NEWS AND COMMENT

money troubles. Telephone Networks In a twist of irony, the who man the phone lines are starting to rebel Profit on Yearning, Gullibility against the corporatization of their "ancient art." An August 1997 Miami It appears the powers of thousands of sion bringing celebrities into America's Herald investigative report revealed that alleged psychics failed to predict misfor- living rooms to tout the power of psy- psychics' wages at PRN from June 1996 tune and financial ruin at the nation's first chics, network have made to May 1997 fell from $19.20 an hour psychic phone network. On February 2, the impulse to act on credulous belief to $15.00 an hour. Stephen Glass in his Inphomation Inc., the company that just a seductive phone number away. Harpers article wrote that some psychics operates Psychic Friends Network (PFN), The marketing potential for psychic were upset over the networks' marketing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec- networks is almost unlimited. On most to minorities and lower income individ- tion. The company, based in Baltimore, networks, at the beginning of each call, uals. Other psychics complain that the Maryland, listed liabilities of $26 million psychics take the names and addresses of networks are hiring "phony" psychics. and assets of $1.2 million. callers. These are added to mailing lists As one self-proclaimed mindreader told Launched in 1990, Inphomation and used as leads for a variety of prod- the Miami Herald, "I feel they're hiring pioneered the use of '900' phone lines, ucts. Along with hotline numbers and people just to get money and the vast spawning ubiquitous late-night and personal testimonials, psychic network majority are not psychic at all and are Saturday-afternoon infomercials. The infomercials tout psychic accessories making things up just to keep people on 30-minute infomercials were hosted by ranging from tarot cards to fortune- the line. It gives us a bad name. It makes singer Dionne Warwick and were sup- telling eight balls. T h e World Wide Web me ashamed of what I have to do." ported by a network of 2000 psychics. is the next frontier for psychic market- The psychic's complaint begs the Estimated revenue for the company in ing, with websites charging $25 and up question: Is psychic ability real? the early 1990s totaled close to $125 for e-mail readings. According to company policy, Psychic million, but in recent years competition It may be a bull market for psychic Readers Network will "to the best of its and mismanagement combined to put network revenue, but there appears to ability hire only qualified psychics who Inphomation into debt. be a growing undercurrent of discon- have been tested and interviewed by Despite the recent bankruptcy of tent. Callers arc frequently frustrated by PRN, not 'chat' operators." However, PFN, the psychic network industry is per-minute charges that include time contrary to whatever testing methods booming. Analysts predict the industry to charged for network introductions and PRN uses, numerous carefully designed rake in annual revenues from $ 1.4 billion delays caused by recorded profiles, and conducted tests by prominent scien- to $2 billion by the end of the century, a menus of psychics, and signups for free tists have failed to validate psychic abil- dramatic increase from $620 million in newspapers. Customers, enticed by ity. In addition, attempts to use psychics 1994. Networks like Psychic Readers promises of ten free minutes of calls, for practical purposes such as earthquake- (PRN), Psychic Believers Network often receive their bills with the applica- prediction, government espionage, and (PBN), and Psychic Encounters charge tion of the incentive a mystery. crime solving have all proved unsuccess- upwards of $3.99 a minute, potentially The most troubling charges levied ful. With evidence lacking in support of turning a 30-minute call into a $120 bill. against the psychic networks are that psychic ability, networks appear to be The rapid growth in psychic net- they market to minorities and individu- marketing a service that does not exist. works can be attributed to the merger of als with lower levels of income. It seems Most infomercials skirt the issue of traditional belief in psychic power with odd that networks prefer to use almost psychic validity with screen disclaimers the explosion of the mass media. It exclusively African-American celebrities that announce "for entertainment pur- began in 1984, when the FCC deregu- like Billy Dee Williams, Phillip Michael poses only." Unfortunately, most callers lated the amount of broadcast time sta- Thomas, Dionne Warwick, LaToya are very serious about being told their tions could allocate to advertisements. Jackson, and Nell Catter as