SKEPTICAL IN QUI IR ER Vol. 15. No. 4 ^ Summer 1991 / $6.25 LUCID DREAMING

^ Faking in the Humanities Coincidences / True Believers Confronting Psi Proponents for Long-Gone Buildings?

Published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the THE is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Editor . Editorial Board James E. Alcock, , , Philip]. Klass, , . Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, , Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Contributing Editor Lys Ann Shore. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Editor Andrea Szalanski. Art Valerie Ferenti-Cognetto. Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour. Computer Assistant Michael Gone. Typesetting Paul E. Loynes. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian, Ranjit Sandhu. Staff Lynda Harwood (Asst. Public Relations Director), Leland Harrington, Sandra Lesniak, Alfreda Pidgeon, Kathy Reeves. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; philosopher, State University of New York at Buffalo. , Executive Director and Public Relations Director. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Fellows of the Committee (partial list) James E. Alcock, psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author; Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of ; Irving Biederman, psychologist. University of Minnesota; Susan Blackmore, psychologist. Brain Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England; Henri Broch, physicist, University of Nice, France; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; John R. Cole, anthropologist. Institute for the Study of Human Issues; F. H. C. Crick, biophysicist, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.; L. Sprague de Camp, author, engineer; Cornelis de Jager, professor of astrophysics, Univ. of Utrecht, the Netherlands; Bernard Dixon, writer, London, U.K.: Paul Edwards, philosopher, Editor, Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading Univ., U.K.; Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer, executive officer, Astronomical Society of the Pacific; editor of Mercury; Kendrick Frazier, science writer. Editor, THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; Yves Galifret, Exec. Secretary, l'Union Rationaliste; Martin Gardner, author, critic; Murray Cell-Mann, professor of physics, California Institute of Technology; Henry Gordon, magician, columnist, broadcaster, Toronto; Stephen Jay Gould, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ.; C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales; Al Hibbs, scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human understanding and cognitive science, Indiana University; Ray Hyman, psychologist, Univ. of Oregon; Leon Jaroff, editor. Time; Lawrence Jerome, science writer, engineer; Philip J. Klass, science writer, engineer; Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer, director, Griffith Observatory; Paul Kurtz, chairman, CSICOP, Buffalo, N.Y.; Lawrence Kusche, science writer; Paul MacCready, scientist/engineer, AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, Calif.; David Marks, psychologist, Middlesex Polytech, England; David Morrison, space scientist, NASA Ames Research Center; Richard A. Muller, professor of physics, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley; H. Narasimhaiah, physicist, president, Bangalore Science Forum, India; Dorothy Nelkin, sociologist, Cornell University. , author, technical writing instructor, University of Kentucky; Lee Nisbet, philosopher, Medaille College; James E. Oberg, science writer; John Paulos, mathematician. ; Mark Plummer, lawyer, Australia; W. V. Quine, philosopher, Harvard Univ.; James Randi, magician, author; Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, University of Chicago; , astronomer, Cornell Univ.; Evry Schatzman, President, French Physics Association; Eugenie Scott, physical anthropologist, executive director. National Center for , Inc.; Thomas A. Sebeok, anthropologist, linguist, Indiana University; Robert Sheaffer, science writer; Dick Smith, film producer, publisher, Terrey Hills, N.S.W., Australia; Robert Steiner, magician, author. El Cerrito, California; Carol Tavris, psychologist, UCLA; Stephen Toulmin, professor of philosophy, Northwestern Univ.; Marvin Zelen, statistician. Harvard Univ. (Affiliations given for identification only.)

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INQUIRER Vol. 15, No. 4, Summer 1991 1 ISSN 0194-6730 Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ARTICLES Lucid Dreams Susan J. Blackmore 362 Nature Faking in the Humanities Ernest Gallo 371 Carrying the War into the Never-Never Land of Psi: Part II Samual T.Gill 376 Coincidences John Allen Paulos 382 Locating Invisible Buildings Mark Plummer 386 True Believers Bruce Bower 398 NEWS AND COMMENT 339 New Age Books / Innumerate Mathematicians / Mims Controversy / Soviet "Believers' / Missing-Day Myth / Pell's 'Enormous' Embarrassment / Skeptical Stylebook / Creation/Evolution Move / SI Indexed NOTES OF A FRINGE-WATCHER Cal Thomas, the Big Bang, and Forrest Mims Martin Gardner 355 VIBRATIONS Gulf Breeze Rap Fades, But Still Entertains Robert Sheaffer 359 PAST/PRESENT Physiological Explanation of Human 'Auras' Geoffrey Dean 402 BOOK REVIEWS Robert A, Baker, They Call It Lewis Jones 405 Eileen Gambrill, in Clinical Practice Robert A Baker 407 Carl A. Raschke, Painted Black: Rom Drug Killings to Heavy Metal, and Robert Hicks, In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult Richard Noll 412 Marilyn vos Savant and Leonore Fleischer, Brain Building: Exercising Yourself Smarter Mark W. Durm 415 Kenneth E. Stevenson and Gary R. Habermas, The Shroud and the Controversy Gordon Stein 417 SOME RECENT BOOKS 420

ARTICLES OF NOTE 422 FORUM Teaching Science / Modern Myths 428

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 435 CSICOP NEWS 446

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New Age Books by Bantam published the titles listed above, it also issued, under Any Other Name. the imprint of New York Times Books, the paperback edition of the Condon Commission report, Scientific Study of he book-publishing business has Unidentified Flying Objects. Few large long been an accomplice in the paperback publishers have managed to Tspread of pseudoscience, quack­ steer clear of pseudoscience; one ery, and pernicious nonsense. And in exception appears to be W. W. Norton, contrast to the ephemeral nature of which has stayed on the skeptical side other media products, such as tele­ of pseudoscience with its "scientific vision and radio programs or news­ debate" books: UFOs: A Scientific papers and magazine articles, books Debate (1974), Scientists Confront have solidity and permanence. This is Velikovsky (1979), and Scientists Con­ true even of paperback books, whose front Creationism (1983). relatively low cost and small size make In the past, some small publishers them attractive to buy and read, then have dedicated themselves to publish­ swap or resell. A glance at the "Occult" ing books on occult or "metaphysical" section in any used-book store reveals topics. In recent years, with the rise that claptrap in book form can live for of the New Age phenomenon, some decades. Consider, as just one exam­ have devoted themselves entirely to ple out of many, Bantam Books, books on New Age topics. A prom­ paperback publisher of such pseudo- inent example is the West Coast scientific classics as Erich von publisher Jeremy Tarcher. Larger Daniken's Chariots of the Gods? (1970), Andrew Tomas's We Are Not the First (1971), and Frank Edwards's Flying Saucers—Serious Business (1966)—all OFF WITH THE OLD, still widely available in used-book IN WITH THE NEW. stores. Many publishers sit squarely atop the proverbial fence, publishing infor­ mation and with apparent impartiality. One such is Vintage, a paperback publisher that is part of Random House. In past years Vintage has published both Phil Klass's UFOs Explained (1976) and John Gribbin and Stephen Plage- mann's The Jupiter Effect (1975; rev. ed., 1976). And during the same period

Summer 1991 339 companies have established special Shambhala, best known for books imprints to identify their New Age on mysticism and Eastern religions, books. Here again, Bantam furnishes now directs some of its titles to the an example: Over the past several science sections of bookstores. years New Agers have come to rec­ Humanics New Age—as its name ognize the "rainbow people" logo of indicates, a specialty New Age pub­ Bantam New Age Books, a line whose lisher—is seeking another label for its motto is "A Search for Meaning, books. Company president Robert Growth and Change." Hall says he has never liked the term Keeping track of the publishing New Age because it "implies crystals, industry's interest in pseudoscience candles, channeling." Most of the offers a glimpse into the changing authors whose books are published by interests of the American reading Humanics are Ph.D.'s, Hall notes. public, from UFOs to the "new phys­ Stocked on science shelves, New ics," since publishers sail with the Age titles find more readers. For one prevailing winds of popular culture. thing, people who might be embar­ At the same time, however, publishers rassed to be seen browsing in a New influence cultural trends. When pub­ Age or occult section of a bookstore lishers began identifying some of their are often delighted to be seen thumb­ titles as "New Age," many bookstores ing through books on the science or dropped their traditional "occult" philosophy shelves. section in favor of one labeled "New For bookstores, the New Age cate­ Age." These developments both par­ gory was a way to group books from alleled and undoubtedly influenced the several subject areas. Many titles came growing public awareness of the from the old occult section, but others amorphous set of beliefs that compose would formerly have been classed in New Age thinking. psychology, philosophy, self-help, or After several years of promoting religion sections. Now it appears that books with the "New Age" tag, pub­ such books are migrating back to these lishers have now begun to drop the categories. As one publisher puts it, label, finding that it no longer helps "I see the category itself splintering sell books. A recent feature in Pub­ back into its basic disciplines: the lishers Weekly (December 7, 1990), occult, personal growth, Eastern headlined "The Flight from 'New religions, philosophy." Self-identified Age,' " explains that the change is in New Age publisher Jeremy Tarcher large part due to the desire of pub­ now describes his company's books as lishers to present New Age titles as covering child-rearing, personal part of the scientific mainstream, health, business, Jungian psycho­ rather than segregating them as a analysis, men's consciousness, and special interest. Bantam, for example, sexuality. "All are now subjects one has begun to leave off the "New Age" can look at with a New Age perspec­ label from some of its books while tive," he explains. retaining the rainbow people logo By dropping the New Age tag, and motto. Further, it has spun off publishers are not only attempting to from its New Age imprint a line called "mainstream" their titles; they believe "New Sciences." Bantam's stated aim they are responding to a shift in public is to capture the science-minded interest from fads, such as crystals and audience that has made bestsellers of channeling, to more serious spiritual books like Stephen Hawking's Brief quests. Prominent New Age writer History of Time. Marilyn Ferguson, author of The

340 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 New Age Around the World

ot surprisingly, the United New Age perspective. States and other English- France: Metaphysical material is N speaking countries repre­ popular. In addition, one French sent the world's largest market for publisher has launched a series of New Age and metaphysical books, "New Age fiction." according to Publishers Weekly Italy: Favorite subjects are (December 7, 1990). In Canada, , yoga, massage, natural native cultures and the environ­ medicine, and healing. ment are the focus of New Age Greece: Some 30 to 40 publishers interests; in England, emphasis falls in Greece publish esoteric material, on the Arthurian tradition. Look­ on subjects including astrology, ing farther afield, the dubious yoga, , , honor of being the second-largest massage, Tarot, Zen, I Ching, and market for New Age ideas is held mythology. Greece has at least one by Germany. Subject areas favored specialty New Age bookstore, Pyri- by German readers include anthro- nos Kosmos, or Fiery World. posophy, inner transformation, Countries all over the world dreams, death, and angelic mes­ purchase rights to publish New sages, as well as self-help. New Age Age/metaphysical books of Amer­ books for children are also popular. ican origin; at the same time, Here's a brief rundown of New Publishers Weekly notes, the "rich Age/metaphysical interests in international heritage" of such Europe, at least as publishers see material in this country, which them. includes such luminaries as H. P. Sweden: Similar to Germany, but Blavatsky (Russian/American), G. I. a smaller market. Popular topics Gurdjieff (Greek/Armenian/Rus­ include transpersonal psychology, sian), Ouspensky (Russian), Teil- personal development, intuitional hard de Chardin (French), Parama- development, shamanism. hansas Yogananda (Indian), Alice Holland: No fewer than eight Bailey (British), Rudolf Steiner New Age magazines are published (German), Carl Jung (Austrian), in this small country, covering Reshad Feld (British), Elizabeth mysticism (Eastern and Western), Haich (German), and Dane Rud- meditation, art, religion, martial hyar (French). Of course many arts, computers, health and envir­ more names could be added to this onmental issues, homeopathy, and brief list. transpersonal psychology from a —LAS.

Aquarian Conspiracy, uses the term starting to see books about how [to "New Age activism" to describe the achieve it]," she says. As an example current trend. "Ram Dass and others of a New Age activist book, Ferguson have shown why individuals and cites The Simple Act of Planting a Tree society need a new direction. We're by Andy and Katy Lipkis, published

Summer 1991 341 by Jeremy Tarcher. them. According to publishers, books One reason for the growing inter­ on divination systems, such as Tarot, est in the practical aspect of spiritual are popular right now, along with pursuits may be the current emphasis spiritually oriented books on environ- on the individual's role in protecting mentalism and indigenous cultures, the environment: New Age thought the men's movement (led by Robert has persistently focused on the impor­ Bly's latest, Iron John), feminist spir­ tance of the individual in changing ituality (the so-called goddess move­ both oneself and the world. Another ment), Jungian ideas, and Eastern factor may be the economic recession,, philosophy as it relates to American since hard times force many people to business. Once again, in their eternal concentrate on pragmatic concerns. quest to sell books, publishers not only Even if bookstores no longer group cater to popular taste but also influ­ books in a section labeled "New Age," ence it. many of the same titles are dispersed —Lys Ann Shore in other sections. And if channeling and crystals are out, other equally Lys Ann Shore is a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER questionable subjects will replace contributing editor.

Nation's Mathematicians Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door—say, • Guilty of 'Innumeracy' No. 1—and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door—say, No. 3—which \\l A #hen E. F. Hutton talks, has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is \/\/people listen." Who can it to your advantage to switch your V V forget those indelible choice? television commercials, in which the world came to a virtual standstill, In her column, vos Savant an­ focusing its sole attention upon that swered, "Yes, you should switch." She oracle of financial wisdom (that is, explained that, obviously, there is a before Hutton went belly-up)? As a 1:3 chance that the original choice, rule, when Marilyn vos Savant speaks door No. 1, is the correct one. There­ in her weekly Parade magazine fore, there must be a 2:3 chance that, column, "Ask Marilyn" (her byline since door No. 3 has now been notes that she "is listed in the 'Guin­ eliminated as a possibility, the car is ness Book of World Records Hall of behind door No. 2. For those readers Fame' for 'Highest IQ' "), people listen. requiring further explanation, she In the instance discussed below, illustrated the point with this example: however, they may have been listen­ "Suppose there are a million doors, and ing, but they weren't believing— you pick door No. 1. Then the host, although they should have been. who knows what's behind the doors The following "brain teaser" was and will always avoid the one with the submitted to vos Savant last year by prize, opens them all except door No. a reader: 777,777. You'd switch to that door pretty fast, wouldn't you?" Suppose you're on a game show, and Apparently not, based upon the you're given a choice of three doors. chastising letters vos Savant received

342 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 from those who ought to know better—mathematicians who share CSICOP's dismay over the nation's state of "innumeracy." In a follow-up Ask Marilyn" column last December, vos Savant BY MARILYN VOS SAVANT published some examples:

"I'm very concerned with the general public's lack of mathemat­ ical skills. Please help by confessing your error. . . '—Robert Sachs, Ph.D., George Mason University "You blew it, and you blew it big! . . . You seem to have difficulty grasping the basic principle at work here. . . . There is enough mathe­ matical illiteracy in this country, and we don't need the world's highest IQ propagating more. Shame!"— Scott Smith, Ph.D., University of Florida "Your answer to the question is in error. But if it is any consolation, many of my colleagues have also been stumped by this problem."— Photo by Eddie Adams Barry Pasternack, Ph.D., California Faculty Association One might have thought, or at least hoped, that this second column would In an effort to even more clearly have settled the issue. But in her illustrate the correctness of her February 17, 1991, column, we were original answer, vos Savant invoked treated to the following: the classic "shell game," in which a pea is placed beneath one of three shells. "I am in shock that after being The gambler/victim is asked to place corrected by at least three mathe­ a finger on one shell, and the "house" maticians, you still do not see your then lifts away one of the others, mistake."—Kent Ford, Dickinson leaving behind two shells, one of State University which covers the pea. As vos Savant explained, by removing one empty ". . . earned a dearer shell "we've learned nothing to allow place in the hearts of the people us to revise the odds on the shell under after he admitted his errors."— your finger." She then presented a Frank Rose, Ph.D., University of Michigan "probability grid" containing all pos­ sible permutations of the game, showing how "when you don't switch, ". . . Your answer is clearly at odds with the truth."—James Rauff, you win one in three times and lose Ph.D., Millikin University two in three. Try it yourself." (The "shell game" is illegal precisely "May I suggest that you obtain and because, despite the appearance of refer to a standard textbook on 50:50 odds, they actually favor the probability. . . ."—Charles Reid, "house" 2:1.) Ph.D., University of Florida

Summer 1991 343 "... I am sure you will receive many vos Savant asks the nation's math letters from high school and college teachers to perform 400 trials of the students. Perhaps you should keep "shell game" with their students, the a few addresses for help with future first 200 with no "switching," followed columns."—W. Robert Smith, by 200 "switches," with random Ph.D., Georgia State University selections to be made by rolling a die "You are utterly incorrect. . . . How until a 1, 2, or 3 comes up. Even if many irate mathematicians are no "little green woman" arrives in a needed to get you to change your UFO to supervise the trials, I predict ?"—E. Ray Bobo, Ph.D., a few red faces on those math instruc­ Georgetown University tors who will not see the light until the results of the trials are tallied. ". . . If all those Ph.D.s were wrong, the country would be in very serious —Gary P. Posner trouble."—Everett Harman, Ph.D., U.S. Army Research Institute (Readers are also referred to Innumeracy: "Maybe women look at math prob­ Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Conse­ lems differently than men."—Don quences, by John Paulos, Hill and Edwards, Sunriver, Oregon Wang, N.Y., 1988.)

"When reality clashes so violently Dr. Posner, an internist in St. Petersburg, with intuition," vos Savant responded, Florida, is a member of Mensa, and "people are shaken." In once again founder of the Tampa Bay Skeptics. addressing the question "Should you switch?" she apparently decided this Editor's Postscript: time to invoke a more universally accepted phenomenon. Suppose, she Mathematicians at the Massachusetts says, after choosing door No. 1, and Institute of Technology came to vos having the host step in and "give a Savant's defense. "You are indeed clue" by opening one of the two correct," wrote Seth Kalson, Ph.D. remaining doors, "at that point . . . "My colleagues at work had a ball with a UFO settles down onto the stage. this problem, and I dare say that most A little green woman emerges, and the of them—including me at first— host asks her to point to one of the thought you were wrong!" The same two unopened doors. The chances that thing happened with mathematicians she'll randomly choose the one with at the University of Oregon. After 92 the prize are 1:2 [as opposed to 2:3 percent of the letters vos Savant chances of the original contestant received expressed she was winning by switching]. But that's wrong, Frank Anderson, head of the because she lacks the advantage the University of Oregon's Mathematics original contestant had—the help of Department, said, "Consensus is not the host. ... If the prize is behind the issue. She is 100 percent right." No. 2, the host shows you No. 3; and SKEPTICAL INQUIRER reader Lenna if the prize is behind No. 3, the host Mahoney, an atmospheric scientist in shows you No. 2. So when you switch, Richland, Washington, writes that you win if the prize is behind No. 2 she too at first thought the answer or No. 3. You win either way! But if was obvious. "It wasn't till I started you don't switch, you win only if the writing a computer program to sim­ prize is behind door No. 1." ulate the set of choices that I realized And if that isn't sufficiently clear, I was wrong. You have more infor-

344 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 mation on the second choice because the emcee knew which cur­ tain had the car and took that into account when he chose which curtain to open; after all, he couldn't show the car without prema­ turely ending the game." Mahoney says not one of the several technical professionals, including Ph.D. scien­ tists, of her acquain­ tance who saw the thought problem got the right answer by immediate intui­ izable using technical-type rhetoric, tion. And several came up with "very and everyone thinks the solution is fanciful ways of 'proving' that the odds obvious. The basic subtle seems were even." One "refused to accept to be the idea that because there is the results of my computer program," a choice of two unknowns and only arguing that "in short, if the program one is right the odds must be even. didn't agree with him it was wrong." The point that intuition ignores is that "This circular rationale illustrates there were originally three choices, what I find fascinating about the from which the two-choice set was problem," says Mahoney. "Not even derived. It is remarkable that so many experts have the correct intuition, the technical Ph.D.s should miss that incorrect answer is infinitely rational- point."—K.F.

The Mints Affair and Walker was already contempla­ ting giving up the column to pursue 0 At other interests, so serious attention was paid to Mims's proposals. On July 27,1989, Mims was invited n May 1988, writer Forrest Mims to come to New York from his home made an unsolicited presentation to in Texas to discuss the column with I Scientific American to take over its the magazine's editor, Jonathan Piel, Amateur Scientist column. He en­ and other senior staff. On August 7, visioned a column devoted to hands- Mims visited the offices of Scientific on tinkering, in the style of that American. During the morning his column's longtime writer C. L. (Red) proposals were met with universal Stong, rather than the "physics of praise from the editorial staff. Shortly everyday life" format of Jearl Walker, before lunch, Mims had a brief con­ who was writing it at the time. The versation with Piel. Mims was asked editors were committed to a major about his other writing, and he review of the style of the magazine, mentioned that, in addition to his

Summer 1991 345 extensive writing on technology, he Piel apparently agreed to buy the three also wrote for nontechnical journals, articles, saying that this would give including some Christian magazines. Jearl Walker a chance at a vacation. Piel was disquieted by this and asked Apparently over the next few weeks Mims his belief on evolution and Piel changed his mind. On October 30, creationism. Mims replied that he he returned the columns with pay­ rejected evolution. Piel quietly ment for only two of them, and denied informed several of his staff, and the that he had ever agreed to purchase afternoon proceeded with no further the columns. Mims then wrote a letter mention of the subject. to Claus-Gerhard Firchow, then pres­ Piel agonized over his dilemma for ident of Scientific American, and an several weeks. Although convinced agreement was reached on December that Mims was a worthy columnist, 13,1989. The magazine agreed to pay he was worried that selecting Mims for the third article and publish all as a technology writer could result in three. Mims signed a release preclud­ the appearance that Scientfic American ing civil suits for employment discrim­ endorsed his decidedly unscientific ination that may have occurred prior views of biology. Some of his staff felt to the signing of the release. The three that there was no problem, while articles appeared in the June, August, others shared Piel's reservations. In and October 1990 issues, respectively. the meantime, Mims began a series Jearl Walker finally did resign as the of frequent telephone calls to Scientific Amateur Scientist columnist, and American, and before long had spoken Mims again applied to succeed him. at length with nearly every member By this time Piel was sure he didn't of the staff. Some of the exchanges want Mims to write the column. On were less than genteel. One staffer August 27, 1990, Mims presented a asked Mims if he were a fundamen­ formal complaint to the Committee on talist Christian. (Mims describes Scientific Freedom and Responsibility himself as an Evangelical.) Another of the American Association for the staffer asked his views on abortion Advancement of Science, of which he and made reference to those who is a member. On October 29, the bombed abortion clinics. Mims was committee wrote Mims stating that, asked to agree not to use Scientific while they did not take a position American's name in association with concerning the particulars of the any article on creationism and to dispute, they did "affirm [their] discourage anyone else from doing so. commitment to the principle that On August 30, 1989, Scientific Amer­ articles submitted for publication in ican assigned a trial column to Mims journals devoted to science, technol­ for a fee of $2,000, and two topics ogy, and medicine should be judged were suggested. Two columns were exclusively on their scientific merit. A submitted on September 23,1989, and person's private behavior or religious a third column sometime later. or political beliefs or affiliations should not serve as criteria in the evaluation All of the staff finally agreed that of articles submitted for publication." Mims should write the column. On A similar complaint was also October 4, 1989, Piel telephoned addressed to the IEEE. Mims's story Mims, who surreptitiously taped the has generated a significant amount of conversation. Piel again praised the press attention, including articles in columns, and again expressed his the New York Times, the Wall Street serious reservations that Mims's Journal, and Harper's. beliefs might reflect on the magazine.

