scientist at Sierra Legal Defense Fund, record exists because all but the philoso- origin of this statistic, and it directly con- describes the backstory behind the climate pher became so appalled by what they saw tradicts the published research, about denier Skeptic’s Handbook created by the that they not only resigned, they put their which since he participated in the AIR Heartland Institute, which was formed views quite deliberately on record in the evaluation must be undoubted. He con- and funded by oil interests, including public press. cluded, “You don’t know which is which, $676,000 from ExxonMobil.26 In a typical Since this story is an integral part of the so it’s of no practical use.” If remote view- denier move to manipulate media and founding of the Committee for the Scien- ing could be demonstrated, “It would policy, they sent 150,000 copies of the tific Investigation of Claims of the Para- overturn almost everything we know in Handbook across the United States, includ- normal (CSICOP), now morphed into the science.”23 ing to 850 journalists, 26,000 schools, and Committee for Scientific Inquiry (CSI), How does one reconcile Hyman’s 19,000 “leaders and politicians.” The and still the principal consciousness-de- words in 1995 with his interview in 2002? Handbook coaches “skeptics” to keep from nier group in the United States, it is in- The answer, of course, is one cannot. It is being pinned down by the evidence dem- structive to consider it. In my opinion it is worth noting that the “15% of what Re- onstrating climate change.26 probably the clearest story in the record mote Viewers tell you is true” is utterly Anderson noted, “It is also interesting illustrating the difference between deniers fanciful, and could not produce the statis- that this latest product of the denial ma- and genuine skeptics. tical outcomes that are part of the pub- chine is washing over the nation less than The story has an almost Greek tragedy lished AIR record. Moreover, it directly a month after the U.S. government re- mythopoetic quality, in which a group of contradicts what has been reported in the leased their Climate Change Literacy bro- scientists, some quite prominent in their peer-reviewed literature for almost four chure—cosigned by 13 federal agencies fields, are presented with the most funda- decades. I will cite here only one such re- and 24 educational and scientific part- mental choice a scientist can face: do I go port—not from one of my papers—showing ners.” Membership in the supposed cli- with the data, or with my prejudice? Some what the most casual research in the peer- mate change conspiracy now includes rose to the challenge, some did not. It is a reviewed remote viewing literature will what deniers term “eco-freaks”—which cautionary tale that I will go into only to quickly yield. includes such government agencies as the point of illustrating the relevant de- In their initial 1976 paper on their re- the U.S. Department of Defense, the nier-skeptic issues. However, I strongly en- search at SRI International, physicists Hal U.S. Department of the Interior and the courage any reader interested in better un- Puthoff and Russell Targ reported, “Using U.S. Forest Service.26 derstanding the psychology of denier Edington’s method for combining the Exactly these same techniques of wide- movements to go to the Web sites listed in probabilities from independent experi- spread distribution of false or highly dis- my references, where the original papers ments, the probability of observing these torted information are employed by the are located online, and to pursue what is to six experimental outcomes by chance other denier movements. Creationists, us- be found there. alone is 7.8 ϫ 10Ϫ9, one tailed.”24 ing the political power they wield, in 2006 In brief, here is the narrative. In the Sep- When one sees comments such as Hy- pressured the Bush administration to di- tember-October 1975 issue of The Humanist, man’s, it becomes clear that to deniers a rect the Grand Canyon National Park that as well as a book by philosopher Paul Kurtz’ preconceived conclusion is far more im- it was not to provide an official estimate of private press, Prometheus, a statement, “Ob-

SchwartzReport EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 135 jections to Astrology” was published.28 The defined, for us, the difference between chose to leave it, was that it was statement was signed by 186 scientists, a skeptics and deniers. taking the public position that it group which included 18 Nobel Laureates. The person who saw this distinction represented the scientific commu- One who lent his name was Astronomer most clearly was the sociologist Marcello nity, serving as gatekeepers on mav- erick claims, whereas I felt they Dennis Rawlins, already famous for debunk- Truzzi, who acted on his beliefs by first were simply unqualified to act as resigning from the committee and, then, ing the claims of polar explorers Richard judge and jury when they were sim- Byrd and Robert Peary while demonstrating publishing a new journal, The Zetetic ply lawyers.32 that Ronald Amundsen was the first man to Scholar (zetetic from the Greek ze៮te៮tikos, from ze៮te៮o, to seek to proceed by inquiry), reach both poles. New Zealand psychologist Richard Ka- in which he decried what he called Also published in the journal was a pa- mmann, the third person to resign, would “pseudo-skeptisms.” Truzzi wrote: per by science writer Lawrence Jerome that write in his exegetic essay of the whole included an attack on French psychologist Gaugelin affair, “When the whole record and statistician Michel Gauquelin and his The current evidence strongly indi- is examined over five years, there is almost then wife and research partner, Fran- cates that (a) a Mars Correlation was no instance in which merit wins out over 28 coise. It was a curious attack; the Gau- validly found by the Gauquelins, (b) self-serving bias.”33 