hosts. future. Many psychics report that callers With the average American watching Masquerading as a phone psychic, beset by personal or financial problems four hours of television a day, entrepre- writer Stephen Glass published a first- are not interested in information leading neurs recognized a captive audience, and hand account of his experience with a to counseling or professional services, the ! was born. psychic network in the February issue of but are desperately seeking the outcome Gallup polls indicate that Americans' Harper's magazine. According to Glass' of their tarot card reading or horoscope overall belief in the power of the mind to tabulations, more than 74 percent of his prediction. In 1993, PRN briefly ran a predict the future has remained at about callers were African-Americans and close Professional Advisors Network with psy- 26 percent since 1990. But with televi- to 85 percent said they were having chologists, psychiatrists, and psychothcr-

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 1998 5 NEWS AND COMMENT

apists replacing psychics. According to Review of Alternative Medicine (available now supported by major nursing organi- PRN, no one called, and the service was April 24). zations such as the National League of shut down. "A recent review of the literature Nurses and the American Nurses Since early man, there has been a shows that there is no convincing evi- Association. "Energy-field disturbance" human willingness to believe in the dence that the alleged healings by 11 is now listed as a nursing diagnosis by magical. The claim of psychic ability are anything more than the placebo the North American Nursing Diagnostic offers the reassuring and assuaging hope effect," says Wallace Sampson, M.D., Association. of controlling our lives by anticipating Editor of the Scientific Review. "Most The Scientific Review of Alternative the future. The temptation to believe in writings on TT are speculation and Medicine the only peer-reviewed med- the exists in part because commentary, which simply do not ical journal in the world devoted exclu- criticism and evidence contrary to para- address the core question: Can TT prac- sively to the scientific evaluation of normal phenomena are seldom heard. titioners detect alleged 'energy fields' or "alternative" medical claims. The review In this, the media are duplicitous. not? This simple experiment, though publishes original research, critiques Investigative reports of psychic net- limited in scope, is a direct, scientifically published studies, reviews available evi- works, including a 1993 ABC Prime- valid test of this question." dence for claims, and discusses the time Live feature and the 1997 Miami As detailed in the report, before the methods and principles of valid Herald investigation, have ignored the experiment, a T T practitioner agreed to research. Topics covered in the Spring question of the validity of psychic the study protocol and asserted that she 1998 issue include acupuncture, oxy- power. Until the mass media confront could distinguish between the "energy genation therapy, naturopathy, magnet claims of psychic ability and claims of field" of an injured or painful limb and therapy, St. John's Wort, the ethics of the paranormal with scientific and criti- that of a normal limb. During the test, alternative medicine, and an experience cal evaluations, public ignorance and she attempted to distinguish the "energy with a Tijuana cancer doctor. The jour- credulousness will persist. fields" surrounding the arms of two dif- nal is published by Prometheus Books ferent people, one with a painful wrist and sponsored by the Council for —Matthew Nisbet and one with no symptoms. When the Scientific Medicine. practitioner knew the identity of two Matthew Nisbet is Public Relations participants (through the use of normal Director for the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER in senses), she was able to correctly distin- Gish and Creationism at Amherst, New York, and coordinator for guish the two people. But when the Murray State: A Child's the Council for Media Integrity, a net- identity of the two participants was hid- Garden of Verses work of distinguished scientists, academics den from her, she failed to correctly dis- and members of the media concerned tinguish between the two, scoring no On February 25, Duane T. Gish, loudly about the portrayal of science in the better than that predicted by chance. touting his Berkeley Ph.D. in biochem- media. "Even though the results of this sin- istry and his having rubbed shoulders gle test were negative, it does not rule with Nobel laureates, participated in a out the possibility that TT energy fields "debate" on evolution vs. creationism, at Therapeutic Touch' Fails exist or that