346 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 -rite about science. Another *ug jested thai Iwas attempting t o "pea- Intolerance Threatens Every ciiatc" mainline scientific uiyjni- Creationist Belief Precludes /irlH.iit IJuting J nationally tele­ vised dohale, an nnthiopi>l"t;i,-l »l*i Scientist—Amateur Or Not dtfcvtt M airtHreauwrisi organi&j- Credibility On Science Issues invi-,ni ami Madcteiag non questioned my eompciuKy BY ARTHUR L. CAPLAN Ihc Committee on Scientific TO the best of my knowledge, re thin 211 yean Idreame dof Fiecdorn and Rc»poii»ibilils of the mine of these vcicntisi. lead any of American Association fix the Ad­ .in »iA. before makingtheir (judg - It i* tough defending the position thaInt Sa manh ninf) bpart Amtrkwis of thwaMighe Unitetd m The Amateur Scientist."the- popu ­ vancement of Science venl ine a kt iirr Pemri Mims a> Ihe juihor ol Suits high whovl hioiiif) Icci- lar column in.Scientific American let that staled. "Aperson's privat e Thecontroversary ha s received ri- -The Anwtcur SdMtM" eohmw. hooki (rthci omit *nv rcfeicntc W ihiiiin^iitrd me become; a science behavior ot religions B1political be irnsive medij covraage, imw of it Mint' inocu, one of ihe central te- evuluiiim ->\ devote no rawt lhati J i. titer. After tin dream tunc uuc. licfc IK ifTilwitort* should not serve fair ami object •••:. Among Ihe few ol the job—lie i* a com- fe* paragraphs M ihe lulijevt llw Scientific American rfn&xti my as­ popular media have a natty habit nt signment to write the column be- Cfc* whnnitcJ fw going equal credence to the letUNI cause of my views on c solution Md puhlicalK* We em- ilv and ihe sucnlifi. Mulu> of irea- abortion. phMfat. in pailietital, n.'LiMr am\ ,1 uvoliilionau thcoi>. The controversy over my ili»- of ike JSI» much iti rudemt inlhr viiling> IFAMMI FROm "The Amateur Scien- Com mince thai of ihnse who hjvc embraced ihe tist" has been ct»r.«clcri/ed by irony. il uperson hufe b teli- c.iijw .'I fortcst Mont. Were he alive today.Rufus. Poner, ginmlj ottisal be- But trctfioniim n not wtcnoe [tie founding alitor of Scientific btMh.lt U'OfllCI Kith The beliefs ol Mints ami olhri American. would re tired from ho. view* commonly held trtatioiiiMs notwiihuanilitm itit own publication, for he advociitei) in tbe vcicniflii; mim- fact Off evolution iv no longer open betid in "Onto Cad" in the y. ltd Be belief* • iti4tthcip- magazine's premier issue In !H4'> influence ncs of evolution ale neitiiei uauitik Since Porieri at Hulls wrote about *.h.wlpuhli- •ct verifiable. This b umpHy false. God and I promised mix HI. hi* of i>isfndeiiti.'jii;..-'h -ASu-tw-lHiil. tense was infinitely more cmhiUTiis*- ttclc* utiles i! ercd to esumiw the refinement jnd i.ig than mint beliefs are itflectcd of DurssiniMii in response Another inn) it thai Ihc nM '- Amateur Saentnt" can he AAAS Science umicndi thai the iM.ii! ii. IhcNovember 1925 issu e Affairs hibliciJ accovtrt ol -.team* H not therover of whic h proclaimed. 'The ewed in) literally title, and Ihe evidence eaists Henv-taa Declare the Glory of God." IK allied m in piovi- il h> Iii£fc! at Ihc txiiiiiaiil This(quotation from the * Hoc* of liui il siakv""tl(e irk ptesiuti; in Ametimn «>ciely Hi ub- hulnw was (he ulJe of • article by vjiii AAAS punci Mgc whieh i' .lis- AlbertIngalls tha t pavtd the was in pin • tixnfitmg to some. IDOK »IIO wlite j column on iirutcut astronomy that leguUit tenures lot the IHOM mllucii- eventually became "The Amateur HUl pOfmlal idlttifk i::asJ*ine in Scientist." ihc i-^fliiry must IM willing to «nd Of v I lit U il I. .Kills and cltjfls •hai J.W4than r«l editiK .ff S**»- Magi/Km thai purport to be nfi.- Amrrtcon. conttnue* to find aboui 'jctict, Ih.l iry to DtMHK himicll (he fOBM -I ihe iniNli reU dcs-clufintciil> in-ocoie tor the fa The Mims stoty provoked wide debate, such as here in The Scientist, February 18.1991

Mims still wants to write the selection. He concedes that organisms Amateur Scientist column and has much like blue-green algae flourished some reason to feel aggrieved. During 3 billion years ago and that whales the prolonged negotiations, he for­ with vestigial legs lived 15 million went other potentially lucrative years ago, but then asks why paleon­ assignments, and he was asked some tologists can't find any "missing links." impertinent questions. On the other The proposals that Mims made hand, there is no evidence of malice covered topics and techniques for on Scientific American's part. If the which he does have demonstrated negotiations with Mims were some­ competence, and had Piel not asked what extended, it must be borne in his innocent question, Mims might mind that he was applying for a slot well be writing the column today. As that someone else still held. Piel could it is, he is now the editor of a new have been more decisive, and his hands-on science quarterly called opinion was certainly second-guessed Science Probe! and the Amateur Scien­ by his own staff, but his decision was tist column is not currently appearing hardly outrageous. An editor clearly in Scientific American. This is certainly has the right to define an editorial a regrettable affair, but hardly the position and to refuse it to anyone stuff of Greek tragedy. who does not conform to that posi­ tion, and Piel's decision was based on —Robert Felt Mims's scientific beliefs, not his reli­ gious ones. Robert Felt is the editor of the Pseudo- Prior to the onset of this contro­ Science Monitor, the newsletter of the versy, Mims had not written on Midwest Committee for Rational Inquiry, evolutionary issues, nor had he made where this article originally appeared in a systematic study of them. It's hard a slightly different form. (See also Martin to figure out exactly what he believes Gardner's column, "Cal Thomas, the Big when he says that he rejects "Darwin­ Bang, and Forrest Mims," in this issue. ian Evolution" but accepts natural —EDITOR)

Summer 1991 347 Paranormal Beliefs rect. ESP, UFOs, mental-healing, and other phenomena really do exist, but In the USSR we must provide scientifically reliable investigations and wait until official science explains them." This report on paranormal interests in Skeptics form a rather small group. the Soviet Union was provided to the They consider claims of the para­ SKEPTICAL INQUIRER by Oleg G. normal to be neither truth nor Bakhtiarov, Director, Perspectiva Scien­ (alleged) facts in need of special tific Research Center in Kiev, USSR. In investigation. They say: "All these an introductory note to CS1C0P Chair­ paranormal phenomena are just mys­ man Paul Kurtz, he wrote: "1 was greatly tification—they can't be explained by pleased to read your article 'Paranormal science, so they simply do not exist." Pandemonium in the USSR' /SI, Spring The USSR mass media belong 1990]; thank you for mentioning our mostly to the first group (fans) and center in it. The problem of the growth in some cases to the second (opti­ of paranormal beliefs disturbs us very mists). We have no newspaper or much. Indeed, Russia is now returning magazine that provides a truly scien­ to the Golden Age of Occultism of the tific investigation of paranormal early 1900s. We are making some efforts claims. However, some efforts in this to provide truly scientific investigations of area are being made by Nauka i Religia these claims to prevent the spread of 'occult (Science and Religion), a journal optimism' in the mass media and in the published by Znaniye (Knowledge), a common conscience. In order to provide public organization. Here is some the U.S. and Western public and skeptics information about the activity of organizations with more information paranormal believers: about the paranormal in the USSR, we send you this survey on the subject by the center's Analytical Section." The headquarters of the Committee ublic opinion concerning para­ of UFOs and Atmospheric Anomalies normal belief is divided among (V. Azhazha, President) is in Moscow, Pthree main groups: "fans," and the organization has branches in optimists, and skeptics. all major cities of the USSR. The Fans are ready to believe almost any Committee's main work consists of information about the paranormal; gathering information about UFOs in their faith is rather steady, as if it were the USSR. a kind of religion. Fans are the core The School of Nontraditional members of organizations that focus Sciences in Kiev opened a UFO depart­ on UFOs, ESP, mental-healing, spir­ ment last year. Lecturers tell the itual channeling, and so on. They students their theories about UFOs, constitute the major part of the USSR contacts with UFOnauts, and so on. common conscience (and of the mass Mystic beliefs (like Madame Blavat- media). sky's Theosophy) are popular here. Optimists believe that the situation Every city in the USSR has its will improve. They say something like group of UFOlogy enthusiasts who this: "Okay, the paranormal is not to gather information about UFOs, give be accepted without any doubt. We lectures, and provide exhibitions of must observe it, analyze it, and so on. photographs, reports of eyewitnesses, But we believe that the facts are cor­ and so on.

348 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Healers Tibetan monk Lakh-do, who lived near Leningrad (the native city of Among the healers are individuals Rootzko); that he knows 16,997 who work alone as well as members languages; that he can read thoughts; of healer organizations. There are that he has had several contacts with several psychic healers' groups in the UFOnauts; that he is the one who USSR, such as the Organization of must "save the ill world"; and that he Professional Extrasenses and the can heal all illnesses. Association of Meditative Autogene Rootzko's healing shows gather Training. Every large city has a huge crowds in Leningrad, Riga, and number of organizations of this kind. Kiev. In Kiev he had two shows in The center of their activity is in Kiev, the Republican Stadium (with 100,000 where there are organized psychic- attending each) and ten shows in the healer groups. These organizations Palace of Sports (twice a day, 30,000 provide healing sessions, lectures, and at each performance). seminars; show films; and publish Usually, Rootzko wears a black literature. There are about 40 such kimono; he is dark, with long hair and organizations in Kiev, and every city a beard. On his shows he makes some in the USSR has a number of similar gestures with his hands (like Tai-Chi- groups. Chuan exercises) and sings something Many people in the United States he calls "Tibetan singing." He also have become acquainted with one of works with hypnosis or suggestion, the healers. I refer to Anatoly Kash- making people "become free of their perovsky, who put on a number of his illnesses." "healing shows" there, as well as in As for the television shows of the Poland, Germany, and Israel. He is well-known Chumak and others like popular in the USSR because of his him (for example, Sidorchuk, in Kiev), television shows, "healing" sessions in they are not officially permitted now. the sports area, and his help to the This may be because of the efforts of Soviet hospitals. physicians who strongly protested Not long ago, a new "star" of against such shows. healing appeared—Gennady Rootzko. There are also "village healers" of He says that he is a pupil of the various kinds, who use phytotherapy

Summer 1991 349 and primitive hypnosis; "kolduns" The Soviet Astrological Associa­ (wizards), who use psychic-healing tion is very close to officially declaring and hypnosis—Moscow is the head­ itself; according to some reports, it quarters of the Association of Russian may include more than 5,000 mem­ Wizards, organized in April 1990; bers. shamans (in Siberia), who use phyto­ therapy and psychic trans-healing. —Dimitry V. Kanashkin Almost every village has its own such healer. Dimilry Kanashkin is chief of the Analytical Section of the Perspectiva Nontraditional Philosophies Scientific Research Center in Kiev.

The growth of Glasnost after the long years of silence was the stimulus for the appearance of nontraditional philosophy adepts in the USSR. They Origin of the Myth are headquartered in the Agni Yoga Center in Piga. Their philosophy is About a Missing based on the teachings of Nikolai Day in Time Rerikh, the well-known painter, who is connected with the Urushvati Institute in India. The Agni Yoga he myth that our "astronauts and Center also publishes books by N. space scientists" at Greenbelt, Rokotova (Rerikh's wife) and holds TMaryland, located a missing day lectures and seminars. in time has been around since at least Satanism or cult crimes are not 1969 and apparently even earlier (SI, present in the USSR, but there is some Spring 1986, pp. 258-264; see also SI, belief among the public in the mys­ Fall 1986, p. 108). Briefly, the story ticism of Kabbal and medieval is that space scientists were checking cults. the position of planets by computer In Moscow there is also a center to avoid collision with satellites. The of the Soviet Hare Krishna Society, computer discovered a missing 23 where lectures, seminars, and courses hours and 20 minutes at the time in Vedic Therapy are presented. Joshua made the sun stand still and an additional 40 minutes at the point Astrology where Isaiah made the sun move backward as a sign to Hezekiah. Astrology is rather popular in the Tom Mclver, in his Spring 1986 SI USSR now. Almost every large news­ article, "Ancient Tales and Space-Age paper carries articles about it and Myths of Creationist Evangelism," many people believe them. Some was able to trace published versions consult astrologers more or less of the story to Harold Hill, a "con­ regularly. sultant to the space industry." Hill Pavel Globa and his wife, Tamara, claims to have been called in to get are the major astrologers. They a computer up and running after it provide horoscopes for newspapers shut down when NASA's Goddard and give public lectures about astrol­ Space Flight Center first opened and ogy. (They gave five shows in Kiev; heard about the Missing Day Incident about 25,000 people were present at there, though he does not know the each.) names of those involved.

350 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 I was able to obtain some further spacecraft tracking stations," accord­ information from the National Aero­ ing to James S. Lacy of the NASA nautics and Space Administration Office of Public Relations. (NASA) about this tale. NASA quickly informed me that the whole story was —Robert W. Loftin a fabrication. To quote from a letter sent to me by Brian Dunbar, Public Robert W. Loftin is professor of philos­ Affairs Officer at the NASA Office ophy, Department of History and Phi­ of Space Science and Application in losophy, University of North Florida, Washington: Jacksonville, FL 32216.

This story is a myth that has been around since the mid-1960s, obviously evolving in the interven­ ing years, and stems from the reconciliation of different timekeep­ M Pell Aide Hears Code ing systems. The need for an "adjustment" to our timekeeping In Backwards Speeches arose from our lack of adequate computing power in the early days of the Apollo program. Designing he word was simone. Played back­ navigational paths through the wards, it spelled embarrassment Solar System was made difficult by for Senator Claiborne Pell (D- the complexity of three-body equa­ T tions. Part of that complexity lay in R.I.). the critical timing of the motion of Pell is Capitol Hill's best-known each body. At that time there was proponent of psychic research, the no universal agreement as to an only member of Congress known to Earth standard time. NASA now have a full-time special assistant operates on Universal Time (often whose sole job is to promote research referred to as Greenwich Mean into psychic phenomena. One month Time). Earth ephemeris time (side­ before Election Day 1990, during the real time) and Universal Time are military buildup for the 1991 Persian not the same, and it was not clear Gulf war against Iraq, this staff in the 1960s which was better for determining trajectories. The reso­ member, C. B. Scott Jones, wrote a lution and reconciliation involved letter to Secretary of Defense Richard changing a variety of methods and B. Cheney. settling on Universal Time. At no Jones warned that the word simone time during this reconciliation was appeared when tapes of speeches a "missing day" discovered. made by Cheney, Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and President Bush NASA confirmed that Hill was were played backwards. The speeches, involved with them, although not Jones said, dealt with the Gulf crisis. quite in the capacity that he claims as "I mention this situation in case it a "consultant to the space industry" is a code word that would not be in called in to get computers up and the national interest to be known," running when they crashed. Hill, said Jones, who explained that the formerly president of the Curtis word was discovered through "a Engine Company of Baltimore, "was technology known as Reverse Speech involved in some diesel engine oper­ Therapy." Simone, he said, was "a word ations and maintenance contracting that we have never seen in a speech . . . at Goddard and a few remote reversal."

Summer 1991 351 Pell said, "It certainly isn't helpful" credentials. that the letter was leaked to reporters I called Oates, who said he was a at a time when he faced a tough former youth counselor and had reelection campaign against Republi­ written a book on reverse speech can Congresswoman Claudine therapy that was published in 1987 in Schneider. Pell added that "while it his native Australia. sounds wacky, there may be some He told me he listened to 20 to 30 merit to [Reverse Speech Therapy]" hours of tapes played backwards each because he trusts in "Scott's own week because he believed that uncon­ responsible role in life." scious thoughts surface in reverse Jones was reprimanded, not for speech. Oates called his work "a sending the warning, but for violating discovery of tremendous value." Pell's office policy against staffers' Oates said he heard "simone" five using Senate letterhead stationery times in the 20 to 30 hours of Persian without permission. Gulf speeches by Bush, Cheney, and Anyone with a little imagination Baker that he taped off Cable News can hear words or phrases when Network. Oates wondered if it was speech or song is played backwards. some kind of code word, and he Such unintended "messages" are mentioned his concern to Jones when found in everything from the Bible to Pell's staffer contacted him about rock music. Reverse Speech Therapy. Jones then So one question raised by the wrote the letter to Cheney. "simone" case was, Where did the When I asked Oates for an example word simone come from? of a "simone" message, he cited an To find out, I called Chris Camp, August 8, 1990, news conference by the news director for WPRO-Radio in Bush, where the backwards phrase Providence. I asked him to speak the that caught his interest was "Simone word "simone" into one of the sta­ in the sands." He played the tape for tion's tape recorders and then play it me. Like most backwards messages, backwards. Camp reported that it the phrase isn't very clear, but you sounded like enormous." can hear it if you're told what to listen So I asked Camp to repeat the for. experiment, this time by recording the What were listeners actually hear­ word "enormous." Played backwards, ing when Bush said "Simone in the "enormous" became "simone" (pro­ sands?" Oates said the president's nounced "si-MO-nee"). words were "Iraq has massed an The results suggested that every enormous war machine." "Simone," time Bush, Baker, or Cheney used the he said, came from the sounds in the word enormous in one of their speeches word enormous. to describe the massive military Columnist Philip Terzian said the operation in the Gulf, the word simone affair reminded him of the Beatles' would appear to anyone who listened white album, where listeners heard for a backwards message. Other the backwards message "I bury Paul." words or word combinations might "I've been reading [Jones's] letter to produce the same effect. Richard Cheney backwards," Terzian John Mulligan, a reporter at the wrote, "and [I] am certain I can hear Providence Journal, then tracked the a voice say: 'I bury Pell.' " source of Jones's warning to David It was not to be. Pell's opponent, Oates, an unemployed electronics buff Schneider, could not capitalize on the from Dallas with no scientific issue because she is also a believer in

352 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 psychic phenomena and other uncon­ The entry for Psychic is not quite ventional ideas. as forthrightly negative but does Pell easily won reelection. include an essential qualifier, "alleged": It says "psychic" should be —Eugene Emery, ]r. reserved "for , the field of alleged mental abilities that are Eugene Emery is the science reporter for not explainable by reference to the the Providence Journal. normal senses. 'Psychic' is a general term, and we are more informative if we use more specific ones when these apply, such as clairvoyant, telepathic, I A Stylebook telekinetic." It would be even better if the 1 With Style stylebook would suggest that "alleged," "self-proclaimed," or "self- described" be used on first reference ewspapers are, often uninten­ to a "psychic" or "clairvoyant," and tionally, among the widest wherever possible to place the latter N disseminators of misinforma­ designations in quotes. But that's a tion about fringe-science and the minor quibble: the Globe and Mail's paranormal. Major newspapers have stylebook, prepared by J. A. McFarlane stylebooks that provide guidelines for and Warren Clements, has taken an treating all manner of subjects. Pro­ important step in the right direction. fessor Fred Donnelly of the University A check of the Associated Press of New Brunswick brings to our Stylebook finds no entries at all on welcome attention some refreshingly these or related subjects. candid and responsible entries in one of them, the stylebook of the Toronto —Kendrick Frazier Globe and Mail, Canada's leading newspaper. Here is the stylebook's entry' on Astrology: "We should not make even the slightest implication in a news NCSE Acquires story that The Globe or any of its staff Creation/Evolution believe in astrology. See Zodiac." The entry for Zodiac says this: Journal "Lower case. It is an imaginary belt around the sky, divided into 12 sections, called signs. It is no longer he National Center for Science correct to say that the names of these Education has become the new sections are those of the principal Tpublisher of Creation/Evolution, a constellation found in them. Preces­ magazine/journal devoted to improv­ sion of the equinoxes over the cen­ ing popular understanding of evolu­ turies since the signs were named has tion and critiquing claims by anti- put each of these constellations into evolutionists. the sign after the one that bears its The Berkeley-based NCSE is the name. We must not indicate in a news nonprofit national organization of story, however obliquely, that The scientists and laypersons promoting Globe or any member of its staff evolution education and opposing the believes in astrology." anti-evolutionism of "scientific" crea-

Summer 1991 353 tionism in the public-school class­ the first issue of 1991. Students at all room. "The marriage is a natural," levels as well as scholars and journal­ says the journal's new editor John R. ists use the Readers' Guide to identify Cole, an anthropologist at the Univer­ sources of material for term papers, sity of Massachusetts-Amherst. reports, and books and articles. The NCSE will publish two issues a year addition of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER to of Creation/Evolution and four issues the Readers' Guide listings will help of the shorter NCSE Reports. For bring to the attention of these wider further information contact Eugenie audiences the kinds of critical evalua­ C. Scott, Executive Director, NCSE, tions and discussions on a wide variety 2107 Dwight Way #105, Berkeley, CA of topics for which SI has long been 94704. known to its regular readers. It will now become especially important for more libraries at all levels to carry the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Readers' Guide so that students and researchers can have direct access to articles refer­ 0 Now Indexes SI enced. Readers are encouraged to bring SI and the news about the e are pleased to report that Readers' Guide to the attention of the Readers' Guide to Periodical libraries in their areas. WLiterature is now indexing the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, beginning with —Kendrick Frazier