The one clear excep- a correlation was found in several rep- quelins had their own problems with as- tion was providing Rawlins a carte blanche lications by the Gauquelins using dif- trology; indeed, they would go on to space in The Skeptical Inquirer, and even dismiss, on the basis of their research data, ferent samples, (c) a similar correlation was found in replications this was undermined by a flurry of simul- many claims of Western astrology—a posi- 28,29 conducted by Kurtz-Zelen-Abe11 taneous misstatements. Kammann tion they would make explicit in Kurtz’ (KZA) (Committee members—SAS) wrote: journal The Humanist. But, exactly because In regard to a) and b) the key question they were being good scientists, the Gau- concerns the validity of the Gauge- The bottom line is that an apology is lin’s data. It has repeatedly been in- quelins also reported identifying small but owed the Gauquelins for the mis- correctly stated that there is no way to significant relationships between some treatment of their data, and the asper- check this data. Not only have the planetary positions at the time of an indi- sions cast on their authenticity. I Gauquelins published all their data vidual’s birth and later performance excel- don’t wish to convey that I’m a be- (so computations can easily be lence, most notably the position of Mars liever, because I also have skeptical checked), they have kept all original reservations about the Mars effect. in a natal chart and later athletic prowess. records from the birth registries, and What makes this claim suspect is the It wasn’t a big effect but, to the committee, these have been made available to scientific perversity of the proposi- it was intolerable. So, since in many ways any serious researchers. In fact, the tion that the location of Mars in the they agreed, the committee—in the person Gauquelins have urged critics to sky at the time a person is born has of Jerome—chose as the grounds for their check this data.31 29,30 some effect on that person’s athletic attack the Gauquelins’ statistics. performance 30 or 40 years later.33 It soon became clear that Michel Gau- Truzzi’s reasons for resigning state quelin was the better statistician and the clearly the problem with denier move- More than a decade later, Suitbert Er- denier case collapsed. Undeterred, the ments: tel,34 a German researcher of the next gen- group went on for round two. What hap- eration, uninvolved with the bitter fight pened next Rawlins describes as a comedy Originally I was invited to be a co- that had gone before, meticulously went of incompetence, bombast, and a commit- chairman of Committee for the Sci- back through this entire chapter of denier- ment to denialism so powerful it over- entific Investigation of Claims of the ism, including a subsequent denier round turned good sense and ethics, until the Paranormal by Paul Kurtz. I helped in Paris, and confirmed by a variety of in- deniers were thoroughly tarred by their to write the bylaws and edited their dependent statistical analyses both Kam- journal. I found myself attacked by unscientific disdain for experimental evi- mann’s and Truzzi’s assessment. Perhaps dence and integrity.29,30 the Committee members and board, who considered me to be too soft on even more important was the graceless ac- After furious public exchanges, Raw- the paranormalists. My position was knowledgement of Paul Kurtz who had lins, a skeptic not a denier, publicly re- not to treat protoscientists as adver- begun it all: “‘It is time, to submit, to signed or was expelled from the group, saries, but to look to the best of them move to other more productive topics. and shortly thereafter he put the entire and ask them for their best scientific This controversy is not an isolated event. sorry tale in the record via a paper entitled, evidence. I found that the Commit- The “sTarbaby incident” has been fol- “sTARBABY,” a play on Joel Chandler tee was much more interested in at- lowed by numerous subsequent incidents Harris’ late 19th century Uncle Remus sto- tacking the most publicly visible off alleged falsification and distortion ries, where Br’er Rabbit, the Loki-like ad- claimants such as the National En- amongst consciousness deniers.’”35 quirer. The major interest of the venturer character around whom many of The Gauquelin controversy continues Committee was not inquiry but to the stories are built, attacks a tar baby and, serve as an advocacy body, a public even as further confirmations come in. each time he hits him, he becomes more relations group for scientific ortho- Fuzeau-Braesch reported data on twins 29,30 and more mired in the tar. He would doxy. The Committee has made that could be interpreted to support the not be alone, and in the resignations of many mistakes. My main objection Gaugelins’ data.36 Rupert Sheldrake,37 several others of the committee we have to the Committee, and the reason I Roger Nelson,38 and Jim Lippard,39 all of

136 EXPLORE May/June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3 SchwartzReport whom have been subjected to denier at- it means to be a human being. These three 13. Goldenberg J, Levav A, Mazursky, and So- tacks, have created Web sites listing the denier movements all, in one way or an- lomon S. Cracking the Ad Code. New York: relevant documents and transcripts of other, impede the quest for this knowl- Cambridge University Press, 2009:3. these and other such events. The reader is edge. Like pranksters putting up false 14. Cayce E. Reading 3744-3, at the Phillips invited to go through these archives and direction signs, they waste precious re- Hotel, Dayton, Ohio, 9 October 1923. 15. Krugman P. Betraying the planet. The New reach their own conclusions. Because all sources and time. Worse, they poison the York Times. June 29, 2009 Available at: three denier movements are essentially po- atmosphere of the inquiries. 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