other TT practitioners can Murray State University, in Murray, a Rare Scientific Test detect them," say Robert Glickman, Kentucky. According to the sponsors, RN, and Ed J. Gracely, Ph.D., authors Gish "won" the debate. As an interested Therapeutic Touch (TT) is an "alterna- of the new report. "However, the exis- observer to most of the events surround- tive" medicine technique said to be used tence of 'human energy fields' and the ing this spectacle, I was not enlightened, by over 40,000 nurses in North America ability to detect them remains extraordi- but entertained. Based on the promo- alone. Despite its widespread use, prac- narily doubtful. tions for the heavily advertised "debate," titioners of TT have been reluctant to "TT proponents have spent twenty one would have expected an evening of submit their therapy to scientific testing. years focusing on which ailments TT scientific discussion, free from philoso- But now researchers have conducted a can be used for, without first determin- phy or theology. In fact, we got show- rare scientific study of the key claim ing if anyone could actually detect a manship, less effective than the "Psychic made by practitioners—the claim that human energy field. Practitioners have Hot Line," but adequate to provide they can detect a "human energy field" made a poor showing in the few times rationalizations for the faithful. unknown to science and to "heal" peo- they have allowed themselves to be According to what we were told, it all ple by "balancing" the field. The results tested, and the large majority has been started in the mind of a Protestant min- of this test will be reported in the new silent." ister named Mark Randall, who had a Spring 1998 issue of The Scientific Despite this lack of evidence, TT is vision. He dreamed of being able to

6 May/June 1998 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEWS AND COMMENT

bring Gish, the author of several tracts ing of concealed weapons), but little or ing of evolution. Most important are proclaiming the "scientific" basis of cre-ationism,none fro inm an thy eothe Institutr areae . fo(Irn Creatioorder tno have some of the discoveries since Gish's Research (ICR) in a modest suburb of a beer with one's pizza, it is necessary to Ph.D., but he provided no biochemical San Diego, to Murray State University, drive ten miles south, into Tennessee, discussion except his silliness about so that he could explain his views on cre- where five of the first seven businesses entropy. Gish never mentioned any of ation "science." When he found out one meets are night clubs, cafes, or stores the most important recent biochemical Gish's fee is only $300, he was delighted that sell alcohol.) The university is an discoveries relating to evolution, despite and set about arranging a visit. He put upgraded teacher's college, which won its the fact that a few of these (e.g., Numa's up fliers around campus, offering $100 "university" designation during the work on protein structure and Cech's to a student who could find a professor explosion of such nominal improvement work on ribozymes) were pointed out to to debate Gish. There were no takers. in mid century. The campus focuses on him before his presentation in a per- agriculture, education, and business, and sonal letter. (In fact, his remarks on Several of us—Murray State Uni- few students major in any of the tradi- enzymes were totally obviated by the versity Science faculty and other, inter- tional arts or sciences (those who do are discovery of ribozymes.) He began with ested parties—wrote a letter to the stu- of strikingly high quality, however, repre- lengthy remarks about the Murray State dent paper explaining why we did not senting a small, intellectual elite). basketball team, and ended each of his believe such a show was appropriate for The "debate" was held in the grand rebuttals with a direct biblical quote (to serious scientific discussion, and why ballroom of the student center, which standing ovations). Gish could not be trusted to be scientific, may be the biggest room now available Most of the time his opponent was based on his record. The offer was upped in the county. Like most such events, speaking, Gish was doing something or to $500, to whomever would 'debate' the organizers had not thought of body other that attracted the audience's atten- Gish, and another $500, if the debater heat, and the room became oppressively tion away from the speaker (show busi- could "win" (as defined by audience hot as soon as it filled, which it did. I ness "upstaging"). He provided distrac- response). An Assistant Professor of was astonished that the area in which I tion all of the time during his oppo- History, Dr. William Schell, took the was sitting was perhaps forty percent