OUT THERE Rob Pudim

354 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Notes of a Fringe-Watcher

MARTIN GARDNER

Cal Thomas, the Big Bang, and Forrest Mims

ur local newspaper carries a column by Cal Thomas, a tall, Ohandsome fundamentalist of extreme right-wing political views. When Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority was in full swing, Thomas was his vice president in charge of communications. He began his career in radio news, but is now best known for his widely syndicated column, and for his frequent appearances on television talk- shows. On January 10 of this year, Thomas's column was headed "Big Bang Theory Explodes." It has been decades since I have encountered so much scientific ignorance compressed in so small a space. Astronomers have recently discovered superclusters of galaxies, surrounding mon­ strous voids and sometimes forming giant "sheets," that are hard to explain by current theories of galaxy formation. It is assumed that a vast amount of invisible or "dark" matter is involved, but the nature of such matter has yet to be

Summer 1991 355 identified. In no way do these large- bumbling enterprise that has built into scale structures discredit the big bang. it a marvelous power of self-correction They just mean that cosmologists in the light of fresh data. It cannot have more work to do in understand­ reach final, absolute truth, but it ing the bang and how galaxies evolve. continually moves closer to it. Oth­ To Thomas, however, the big-bang erwise, how explain the incredible theory "has gone bust" and this proves power of science to make predictions that modern science is a tissue of and build technologies? If there isn't shaky theories put forth by scientists a mathematically structured world to rationalize their secular-humanist "out there," toward which scientific bias. "Those who inquired after other assertions to some degree correspond, possible origins of the universe," it is impossible to account for our Thomas writes, "including the theory ability to build skyscrapers, television that a God might have created it all, sets, and atom bombs. It is impossible often have been denounced and their to explain why, if you bury a steel cube ideas expelled by court order on where no one can see it for years, then grounds that they are not 'scientific' " dig it up, it still has six faces and eight Thomas brings up Einstein's "cos- corners. mological constant"—a conjecture Cal Thomas is not content with Einstein made when he favored a exploding the big bang and making closed, steady-state model of the cosmologists seem like simpletons. He universe. To prevent gravity from goes on to cite a recent flap concerning collapsing a static universe, Einstein Scientific American that involves a free­ suggested that matter might contain lance writer named Forrest Mims III. a weak repulsive force. As soon as it To Thomas, this incident is another became known that the universe is not glaring example of the scientific com­ static, but expanding, Einstein called munity's prejudice against religion. his conjecture "the greatest blunder Mims, age 47, is a self-educated of my life." To Thomas, this shows engineer with a degree from Texas how Einstein distorted his equations A&M and a home in the village of to fit his beliefs. Balderdash. At the Seguin, Texas. He says he has written time, the conjecture was a reasonable 70 books (only three are listed in Books one. Thomas is probably unaware that in Print) and 500 magazine articles, the cosmological constant is now mostly about electronics and compu­ making a comeback among several ters. Long an admirer of C. L. (Red) cosmologists. Stong, who for many years wrote Thomas sees today's scientists as Scientific American's Amateur Scientist dominated by "extreme hubris," con­ column, Mims approached the mag­ stantly altering their theories, but azine in 1989 in the hope of continuing always dogmatically defending what­ the column after Stong's successor, ever is currently fashionable. "Maybe Jearl Walker, gave notice that he scientists should eat a little humble pie would shortly have to stop writing it. and consider what God . . . said to Jonathan Piel, the magazine's editor, Job: 'Where were you when I laid the and others on the staff were favorably foundations of the earth?' " impressed by Mims's proposals. But Scientists have no more hubris when Mims visited the magazine to than anyone else, and certainly less discuss the possibility of becoming a than fundamentalists who commit the permanent contributor, to Piel's sin of willful ignorance. Science is a astonishment it became apparent that vast, complex, cooperative, often Mims did not believe in evolution.

356 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Although he prefers to call himself spite of his naive views about evolu­ an evangelical, Mims is a Southern tion. According to the Washington Post Baptist fundamentalist. He is not a (November 1, 1990), the Texas affil­ "young earther" who thinks the iate of the American Civil Liberties universe was created about ten thou­ Union supports Mims's claim, likening sand years ago. He allows that indi­ the action of the magazine to the vidual species were created at intervals blacklisting of leftists in the 1950s. over long periods of time, the "days" "Scientific American's editor is living of Genesis not to be taken as 24-hour in the dark ages," Mims told the Post. time-spans. Adam and Eve had no "He's practicing what was practiced at navels, Mims told me over the phone, the time of the Inquisition, judging for the simple reason that they had people for their beliefs and not what no parents. He was not sure whether they can do." Eve had hair and had not realized that (October 22, 1990) wrote: "The dis­ hair bears as much evidence of past pute raises explosive constitutional events as belly buttons. (Hair is dead issues. On one side is an individual's tissue that grows from its roots, like right to practice his religion; on the teeth and fingernails, in small incre­ other is a publication's right to decide ments. If God could provide Adam and whom it will employ." Eve with hair, teeth, and nails that had Mims secretly recorded a 30- no past history, he could just as easily minute phone conversation with Piel give them navels with no past history.) from which a long excerpt was pub­ He admitted being puzzled over the lished in Harper's Magazine (March question of whether the first trees had 1991). "I'm sure that you're a man of rings. honor . . . ," Piel said. "There's no Cal Thomas quotes Mims as say­ question that on their own merits the ing, "Insect paleontologists are totally columns are fabulous. . . . That's just frustrated by the complete lack of any not an issue. It's the public relations fossil evidence that links insects to nightmare that is keeping me awake." anything else." Indeed, Mims told me, No one doubts Mims's ability to it was his study of insects caught in write about home experiments with­ amber that first made him doubt out smuggling in opinions on evolu­ evolution. tion and the Bible. But I agree with Since Scientific American decided Piel that the PR nightmare was not to buy columns from Mims, he sufficient grounds for not hiring has been tirelessly appearing on Mims as a contributing editor. It was television and radio talk-shows and not Mims's religion. I know from giving press interviews charging having been a contributing editor of unjust discrimination for his religious Scientific American for 25 years that views. The New York Times (October it does not discriminate against 24,1990) headlined its account: "Hire anyone on the basis of sex, color, or a Creationist? A Nonbeliever in creed. There have been practicing Darwin? Not a Proud Science Catholics and Jews on staff, and Journal." conservative Protestants. I myself am Piel agreed to publish three of a philosophical theist. Mims's columns as part of a legal From a PR standpoint, having a settlement of this situation. At least creationist write regularly for the two Scientific American editors thought magazine would become increasingly Mims should have been made a embarrassing. Creationists are fond of permanent writer of the column in boasting about how many of them

Summer 1991 357 hold responsible positions in the the magazine. scientific community. You can be sure Mims is now editor of Science Probe!, that their magazines and books and subtitled "The Amateur Scientist's lawyers would soon be trumpeting the Journal." It is a new, slickly produced fact that Mims was a contributing quarterly, which Mims co-founded columnist for Scientific American. with the publisher Larry Steckler, Let's make two thought experi­ head of Gernsback Publications. As of ments. Suppose a medical journal the time I write, only two issues have considered having someone write a so far appeared. The lead article in the column about nutrition and then first issue was by Dennis Flanagan, discovered that the person was a a former editor of Scientific American, naturopath who did not believe that who wrote about his memories of germs cause disease. Would the jour­ C. L. Stong. nal have the freedom not to publish Although nothing so far in this that writer? Suppose Sky and Telescope handsome magazine reflects creation­ planned on assigning someone to ist views, a regular column on science write a column on how to make or fairs is written by David R. McQueen, buy home telescopes and then found a member of the staff who is an active out that the columnist believed the creationist. If Science Probe! gets off the sun went around the earth. Such a ground, it will be interesting to see person could be well informed about if Mims ever has the courage to run telescopes, but would the magazine be an article on, say, how amateur justified in not giving the writer the scientists can build equipment for assignment to avoid facing ridicule for testing (by any of several different having as a contributor someone who techniques) the ages of fossils and did not accept Copernican astronomy? human artifacts. Or will he, like a good It is true that believers in an earth- Southern Baptist, carefully avoid any centered universe are rare these days, topic that might provide support for but the fact of evolution is as strongly a theory that fundamentalists believe supported by thousands of pieces of to be the work of Satan? evidence as the Copernican theory. Science loses little time acknowl­ When a conjecture becomes this edging errors. Look how quickly strongly confirmed it is called a fact. Einstein admitted his blunder. Look There is, of course, dispute over the how quickly the revolutions of rela­ process of evolution, but no dispute tivity and quantum theory took over over its fact by anyone with an physics. Look how quickly the claims elementary understanding of histor­ of N-rays, , and ical geology and the life sciences. "If were shot down. Compare this with he [Mims] believes in creationism," the centuries it took the Vatican to said Robert Park, a University of admit its blunder about Galileo. It is Maryland physicist, "he has estab­ unlikely that either Cal Thomas or lished that he doesn't have credibility Forrest Mims will ever go back to to write about science." Mims was not college—fundamentalist colleges like abandoned for his religious views but Jerry Falwell's excepted—to take for the embarrassment his scien­ Geology 101 and change their tific ignorance would have caused about evolution. •

358 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Psychic Vibrations c

Gulf Breeze Flap Fades,But Still Entertains

ROBERT SHEAFFER

he frenzied wave of supposed disavowed their report. Carol Salis- UFO photos and sightings in Gulf berry writes that the local MUFON TBreeze, Florida, touted as "the group "is out to lynch us, and the most astounding multiple sighting of hierarchy is goading them on." UFOs in U.S. history," continues to fascinate and to entertain, even as it sinks slowly into the sunset. When we last left prime UFO-spotter Ed Wal­ ters (SI, Winter 1991:135), he was grappling with the fact that a model UFO had been discovered in his former home and with a neighbor­ hood youth's confession that he had helped Ed fake some of the photos. Since then, things have gotten worse. In the wake of these embarrassing disclosures, MUFON, the largest surviving UFO group (which has always taken a staunch pro-Walters line), asked two of its most respected investigators, Rex and Carol Salis- berry, to take another look into the case. At one time MUFON's hierarchy expressed the highest degree of confidence in the Salisberrys' inves­ tigative skills and presented them a special award at last year's MUFON conference for outstanding investiga­ tions. But when the two reported their findings that Ed Walters was "adept at trick photography" and had faked the photos, MUFON suddenly lost all confidence—not in Walters, of course, but in the Salisberrys—and tossed them out of the organization and

Summer 1991 359 Nonetheless, local hotels, restau­ dead last. Even veteran saucerer James rants, and travel agents are doing all Moseley, who until recently professed they can to cash in on the UFOria. being impressed by Walters's apparent The director of tourism for the sincerity, now concedes "it looks more Pensacola Area Chamber of Com­ and more likely that the Walters story merce called the situation in Gulf is a hoax." Thus the three-ring flying- Breeze "very, very positive" and said saucer circus in Gulf Breeze seems to UFO tour groups are being arranged. be slowly winding down. Fear not: it A local travel agent adds that UFO- does not spell the end of saucerdom. seeking tourists have "brought in a lot Before long, more astonishing UFO of money to Gulf Breeze merchants photos will be taken somewhere else when they desperately needed it." But by some other enterprising soul, and six Gulf Breeze visitors last year most the UFO show will once again swing certainly did not benefit from their into high gear, with a fresh new cast. UFO pilgrimage. Last July, six Amer­ ican soldiers with top-secret clear­ * * * ances went AWOL from their Military Intelligence Brigade in Germany and Apparently Satanists are not the only mysteriously turned up in Gulf ones with sneaky messages that can Breeze. Arrested by local police, they be heard by playing their recordings were taken into military custody at Ft. backward. According to an aide for Benning, Georgia. Newspaper reports Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, suggested that the six were members backward masking of a secret code of a "Rapture" or "end-of-the-world" word was detected in speeches about cult that believed that "Jesus Christ the Persian Gulf crisis given by was an astronaut." They were re­ President Bush, Secretary of State ported to have come to Gulf Breeze James Baker, and Secretary of Defense to "hunt down the Antichrist." Con­ Dick Cheney. The Associated Press flicting accounts were published about reported last October 20 that C. B. the motivation for this incident, and Scott Jones, a member of Pell's staff several news organizations received a who specializes in "paranormal" devel­ bizarre letter—it looked as though it opments, wrote to Secretary Cheney had been produced on a teletype— claiming that when the three officials' demanding that the U.S. Army "Free statements about Iraq were played the Gulf Breeze Six." Whatever the backwards, they appeared to contain reason, charges were soon dropped the code word "Simone." Jones against the soldiers, who were re­ explained that a group of psycholo­ leased and then discharged. gists he has been working with has If press reports were correct about been playing speeches backward, and Walters receiving a $200,000 advance that "Simone" is "a word that we have for his recent book, the publisher isn't never seen in a speech reversal." A likely to recoup that investment; and Pentagon spokesman denied that any if Walters was paid $450,000, as was code words were in the speeches, reported, for the rights to a television backward or forward. Senator Pell at miniseries, nobody seems to be rush­ first allowed that while the idea ing to produce it. Walters was not even "sounds wacky, there may be some successful in his attempt to use his merit to it." But not long afterward, recent fame as a springboard into local the Senator—who was in the middle politics; running for a seat on the Gulf of a re-election campaign—repri­ Breeze City Commission, he came in manded Jones, who has served as his

360 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 staff specialist in parapsychology for six years. Pell easily won re-election nonetheless. In other developments from the Persian Gulf, Cindy Adams reported in the New York Post on January 21 that a Japanese politician told her that "mutual interest in extraterrestrials" was responsible for Iraq freeing 74 Japanese hostages. Koko Satch of Japan's Democratic Liberal party confirmed that "this was negotiated by mentioning [Saddam] Hussein's recognition of an outer space civiliza­ tion." Japanese Prime Minister Kaifu sent word to Iraq that "all the people on Earth are the same from the point of view of the space people in the UFOs. . . . We must create an envi­ ronment in which every nation can discuss UFO problems regardless of their national interest." Whether or not this was the key that sprang the captives, Adams cannot say, but the Japanese hostages were released. Finally, as if the conflict in the Persian Gulf were not already wor­ said that it did, 74 percent said that risome enough, "a fervor has been it did not, and the rest were not sure. building among millions of evangelical In a ten-week period from December Christians nationwide" to the effect to February, an apocalyptic work by that the war in the Middle East repre­ John F. Walvoord titled Armageddon, sents the final battle of Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis sold an in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. A astounding 600,000 copies. While the story from the Los Angeles Times news End Times may indeed have started, service (February 8) reported that if by the time you are reading this the many pastors are addressing this issue Rapture is not already robustly under­ with their congregations, "mostly way, you can be reassured that the calmly." In a poll taken a week after war in the Middle East is just another the fighting started, the Gallup organ­ of the many conflicts that have ization asked a sample of the public punctuated human history, and that whether this battle represents the history itself still has a good many final "Armageddon." Fifteen percent years to run. •

Summer 1991 361 Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep?

SUSAN BLACKMORE

hat could it mean to be conscious in your dreams? For most of us, dreaming Wis something quite separate from normal life. When we wake up from being chased by a ferocious tiger, or seduced by a devastatingly good-looking winner we realize with relief or disappointment that L "it was only a dream." it The fascination of Yet there are some dreams that are not like that. Lucid dreams are dreams in which you lucid dreams, in know at the time that you are dreaming. That which you know at they are different from ordinary dreams is obvious as soon as you have one. The experience the time that you is something like waking up in your dreams. are dreaming, It is as though you "come to" and find you are forces us to ask dreaming. Lucid dreams used to be a topic within questions about psychical research and parapsychology. Perhaps the nature of their incomprehensibility made them good consciousness, candidates for being thought paranormal. More recently, however, they have begun to appear deliberate control in psychology journals and have dropped out over our actions, of parapsychology—a good example of how the and the nature of field of parapsychology shrinks when any of its subject matter is actually explained. Imaginary worlds. Lucidity has also become something of a New Age fad. There are machines and gadgets you can buy and special clubs you can join to learn how to induce lucid dreams. But this commer­ cialization should not let us lose sight of the very real fascination of lucid dreaming. It forces us to ask questions about the nature of con­ sciousness, deliberate control over our actions, and the nature of imaginary worlds.

362 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 A Real Dream or Not? people that they really were awake in their dreams. But of course when you The term lucid dreaming was coined are deep asleep and dreaming you by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van cannot shout, "Hey! Listen to me. I'm Eeden in 1913. It is something of a dreaming right now." All the muscles misnomer since it means something of the body are paralyzed. quite different from just clear or vivid It was Keith Hearne (1978), of the dreaming. Nevertheless we are cer­ University of Hull, who first exploited tainly stuck with it. Van Eeden the fact that not all the muscles are explained that in this sort of dream paralyzed. In REM sleep the eyes "the re-integration of the psychic move. So perhaps a lucid dreamer functions is so complete that the could signal by moving the eyes in a sleeper reaches a state of perfect predetermined pattern. Just over ten awareness and is able to direct his years ago, lucid dreamer Alan Worsley attention, and to attempt different first managed this in Hearne's labor­ acts of free volition. Yet the sleep, as atory. He decided to move his eyes left I am able confidently to state, is and right eight times in succession undisturbed, deep, and refreshing." whenever he became lucid. Using a This implied that there could be , Hearne could watch the consciousness during sleep, a claim eye movements for signs of the special many psychologists denied for more signal. He found it in the midst of REM than 50 years. Orthodox sleep sleep. So lucid dreams are real dreams researchers argued that lucid dreams and do occur during REM sleep. could not possibly be real dreams. If Further research showed that the accounts were valid, then the Worsley's lucid dreams most often experiences must have occurred dur­ occurred in the early morning, around ing brief moments of wakefulness or 6:30 A.M., nearly half an hour into a in the transition between waking and REM period and toward the end of sleeping, not in the kind of deep sleep a burst of rapid eye movements. They in which rapid eye movements (REMs) usually lasted for two to five minutes. and ordinary dreams usually occur. In Later research showed that they occur other words, they could not really be at times of particularly high arousal dreams at all. during REM sleep (Hearne 1978). This presented a challenge to lucid It is sometimes said that discoveries dreamers who wanted to convince in science happen when the time is

Summer 1991 363 ened anxiety or stress precedes it. "Lucid dreams are potentially More often there is a kind of intel­ lectual recognition that something even more interesting than we "dreamlike" or incongruous is going thought. As well as providing on (Fox 1962; Green 1968; LaBerge 1985). insight into the nature of sleep It is common to wake from an and dreams, they may give clues ordinary dream and wonder, "How on earth could I have been fooled into to the nature of consciousness thinking that I was really doing push­ itself." ups on a blue beach?" A little more awareness is shown when we realize right for them. It was one of those this in the dream. If you ask yourself, odd things that at just the same time, "Could this be a dream?" and answer but unbeknown to Hearne, Stephen "No" (or don't answer at all), this is LaBerge, at in called a pre-lucid dream. Finally, if you California, was trying the same exper­ answer "Yes," it becomes a fully lucid iment. He too succeeded, but resist­ dream. ance to the idea was very strong. In It could be that once there is 1980, both Science and Nature rejected sufficient cortical arousal it is possible his first paper on the discovery to apply a bit of critical thought; to (LaBerge 1985). It was only later that remember enough about how the it became clear what an important step world ought to be to recognize the this had been. dream world as ridiculous, or perhaps to remember enough about oneself to An Identifiable State? know that these events can't be continuous with normal waking life. It would be especially interesting if However, tempting as it is to conclude lucid dreams were associated with a that the critical insight produces the unique physiological state. In fact this lucidity, we have only an apparent has not been found, although this is correlation and cannot deduce cause not very surprising since the same is and effect from it. true of other altered states, such as out-of-body experiences and trances Becoming a Lucid Dreamer of various kinds. However, lucid dreams do tend to occur in periods of Surveys have shown that about 50 higher cortical arousal. Perhaps a percent of people (and in some cases certain threshold of arousal has to be more) have had at least one lucid reached before awareness can be dream in their lives. (See, for example, sustained. Blackmore 1982; Gackenbach and The beginning of lucidity (marked LaBerge 1988; Green 1968.) Of course by eye signals, of course) is associated surveys are unreliable in that many with pauses in breathing, brief people may not understand the ques­ changes in heart rate, and skin re­ tion. In particular, if you have never sponse changes, but there is no unique had a lucid dream, it is easy to combination that allows the lucidity misunderstand what is meant by the to be identified by an observer. term. So overestimates might be In terms of the dream itself, there expected. Beyond this, it does not are several features that seem to seem that surveys can find out much. provoke lucidity. Sometimes height­ There are no very consistent differ-

364 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 **^s 5V ®@ ences between lucid dreamers and others in terms of age, sex, education, and so on (Green 1968; Gackenbach stantly reminding yourself to become and LaBerge 1988). lucid throughout the day rather than For many people, having lucid the night. This is based on the idea dreams is fun, and they want to learn that we spend most of our time in a how to have more or to induce them kind of waking daze. If we could be at will. One finding from early exper­ more lucid in waking life, perhaps we imental work was that high levels of could be more lucid while dreaming. physical (and emotional) activity German psychologist Paul Tholey during the day tend to precede lucidity suggests asking yourself many times at night. Waking during the night and every day, "Am I dreaming or not?" carrying out some kind of activity This sounds easy but is not. It takes before falling asleep again can also a lot of determination and persistence encourage a lucid dream during the not to forget all about it. For those next REM period and is the basis of who do forget, French researcher some induction techniques. Clerc suggests writing a large "C" on Many methods have been devel­ your hand (for "conscious") to remind oped (Gackenbach and Bosveld 1989; you (Tholey 1983; Gackenbach and Tart 1988; Price and Cohen 1988). Bosveld 1989). They roughly fall into three This kind of method is similar to categories. the age-old technique for increasing One of the best known is LaBerge's awareness by meditation and mindful­ MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid ness. Advanced practitioners of med­ Dreaming). This is done on waking in itation claim to maintain awareness the early morning from a dream. You through a large proportion of their should wake up fully, engage in some sleep. TM is often claimed to lead to activity like reading or walking about, sleep awareness. So perhaps it is not and then lie down to go to sleep again. surprising that some recent research Then you must imagine yourself finds associations between meditation asleep and dreaming, rehearse the and increased lucidity (Gackenbach dream from which you woke, and re­ and Bosveld 1989). mind yourself, "Next time I dream this The third and final approach I want to remember I'm dreaming." requires a variety of gadgets. The idea A second approach involves con­ is to use some sort of external signal