nent's making telling points against challenge (and the $500), and the 'debate' children, ages nine to sixteen or so. him, such as documenting his past eva- was on. Gish responded to our letter, Since it had been advertised as strictly sions, distortions, and falsehoods. He loudly proclaiming his credentials as a "scientific," how was it possible that so was even able to get laughs while his biochemist (while complaining that our many children were interested in such opponent was speaking. comments against him were ad hominem). things as the second law of thermody- Toward the end, after the two main A further response of mine to his pub- namics? Gish talks a lot about this law, presentations, Randall took an "offer- lished complaints and questions was heav- claiming that entropy denies the possi- ing," standard in Baptist Churches, ily "edited" (not to say censored) by the bility of evolution. Despite the fact that making it the only "scientific" forum I student paper, so that it was more or less he must have taken courses in thermo- have attended, in forty years in bio- gibberish by the time it appeared ir. print. dynamics at Berkeley, he continues to chemistry, where an "offering" was Murray State University is in the far talk about entropy, as Isaac Asimov requested. During the breaks, people western part of Kentucky, an area called (another biochemist), has said, "at the were reminded to fill out index cards the "Purchase" (because President kindergarten level." indicating whether they believed the evi- Jackson purchased it from American Gish led off, and the format was to be dence presented was stronger for evolu- Indians). This region was confederate in one hour for him, one hour for Dr. Schell, tion or for creationism. One such card, sympathy during the Civil War, and has twenty minutes of rebuttal each, followed filled out by a boy who sat next to me, been lagging behind the rest of the by shorter rebuttals. This was designed, about eleven years old, said he believed nation ever since, by any measurement. despite starting at 7 PM, to last until well in God, he believed the scientific evi- The educational level of the citizens is after 10 PM, on a school night. (Those dence for creationism was stronger than much below the national average, both children should be home doing home- for evolution, but he did not want to be in percentage of college graduates and in work, and sleeping!) This was child abuse. contacted further by Randall. high school graduates. As a result, income Gish spent over half an hour talking Gish's comments on evolution, brief is well below the national average. about the big bang theory of the universe's and few, were almost all ad hominem Basketball, tobacco, and Protestant reli- origin, then about twenty minutes on the quotes from various people (even Isaac gion, in that order, hold oppressive sway origin of life, and finally about fifteen Asimov, but not the quote mentioned over the region. The local citizenry allow minutes on evolution, the stated topic. earlier). He talks a great deal about hav- maximal personal freedom for smoking Biochemistry is seen by many of us as ing worked with two Nobel Laureates, and gun ownership (including the carry- fundamental to a modern understand- but never mentions that he has never

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 1998 7 NEWS AND COMMENT

been accepted into the professional bio- local supporters, and their children, chemistry society, the American Society have "proved" that science supports cre- for Biochemistry and Molecular ationism, and that they have accepted Biology. His published work, as I have Duane T Gish as a "distinguished" sci- reviewed it, does not touch on the more entist. Both beliefs are equally true. biological areas of biochemistry; his focus was in vitro synthesis. His bio- —Gaynor Wild chemical career was modest, to say the most, and ended about twenty years Gaynor Wild is a biochemist. A former ago. His previous "debates" started with member of the faculty at the University of appearances at such institutions as New Mexico School of Medicine (now Berkeley, Harvard, and the University of retired), he now lives and teaches part California at San Diego. Over time, he time in Murray Kentucky. has moved down the academic prestige scale, appearing more and more fre- quently in regional state universities, CSICOP Website and often in the Bible Belt. Recognized The only scientific point he made this and the paranormal remains a worldwide time was his belief that there is a lack of The CSICOP website, www.csicop.org, problem. It is even a greater crisis in the fossil evidence for transitional forms was named among the World Wide 'new' media. The Web has exploded with between invertebrates and