Summer 1991 365 moment, the first users have to join "All of these experiences have in workshops at LaBerge's Lucidity Institute and learn how to adjust the something in common. In all of settings, but within a few months he them the 'real world has been hopes the whole process will be fully automated. (See LaBerge's magazine, replaced by some kind of DreamLight.) imaginary replica. . . . It is LaBerge tested the effectiveness of the Dream Light on 44 subjects who only in the lucid dream that one came into the laboratory, most for just realizes it is a dream." one night. Fifty-five percent had at least one lucid dream and two had to remind people, while they are their first-ever lucid dream this way. actually in REM sleep, that they are The results suggested that this dreaming. Hearne first tried spraying method is about as successful as water onto sleepers' faces or hands but MILD, but using the two together is found it too unreliable. This some­ the most effective (LaBerge 1985). times caused them to incorporate water imagery into their dreams, but Lucid Dreams as an they rarely became lucid. He eventu­ Experimental Tool ally decided to use a mild electric shock to the wrist. His "dream machine" There are a few people who can have detects changes in breathing rate lucid dreams at will. And the increase (which accompany the onset of REM) in induction techniques has provided and then automatically delivers a many more subjects who have them shock to the wrist (Hearne 1990). frequently. This has opened the way Meanwhile, in California, LaBerge to using lucid dreams to answer some was rejecting taped voices and vibra­ of the most interesting questions tions and working instead with flash­ about sleep and dreaming. ing lights. The original version was How long do dreams take? In the laboratory based and used a personal last century, Alfred Maury had a long computer to detect the eye move­ and complicated dream that led to his ments of REM sleep and to turn on being beheaded by a guillotine. He flashing lights whenever the REMs woke up terrified, and found that the reached a certain level. Eventually, headboard of his bed had fallen on his however, all the circuitry was incor­ neck. From this, the story goes, he porated into a pair of goggles. The idea concluded that the whole dream had is to put the goggles on at night, and been created in the moment of the lights will flash only when you are awakening. asleep and dreaming. The user can This idea seems to have got into even control the level of eye move­ popular folklore but was very hard to ments at which the lights begin to test. Researchers woke dreamers at flash. various stages of their REM period The newest version has a chip and found that those who had been incorporated into the goggles. This longer in REM claimed longer dreams. will not only control the lights but will However, accurate timing became store data on eye-movement density possible only when lucid dreamers during the night and when and for could send "markers" from the dream how long the lights were flashing, state. making fine tuning possible. At the LaBerge asked his subjects to signal

366 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 when they became lucid and then ponding to the body's actions in the count a ten-second period and signal dream. The question about eye move­ again. Their average interval was 13 ments was also answered. The eyes seconds, the same as they gave when do track dream objects. Worsley could awake. Lucid dreamers, like Alan even produce slow scanning move­ Worsley, have also been able to give ments, which are very difficult to accurate estimates of the length of produce in the absence of a "real" whole dreams or dream segments stimulus (Schatzman, Worsley, and (Schatzman, Worsley, and Fenwick Fenwick 1988). 1988). LaBerge was especially interested in breathing during dreams. This Dream Actions stemmed from his experiences at age five when he had dreamed of being As we watch sleeping animals it is an undersea pirate who could stay often tempting to conclude that they under water for very long periods are moving their eyes in response to without drowning. Thirty years later watching a dream, or twitching their he wanted to find out whether legs as they dream of chasing prey. dreamers holding their breath in But do physical movements actually dreams do so physically as well. The relate to the dream events? answer was yes. He and other lucid Early sleep researchers occasionally dreamers were able to signal from the reported examples like a long series dream and then hold their breath. of left-right eye movements when a They could also breathe rapidly in dreamer had been dreaming of watch­ their dreams, as revealed on the ing a ping-pong game, but they could monitors. Studying breathing during do no more than wait until the right dreamed speech, he found that the sort of dream came along. person begins to breathe out at the Lucid dreaming made proper start of an utterance just as in real experimentation possible, for the speech (LaBerge and Dement 1982a). subjects could be asked to perform a whole range of tasks in their dreams. Hemispheric Differences In one experiment with researchers Morton Schatzman and Peter Fen­ It is known that the left and right wick, in London, Worsley planned to hemispheres are activated differently draw large triangles and to signal with during different kinds of tasks. For flicks of his eyes every time he did example, singing uses the right hem­ so. While he dreamed, the electromyo- isphere more, while counting and gram, recording small muscle move­ other, more analytical tasks use the ments, showed not only the eye left hemisphere more. By using lucid signals but spikes of electrical activity dreams, LaBerge was able to find out in the right forearm just afterward. whether the same is true in dreaming. This showed that the preplanned In one dream he found himself actions in the dream produced corres­ flying over a field. (Flying is commonly ponding muscle movements (Schatz­ associated with lucid dreaming.) He man, Worsley, and Fenwick 1988). signaled with his eyes and began to Further experiments, with Worsley sing "Row, row, row your boat. . . ." kicking dream objects, writing with He then made another signal and umbrellas, and snapping his fingers, counted slowly to ten before signaling all confirmed that the muscles of the again. The brainwave records showed body show small movements corres­ just the same patterns of activation

Summer 1991 367 that you would expect if he had done a gate in it. He began to wonder these tasks while awake (LaBerge and whether he was dreaming and Dement 1982b). thought it would be cheating to activate the shocks if he was awake. Dream Sex Then, while making the signals, he worried about the machine, for it was Although it is not often asked exper­ out there with him in the rain and imentally, I am sure plenty of people might get wet (Schatzman, Worsley, have wondered what is happening in and Fenwick 1988). their bodies while they have their This kind of interference is amus­ most erotic dreams. ing, but there are dreams of confusion LaBerge tested a woman who could that are not. The most common and dream lucidly at will and could direct distinct are called false awakenings. her dreams to create the sexual You dream of waking up but in fact, experiences she wanted. (What a skill!) of course, are still asleep. Van Eeden Using appropriate physiological (1913) called these "wrong waking up" recording, he was able to show that and described them as "demoniacal, her dream orgasms were matched by uncanny, and very vivid and bright, true orgasms (LaBerge, Greenleaf, with ... a strong diabolical light." The and Kedzierski 1983). French zoologist Yves Delage, writing Experiments like these show that in 1919, described how he had heard there is a close correspondence a knock at his door and a friend calling between actions of the dreamer and, for his help. He jumped out of bed, if not real movements, at least elec­ went to wash quickly with cold water, trical responses. This puts lucid and when that woke him up he dreaming somewhere between real realized he had been dreaming. The actions, in which the muscles work to sequence repeated four times before move the body, and waking imagery, he finally actually woke up—still in in which they are rarely involved at bed. all. So what exactly is the status of A student of mine described her the dream world? infuriating recurrent dream of getting up, cleaning her teeth, getting dressed, The Nature of the Dream World and then cycling all the way to the medical school at the top of a long hill, It is tempting to think that the real where she finally would realize that world and the world of dreams are she had dreamed it all, was late for totally separate. Some of the exper­ lectures, and would have to do it all iments already mentioned show that over again for real. there is no absolute dividing line. The one positive benefit of false There are also plenty of stories that awakenings is that they can some­ show the penetrability of the times be used to induce out-of-body boundary. experiences (OBEs). Indeed, Oliver Alan Worsley describes one exper­ Fox (1962) recommends this as a iment in which his task was to give method for achieving the OBE. For himself a prearranged number of many people OBEs and lucid dreams small electric shocks by means of a are practically indistinguishable. If you machine measuring his eye move­ dream of leaving your body, the ments. He went to sleep and began experience is much the same. Also dreaming that it was raining and he recent research suggests that the was in a sleeping bag by a fence with same people tend to have both lucid

368 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 dreams and OBEs (Blackmore 1988; dream. Irwin 1988). I have often wondered whether All of these experiences have insight into these other experiences something in common. In all of them is possible and what the consequences the "real" world has been replaced by might be. So far I don't have any some kind of imaginary replica. Celia answers. Green, of the Institute of Psychophys­ ical Research at Oxford, refers to all Waking Up such states as "metachoric experi­ ences." The oddest thing about lucid dreams— Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist and, to many people who have them, from the University of Alberta, Can­ the most compelling—is how it feels ada, relates these experiences to UFO- when you wake up. Upon waking up abduction stories and near-death from a normal dream, you usually experiences (NDEs). The UFO abduc­ think, "Oh, that was only a dream." tions are the most bizarre but are Waking up from a lucid dream is more similar in that they too involve the continuous. It feels more real, it feels replacement of the perceived world by as though you were conscious in the a hallucinatory replica. dream. Why is this? I think the reason There is an important difference can be found by looking at the mental between lucid dreams and these other models the brain constructs in waking, states. In the lucid dream one has in ordinary dreaming, and in lucid insight into the state (in fact that dreams. defines it). In false awakening, one I have previously argued that what does not (again by definition). In seems real is the most stable mental typical OBEs, people think they have model in the system at any time. In really left their bodies. In UFO "abduc­ waking life, this is almost always the tions" they believe the little green men input-driven model, the one that is are "really there"; and in NDEs, they built up from the sensory input. It is are convinced they are rushing down firmly linked to the body image to a real tunnel toward a real light and make a stable model of "me, here, into the next world. It is only in the now." It is easy to decide that this lucid dream that one realizes it is a represents "reality" while all the other

Summer 1991 369 models being used at the same time University Books. are "just imagination" (Blackmore Gackenbach, J., and J. Bosveld. 1989. Control 1988). Your Dreams. New York: Harper & Row. Gackenbach, J., and S. LaBerge, eds. 1988. Now consider an ordinary dream. Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. New In that case there are lots of models York: Plenum. being built but no input-driven model. Green, C. E. 1968. Lucid Dreams. London: In addition there is no adequate self- Hamish Hamilton. model or body image. There is just not Hearne, K. 1978. Lucid Dreams: An Electro­ physiological and Psychological Study. enough access to memory to construct Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of it. This means, if my hypothesis is Hull. right, that whatever model is most ———. 1990. The Dream Machine. Nor- stable at any time will seem real. But thants: Aquarian. there is no recognizable self to whom Irwin, H. J. 1988. Out-of-body experiences and dream lucidity: Empirical perspec­ it seems real. There will just be a series tives. In Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain, of competing models coming and 353-371, ed. J. Gackenbach and S. going. Is this what dreaming feels like? LaBerge. New York: Plenum. LaBerge, S. 1985. Lucid Dreaming. Los Finally, we know from research Angeles: Tarcher. that in the lucid dream there is higher LaBerge, S. and W. Dement. 1982a. Volun­ arousal. Perhaps this is sufficient to tary control of respiration during REM construct a better model of self. It is sleep. Sleep Research, 11:107. one that includes such important facts . 1982b. Lateralization of alpha activity for dreamed singing and counting during as that you have gone to sleep, that REM sleep. Psychophysiology, 19:331-332. you intended to signal with your eyes, LaBerge, S., W. Greenleaf, and B. Kedzierski. and so on. It is also more similar to 1983. Physiological responses to dreamed the normal waking self than those sexual activity during lucid REM sleep. fleeting constructions of the ordinary Psychophysiology, 20:454-455. Price, R. F., and D. B. Cohen. 1988. Lucid dream. This, I suggest, is what makes dream induction: An empirical evalua­ the dream seem more real on waking tion. In Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain, up. Because the you who remembers 105-134, ed. J. Gackenbach and S. the dream is more similar to the you LaBerge. New York: Plenum. in the dream. Indeed, because there Schatzman, M., A. Worsley, and P. Fenwick. 1988. Correspondence during lucid was a better model of you, you were dreams between dreamed and actual more conscious. events. In Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain, If this is right, it means that lucid 155-179, ed. J. Gackenbach and S. LaBerge. New York: Plenum. dreams are potentially even more Tart, C. 1988. From spontaneous event to interesting than we thought. As well lucidity: A review of attempts to con­ as providing insight into the nature sciously control nocturnal dreaming. In of sleep and dreams, they may give Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain, 67-103, clues to the nature of consciousness ed. J. Gackenbach and S. LaBerge. New York: Plenum. itself. Tholey, P. 1983. Techniques for controlling and manipulating lucid dreams. Perceptual References and Motor Skills, 57:79-90. Van Eeden, F. 1913. A study of dreams. Blackmore, S. J. 1982. Beyond the Body. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical London: Heinemann. Research, 26:431-461. . 1988. A theory of lucid dreams and OBEs. In Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain, Susan ]. Blackmore is with the Perceptual 373-387, ed. J. Gackenbach and S. Systems Research Centre, Department of LaBerge. New York: Plenum. Psychology, University of Bristol, and the Delage, Y. 1919. Le Reve. Paris: Les Presses Universitaires de France. School of Social Sciences, University of Fox, O. 1962. . New York: Bath.

370 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Nature Faking In the Humanities

ERNEST GALLO

here is a new irrationalism abroad in the academy. It flourishes among certain hu­ Tmanists who attempt to find close ties between the humanities and the sciences. They do so not by making their own methods more rigorous, but by supposing the to be extremely arbitrary. In addition they rein­ terpret scientific theories in impressionistic ways. The theory is taken to be a metaphor. £% In the process, the scientific theory undergoes Uniting the serious distortion. When scientific theory is applied to literary humanities and criticism not simply as offhand embellishment the sciences on but as the basis for a reasoned argument, the the basis of theory has to be stretched to fit this new and unaccustomed purpose. The scientific theory is their characteristically interpreted as very loose and supposedly ambiguous in meaning—loose enough to produce self-contradiction and paradox. shared In the following remarkable example, the nonrationalism straightforward concept of degrees of freedom is does honor to made to bristle with paradox: neither. Now, the One I speak of, like the unnamable, unthinkable Tao, must be construed as simul­ taneously Order and Chaos. For example, in a uni-dimensional system each element has only one degree of freedom: back and forth along a line. In a two-dimensional system, or a plane, two degrees of freedom are possible, and in a many-dimensional system, many. As these systems become more complex, greater freedom is allowed and concomitantly there are fewer constraints. It follows, therefore, that in a system of infinite dimensions, there must be total freedom, and complete unpredictabil­ ity, or randomness, must prevail. But if this is the case, we have, once again, reverted to chaos; the original One. That is to say, the infinitely structured (ordered) system is

Summer 1991 makes sharp and hard-edged asser­ tions is made to appear creatively foggy and inexact. The world it describes loses objective form and is no longer rationally analyzable. Con­ sider what happens to the Special Theory of Relativity at the hands of the deconstructionists. Deconstruc- tion holds that texts only pretend to have meaning: on careful examina­ tion, texts supposedly fall apart into a heap of self-contradictory state­ ments. This is not the place to argue the merits of such a remarkable notion. Our question is whether that notion is supported by modern science. Jacques Derrida, the dean of deconstruction (who taught philo­ sophy at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris for 30 years), has no doubts that the world of physics is just as un­ settling as the world of texts. In the following dialogue, Jean Hyppolite has just objected that amid the surprising paradoxes of Einstein's universe there is at least one constant: the velocity of light. Derrida (1970) has no patience synonymous with an infinitely with such heresy: unstructured (disordered) system. .. . Therefore, play is and is not free. (Merrell 1985) Jacques Derrida: The Einsteinian constant is not a constant, is not In fact the concept of degrees of a center. It is the very concept freedom generates no such paradox. of variability—it is, finally, the concept of the game. In other Merrell argues that the more dimen­ words, it is not the concept of sions we measure, the more we create something—of a center starting a measureless chaos. By this account, from which an observer could three-dimensional space is inherently master the field—but the very more chaotic than two-dimensional concept of the game. . . . space. The author does not pause to Hyppolite: It is a constant in the consider that if our three-dimensional game? bodies were inherently less structured Derrida: It is the constant of the than, say, the two-dimensional pages game. of our evening newspaper, we would Hyppolite: It is the rule of the game. all be in deep trouble. The straight­ Derrida: It is a rule of the game forward concept of the degrees of which does not govern the game: it is a rule of the game which freedom of a physical system implies does not dominate the game. no such self-destructive content. Now, when the rule of the game The distortions of science I am is displaced by the game itself, discussing all share a family resem­ we must find something other blance: a well-defined theory that than the word rule.

372 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 In short, the world of physics is Marshall McLuhan felt that Einstein rule-free—that is, totally arbitrary had rescued us from the fragmenta­ and subject to the whim of the tion of knowledge and sensibility observer. Einstein showed that the brought on by the pernicious inven­ velocity of light in a vacuum is a tion of printing. "With this recognition constant totally independent of the of curved space in 1905,1 the Guten­ velocity of the observer. For example, berg galaxy was officially dissolved. if you move toward a light beam, the With the end of lineal specialisms and velocity of closure is the velocity of fixed points of view, compartmental­ light, no matter how fast you may be ized knowledge became as unaccepta­ traveling. This remarkable fact, which ble as it had always been irrelevant" Derrida waves away so casually, is the (McLuhan 1962). Einstein, McLuhan basis for the Special Theory. said, leads us back to a happier, more To be sure, Einstein showed that primitive age when sensibilities were the coordinate axes that measure the unified: "A modern physicist with his position and time of an event can habit of 'field' perception, and his expand and contract like rubber bands, sophisticated separation from our depending on who is doing the meas­ conventional habits of Newtonian uring. Aha, concludes Derrida, so the space, easily finds in the pre-literate system is rule-free and chaotic. But world a congenial kind of wisdom" 2 this conclusion is quite false. Relativity (McLuhan 1962). For Derrida, the says nothing about subjective judg­ world of Relativity is incoherent and ment. Einstein himself complained rule-free; for McLuhan, it is coherent that the theory was misnamed: he and integrated. You pay your money suggested that it be called the Theory and you take your choice. of Invariance. The measurements of Science has become increasingly space and time—taken separately— abstract and independent of simple vary according to the observer; but visual models. But the unvisualizable measurement of the so-called interval in space-time is absolutely invariant and remains the same for any observer anywhere in the universe. It is that interval that is the quantity of in­ terest. The Special Theory says pre­ cisely nothing about whether or not there are invariables in a text. Derrida may believe that texts are meaningless and hence cannot be analyzed: Ein­ stein hardly believed the same about the universe. The Lord, he said, is subtle but not malicious. Note that neither Merrell nor Derrida pauses to consider this ques­ tion: Why on earth should a theory about the behavior of matter in space tell us anything about the behavior of words on a page? Both the General and Special Theories have been pressed into strange service. The cultural historian

Summer 1991 373 is too easily mistaken for the vaguely mation theory tells us that the content mystical. McLuhan explicitly asso­ of information increases with the ciates the visual with the mechanical, unexpectedness of the signal; from Newtonian world, which he wants to this a film critic concludes that all films see abolished by the holistic spirit of are worthless that do not present Relativity. This travesty has become radical (hence unexpected) social widespread: Newton is facilely ap­ messages. Repetition of outworn con­ pointed as the enemy, the proponent servative social messages creates a of a world that, because it is mechan­ kind of social entropy (Youngblood ical, is without heart or feeling. 1970). Godel's undecidability theorem Newton's absolute space is thought to tells us that in a sufficiently powerful promote a cold authoritarianism that deductive system there will be true denies us our private visions,3 whereas theorems that the system can neither the private observer of Relativity—or prove nor disprove. One literary critic for that matter the quantum world— argues that this situation is exactly still counts for something. parallel to an instance where a poem Newton's Principia is usually de­ defies interpretation since the scribed as the most important single sequence of stanzas is uncertain scientific work ever published. One (Stegmuller 1988). critic, however, describes it as a "rape The free associations go on and on. manual"—for the reasons sketched Modern science grows less and less above (Harding 1986). anthropocentric. It strives for view­ There are other examples. Infor­ points that are independent of any privileged observer. It is highly ironic that some humanists conclude that science currently promotes a rule-free subjectivism. It is true that hypothesis formation in the sciences is far more tentative than the positivists used to believe: Einstein (and others) pointed out that hypotheses are not uniquely specified by the data.4 But it is wrong to conclude that science has become mystical or irrational either in its methods or in its conclusions. There is a new irrationalism abroad, one that assumes that the humanities and the sciences are equally nonrational. I am not sure that this kind of grand unification is a cause for rejoicing; yet this position has become all but canonical. Its academic respectability makes it dangerous. Fortunately, this position is coming under criticism (Livingston 1988; Seung 1988). It is none too soon. Uniting the humanities and the scien­ ces on the basis of their supposedly shared irrationalism does honor to neither.

374 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Notes versity Press). Kuhn, Thomas. 1970. The Structure of 1. McLuhan confuses the General The­ Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University ory (1915) with the Special Theory (1905). of Chicago Press). 2. So-called primitive people endow Lakatos, Imre. 1970. Falsification and the specific areas of their territory with religious methodology of scientific research pro­ significance; McLuhan imagines a parallel grammes. In Criticism and the Growth of with variations in the local curvature of space Knowledge, I. Lakatos and Alan Musgrave in the General Theory. (Cambridge: Cambridge University 3. In the ranks of villainy Euclid ranks Press). as a close second. His world is over-rational; Livingston, Paisley. 1988. Literary Knowledge McLuhan prefers the mysteriously curved (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press). space of Einstein. Similarly, three- McLuhan, Marshall. 1962. The Gutenberg dimensional space is "linear" and rational: but Galaxy (Toronto: Toronto University in n-dimensional vector space, the spirit is Press). free and unconfined. Einstein's curved space Merrell, Floyd. 1985. Deconstruction Refrained and multidimensional vector space, each (Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University being unvisualizable, come to represent the Press). world of the heart and the nonrational. (It Seung, T. K. 1988. Structuralism and Her- is not surprising that McLuhan confuses meneutics (New York: Columbia Univer­ these two quite distinct spaces.) sity Press). 4. Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions Stegmuller, Wolfgang. 1988. Walther von has had a major influence; it is fair to say der Vogelweide's lyric of dream-love and it has been in some respects heavily misin­ quasar 3C 273. In Hermeneutics Versus terpreted. See also Lakatos 1970. Science?]. Connolly and T. Keutner (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press). References Youngblood, Gene. 1970. Art, information and entropy. Expanded Cinema (New Derrida, Jacques. 1970. Structure, sign and York: Dutton). play in the discourse of the human sciences. In The Structuralist Controversy, ed. Richard Macksey and Eugenio Donato Ernest Gallo, a medievalist by training, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press). teaches in the Department of English at Harding, Sandra. 1986. The Science Question the University of Massachusetts in in Feminism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni­ Amherst.

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Summer 1991 375 Carrying the War Into the Never- Never Land of Psi •= Part II

SAMUAL T.GILL

n Part I of this article (Spring 1991), I pointed out that advocates of reason can squarely confront proponents of the paranormal on their own ground—and win. I emphasized the need to state your quest in positive terms: you are looking for convincing evidence that claimants can do what they say they can do. Ask people for And I listed ten of the barricades, or smoke­ screens, claimants and their disciples typically their best raise and suggested how you might respond. evidence. You Once you've clambered over these routine can be ready barricades to inquiry, somebody is sure to ask something like "OK, Mr. Know-it-all, why don't with a number of you tell us what good evidence is then, if you're small simple, so smart?" As it happens, you are so smart, and you are quick, easy-to- prepared to explain the difference between an understand tests, untestable theory like, say, reincarnation, which is not a very likely subject for experimentation or a few pointed and has to be taken or rejected pretty much questions. on faith, and a testable idea like (ESP), where experimentation can be done quite quickly and easily. This is when you explain the rigorous scientific standard of proof: the repeatable experiment under controlled conditions. This is your chance to differentiate between what we take on faith (a religion) and what we believe based on the evaluation of evidence (science). Again, you are after positive evidence in favor of an idea. You are not out to disprove something by negative evidence or debunking. No claim should be rejected out of hand—or accepted beforehand, either.

376 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Now, you will say, we've all heard claims that the "teacher" can do PK "The 'Why do you believe?' or () or go out-of-body or find objects by dowsing or predict the the 'What's the evidence in future. Let's see if this is true right favor?' paradigm can be used now. Can people really do these things or is it more likely they just imagine successfully in confronting they can? When we see these things almost any irrational belief demonstrated without controls, is it more likely that the miracle-worker system." has special powers or that he or she just knows a trick we don't? How to establish credibility and exclude many think we can't be fooled? Ask cranks, the Strikeforce must employ for a show of hands. only the most gifted and skilled, so "Oh," your guru will say, modestly, rigorous tests of claimed abilities will be conducted. "I've often been tested in the past. If you know someone who claims (The professors were baffled of such talents, or if you have them course, but that proves nothing.) But yourself, won't you come forward? my powers are tuned to very delicate The NACACA&DPC doesn't want vibrations. I cannot use them for your money, only your abilities in frivolous demonstrations, and, of a worthy cause. Won't you help this course, I eschew mere personal gain." innocent child? "I'm glad to hear it," you respond. You then pass around the following You include, of course, a picture of handout, which you just happen to the most wistful child you can find. have handy: "Now," you ask, "why can't you show us? I thought psi people were People who claim psychic gifts, PK all in favor of these celestial causes. powers, dowsing skills, etc., are Are you not in sympathy with the unanimous in stating that such Strikeforce's aims? Are you top lazy talents cannot be used for "personal to volunteer? Too selfish? Or are gain" or "frivolous demonstra­ parlor tricks all you can do?" tions." But wouldn't it be wonderful If the claimant has not by now left if such boons could be harnessed in in a screeching huff, he or she will the everyday world, for the benefit mumble something about how of all? "cumbersome" and "time-consuming" The all-volunter, nonprofit New Age Child Abuse, Crime, Accident experiments are. This is your next & Disaster Prevention Center is opening, because, out in the car, in now recruiting a Psi Strikeforce to a shoe box or grocery sack, you just do just that! The Strikeforce is happen to have with you a number looking for caring, committed of small, simple, portable, quick, easy- volunteers to predict and alleviate to-understand, and conclusive tests of crime, accidents, and child abuse a number of commonly claimed psi before it happens, to alert disaster abilities. It's important to be ready relief agencies to be on hand when with experiments (on talk-shows, in tragedy strikes, to dowse for drug- classes, or for chance encounters), runners, heal the environment with because your claimant will take care PK, diagnose AIDS carriers, work for peace, and save the whales. never to let you have a crack at him These are not frivolous causes; no or her again. personal gain is involved. Of course, Can your "psychic" do PK? You can

Summer 1991 377 find out one way or the other (and I had a vasectomy? A hysterectomy? show a class) by constructing the Any kind of operation? What kind? following apparatus: Drive a nail into Do I have any scars? Where? Give no a small piece of wood, slip a brass feedback until the exercise is over. washer or gummed paper reinforce­ Remind the class that the odds of ment over the nail so that it can move getting correct answers by just guess­ freely up and down, up-end a shot ing are pretty high. If there are any glass or juice glass over the nail and wrong answers on such simple issues, seal the glass rim to the wood with what confidence can be placed in more school glue. Set your device on the complex diagnostic advice? table and have the guru use PK to defy Can your claimant find things by gravity by lifting the washer up the dowsing for them? You can check by nail without touching the glass. gluing two or three of those 7-day pill- Encourage the class to focus their psi reminder boxes onto a 12-inch ruler, energies to help. hiding a small object (a "healing Has the guru regularly and success­ crystal" is good) in one compartment, fully predicted the future before? and then asking the dowser to tell you Great! Let's have a test specific enough where the object is located. Surely a to check. You're a sports fan and out dowser who can find (as they always in the car you've got one of those claim) water or even oil a thousand throwaway baseball schedules with miles away on a map won't have any the dates of the games marked. Have trouble with this dinky little double- the guru pick an astrologically favor­ blind test? able date, look into the future, and tell A variation on this apparatus is the class the winning pitcher and the useful in testing those who claim to score well be seeing. see auras, too. Close all the compart­ Is the claimant a practiced out-of- ments part way, but leave enough of body tripper? Wouldn't you like to an opening in each so an from learn how? Sure you would, but first a small object can shine out (that is, let's see if the claimant can really take so it can shine out if, indeed, there these trips or just has a vivid imag­ is such a thing—again, a healing ination. Out in the car you have a crystal or similar psionic talisman will sealed shoe-box with one of those be handy here). Your guru will claim rotating desk calendars fixed inside. to be able to see beautiful, vibrant There's a number you don't know auras around everything and every­ showing on the calendar face. All you body in plain sight, I assure you. And, want your ethereal traveler to do is if he or she can see correctly the one waft into the box and tell the class in your concealed test, maybe you're what number is up, before the box is on to something. opened to check. There are other common confron­ Does your claimant diagnose peo­ tations you can seek out as well. You ple's ills psychically? A practical, may be called upon, for instance, to prudent consumer might want to test debate an astrologer. Astrology is such claims before passing up that scientific jargon without the scientific biopsy. So, without offering any hints, method. Indeed, in astrology, the have everybody in the room ask a few jargon is the science, so don't get into yes-or-no, short-answer questions, a discussion of trines and squares and such as: Do I have my appendix? My rising conjunctions, the precession of tonsils? My wisdom teeth? How the equinoxes, or the plane of the many? Am I menstruating now? Have ecliptic. Nobody understands this

378 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 stuff and your everyday astrologer who in the delivery room is charged probably won't have too good a grasp with recording the precise astrological of it either. There are, however, a moment for posterity anyway? couple of questions you can ask that There's something mysterious will demolish any pretense to scientific about near-death experiences that respectability "or expertise on the part excites occultists, too. When you ask of the astrologer even in his or her NDE fans about evidence in favor of own craft. How do astrologers know their belief, you will often be referred (for example) that Mars controls to the growing number of books anger, or Venus rules love? Who found recording similar experiences by those these things out? When did they do whose hearts stopped for a while and it? What experimental method was were later jump-started. The similar­ used? Where is the record of these ity of the stories proves that they are experiments to be found? This is (or, all true, your occultists will say, in a you would think, surely should be) burst of non-sequitur logic. Since this Basic Astrology 101, so press for is the only evidence in favor of the specifics while your astrology "expert" idea, and it's widely viewed as con­ puffs and stammers. After 90 seconds clusive by proponents, it's easy for you of blather, ask if astrologers need the to move on and ask your second accurate birth minute to correctly cast standard question: Is that evidence a horoscope. Yes, you will be told, any good? minutes count in determining a pre­ A couple of pointed questions will cise chart; twins can be totally differ­ show that these stories are very low- ent; the Code of Ethics of the grade stuff indeed. When, you will ask, American Federation of Astrologers were these stories gathered? Did the states that an "opinion cannot hon­ researcher just happen to be on hand estly be rendered" without "the time when the storyteller came out of the of the day"; an error of a few moments oxygen tent in the intensive-care unit? may mean an opposite opinion; and Even if so, what possible reliance can so on. be placed on such dazed, drugged, And are these horoscopes accu­ secondhand testimony? Or was the rate? Or inaccurate? "Very accurate," story told to the researcher only years your astrologer will affirm. "Many after the event, after contamination people rate them exactly correct." by similar tales? This is the sort of Now think about that. If minutes uncompelling testimony that would count so heavily and the main source probably not be considered conclusive of the birth minute is a birth certif­ even in a court of law, much less icate, how did astrologers cast accu­ before the more rigorous standards of rate horoscopes before birth certifi­ science. The contention is a good cates? Before watches? How do they opportunity to demonstrate why the possibly ever get the accurate minute quality of evidence is so important in to do it now, since mistakes are made inquiry. and clocks are off even in this tech­ You also could join your local true- nological age? And if minutes are so believer society. It probably publishes important, how can a horoscope ever a newsletter, offers pro-psi classes, be accurately cast? If minutes count, and perhaps sponsors meetings or an wouldn't they be very inaccurate? annual convention where the faithful When is the astrologically precise gather. Attend these gatherings. You "time of birth"? Crowning? First cry? could offer classes yourself. You could The cutting of the umbilical cord? And set up a booth at the annual fair. You

Summer 1991 379 could write copy for the newsletter. of light" in her hands, passed it around Your name will become known. You the hushed circle a couple of times, will act as a needle in a balloon factory and then asked people to describe until the locals catch on that the think- what they felt. Cool, tingly, throbbing, for-yourself process you are encour­ warm and fuzzy, the participants aging is dangerous to their authority. said—until it came my turn. I had not Authority will then exert itself to passed it on when it came around the prevent you from communicating at first time, I said. In fact, I still had the all, but this arbitrary exercise of power little ball in my fist, and I wondered will itself shake the certainty of the what pantomime the group had been organization, and they won't be able acting out by reverently passing to keep you out of meetings open to nothing from hand to hand? the public anyway. Pass out leaflets. I was shown the door at this point, Ask pointed questions. Bring your but the guru got angry, destroying the own hand-mike so you can be heard persona that was her stock-in-trade. when the chair refuses to recognize This particularly offensive class has you. Be patient, and diligent. There not been offered again, so it was worth are plenty of activities where you can a little personal turmoil. You've got act as a voice of reason and common to have a little brass yourself if you're sense. Remember that psi claims can't going to combat brazen assaults on stand up to and that common sense. muzzling you will offend the sense of The "Why do you believe?" or the fair play that is probably strong in "What's the evidence in favor?" para­ even the most benighted true believer. digm can be used successfully in con­ One of the activities I did myself fronting almost any irrational belief was to dig out the old files of the local system, from UFOs to the Bermuda newsletter regarding annual "psychic" Triangle. It places the burden of proof predictions made by hometown gurus squarely on the claimant, where it who aspire to be quoted in the National should be, and compels the discussion Enquirer's New Year's edition. It was to follow rational guidelines if it is not instructive to review all of these, to lapse into acknowledged religious eliminate those predictions that were revelation. Believers will be compelled self-fulfilling, repeaters, good bets, to (1) offer their evidence for review right either way, too nonspecific to as the puerile stuff it is, (2) admit they check, based on insider information, have no evidence but only an irrational or posed as a question, and then to conviction, or (3) maunder off into check the shrunken remainder for sullen gibberish. In all cases the cause accuracy. A useful activity for subse­ of reason is advanced. Thoughtful quent annual prediction meetings is people—and even those who aren't to remind "prophets" of their dismal very thoughtful—hearing or taking showing last year. Keeping score part in such exchanges, will have to disallows exaggerated claims. You acknowledge, if only to themselves, have to be patient, but you have the glimmer of doubt that is the all- something to look forward to as well. important first step toward rational Your native wit will probably aid thinking and reevaluation of cherished you in spontaneous encounters. I once dogma. Forcing home this realization, attended a class on psi powers that even if only privately, is an outstand­ turned out to be a thinly disguised ing victory. faith-healing promo. (Most of these And there is another triumph that are.) The guru created a "healing ball will be more immediately apparent.

380 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 After challenging these dogmas, carefully." When these principles are claimants will want to avoid confron­ followed, it is apparent that psi tations with you. Their presentations claims evaporate rapidly. True be­ will tend to be more guarded, their lievers can easily resist any simple appearances fewer and less well denial of their claims; they are help­ publicized, their audiences smaller. less when these claims are taken at Reduction in the sheer volume of face value and scrutinized under the nonsense flooding the world is same rules to which all science is another worthwhile gain. subject. The published principles of It's worth the effort. Give it a try. CSICOP indicate that a researcher does not "reject claims on a priori Samual T. Gill lives in Kansas City, grounds, antecedent to inquiry, but Missouri, and is a member of the Kansas rather examines them objectively and City Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Why Learn About Science?

It is beyond argument that our most generously educated citizens, our college graduates, are grossly undereducated when it comes to science and technology, even "ignorant"—to use Leon Lederman's characteri­ zation. But there is no consensus at all when it comes to what to do about it, no common view of just what it is that our citizens ought and need to know about science, and no common view as to how whatever it is they ought to know can and should be taught. With regard to what our goals should be, perhaps we can all accept something along the following lines: Our goal is to assure that our citizens know enough about science: —so that they can tell the difference between sense and nonsense, between science and pseudoscience —so that they can distinguish the possible from the impossible, the probable from the improbable —so they can understand both the powers and the limits of science and technology —so they are not at the mercy of experts—or worse, of posing as experts —so they can be participants, not victims, in our increasingly and irreversible technological society.

—David S. Saxon, Honorary Chairman of the Corporation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and President, Emeritus, of the University of California, in a paper presented at the AAAS, Washington, February 17, 1991

Summer 1991 381 Coincidences -

JOHN ALLEN PAULOS

oincidences fascinate us. They seem to compel a search for their significance. CMore often than some people realize, however, they are to be expected and require no special explanation. Surely no cosmic conclusions may be drawn from the fact that I recently and quite by accident met someone in Seattle whose father had played on the same Chicago high-school baseball team as my father had and whose daughter is the same age and has the same name as my daughter. As [ improbable as this particular event was, that some event of this vaguely characterized sort should A What are the occasionally occur is very likely. More precisely it can be shown, for example, chances that that if two Americans sit next to each other some "amazing" on an airplane, more than 99 times out of 100 they will be linked in some way by two or fewer coincidences will intermediates. (The linkage with my father's occur? Far greater classmate was more striking. It was via only one than you might intermediate, my father, and contained other elements.) Maybe, for example, the cousin of think. one of the passengers will know the other's dentist. Most of the time people won't discover these links, since in casual conversation they can't run through all their 1,500 or so acquain­ tances as well as all their acquaintances' acquaintances. (I suppose with laptop computers becoming more popular they could compare their own personal databases and even those of people they know. Perhaps exchanging databases might soon be as common as leaving a business card. Electronic networking. Hellacious.) There is a tendency, however, to home in on likely co-acquaintances. Such connections are thus discovered frequently enough that the squeals of amazement that commonly accom­ pany their discovery are unwarranted. Similarly unimpressive is the "prophetic" dream, which traditionally comes to light after some natural

382 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 disaster has occurred. Given the half- rise in some stock index for the billion hours of dreaming each night following week, say, and in 32,000 of in this country—two hours a night for them he predicts a decline in that same 250 million people—we should expect index. Whatever happens he sends a as much. follow-up letter, but only to those Or consider the famous birthday 32,000 to whom he's made the correct problem in probability theory. One "prediction." To 16,000 of them he must gather together 367 people (one predicts a rise in that index for the more than the number of days in a next week, and to 16,000 a decline. leap year) in order to ensure that 2 Again, whatever happens he will have of them share a birthday. But if one sent two consecutive correct predic­ is willing to settle for a 50-50 chance tions to 16,000 people. Iterating this of this happening, only 23 people need procedure of focusing exclusively on be gathered. Rephrasing, I note that the winnowed list of people who have if we imagine a school with thousands received only correct predictions, he of classrooms each of which contains can create the illusion in them that 23 students, then approximately half he knows what he's talking about. of these classrooms will contain 2 stu­ After all, the 1,000 or so remaining dents who share a birthday. No time people who have received six straight should be wasted trying to explain the correct predictions (by coincidence) meaning of these or other coinciden­ have a good reason to cough up the ces of similar type. They just happen. $1,000 the newsletter publisher One somewhat different example requests: they want to continue to concerns the publisher of a stock receive these "oracular" pronounce­ newsletter who sends out 64,000 ments. letters extolling his state-of-the-art I repeat that in discussing these and database, his inside contacts, and his other coincidences it is useful to sophisticated econometric models. In distinguish between generic sorts of 32,000 of these letters he predicts a events and particular events. Many

Summer 1991 383 situations are such that the particular natural world of rocks, plants, and event that occurs is guaranteed to be rivers doesn't seem to offer much rare—a certain individual winning the evidence for superfluous coincidences, lottery or a specific bridge hand being primitive man had to be very sensitive dealt—while the generic outcome— to every conceivable anomaly and someone's winning the lottery or improbability as he slowly developed some bridge hand being dealt—is science and its progenitor "common unremarkable. Consider the birthday sense." Coincidences, after all, are problem again. If all that we require sometimes quite significant. In our is that two people have some birthday complicated and largely man-made in common rather than any particular modern world, however, the plethora birthday, then 23 people suffice to of connections among us appears to make this happen with probability 1/ overstimulate many people's inborn 2. By contrast, 253 people are needed tendency to note coincidence and in order for the probability to be 1/ improbability and lead them to pos­ 2 that one of them has a specific tulate causes and forces where there birthdate, say July 4. Particular events are none. People know more names specified beforehand are, of course, (not only family members', but also quite difficult to forecast, so it's not those of colleagues and a myriad of surprising that predictions by tele- public figures), dates (from news vangelists, quack doctors, and others stories to personal appointments and are usually vague and amorphous schedules), addresses (whether actual (that is, until the events in question physical ones or telephone numbers, have occurred, at which time the office numbers, and so on), and prognosticators like to assert that organizations and acronyms (from these precise outcomes were indeed the FBI to the IMF, from AIDS to foreseen). ASEAN) than ever before. Thus, although it is a very difficult quantity This brings me to the so-called to measure, the rate at which coin­ effect, whereby the few cidences occur has probably risen correct predictions (by , dis­ over the past century or two. Still, reputable stock newsletters, or for most of them it generally makes whomever) are widely heralded, and little sense to demand an expla­ the 9,839 or so false predictions made nation. annually are conveniently ignored. The phenomenon is quite widespread In reality, the most astonishingly and contributes to the tendency we incredible coincidence imaginable all have to read more significance into would be the complete absence of all coincidences than is usually justified. coincidences. We forget all the premonitions of disaster we've had that didn't predict the future and remember vividly those Note couple that seemed to do so. Instances of seemingly telepathic thought are Brief derivations of birthday statements: (1) reported to everyone we know; the The probability of 2 people having different birthdays is 364/365; of 3 people having incomparably vaster number of times different birthdays, (364/365 x 363/365); of this doesn't occur is too banal to 4 people, (364/365 x 363/365 x 362/365); of mention. 23, (364/365 x 363/365 x 362/365 x . . . x 342/365 x 343/365), which product turns out Even our biology conspires to make to equal 1/2. Thus the complementary coincidences appear more meaningful probability that at least 2 people share a than they usually are. Since the birthday is also 1/2 (one minus the above

384 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 product). (2) The probability someone does John Allen Paulos is professor of not have a July 4 birthday is 364/365; the mathematics at Temple University and probability neither of 2 people has a July 4 birthday is 364/365; the probability neither author of the best-selling Innumeracy of 2 people has a July 4 birthday is (364/ and of the just-published Beyond 3 365)2; none 0f 3, (364/365) , none of 253, 2 Numeracy: The Ruminations of a (364/365) ", which turns out to equal 1/2. Numbers Man (Knopf, April 1991), Thus the complementary probability that at least one of the 253 people has a July 4 from which this is published by birthday is also 1/2, 1 - (364/365)"3. permission.

On the Nature of Physical Laws

We can measure the fundamental constants to precisions of 10~7 - 10"8 using the modern quantum techniques due to Brian Josephson and Klaus von Klitzing, and we can measure time using the wonderful technology of millisecond pulsar timing, to six orders of magnitude better than that. Any such precise measurement is a triumph of deterministic dynamics, as is the achievement of the almost unthinkable precision that brings beams of electrons and positrons together at LEP. The values of ii/e2 and e/fi do not depend on the mood of the experimenter, and evil thoughts do not prevent those beams from colliding. Recently the entire science of deterministic dynamics—misnamed "chaos" in the popular mind, but as we all know, more aptly called "deterministic chaos"—has very much bolstered our understanding that what goes on in the most apparently random physical systems, such as turbulent jets and convection cells as well as dice games and roulette wheels, is simply "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" acting in a perfectly deterministic system. It is disturbing, then, that some who call themselves physicists set out seriously to test the effect of "thinking at them" on sensitive electrical measurements, on card-shuffling machines, or on bouncing ping-pong balls. It is much more disturbing to see positive results announced on the basis of statistical deviations at the few-o level. The problem is, of course, the question of the consistency of the structure of physics: If such results are correct, we might as well turn the National Institute of Standards and Technology into a casino and our physics classes into seances, and give back all those Nobel Prizes, since the measuring apparatus with which we think we have been achieving all this precision can actually be bent out of shape at the behest of the first who comes along, and our vaunted precision is all in our heads.