vertebrates. Web's top 500 sites for 1997 by com- extraordinary claims. CSICOP's web site [He has finally admitted that there are puting magazine HOME PC. The is meant as an on-line guide for criticism Pre-Cambrian fossils (i.e. older than 600 respected personal computing and tech- of the paranormal and . It million years), after denying it for years, nology monthly also rated the CSICOP is an integral part of CSICOP's cam- but he did not discuss the obvious impact website among the top ten on the Web paign to promote critical thinking and this has on his assertion that all life for science. reason" says CSICOP chair Paul Kurtz. started at the same time.] All other actual "Did aliens build the pyramids? Does The CSICOP website was created and is science, mentioned by his opponent, was alternative medicine work? Such claims maintained by Atlanta-based skeptic dealt with by deceit or evasion, or by sim- are critically investigated from a 'respon- Patrick Fitzgerald. ply ignoring it. The only question in my sible, scientific viewpoint' on these mind before the event, not having previ- pages, which also host the SKEPTICAL —Matthew Nisbet ously seen him in person, was whether he INQUIRER" writes HOME PC. A listing actually believes the ridiculous things he of the magazine's top ten science web- says or whether he cynically manipulates sites can be found on the Web at Cold Fusion Saga his audience, knowing it is stacked with http://techweb.cmp.com/hpc/web- supporters who know little of science, sites/42WEB23.HTM. Ends at Its University almost nothing of thermodynamics, and The CSICOP web site offers features of Utah Birthplace who couldn't care less about learning any and articles from the latest issues of of these matters. I came away convinced SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. It also displays Has the final death knell for cold fusion of the latter. Gish is not stupid, but cyni- articles from the Skeptical Briefs newslet- been sounded? Its remaining die-hard cally manipulative. So much the worse. ter, as well as audio and visual clips from devotees will surely disagree, but a criti- At the end of the show, Mr. Randall recent CSICOP media appearances. cal blow came in March at the very birth asked those remaining in the audience The site archives past press releases, place of the cold fusion claims, the to stand, first those who believed the weekly reports and timely announce- University of Utah in Salt Lake City. evidence favored creationism, and then ments, and includes a skeptics chat It was at a dramatic news conference those who believed it favored evolution. room with links and listings for an inter- there nine years ago, on March 23, I was relieved by how many "voted" for national network of skeptical organiza- 1989, where two University of Utah sci- evolution. (There is an intellectual elite tions and Web resources. entists, B. Stanley Pons and Martin here.) Creationism won, of course; there "The media have now virtually Fleischmann, first claimed to have pro- was too little time to teach all those chil- replaced the schools, colleges and univer- duced nuclear energy in a test tube. dren the philosophy and history of sci- sities as the main source of information They said their simple tabletop device ence. The sponsors can now rest easily, for the general public. The irresponsibil- was producing such incredible amounts sleep comfortably, knowing that their ity of the media in the area of science of heat that it could only be explained

8 May/June 1998 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEWS AND COMMENT

by nuclear reactions. The reaction was a viable offers surfaced. another bio-anthropologist, is an expert combination of extraordinary excite- Pons and Fleischmann had the who studies DNA evidence to track ment and profound . option to take up the fight themselves, down serial killers, which must be what A worldwide effort to duplicate their but Koehn said the university never bio-anthropologists do when they aren't experiments ensued. Laboratories all heard from them. talking to computers and caged monkeys. over the world quickly set up their own We soon discover, through round- experiments. Universities, government —Kendrick Frazier about means, that there are serial killers labs, and private companies carried out with very strange DNA. In fact, they are studies. The U.S. Department of Energy not human. Their DNA is 1.6 percent asked its national labs to design and con- ABC's Prey —Not different from ours, which the publicist duct experiments to test the claims and was pleased to tell me is a greater differ- charged its Energy Research Advisory Exactly the Science ence than between us and apes. (She Board (ERAB) to convene a panel to Adventure Promised meant chimpanzees, I'm sure.) In fact, its assess the possibility of cold fusion. this DNA difference that makes these With only a few exceptions, the Despite my occasional presence in these serial killers act like serial killers ("nor- results were negative. The claims did not pages, I like spooky television shows. mal" serial killers, being another case). stand up. By November the ERAB panel Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Forever When her mentor is killed, by the non- had come to its consensus conclusion: Knight, heck, even reruns of She-Wolf of human serial killers, of course, Parker is "The panel concludes that the experi- London and Friday the Thirteenth—The endangered, as she is one of the few mental results on excess heat from calori¬ Series make me cringe with glee and can- humans to know of the existence of this metric cells reported to date do not pre- cel appointments, opting for television "new species." sent convincing evidence that useful instead! (In fact, I truly love the last one, So why write about it here? Because sources of energy will result from the with its bad Canadian actors and an of the following statement: "One thing I phenomena attributed to cold fusion. In endless array of cursed light bulbs, man- really love about our show is that it's not addition, the panel concludes that exper- killing toasters, strangling dog-collars, really sci-fi. We call it science fact," iments reported to date do not present lifeguard-drowning jack-in-the-boxes, Messing publicly stated. Well, its not convincing evidence to associate the Nazi ventriloquist dummies, and even sci-fi, for sure, but the science was more reported anomalous heat with a nuclear the horrible, dreaded chipper shredder accurate on Ned and Stacey. (Stacy's process" ("Cold Fusion Research," from hell.) Do I lose my skeptics card? creepy husband Ned's hobbies included DOE/S-0073, November 1989). Heck no! CSICOP refuses to give me watching films of autopsies and opera- Most of the initial enthusiasm was by one. But if they did, I could keep it any- tions.) Despite Messing's claims to love then already gone, but the University of way, as something happens to me when science and evolutionary theory, the sci- Utah had set up processes to capitalize these shows claim to be scientific and ence is generally wrong. About a year on what it had originally hoped might blow it badly. Pseudoscience in the class- and a half ago, I reviewed The Burning be an economic windfall from cold rooms is bad enough without pseudo- Zone in these pages, a show that was so fusion-related patents and innovations. science in B — Movies! stupid, and yet made such pretentious For years to come enthusiasts elsewhere Which brings me to Prey, a one-hour claims to being science-fact oriented, maintained that the scientific establish- series that premiered on ABC Thursday, that it made me want to throw shoes at ment was wrong and the claims would January 15, at 8 PM EST. According to my the television. (For those of you who be, or already had been, vindicated. local TV schedule insert. Prey is an "intel- missed it, it featured snarly, fashion- But on March 10, 1998, University ligent" and "literate" thriller. But is it? model scientists chasing intelligent hive- of Utah Research Vice President Prey begins with Sloane Parker, a bio- mind vampire zombie viruses with Richard Koehn announced that the uni- anthropologist, portrayed by Debra flame throwers.) In its defense. Prey isn't versity's Research Foundation would no Messing, an attractive actress known for nearly that bad. It's just that it isn't par- longer pursue patents based on the the long-missed FOX Ned and Sucey sit- ticularly good. And, sadly, it's most cer- experiments of Pons and Fleischmann. com (another of my favorites, by the tainly not "literate" or "intelligent." Pons and Fleischmann left the uni- way). We soon sec that a bio-anthropolo- As for science, it is carefully versity within two years of the initial gist is a scientist who sits around in a lab explained that for 300,000 years furor, and the university eventually on a college campus talking to computers Neanderthals ruled the Earth. This is transferred the patent rights to a private and caged rhesus monkeys. (It's 2012, so illustrated by a painting of austropol- company, ENECO. The university was the computers talk back. The monkeys forced to look for another licensee when don't though—that was another old ENECO gave back the rights, but no movie and TV series.) Her mentor, continued on page 12

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 1998 9 NEWS AND C M M E NT