—Philip W. Anderson, Joseph Henry Professor of Physics, Princeton University, from "On the Nature of Physical Laws, Physics Today, December 1990

Summer 1991 385 Locating Invisible Buildings

MARK PLUMMER

he ability to locate invisible buildings with straightened-out coat-hangers is a most Tunusual skill. A Missouri woman, Karen Hunt, claims such an ability. She has been awarded a master of arts degree in anthropology from Indiana University for a thesis expounding and applying her theories, and an Australian state government authority paid for her roundtrip airfare to Australia to find invisible buildings. Hunt conducts workshops teaching her skills across the United States and Canada. An examinationit Her publicity material for such a workshop in Greeley, Colorado, in 1987 stated: "Workshop of a woman's participants will learn to locate, work and map claim that she site features no longer visible in the environ­ can locate sites ment, such as the locations of former buildings (including floorplans with window and door and features of positions), old fence lines, enclosures, gates, long-demolished pathways, roadways, cisterns and graves— buildings by without digging." The workshop was sponsored by the City of Greeley. detecting their Hunt claims that long-demolished buildings "electromagnetic leave an electromagnetic photo-field (EMPF) photo-fields." that she can detect with divining rods made from straightened coat-hangers. She sets out her theory in her master's thesis accepted by Indiana University in 1981 and in her report to the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), in Melbourne, Australia, in 1984.

Electro-magnetic photo-fields (EMPFs) are those invisible, but detectible, three- dimensional patterns left in the space once occupied by man-made structures—structures which, in most cases, have been destroyed; EMPFs are also created as a result of man changing the environment, such as making a pathway, roadway, or digging a grave or other sub-surface features.

386 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 When one of these man-made are very common; they include light, structures or changes to the envir­ heat, radiation, X-rays, radio waves, onment is left in one place for six and microwaves—the difference months or longer the space which between these being the frequency of it occupies is changed. The author's oscillation. Electromagnetic waves research (1981) indicates that it travel at 300,000 kilometers a second takes six months or more to create an EMPF, and that after that in air or space. Thus any electromag­ amount of time, the building or netic waves emitted by buildings in other structure, if removed or 1860 (if this were possible) would have destroyed, will leave in its place an passed Alpha Centauri, the star invisible, three-dimensional pattern nearest to our solar system, in 1864! which is detectible by very simple For electromagnetic waves to be means and is measurable as to size continually propagated requires a and delineation. transmitter continually fed with . There are no known trans­ A simpler description of Hunt's invis­ mitters or energy sources associated ible, three-dimensional pattern could with destroyed buildings. be "an invisible building." She claims Further absurdities appeared upon to have discovered EMPF archaeology analysis of where the EMPFs reside. in 1978. They cannot be connected with the I asked three Australian physicists, soil since Hunt stated that "the pattern Ian Bryce, John Harries, and Dave . . . cannot be destroyed ... by Wheeler, to examine her theory. They removing the soil beneath it." It told me that Hunt's EMPFs bear no cannot be in the air, as the first wind resemblance to electromagnetic fields would blow it away. This leaves only as understood by physicists. Such space itself. As the earth spins daily fields are well known and described and revolves around the sun, all of by Maxwell's equations. Electromag­ Hunt's sites loop and whirl through netic waves are traveling waves, with the solar system with the earth. The their component oscillating electric idea of "fixed" electromagnetic fields and magnetic fields being mutually at is contrary to basic physics and all that right angles to the line of travel and is known about electromagnetic fields. to each other. Electromagnetic waves Hunt believes the change in the

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PHOTO-FIELDS: ARCHAEOLOGY MINUS THE SHOVEL A WORKSHOP AND LECTURE PRESENTED BY THE CITY OF GREELEY MUSEUMS JUNE 17, 1987

Advertising brochure of the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Greeley, Colorado.

Summer 1991 387 electromagnetic field may result from a much more effective detection the absorption or blocking out of instrument. minute particles from outer space or She claims that the "electromag­ light with which the earth is con­ netic photo sensors" can detect walls, stantly bombarded. She further claims fences, paths, and even cupboards that that just as a negative ion is created used to exist on the site, and yet she when light strikes unexposed film in says that concrete paths, plants, a camera, so apparently a photo-field ploughing, and surface excavation or negative (pattern) is created on the leave a pre-existing pattern intact. Her earth's surface whenever a building or suggestion that patterns are made by man-made object is allowed to rest some man-made objects and not upon or over the earth for six months others, and not by natural objects, is or more. totally inconsistent. She would have She states that electric currents us believe that natural wooden struc­ between the earth's atmosphere and tures, such as trees, leave no trace, the earth's crust, working on the but wooden structures erected by magnetic fields, may be what creates builders leave traces. the photo-field patterns by creating a The three physicists who examined magnetic, possibly ionized, area that Hunt's theories state that the expla­ causes a set of dowsing wires to react nations she presents for EMPF are not when the field is encountered. scientifically valid. Nor are her anal­ However, the variations from place ogies to magnetometers and electric to place in the earth's magnetic field and magnetic fields helpful in terms are well known and are regularly of indicating the nature of the effect. measured in the search for mineral Her master's thesis shows an ignor­ deposits. The magnetic field indicates ance of basic physics, the scientific what is there now. When magnetome­ method, and the scientific verification ters are used to record variations in of theories. magnetic-field strength, it is found In 1982, Hunt presented a paper that the fields vary over periods from at the annual meeting of the Asso­ days to years, thereby suggesting that ciation for Living Historical Farms and the establishment by currents and Agricultural Museums in Fredericton, fields of permanent spatially extensive New Brunswick, Canada, in which she structures like the proposed photo- wrote that "the major key [to the fields are quite unlikely. investigations for her M.A. thesis] was If it is not magnetic fields but rather the field research using electromag­ ionic areas, as she suggests, then Hunt netic photo-field patterns." would need to explain why there Her thesis committee found her would be any ions left at all. If there paper to be a useful contribution based were ions created that then hovered on her investigations, irrespective of in space over some spot where a any methodological claims. But if the building had been, the created ions methodology was faulty then the would be rapidly neutralized or blown results gained using that methodol­ away within minutes. ogy, in my opinion, should not have In order to create enough electros­ been accepted. tatic force to move the dowsing wires, There is, however, some distinc­ the magnetic field would need to be tion between the work in her thesis— hundreds or even thousands of times where she had extensive knowledge larger than the strength of the earth's of the history and architecture of the magnetic field. A compass would be location—and her work in Australia

388 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 and other sites, where she attempted the wires swing back, this indicates to apply her method with little or no to Hunt the possibility of a long- local knowledge and almost no sup­ demolished fence, a drain, or a water porting evidence. vein. If it takes two paces, it may be a grave; if three or more paces, it may Hunt's Techniques be a long-demolished building. She says that when she surveys a Having examined Hunt's theories we new site, she first maps in the visible can now examine her techniques, features on her plan and then looks which she sets out in her thesis. for a large photo-field. When she Hunt uses a pair of ferrous metal encounters what she believes to be a coat-hangers, which she straightens large photo-field she holds her wires and then bends down about seven parallel to its edge, then moves inches from the end, forming a long sideways until she comes to a corner. L-shape. She calls these devices "elec­ She claims the wires will turn natu­ tromagnetic photo sensors" and claims rally with the corner forming a right they work similarly to a proton angle. She then continues around the magnetometer. A proton magnetome­ photo field until all corners are ter is a complex instrument used in marked. She finds most buildings are charting magnetic fields and bears no square or rectangular. similarity to dowsing wires. For She says that once the perimeter instance, a concentrated nickel deposit of a building has been defined, she will have its own magnetic field, which walks around it. When she encounters will add to the earth's magnetic field, what she believes to be a doorway or causing a local increase in intensity. a pathway, the wires open, and upon A magnetometer will detect this crossing the doorway or pathway increase and delineate the area con­ opening the wires swing shut. When taining the ore. It is this type of only one wire opens, forming a right delineation ability that Hunt claims for angle, she believes she has encoun­ her sensors. Magnetometers are tered another wall. Then, having indeed used in archaeological research located a corner, she defines the in finding genuine remains like buried perimeter of the addition and any walls. However, there is a significant exterior doorways. She then moves difference between a magnetometer sideways along the pathway. If the and Hunt's wires. A magnetometer wires continue to open, she believes detects a known type of field (i.e., magnetic) and changes in the field caused by mechanisms proved to be associated with the items sought after (e.g., nickel deposits). However, Hunt claims her sensors detect an unknown field (an "EMPF") of unknown origin allegedly associated with an archaeo­ logical site. In her thesis she sets out the methods she uses. Holding the wires, she walks across the ground until the wires spread apart, which indicates to her that an electromagnetic photo- field is traversed. If, after one pace, FIGURE 1: Holding the wires.

Summer 1991 389 she has a doorway. But if after a pace toward the end of the mapping for her or two sideways they turn and form thesis project than at the beginning. a right angle, she believes she has She believes this may have been located an addition or a fireplace because of an increase in her skill at chimney. using the wires or because of the approaching spring equinox. She did After defining all exterior appen­ not elaborate on the latter possibility. dages to a building's "photo-field," she Hunt has described EMPF research walks on the inside of the perimeter. as similar to dowsing for water with She believes the wires will open at all a stick, but with major differences. pathways coming into the building Where very few people may be able and at inside walls. At the latter, she to use a stick to locate water, she says the wires will open and then close asserts almost everyone who is phys­ when she crosses them. When she ically active can be quickly taught to locates what she believes was an inside locate the EMPFs. She alleges that wall, she walks along it until she comes dowsing generally refers to locating to the doorway. When the pattern she something below the ground's sur­ is defining indicates to her it was a face, but this is not necessarily the case house, but there is no indication of in locating EMPFs. A building may an outside chimney, she further have been set off the ground, on checks along the wall on the inside. corner piers, or on skids without a She believes that, in the interior of foundation, or it may have been built a photo-field, all fireplaces have entirely out of wood (such as a pathways leading to them and that the temporary Indian lodge), but Hunt wires will open and close when she believes it will still create an EMPF crosses in front of a fireplace. if it had been left in place for six She also claims it is possible to months or more. The longer an object locate stairwells where there are was in one place, she says, the approximately 3' x 4' rectangular stronger the pattern that remains. patterns with pathways leading into Hunt has never presented evidence them. She believes in some corners it that she has carried out any blind is possible to detect where corner experiments. She does not appear to cupboards have been located have properly checked to verify that diagonally. the patterns she believes she found After defining a house pattern, she correspond to any previously existing checks for porches and for attached man-made structures. fences and gates at the corners. She also traverses open areas to check for Assessment "photo-fields." When the size and shape of a photo-field indicates what Hunt's methods derive from dowsing she believes to be a grave, she holds techniques. She states she discovered the wires differently, away from her the phenomenon when practicing and about ten inches apart and finds dowsing for water. Dowsing claims they will cross. Over cisterns or buried have been scientifically tested on wells, she says she finds the wires will several occasions throughout the swing rapidly back and forth and even world, and dowsers have been unable rotate. to prove their claims. Reports of such She states she was able to detect tests have appeared in the SKEPTICAL more objects, such as fences, parti­ INQUIRER (4[I]: I6-20; 6[4]: 34-37; tions, stalls, and corner cupboards, 8:138-140).

390 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Hunt's University Thesis

pon reading Karen Hunt's the­ reasonable to include a discussion Uories and claims, the examiners of the method for sake of complete­ of her thesis in the Anthropology ness. The thesis was judged a Department at Indiana University positive contribution to the descrip­ should have sent it to the Physics tive literature on historic archaeol­ Department for an assessment, and ogy, and it was on that basis that possibly considered organizing a it was accepted and signed by the fully controlled test. There is no committee members. It was not indication that they did so. They their intention in signing it to allowed her theories to stand and endorse the dowsing method, any passed her thesis, thus allowing her more than the the signing of any to use the granting of her M.A. to thesis implies an endorsement of give her claims a credibility they do every aspect of the contents. not deserve. Londergan has pointed out to Later, when questioned about me that Hunt lived in the area of passing Hunt's thesis, the thesis Missouri that she investigated for committee members reported that her thesis and that while writing they had doubted the validity of it she was director of the County "dowsing" and believed that Hunt's Historical Society. Therefore, com­ results were explainable by her pletely independent of any theories application of logic and background about locating structures she knowledge of a site, coupled with would know a great deal about such conventional techniques as farm sites in Monroe County, archaeological investigation, inter­ Missouri. viewing of informants, and/or He said a review of her thesis study of historical documents. shows that virtually every site she It was later reported to Timothy listed is either still standing, has Londergan, associate dean of the extensive site evidence (founda­ Indiana University Graduate tions, remnants of outbuildings, School, that the committee etc.), or is supported by documen­ members were unconvinced of the tation (county records, letters, scientific basis of Hunt's dowsing deeds, etc.) or verbal evidence (in technique. They viewed her thesis many cases, descendants of the as a historical interpretation based original family live in later dwell­ on findings using both archaeolog­ ings on the same site). ical and ethnohistorical data and Thus the question arises as to evaluated it as a descriptive study, whether the investigations re­ not as a methodological one. They ported in her thesis were based on suggested that the section in her conventional research or on elec­ thesis describing the dowsing tech­ tromagnetic photo-field detection, nique might have been omitted as she later claimed. without affecting the thesis sig­ nificantly. However, it seemed —Mark Plummer

Summer 1991 391 The idea of linking dowsing to establishment of the historical period archaeology apparently dates from of a particular structure can be done 1950, when a retired British major to some extent on the basis of its general, James Scott Elliot, used general exterior form, actual details, dowsing rods and pendulums as the such as finials and architrave columns, basis for amazing claims. The claim are better indicators. In his opinion, to find archaeological features the general form of the two dwellings through dowsing has been tested and shown in one of Hunt's drawings found wanting. bears a strong resemblance to Amer­ However, dowsing continues to ican territorial styles of the period c. make inroads into archaeology. In a 1870-1900. He said he found it odd survey conducted by archaeologist that Hunt was able to obtain details Ken Feder (Central Connecticut State of superstructures clearly well above University) in 1983-1984,13.5 percent her reach as she walked the site. He of 349 professional archaeologists noted that the drawings were without indicated that when they teach any conventional survey information, archaeological methodology they such as North arrows or indications present dowsing in a positive light. of scale. Two other American architects, Hunt in Australia Ivan and Clem Paulsen, said that the windmill she had drawn seemed way Hunt submitted a full report on her out of scale and that one of the Australian survey to her sponsors, the buildings she had sketched could not Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of have been built of wood without the Works (MMBW), in which she claimed use of huge trusses or tons of steel. there were 129 buildings and struc­ I was able to examine the MMBW's ture patterns on the farm at the complete file relating to Hunt's sur­ Board's historical park at Point Cook vey. Apparently the award of an M.A. in Victoria. She described the build­ for her work lent credibility to her ings' uses and included detailed draw­ claims when the MMBW was deciding ings. The only evaluation of the whether or not to pay for her trip to accuracy of her report in the MMBW's Australia. She had also cited the file was one comment by the Board. workshops where she had taught her "The doubled size of the buildings was technique. not discovered, although she seemed By examining this file I was able to locate a tank stand and windmill to ascertain just how the MMBW approximately where one was known became involved. After reading a 1982 to exist." report Hunt had written of an Leading Australian architects archaeological survey she had made, expressed the view that the sketches a Board employee became enthusiastic looked more like American buildings about the possibility of her technique than Australian Colonial buildings. being used at the Board's Historical The two styles look quite different Park. He contacted Hunt in America even to nonarchitects. and asked her to forward details of I sent Hunt's drawings to three her technique, her opinion of whether American architects for evaluation. it would be effective at Point Cook, The first was Ken Morse, who has and the name of a reference. He then practiced architecture for 35 years in telephoned Mr. Turnbull, the director the American Midwest and in New of archaeology for the Provincial Zealand. He stated that while the Government of New Brunswick,

392 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Canada, who had taken part in one him even more skeptical.) He recom­ of Hunt's workshops. mended "that the visit to Melbourne Turnbull's verbal assessment of by Mrs. Hunt be approved and the Hunt's workshop was that Hunt had Board agree to refund her air fare of located a building but had not quite $1,600 (subject to being satisfied with the correct orientation. According to her work) and provide incidental the employee, Turnbull stated that actual expenses of $500 during her her expertise should be used in stay in Melbourne." A hand-written conjunction with other methods. note under the recommendation Turnbull said he would write to the states, "Discussed with Chairman— MMBW, but no letter was received. agreed to proceed." There is no The MMBW employee claimed that evidence in the Board's file of a local a professor at the Folklore Institute scientist or physicist familiar with and the executive director of the electromagnetic fields being asked to National Historic Communal Societies comment on Hunt's claims before Association, both of Indiana Univer­ approving her visit. sity, supported Hunt's claims. I later Hunt was told the good news. In found that Hunt had also given Robert her next letter she stated: T. Bray's name as a reference to the MMBW without his consent or To many of us who are anthropol­ knowledge. Professor Bray is in the ogists, Australia is known as the last frontier. My work with EMPFs is Department of Anthropology and the beginning of a new frontier in American Archaeology at the Univer­ archaeology. Its widespread use will sity of Missouri. When we phoned be limited at first but eventually it him, he stated that he did not believe will become commonplace, particu­ that Hunt's EMPF theory and practice larly when EMPF detectors (similar have any validity whatsoever. to metal detectors) are placed on the At the suggestion of the employee, market. Until then I will continue to spearhead the research in this in 1984 Hunt wrote to the director new frontier of science/archae­ of planning at the MMBW offering to ology. pay for her own airfare to Australia I am looking forward to being in on the condition that if the MMBW Australia. You won't be disap­ was satisfied with her work they pointed! would refund the full cost. The Board employee then wrote a memo titled She arrived in Australia on July 22, "Possible Employment of Mrs. Hunt 1984, and spent most of her time at as a consultant archaeologist at His­ Point Cook. She also conducted a brief toric Precinct Point Cook Metropol­ survey at. the Lake Condah Aboriginal itan Park." He summarized her claims Mission with the Victorian Archaeo­ regarding electromagnetic fields and logical Survey. techniques and said: "I am extremely The Board employee wrote a memo skeptical as to the reasons given for on August 21, after Hunt's first visit, the process but if the technique can saying that he thought Hunt had be applied to the Point Cook Historical worked very hard and recommended Park it could be of inestimable value that she be paid U.S.$1,500. in the recreating of the total building The only statement in the docu­ complex as it would have appeared in ments released as to the accuracy or the 1860s." (It is a great pity he did value of Hunt's work prior to payment not contact the for was: "The work at Point Cook will information, which may have made require verification; but we know that

Summer 1991 393 a windmill had been erected about the most suitable candidates would be site she located west of the stables." relatively small buildings with After Hunt's departure, a memo masonry components or other sub­ was placed in the file showing that stantial foundations that might best other Board staff attempted to use have survived demolition and subse­ EMPF techniques and that they quent use of the site. Features like claimed to have located fence lines. wells, stock tanks, and windmill Hunt forwarded her report, then footings would also leave distinctive suggested that the Board employ her archaeological remains. Small building for three to five years as a full-time complexes and fencelines should be survey archaeologist. The Board then avoided as these insubstantial struc­ wrote to the Victorian State Archaeo­ tures are difficult to detect archaeo- logical Survey (VAS) asking for an logically, and individual features like archaeologist to comment on Hunt's post holes would be extremely difficult survey. to correlate with Hunt's drawings. VAS Acting Director Mclntyre Mclntyre concluded that "the replied that there was no doubt that Board's decision to support Karen Hunt had invested a considerable Hunt in carrying out her survey at amount of time and effort in the Point Point Cook was a commendable exper­ Cook project and was fully committed iment in the application of a new in her support of the electromagnetic technique which may eventually photo field technique. This, plus her prove to be of considerable scientific academic qualifications and references and educational value." supplied to the Board, warranted that The Board's enthusiasm seems to her findings be assessed in an objective have cooled with time. In April 1985 and thorough manner. He said that the employee originally responsible the technique had not previously been for contacting Hunt wrote: demonstrated or tested in Australia and that the only opportunity they I discussed on site with Mr. Stewart had to test her findings at Lake Simmons, Archaeologist, VAS, as to Condah produced little evidence of whether it is worthwhile for the structural features postulated on the Board to engage Mrs. Karen Hunt basis of electromagnetic photo fields. for further work at Pt. Cook His­ He recommended that the Board take toric Precinct. He is of the opinion steps to check the accuracy of the that Mrs. Hunt's work, based on Point Cook reconstructions before their experience at Lake Condah, was not accurate and failed to locate funding any further photo-field sur­ some features. veys of the park. It is apparent that this would also He commented that the pattern of apply to the work at Pt. Cook. burials set out in Hunt's report as an aboriginal burial site was more sug­ Following that memo, the Board gestive of a European cemetery. wrote to Hunt that it did "not wish However, he recommended that those to proceed with further electromag­ features interpreted as graves should netic photo field studies at Point Cook not be interfered with in any way! at this stage. The Board is very Mclntyre suggested that the exist­ appreciative of your dedication and ence of several of the buildings and interest shown in the work you their structural features shown on undertook at Point Cook and if a Hunt's plans could be readily tested decision is made to extend your work by archaeological excavation. The we shall let you know in good time."

394 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 There was no evidence in the It was decided to conduct the test Board's file up to August 1985 that at a site where buildings had once asking a scientist or physicist to stood and where Hunt was unlikely comment on Hunt's report was ever to have visited. The site was to have considered. no visible traces of the buildings that had once stood there. It was also A Scientific Test considered essential that we be able to obtain plans and photographs of the On June 11, 1985, as president of the demolished buildings. This was Australian Skeptics, I wrote to Hunt arranged. suggesting that our organization Randi selected suitable sites in conduct a controlled scientific field Florida and we negotiated with a test of her claims. I said that the test television producer for the payment could be done in Australia or in the of Hunt's airfare to and from Florida United States. On July 29, the national and two nights accommodation, in secretary of the Australian Skeptics, return for exclusive filming rights. James Gerrand, repeated the offer to Hunt was to be taken to the test Hunt via satellite. She agreed to be site, a flat parking lot built on the site tested. of a recently demolished building that Hunt was offered an award of had stood for about 50 years. Randi $10,000 each from Australians Dick had obtained accurate surveyor's plans Smith and Phillip Adams and U.S. and photographs of the demolished $10,000 by James Randi, a total of building. Hunt would be asked to map approximately $32,000 (U.S. $24,000). her impressions of the building, after After Hunt's acceptance, the Aus­ which a surveyor would provide an tralian Skeptics and James Randi accurate overlay of the old structure organized the test during countless for comparison with her impressions. international phone calls and by A second method of testing the airmail correspondence. existence of EMPFs would be to have

Summer 1991 395 Hunt locate an EMPF, then blindfold a dispute about the interpretation of her and have her approach the EMPF the remains. We could not be sure that from a different angle to see if she the remains were found by Mrs. could locate it again in the same Hunt's divining and the existence of position. EMPFs. Hunt had written that every dem­ In her thesis, Hunt says that one olished building that had stood for a of the first steps in her field proce­ minimum of six months would leave dures is to obtain all available infor­ an EMPF, also that the EMPF could mation about the buildings and not be destroyed by a new building structures that once stood on the site. or by removing the soil beneath it or In her MMBW report, she thanks by covering the site. The proposed site Board employees for providing infor­ selected by Randi was thus suitable mation, and she acknowledges in her for a blind test of her theory and letter dated July 29 that she was techniques. All Hunt had to do to shown the MMBW historical archaeo­ prove her claims in a controlled logical reports on the site two weeks scientific test was to accurately map after she started her research. She the position of part of the demolished stated that the MMBW has almost no building on the chosen site, using the records of any buildings. However, in divining rods. a memo in the MMBW files an She refused to participate in the employee states: ". . . She seemed to proposed test. She gave no reason, but locate a tank stand and a windmill sent a letter stating that if we wished approximately where one was known proof of her claims we would have to to exist." find it at Point Cook, Australia, and We do not know what she learned not elsewhere. Hunt proposed an about the site from MMBW excavation at Point Cook that would employees or other sources or what have cost thousands of dollars. Even she gained from the divining rods. A if we had the money for such an fully controlled scientific test requires excavation it would not prove her strict controls from the beginning. theories of existence of EMPFs or her Hunt does not appear to understand claims to find EMPFs and ruins by the requirements of a controlled using divining rods. scientific test. Randi's test would have Archaeologist K. L. Feder (1980) been definitive. has pointed out the problems of I wrote to Hunt again in 1987 negative success in the claims of asking if she would undergo a test. psychic archaeologists. Suppose the Although she received my letter she farm were to be excavated and did not reply. Her refusal to undergo nothing found. All the wooden sup­ such a test leaves the existence of ports had so thoroughly rotted away EMPFs and her divining claims or been removed by subsequent unproved. The examination of her agricultural activity that no traces theories, techniques, and results, I could be found. If something Hunt believe, show there is no substance to claimed was not found this would not her claims. prove her wrong; it might merely Randi's challenge to Hunt still mean that there were no findable stands—U.S.$10,000 for one day's traces of the remains, that they had work, although this time she will have not survived demolition and subse­ to pay the expenses in setting up the quent use of the site. Suppose some test. remains were found. There could be Even after refusing the test and

396 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 being sent a full written investigation genuine archaeologists. Thus official of her claims, Hunt continues to recognition of her claims poses a real conduct an occasional workshop—and threat to the archaeological record. collects a modest tuition fee. She is also currently working on Acknowledgments a book about her theory and has stated that unnamed scientists are also The author wishes to thank Ian Bryce, developing a laser-beam scanner with Allan Christophers, James Gerrand, which to scan photo-fields and come John Harries, Dave Wheeler, Marie up with a picture of the invisible Mannik, Jane Symons, John Cole, Ken buildings. She thinks it may be 20 Morse, and Ivan and Clem Paulsen. years before it is available for public Thanks also to magicians James use but that such a time-camera has Randi and Mike Wilton for advice and great potential for documentaries on planning a test of Hunt's theories and past civilizations. techniques, and to Michael Willesee Because of the self-validating for arranging a satellite television nature of divining, more people with interview between James Gerrand and a genuine interest in archaeology may Karen Hunt. come to believe in EMPFs and Hunt's techniques. Ken Feder has pointed out References the danger posed to archaeology by such claims. Aitken, M. J. 1959. Test for correlation Archaeological "reconnaissance" between dowsing response and magnetic disturbance. Archaeometry, 2, 58. surveying, the process of finding Feder, K. L. 1980. . buried prehistoric or historical SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 4(4):32-43. remains, is an expensive, labor- Hunt, K. 1981. Cultural influences of the intensive proposition with no short­ early homesteads in the Salt River Valley cuts. U.S. federal law calls for archaeo­ in Missouri. M. A. thesis, Indiana University. logical surveys to determine the . 1984. Point Cook homestead electro­ potential impact on sites of federally magnetic photo field survey for the funded construction projects. These MMBW. are also expensive. Hunt claims, Randi, J. 1982. The 1980 divining tests. The Skeptic (Australia), March: 2-6. essentially, that she can do that work Schwartz, S. 1978. The Secret Vaults of Time: all by herself with a couple of coat- Psychic Archaeology, New York: Grosset and hangers (and at a greater level of Dunlap. detail, since she can reconstruct Searle, J. 1983. Point Cook—A history. invisible, above-ground pattern). Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Someone in a position of power with Works (Australia). no real commitment to preserving historical resources might find it more Mark Plummer is chairman of the convenient and cost-effective to hire Victoria branch of the Australian a Karen Hunt rather than a team of Skeptics.

Summer 1991 397 True Believers

BRUCE BOWER

Anyone who has chuckled at an outrageous L\ headline blazing across a supermarket / \ tabloid can tell you that understanding an idea and believing in that idea do not go hand in hand. Otherwise, checkout-stand regulars would accept such proclamations as "Cave-Men Looked Like Elvis!" as articles of faith. Think again, shoppers. Inquiring minds not only want to know; they also tend to believe, at least initially, what they read and hear, according to psychologist Daniel T. Gilbert of the University of Texas at Austin. "Much recent research converges on a single Recent n point—people are credulous creatures who find it very easy to believe and very difficult to psychological doubt," Gilbert argues in an article in the March research shows American Psychologist. His contention may spark debate, but it that the thinking hardly qualifies as unprecedented. More than person may favor 2,300 years ago, Aristotle said the ability to gullibility over doubt is rare, emerging only among cultivated, educated persons. . Aristotle's claim has gained support in the past decade from several studies indicating that young children generally accept the statements of adults uncritically—a tendency that often distorts youngsters' eyewitness accounts of crimes. However, current psychological theories of belief formation lean more heavily on the notions of another philosopher—Rene Des­ cartes. The influential seventeenth-century French thinker maintained that the mind effortlessly and automatically takes in new ideas, which remain in limbo until verified or rejected by conscious, rational analysis. Descartes' detachment of comprehension from critical assessment—although less well known than his separation of mind from body— continues to influence scientific assumptions about how people think, Gilbert maintains. For

398 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 instance, computer scientists typically the students later accepted as true on design state-of-the-art systems an identification test. On the other modeling language acquisition and hand, interrupted students were not other mental abilities to ingest infor­ more likely to label a computer- mation in a "neutral" form before affirmed definition as false. determining that information's use­ By initially accepting both true and fulness or destination. false ideas, the volunteers apparently But Spinoza, writing shortly after thought in a Spinozan fashion, Gilbert Descartes's death, offered an entirely asserts. Thus, distractions under­ different perspective on thought. mined the subsequent thought neces­ Spinoza argued that to comprehend sary to scrutinize denied claims, but an idea a person must simultaneously not affirmed ones. accept it as true. Conscious analysis— Descartes's scheme, in contrast, which, depending on the idea, may assumes that interruptions play equal- occur almost immediately or with opportunity havoc with the rational considerable effort—allows the mind evaluation of both affirmed and to reject what it initially accepted as denied statements. fact. In the second study, 20 students Spinoza's seemingly preposterous viewed a series of smiling male faces claim finds backing from three exper­ shown on a video monitor. On some iments reported by Gilbert and his trials, the monitor displayed the word coworkers in the October 1990 Journal true or false before showing a face, to of Personality and Social Psychology. The signal whether the man expressed experiments test a basic assumption genuine or feigned happiness. On of Spinoza's theory: If people initially other trials, signal words appeared believe both true and false ideas, after the students saw a face. interruption of the mental evaluation Students who were distracted by of those ideas should interfere with pressing a button at the sound of a the ability to reject bogus claims, while tone just after viewing each face true notions would maintain their seal usually misidentified false smiles as of approval. genuine, but not vice versa. Even In the first of those studies, 35 those informed ahead of time that a college students learned the meaning smile was false often labeled it as of fictitious nouns—which they were genuine if they were subsequently told represented Hopi Indian words— interrupted. In other words, when by reading definitions on a computer distractions derailed their train of screen, such as "A twyrin is a doctor." thought, volunteers who had been Immediately after each definition given reason to doubt false informa­ appeared, the computer displayed the tion nevertheless tended to accept that word true or false to indicate whether information as true. the statement was correct. On some In the final study, the researchers trials, a tone sounded just after the presented 30 students with descriptive computer confirmed or denied a phrases about an imaginary animal statement. Because students had to called a "glark." Participants then de­ press a response button when they cided whether new propositions about heard the tone, it momentarily dis­ glarks were true or false. During this tracted their attention. task, they were occasionally told to Interruption by the tone caused a read a statement about glarks as substantial increase in the number of quickly as possible without gauging its computer-denied propositions that veracity. Each of these phrases ap-

Summer 1991 399 peared a second time during the test beliefs about others. Studies have for evaluation as true or false. shown, for example, that volunteers Students probably accepted quickly led to believe in the outgoing nature read propositions at first, rather than of a young woman later asked her treating them neutrally, Gilbert questions concentrating on the extent argues. They later reported one- of her sociability, while neglecting to quarter of the speed-read false state­ probe for shy or reticent aspects of ments as true, whereas they identified her personality. nearly all the speed-read true state­ In related work, psychologists ments correctly. studying and lie detection "We're naive Cartesians," Gilbert have observed that people often contends. "We assume beliefs are believe what others tell them without under conscious control at all times. question. Opinions about others, as But beliefs can be created merely by well as autobiographical claims, often passively accepting information with­ gain acceptance more readily when the out attempting to analyze it." listener performs a competing task He points to other lines of research that diverts attention from the speak­ that support his argument. For er's message. instance, psycholinguists established "People who sell used cars and nearly 20 years ago that people vacuum cleaners have long known presented with true and false senten­ about the persuasive power of timed ces generally take less time to deter­ interruptions and diversions," Gilbert mine the accuracy of the true notes. statements. One research team wrote Many brainwashing and coercion that when individuals read assertions, techniques rely on extreme methods they "start with the truth index set to fragment the attention of political to true." prisoners, he adds. Interrogators often Psycholinguistic work also sug­ keep prisoners awake for days at a gests that the comprehension of a time and then browbeat the exhausted denial (say, "armadillos are not her­ captives with an ideological barrage bivorous") first involves grasping the they find difficult to resist. Forced concept under dispute (armadillos are confessions also exert insidious herbivorous). A Spinozan mind effects: After writing and reciting a employing this mental tactic should at captor's message many times over, times believe what has clearly been weary prisoners start to doubt their denied, Gilbert points out. own opinions. A 1981 study directed by psychol­ The same principles extend beyond ogist Daniel M. Wegner of Trinity used-car lots and dictators' dungeons, University in San Antonio, Texas, warns psychologist John A. Bargh of illustrates this paradox. In a finding New York University. "My hunch is of particular interest to journalists, that control over automatic, uncon­ students who read propositions like scious influences on judgment and "Bob Talbert not linked to Mafia" behavior is not usually exercised," says reported markedly more negative Bargh, who co-edited a compilation of impressions of the fictitious Talbert research on the subject (Unintended than did students who read neutral Thought, 1989, Guilford Press, New statements like "Bob Talbert cele­ York). "It's not that people are lazy. brates birthday." They tend to think these influences People also automatically tend to don't exist, and often don't have the seek out evidence that confirms their luxury of extended thought about

400 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 what they hear or read from moment Despite gaps in scientific knowl­ to moment." edge about belief formation, "the Moreover, Gilbert argues, just as burden of proof has shifted onto healthy people immediately believe Descartes's theory," Gilbert contends. what they see, doubting their eyes For now, though, a 1984 Gallup poll only on rare occasions, so must they of a national sample offers a bit of initially believe what they read or comfort to the much-maligned Spin­ hear, if only for a fleeting moment. oza: One in five respondents referred Gilbert and his co-workers have yet to supermarket tabloids as "accurate." to study whether distracted attention Who knows? Tabloid believers may increases the likelihood of believing regularly suffer from attention melt­ obviously outrageous assertions. down in the checkout line upon Although Spinoza's theory holds that hearing their grocery bills. a statement like "Hitler was a woman" meets instant acceptance and almost Bruce Bower is Behavioral Sciences Editor as quickly goes up in flames as of Science News, the weekly news­ contradictory evidence leaps to mind, magazine of science, from which this that prediction proves difficult to article is reprinted by permission. Copy­ study in the laboratory. right ®1991 by Science Service, Inc.

Short-Circuiting Scientific Scrutiny

Skepticism and challenge to the status quo are the stuff of scientific breakthrough and new insight—that is, when they are coupled with the arduous, unglamorous, often tedious process of gathering evidence and analyzing data to test a hypothesis. When an individual comes along who short-circuits the process, dodges the scrutiny of the peer-reviewed scientific literature, and takes his hypotheses directly to the press, the scientific community quite rightly views him as suspect, at best overzealous, and at worst a . Too often, however, the press depicts such individuals as misunderstood and persecuted mavericks bucking an intolerant and self-protective establishment. That may make for a better story, but the truth is usually something quite different.

—G. Brent Dalrymple, President, American Geophysical Union, "Good Press for Bad Science," EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, January 29,1991

Summer 1991 401 Past/Present

Physiological Explanation Of Human 'Auras' GEOFFREY DEAN

n important but seemingly for­ invoking nothing more mysterious gotten study of the aura, by than the principle of negative after­ A. D. F. Fraser-Harris, appeared in images. . . . The greyish mists A ("aura") are the whitish after­ 1932 ("A Psycho-physiological Explan­ ation of the So-called Human Aura," images of the interdigital portions of the black background. . . . British journal of Medical Psychology, 12:174-184). Fraser-Harris attributes most of the aura effect to retinal after­ Fraser-Harris confirms this explana­ images, the apparent persistence after tion using various backgrounds, card­ we shut our eyes of a bright object board hands, and walking sticks, in all seen against a dark background (pos­ possible combinations of black and itive after-image), and vice versa white. In each case white objects on (negative after-image). black backgrounds gave auras.

These observations would indicate If the fingers of the two hands that the phenomenon called the touching one another be held in "aura" has nothing to do with front of the [black] background at vitality, seeing that the appropriate the level of the eyes and be stared physiological phenomena are at for fifteen seconds or so, and then obtained as perfectly with non­ slowly drawn apart, it is stated that living artificial, conventionalized, the aura in the form of "greyish cardboard hands as with hands of mists" will be seen streaming from flesh and blood. the ends of the receding fingers. After having repeated this proced­ ure many times, I find that the Fraser-Harris also examines the claims following is a more correct state­ of W. J. Kilner (1847-1920) as set out ment of what occurs: in the places in The Human Atmosphere (the Aura), where the fingers were (digital 2nd ed., published in 1920, including spaces) one sees very dark or black the claim that sensitivity is enhanced areas corresponding exactly to the by looking through a blue filter. Again shape of the fingers, and in the Fraser-Harris finds that grayish auras spaces between the fingers (inter- are readily explained by after-image digital spaces) one may see the greyish mists. It is these mists that and other retinal effects. Owing to are called the "aura." The statement inconsistencies and vagueness in that the greyish mists stream from Kilner's descriptions, he is suspicious the ends of the fingers is therefore of colored auras said to be related to due to mal-observation. These various diseases and emotional states, appearances can be explained by but these "being quite beyond my

402 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 personal experience must be left this view the aura is neither an unexamined." illusion nor a hallucination, but From his personal experiments rather a subjective sensation or Fraser-Harris concludes: unshared perception corresponding not to the presence of an external object but to a more or less tran­ . . . Auras have no objective, exter­ sitory physiological condition of the nal, independent existence, but are retina of the percipient. essentially the results in conscious­ ness of those states of the retina known to physiological psycholo­ Geoffrey Dean is a technical editor in gists as negative after-images. On Perth, Australia.

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Summer 1991 403 1991 CSICOP Conference in Berkeley Audiocassettes SESSION 1: Opening Remarks-Paul Kurtz, CSICOP Chairman CONTROVERSIES IN HYPNOSIS: Robert A Baker, Nicholas Spanos, Ernest Hilgard, and the Amazing Kreskin (2 cassettes, $11.90) $ SESSION 2: (1) SUBLIMINAL PSEUDOSCIENCE: Ray Hyman, Eric Eich, Anthony Pratkanis, and Timothy Moore (3 cassettes, $17.85) $ (2) POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY: AN EVALUATION: , Loren Pankratz, Gerald Rosen, and Eileen Gambrill (3 cassettes, $17.85) $ SESSION 3. CATASTROPHISM AND EVOLUTION: Eugenie Scott, Walter Alvarez, Richard Muller, and Jere Lipps (2 cassettes, $11.90) $ SESSION 4: (1) URBAN LEGENDS: Robert Hicks, Jan Brunvand, Alan Dundes, and William Ellis (3 cassettes, $17.85) $ (2) TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING WITH THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER: Lee Nisbet, Steven Hoffmas- ter, Richard Malvin, and Brant Abrahamson (3 cassettes, $17.85) $ SESSION 5: AWARDS BANQUET: Paul Kurtz, Donald C. Johanson, Eugenie Scott, Susan Blackmore, Michael Curtis, and Paul Krassner (2 cassettes, $11.90) $ When ordering individual sessions, please add $2.00 for first-class postage and handling for each session or $4.50 for 3 or more. Postage and handling $. Grand Total $ • Please send me the complete set of conference tapes for a saving of $12.00 (18 cassettes, $95.10) plus postage and handling = $99.60 $. a Check enclosed Charge my D Visa • MasterCard Card # Exp.

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City State Zip Mail to: CSICOP • Box 229 • Buffalo, NY 14215-0229 Or call toll-free 800-634-1610. In New York State call 716-834-3222. Book Reviews

What Hypnosis Is and What It Isn't

They Call It Hypnosis. By Robert A. Baker. , Buffalo, N.Y., 1990. 300 pp. Cloth, $21.95. U LEWIS JONES THEY CALL IT once upon a time there was Jan emperor, a real cool "Oking , who loved new clothes and spent all his money on them. He was always showing off his fashionable duds and he had a differ­ ent set for every day of the week." With a beginning as unbuttoned as this, you know you are in the company of a friendly mentor who is concerned that you should not only get the facts but also understand and enjoy them. The emperor with the invisible wardrobe is of course King Hypnosis, who is concerned only to look good and be admired. "The king said, That's for me, boys. I can not only look swell but at the same time separate the good guys from the bad guys in my king­ existed in the past, and will not exist dom.' " in the future." You can't speak plainer Robert A. Baker is professor emer­ than that. itus of psychology at the University "Anyone and everyone who can of Kentucky, Lexington, and within relax and concentrate can play the a few pages of the start of this book game of hypnosis with any hypnotist," he gives notice that you should stand writes Baker. If you believe you can by for some plain speaking: "Strictly show otherwise, you can pick up an speaking, every time the word 'hyp­ immediate cash payment from the nosis' is used it could be placed in Amazing Kreskin. Here is Kreskin's quotation marks. This is because there offer: is no such thing as hypnosis. The point and purpose of this book is to convince I now offer $100,000 to any Psy­ the reader that the phenomenon called chologist, Psychiatrist or Hypnotist 'hypnosis' does not exist, has never who can conclusively prove under

Summer 1991 405 scientific conditions, that I shall in the United States. The pioneer clearly outline and define, a specific James Esdaile believed he could mes­ condition, trance or state called merize clients in court by making "hypnosis." mesmeric passes behind their backs. Secondly, the challenger must "Many of Charcot's patients and star clearly demonstrate that what can performers were ex-prostitutes from be done in the so-called state cannot the music hall stage and were skilled be reproduced without that state. comedians and imitators. ..." A book Yours truly knows of no such phenomenon. called Animal Magnetism was coau- thored by Alfred Binet, father of the In Baker's book, mentalist Kreskin, intelligence test. And Emile Coue was along with some other stage per­ so completely sold on the idea of auto­ formers, is accorded serious consider­ suggestion that he stated firmly: "In ation. This is unusual in the academic my opinion, whenever a patient world. Indeed, one of the interesting consults a doctor, the latter should features of Baker's book is that he is always order some drug or other, even prepared to give some stage per­ if drugs should not be really formers their due for coming up with indicated." ideas and techniques that have been But then there is the other side of taken up by medical scientists such as the coin. Milton Erickson. C. S. Moss claims he has success­ There has long been an entrenched fully used the nonsense word phoz school of thought that will only instead of sleep during hypnotic induc­ countenance the opinions of properly tions. And he has told volunteer qualified "experts" on the subject. subjects, "Please sit over there in that Baker will have no truck with it: "If chair and go into hypnosis," upon only those with years of supporting which Moss resumed his lecture to the a particular point of view and with audience. He reports: "The subject sits substantial vested interests were down quietly and in a second or two permitted to speak, do research, and is hypnotized, i.e., he is playing the publish on a subject, it is unlikely we role of a person in hypnosis!" would ever learn anything new." Baker reminds us that "a few years And we have learned precious little ago two very naive psychiatrists, Dr. that is both new and true about hyp­ Harold Rosen and Dr. Herbert Spie­ nosis since the Viennese Jesuit Maxi­ gel, succeeded in abolishing formal milian Hell applied steel plates to the demonstrations from live television bodies of the sick. The downward path because of its purported 'dangers' to began when he demonstrated his the general public." On what Baker methods to Franz Anton Mesmer— calls "this idiocy," Kreskin has com­ who "believed that perfect health mented that the likelihood of a viewer depended upon the individuals having indulging in "self-hypnosis" after a correct relationship with the heav­ watching TV "is in the same ratio as enly bodies." shooting a hole in one after watching There are curious sidelights on Arnold Palmer, and involves about the some of the star personalities in the same hazard." history of hypnosis. Mary Baker Eddy In the words of the Handbook of became acquainted with it through the Practical Psychology (B. R. Bugelski and physician Phineas Quimby, who was A. M. Graziano): "Those who worry the anesthetist at the first surgical about all the harm that hypnotists operation performed under hypnosis might cause are misplacing their

406 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 worries. . . . Popular leaders such as instead of attributing magical powers Hitler could get others to do all sorts of anesthesia to hypnosis. Some of horrible things without relaxing people "will faint at a paper cut," while them and telling them that they were "some rare individuals have even per­ falling asleep." formed surgery upon themselves As for the dangers of live perfor­ without the benefit of anesthesia of mance, Kreskin has ordered a com­ any kind." pliant volunteer to leave the stage for This wide-ranging and enjoyable five minutes, then come back, pick up survey of hypnosis at the turn of the a butcher's knife, and plunge it into 1990s might well have used as its Kreskin's back. The man got as far as subtitle the heading of its fourth picking up the knife, "but then he chapter: "What Hypnosis Is, What dropped it and shuddered." Hypnosis Is Not, and What It Does The law can be as superstitious as and Doesn't Do." any television administration. "It may "The lame excuse that is usually turn out that a recent U.S. Supreme heard, 'Psychotherapy is an art, not Court decision allowing the individual a science,' will not suffice." says Baker. states limited use of hypnotically aided "If it is not a science then it is high testimony was unwise." As Elizabeth time that it became one. . . . Until it Loftus has pointed out, "There's no is done, hypnosis has no future, and way even the most sophisticated rightfully and thankfully so. It is high hypnotist can tell the difference time we got on with how we can more between a memory that is real and one effectively communicate with and that's created." influence the minds and behaviors of And hypnotically elicited reports of our clients and assist them in solving reincarnation have been shown to be their problems, healing their illnesses, "a direct function of the hypnotist's optimizing their health, and improv­ belief about reincarnation." ing their lives." Baker is also clear about the need to unravel the complexities of pain Lewis Jones is a London writer.