ithiccnes on the African plains. When Companies (523) Voodoo (18) Spiritism (7) Homo sapiens came into existence, they Extraterrestrial Life (423) Crop Circles (16) proved superior, competed with the (7) Neanderthals, and drove them into (156) End of Millennium (16) Bell, Art (7) extinction. This is because they com- Witchcraft (114) Near-Death Experiences (16) Luck (6) peted for the same ecological niche. I Magick (87) (14) Biorhythm (6) count four major mistakes so far. In Divination (82) Parody (14) Healings (5) 2012, it seems, a new species of man Mysticism (71) (12) Hollow Earth (5) (Homo ted bundy!) has been produced Skeptics (46) by the pressures of global warming. Loch Ness (11) Spon. Human Combustion (5) When one character points out that Ghosts (43) Kirlian Photography (10) Chat (4) twenty years is not enough time for a (33) Ancient Civilizations (9) Personal Experience (4) new species to evolve, Sloane Parker (23) (8) Usenet (4) responds, "Well, maybe global warming Horror (22) Alchemy (7) Bermuda Triangle (2) has been going on for a hundred years Magazines (19) Dowsing (7) undetected." (!?) [In fact, there are sev- Organizations (18) eral outdoors scenes, and, so far, 2012 Regional Guides (7) looks pretty much like 1998, global warming or no.] matter that a bad TV show was put on under the heading "Science: Alternative: But forgetting the past, do the cre- TV? Probably not. Yet it's curious to Paranormal Phenomena." To give an ators understand evolution? (And what think, as spooky entertainment. Prey idea of the range of material on the web, about internal series logic?) First, would have been much more internally I have sorted these topics by the number nobody knows the other race exists, logical and entertaining if it had con- of web pages in each category. (Of until Parker discovers them through tained a race, vampires per- course, these numbers change almost blood testing. Yet the new species seems haps, living in the shadows, stalking daily and only represent a tiny sampling to be organized enough to have devel- mankind instead of a poorly thought of the entire corpus of web pages devoted oped a cohesive philosophy based on the out "new species." Yet, like the Burning to the paranormal but not indexed at idea that they must wipe out the human Zone, somebody felt the public wanted a Yahoo.) Some numbers are approximate race and take our place. The entire contemporary, intelligent, science-ori- because these major headings include notion, I'm afraid, of a new species ented action scries and advertised this as subheadings and subsubheadings, and I springing into place, achieving adult- such. And that's good. Perhaps someday did not carefully go through the entire hood, and developing a group identity we'll see such a series. Yet, somehow, in hierarchy to obtain exact counts of all overnight without being noticed, even both cases, the production crew found web pages under all subheadings. in Southern California, is very illogical. actual science to be beyond their grasp, Naturally some categories overlap. The time frame, be it twenty or a hun- and that's a bit disturbing. Note that the "Extraterrestrial Life" dred years, is completely wrong for evo- category is dominated not by scientific lutionary theory to be relevant. Does the —Peter Huston speculation but by topics such as species share a common ancestor? Do Roswcll, aliens, and close encounters. they live together in their own place? If Peter Huston is an author and freelance The "Companies" category deals with these arc our descendants and relatives, writer living in Schenectady, N. Y. such topics as astrology, tarot, numerol- didn't they go to our schools and have to ogy, and other psychic phenomena. It take physicals and such? If not, where would be fascinating to see how these did they learn English? Besides, if this Paranormal Web Sites numbers and categories change through species is so different from us, why do Proliferate time, and perhaps in future articles I will they look exactly like us to the point of describe the content of pages within all (so far) being Caucasian? With recent surveys indicating that 70 each category in greater detail. Perhaps, things will improve and percent of women and 48 percent of clear up in future episodes if the show men believe in the paranormal —Clifford A. Pickover lasts, but it seems unlikely. There's prob- (March/April SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, p. ably as much chance of this show sur- 8), it is not surprising that the World Clifford Pickover is at the IBM Thomas viving as of my ever seeing a return of Wide Web abounds with information on Watson Research Center. He is author of Ned and Stacey to prime-time TV. paranormal phenomena. The Yahoo numerous books on science, mathematics, So when all's said and done, does it search engine lists over 1,000 such sites and computing. O

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