The Current Status of Psychotherapy

Critical Thinking in Clinical Practice: Improving the Accuracy of Judgments and Decisions About Clients. By Eileen Gambrill. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1990. 432 pp. Cloth, $29.95.

ROBERT A. BAKER

more accurate and appropriate those more familar with it who would title for Eileen Gambrill's book like to upgrade the quality of mental- AI would be "The Lack of Critical health care it is a godsend. For critics Thinking in Clinical Practice." For of mental-health practices Gambrill's those readers unfamiliar with the book is an explosion of the first present state of psychotherapy this magnitude, and it is all the more book will come as a bombshell. For effective because she did not intend

Summer 1991 407 it to be an expose of the current sorry who entered a mental hospital in the state of both training and practice fifties and spent the rest of their lives within the profession. Gambrill, a there should not have been hospital­ professor of social welfare at the ized in the first place" (p. 2). All of University of California, Berkeley, is these quotations—and I could cite both a social worker and a psychol­ several hundred more—are state­ ogist, and she has had more than 30 ments made by Gambrill not to savage years of practical clinical experience current practices but to support her dealing daily with clients from all arguments for the need to be alert to walks of life. She is extremely well such weaknesses and to establish qualified to write this book and not courses and training programs to only to reveal what is wrong with eliminate them. One has only to read current practices but to specify exactly between the lines, however, to quickly what steps are needed to put clinical become appalled at what is currently work by psychiatrists, psychologists, going on in the name of helping the and social workers on a more scientific public with its mental problems. footing. In a health-practice area like psy­ Concerned observers of mental- chotherapy, where decision-making health practices have long been aware can be and often is a life-and-death of the shaky and ascientific foundation matter, it is not only urgent but upon which most of what passes for mandatory that all clinical decisions be clinical psychotherapy currently rests. the best possible under the existing Such critics as Thomas Szasz (1961, circumstances. Despite the obvious 1970), Garth Wood (1987), William importance of this matter, little or no Schofield (1965), Benjamin and Doro­ attention has been devoted to either thea Braginsky (1969), Tennov (1975), critical thinking or decision-making by Rosen (1979), Rosenhan (1973), college and university training pro­ Maeder (1989), Thornton (1984), grams or by professional associations, Medawar (1984), and E. Fuller Torrey such as the American Psychological (1973, 1974, 1988) would scarcely Association, the American Psychiatric raise an eyebrow to learn from Gam- Association, and the National Asso­ brill that "the battle for acceptance of ciation of Social Workers. They have, the scientific method that has been on the other hand, devoted months won in the physical sciences and in and volumes to the topics of licensure, many areas of medicine has not yet ethical standards, fees, classification, been won in psychotherapy" (p. 56). and, currently, who should be permit­ Or that "experts do not necessarily ted to prescribe medications. perform better than novices in While it is obvious that objective unstructured problem areas such as criteria for detecting errors are not as psychology and psychiatry" (p. 14). Or available in psychology, social work, that "clinicians have a tendency not and psychiatry as they are in the field to search for evidence against their of medicine, where anatomical or views; this tendency often results in histological indicators may be found errors" (p. 10). Or that "some clini­ by a pathologist, nevertheless, as cians carry out their practice with little Gambrill stresses, there are many, or no effort to take advantage of new many signs and indicators that can data concerning what seems to be serve the psychotherapist. Errors may effective with different kinds of occur in all three phases of clinical problems with different kinds of practice: assessment, intervention, clients" (p. 3). Or that "many people and evaluation. Practitioners need to

408 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 be not only aware of possible errors claims by psychiatrists and psycholo­ at each phase but also sensitive to the gists that many of their patients are fact that the very nature of clinical possessed by demons (Fiore 1988; practice itself leaves room for many Allison 1980; Peck 1983), that athletic other sources of error—in the clini­ stars use psychokinesis to score their cian, in the client, and in the social points (Ross 1989) and also that context. Yet since so many clinicians hypnosis is nothing but PK (McCon- approach their practice as an art and nell 1983), that many of their clients "reject as irrelevant all empirical have indeed been abducted by aliens research related to practice concerns," in extraterrestrial spaceships (Fiore and since many others "believe that 1989; Laibow 1990; Sprinkle 1976), the therapeutic process is essentially and that uncovering past lives unknowable," they hold as useless any through hypnotic regression can be attempts to identify specific elements extraordinarily therapeutic (Wambach of the process that contribute to its 1978,1979), while sending people into success. As Gambrill notes, "A belief the future by hypnotic progression that there are no answers will discour­ enables us to foresee the future (Snow age a search for answers. . . . Errors and Wambach 1989). Albeit such are part and parcel of continued re­ metathinkers are few in number finement of clinical skills and are more among psychotherapists and repre­ likely to be avoided if the possibility sent only the fringe elements that of error is accepted" (pp. 361-362). exist in all professions, nevertheless And there are errors aplenty. there has not been either a sufficient Gambrill is well aware that in order or a sustained objection on the part to correct the sins of commission and of any of the professional associations to prevent the sins of omission one to any of these claims. To my knowl­ has to list them, and list them she does. edge there has been no response of About the only faults and failures of any sort; instead, there has been an modern psychotherapy she omits are acceptive silence. In fact, the silence the trials of psychoanalysis and the itself can be seen as constituting a tacit tribulations of "psychics" and meta- endorsement. psychiatrists. If you are unaware of These are additional indicators of the scientific status of psychoanalysis the failure of critical thinking in the you should read Garth Wood's chapter field of psychotherapy. The failure of "The Evidence Against Psychoanalysis therapists to critique their own prac­ and Psychotherapy" in his The Myth tices and procedures has led to a big of Neurosis (1987) and Wolpe's (1981) business that Wood regards as a fraud. review and consider the fact that the An excellent example of this is fur­ American Psychoanalytic Associa­ nished by the success that so many tion's Central Fact Gathering Com­ alleged psychics have with the general mittee found the results of a public. Skeptics shake their heads in worldwide survey so appalling they wonder that the public can be so refused to publish it. credulous as to pay attention to the Many people are also unaware of phony "mind-reading" and "prophe­ the existence of what is known as sying" stunts psychics employ. Yet a metapsychiatry (Dean 1975), whose typical interchange I taped from a raison d'etre is to merge psychiatry recent radio show goes like this: with mysticism and "the occult. The fact that this effort has been partially Client: I'm currently seeing two successful can be seen in the recent men. One is rich and homely,

Summer 1991 409 staid and conservative, and can their success rate or whether or not give me security, comfort, and the client really does live happily ever respectability. The other man is after. The husband-to-be could well poor, handsome, romantic, and be an axe murderer, a wife-beater, or exciting and lives a hand-to- an alcoholic, but neither the psychic mouth existence. But he's so nor the therapist will ever know. Both attractive and fun to be with. Both want to marry me. I'm are too busy to conduct a follow-up. about to go crazy trying to decide In 1983, Zilbergeld was perceptive which to accept. Please, please, enough to note, in his book The could you tell me what to do? Shrinking of America, that it really What do you see in my future? makes no difference whether clients Psychic: Well, you certainly have to receive what they came for—they are make the final choice, the final still glad they came. Much too often decision! But I see you really people go to a therapist when all they being very, very happy with the need is a friend. This is what most poor man, and I see you and him clinicians mean when they say, "Of living happily ever after. Don't course psychotherapy works." Just worry about money. Go with what it is that "works" they are often your heart and all will work out unaware of. for the best. That's what I see. Client: Oh, thank you ] ! Thank Gambrill's book should serve as you, thank you, thank you. What both a warning and an antidote for a load you've taken off my this sort of self-serving and socially shoulders. I felt that I should go reinforcing critical-thinking error, ahead, but everyone tells me I'm which is only one of many that can foolish not to think about the show up in therapy. As she notes, money. I really can't thank you "clinical errors may result in (1) failing enough. I'm so relieved! to offer help that could be provided Psychic: [The pride and satisfaction and is desired by clients, (2) forcing in his voice is unmistakable.] You are most welcome. Glad to have clients to accept 'help' they do not helped. Next case please. want, (3) offering help that is really not needed, or (4) using procedures In this brief interchange we have all that aggravate rather than alleviate the ingredients of the psychothera­ client concerns and that result in peutic setting as well: Client suffering iatrogenic effects" (p. 3). from the anxieties of a real-life Although the book is designed for dilemma needing comfort, reassur­ and directed toward clinicians, one ance, and direction seeks out all- should not assume that it is either knowing, future-seeing guru who negative in tone or merely a polemic resolves problem, provides comfort, about what is wrong with therapy or gives reassurance, points out the that the book is useful only for correct direction, and feels good about clinicians. None of these things are having helped one more poor unfor­ true. In fact, the major portion of the tunate. The poor unfortunate is now book is devoted to the discussion of no longer "poor"; the anxiety and decision-making, critical thinking, indecision are gone; her future hap­ errors in thinking, ways of reducing piness is assured, since she'll be uncertainty, the difference between spending it with the man she loves, facts and beliefs, persuasion strate­ even though she may have to support gies, various kinds and sources of him. Neither the psychic nor the logical , the role of causal typical psychotherapist ever knows factors, how to collect pertinent data,

410 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 and ways in which one can enhance Methods of Madness: The Mental Hospital as the accuracy of one's assumptions and a Last Resort. New York: Holt, Rinehart predictions. Gambrill closes with an & Winston. Dean, Stanley R., ed. 1975. Psychiatry and insightful discussion of how to reduce Mysticism. Chicago: Nelson, Hall. social anxieties and overcome the Fiore, Edith. 1988. The Unquiet Dead: A personal obstacles that get in the way Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession. New of developing and using critical think­ York: Ballantine Books. ing skills. This is information useful . 1989. Encounters: Case Studies of Ab­ ductions by Extraterrestrials. New York: for anyone and everyone no matter Doubleday. what their occupation or profession. Laibow, Rima E. 1990. Experienced anom­ As Gambrill observes, "Writing a alous trauma: New directions. In book about critical thinking is a MUFON 1990 International UFO Sym­ posium Proceedings. Seguin, Texas: Mutual daunting prospect, given the inev­ UFO Network. itability of revealing crooked thinking. Maeder, Thomas. 1989. Wounded healers. However, the book is written in the The Atlantic, January 1989. spirit that we all make errors and that McConnell, R. A. 1983. An Introduction to the task is to learn to recognize and Parapsychology in the Context of Science. Biological Sciences Dept., University of correct them." Although the task she Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. points to remains undone, like all good Medawar, P. B. 1984. Pluto's Republic. therapists she not only diagnoses the Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. disorder but also writes the prescrip­ Peck, M. Scott. 1983. People of the Lie. New tion and supplies the medicine to York: Simon & Schuster. Rosen, R. D. 1977. Psychobabble. New York: alleviate the symptoms and cure the Atheneum. disease—not just in the area of clinical Rosenhan, D. L. 1973. On being sane in practice but in any and all areas of insane places. Science, 179:250-258. human endeavor where critical think­ Ross, Colin A. 1989. Multiple Personality ing is needed. Disorder: Diagnosis, Clinical Features, and Treatment. New York: Wiley. Anyone seeking a succinct, well- Schofield, William 1965. Psychotherapy: The written, easy-to-read survey of faulty Purchase of Friendship. Englewood Cliffs, reasoning and how to cure it should N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Snow, Chet B., and Helen Wambach. 1989. look no further. Gambrill's book Mass Dreams of the Future. New York: should be the required text for any McGraw-Hill. course in critical thinking for psycho­ Sprinkle, R. Leo. 1976. Hypnotic and psychic therapists, a course urgently needed implications in the investigation of UFO by every psychiatric, clinical psychol­ reports. In Encounters with UFO Occu­ pants, ed. C. E. Lorenzen and]. Lorenzen. ogy, and social-work training program New York: Berkley Books. in existence today. Such training may Szasz, Thomas. 1961. The Myth of Mental even convince some of our less Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal thoughtful therapists that it is not Conduct. New York: Harper & Row. necessary to buy into the delusions . 1970. The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and and hallucinations of one's clients in the Mental Health Movement. New York: order to deliver one's services. In Harper & Row. insane places, it is particularly impor­ Tennov, Dorothy. 1975. Psychotherapy: The tant that therapists keep their sanity. Hazardous Cure. New York: Abelard- Schuman. Thornton, E. M. 1984. The Freudian Fallacy. References Garden City, N.Y.: Dial/Doubleday. Torrey, E. Fuller. 1973. The Mind Game: Allison, Ralph. 1980. Minds in Many Pieces. Witch Doctors and Psychiatrists. New York: New York: Rawson, Wade. Bantam Books. Braginsky, Benjamin M., Dorothea D. . 1974. The Death of Psychiatry. Radnor, Braginsky, and Kenneth Ring. 1969. Pa.: Chilton.

Summer 1991 411 . 1988. Nowhere to Go. New York: Overcoming the Illness Excuse. New York: Harper & Row. Harper & Row. Wambach, Helen. 1978. Reliving Past Lives. Zilbergeld, B. 1983. The Shrinking of America: New York: Harper & Row. Myths of Psychological Change. Boston, . 1979. Life Before Life. New York: Mass.: Little, Brown. Bantam Books. Wolpe, Joseph. 1981. Behavior therapy versus psychoanalysis: Therapeutic and Robert A. Baker is professor emeritus of social implications. American Psychologist, 36:159-164. psychology, University of Kentucky, Wood, Garth. 1987. The Myth of Neurosis: Lexington.

Give Me That Old-Time Religion: Two Books on the Modern Satanism Scare

Painted Black: From Drug Killings to Heavy Metal—The Alarming True Story of How Satanism is Terrorizing Our Communities. By Carl A. Raschke. Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1990. 276 pp. Cloth, $16.95.

In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult. By Robert Hicks. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 1991. 416 pp. Cloth, $24.95.

U RICHARD NOLL

n the 1980s, the American media that threatens our civilized society. reported with alarming frequency These cults allegedly have maintained I that people who, individually or in a secret existence for hundreds or groups, allegedly committed criminal perhaps thousands of years, and it is activities did so because of their belief claimed that: in, and their active worship of, the —they kidnap and "ritually" abuse Christian conception of "Satan," "the children; Devil," "Lucifer," and other super­ —the abuse is physical and sexual natural perpetrators of evil. Com­ and leads to the development of munities throughout the United mental illness later in life, particularly States (and then Canada) began to dissociative disorders like multiple- express serious concern about the personality disorder; secret existence of such groups within —they engage in cannibalism; their midst, and claims made about the —they perform infanticide; activities of these "satanic cults" —they engage in the ingestion of seemed to be universal in their agree­ blood and other bodily fluids, and ment. The most persistent claim is sometimes excrement; that there is a vast underground net­ —they engage in sex orgies and work of satanic cults in North Amer­ perform sexual deviations of all sorts; ica, and perhaps around the world. —in perpetrating the abuse, they

412 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 use "ritualistic" paraphernalia, such as candles, magic circles, robes, altars, etc., all of which are related to the worship of Satan; —the Black Mass is performed, often with human or animal sacrifices. The two books under review here take diametrically opposite positions on this controversy. Both purport to sift through the evidence pro and con for the existence of satanic cults and the influence of Satanism in the commission of criminal acts. Unfor­ tunately, only one of these books— a magisterial analysis of the issue by Robert Hicks—can command respect as a truly helpful attempt to weigh the scientific status of these claims. Carl Raschke's book, especially con­ sidering his credentials as a professor of religious studies at the University of and the author of many books with theological themes, is a disappointment. It is designed more for the audiences of television talk- a grand amalgam held together by the shows than for informed readers who glue of satanic ideals. The underlying want a more balanced survey. message to the reader is that a grand Raschke is out to fight the great conspiracy of Satanism is operating to dragon as he sees it: Satanism as an tear apart our society. It is the single ideology, and a highly virulent one at dynamic force that unites the drug- that. As in most publications of this crazed teenager who draws pentacles nature, in Raschke's book Satanism as on his murder victim with Adolf Hitler a concept is reified as a threat but and the "occult underground" of the never cogently defined. Just what is Third Reich, Charles Manson, inter­ Satanism? The closest Raschke comes national drug cartels, transnational is in the Introduction: terrorist organizations, child porno- graphers, Anton LaVey and the Satanism is a sophisticated and , Michael Aquino and highly effective motivational sys­ the Temple of Set, the McMartin Pre- tem for the spread of violence and School case, Dungeons & Dragons, cultural terrorism, all the while the Matamoros murderers, Alice hiding behind the cloak of the First Cooper, the Rolling Stones, Ozzy Amendment. It is an ideology that Osborne, Aleister Crowley, the has found a strategic application in the criminal underworld, even if it "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, ad was not invented there. (Pp. ix-x) infinitum. Quite a large as well as nasty kettle of rotting flesh this To back up this belief in the threat Satanism business is, isn't it? Most of satanic ideologues, Raschke lumps informed readers who know better than to believe in this sort of magical all the disparate evils and aberrations thinking in which everything is inter- of history and of present society into

Summer 1991 413 connected with everything else, and essential historical reference for is also therefore implicitly a conspiracy, anyone wishing to place the present need only look at the photographs in Satanism scare into a historical the center of Raschke's book, for they context. thematically lump together most of Raschke has a bone to pick with the rogues and infidels mentioned anyone who dares to challenge the above and essentially sum up the threat of Satanism to our society. Gospel According to Raschke: Satan­ Kenneth Lanning, a special agent of ism is all around us, it's bad, and it's the FBI who has been one of the most our job to fight it. influential critics of claims of satanic Although a professor of religion, crime, is charged with being one of and the author of several books on the "best friends" of "satanist crim­ the subject, Raschke makes a number inals" (p. 75). Without addressing of misinterpretations of the historical Lanning's publications or conference evidence of Satanism as an ideology papers in which he presents his and a movement in his chapter titled analysis of the evidence for his critical "The Occult Underworld." He pleads position, Raschke merely resorts to an for reconsidering conspiracy theories, ad-hominem argument, charging that and he then sets about mangling the Lanning writes with "the literacy, the known evidence we have for the research sophistication, and the rhe­ beliefs and practices of heretical sects torical finesse of a high school sopho­ like the Cathars and the "Luciferans," more." Lanning's work is never who were not devil-worshipers but a addressed; nor is the work of any sect of Waldensians (not Cathars, as other skeptic challenged in depth and Raschke has it). Raschke, though, tells on its own merits. of them worshiping black cats and Intellectuals are suspect, too. In his kissing toads and buttocks. Preface, Raschke boldly asserts that Many other factual mistakes occur "the American intelligentsia has a in this chapter. Raschke's knowledge tremendous capacity for what psy­ of the historical literature concerning chologists call 'denial.' The trained Satanism or "diabolism" is apparently academic mind has a difficult time limited. I have found an overwhelming accepting that there are people who lack of evidence for sects or groups could willfully do evil for the sake of or activities of these sorts throughout doing evil" (p. ix). Raschke, it seems, history. (See Noll 1990.) It was only is only interested in rhetorical flour­ at the end of the nineteenth century ish. He does not seem interested in that the Black Mass and a philosophy considering the disconfirming evi­ of Satanism are recorded as among the dence or opinions. This book, even pastimes of the decadent upper classes though written by an academic and in France. There is no evidence of the an intellectual, is therefore not Inquisitors stumbling upon a devil- recommended. worshiping cult or any performance On the other hand, Robert Hicks's of the familiar Black Mass that inverts book, In Pursuit of Satan: The Police the Roman Catholic rite (but with a and the Occult, will be considered the few salacious additions). All of this is definitive volume on this issue for more fantasy than reality, as British some decades to come. It is a classic historian Norman Cohn so skillfully in its genre. Hicks presents the evi­ documents in his book Europe's Inner dence for both sides of almost every Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the issue involving Satanism in our soci­ Great Witch Hunt (1975), which is an ety. (Hicks's approach will already be

414 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 familiar to readers of his two articles comprehensive, and that important. on these topics in the SKEPTICAL Hicks is to be congratulated on his INQUIRER, Spring and Summer 1990.) intellectual breadth and his peerless Hicks's book is a cogent, relentless research. critique of the evidence for the influence of Satanism. "Occult" References crime, day-care-center controversies (including the McMartin case), the Cohn, N. 1975. Europe's Inner Demons: An Matamoros incident, Dungeons & Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch Hunt. Dragons, the subculture of mental- New York: Basic Books. Noll, R. 1989. Satanism, UFO, UFO abduc­ health professionals concerned about tions and clinicians: Those who do not Satanism and its alleged creation of remember the past . . . Dissociation, multiple personalities, and many 2(l):251-254. other topics are discussed in depth . 1990. A Brief Bibliographic Review of and with exemplary scholarship. Works Related to Alternative Hypotheses of the "Satanism Scare" of the 1980s. It would be impossible to survey Unpublished manuscript. every topic Hicks covers in his 420- page tome, but those interested in the Richard Noll is a clinical psychologist at issue of Satanism are strongly advised the Center for Preventive Medicine, The to make his In Pursuit of Satan the Graduate Hospital, . (Mail­ one book on this controversy that they ing address: 2005 Walnut Street, Phila­ simply must own. It is that good, that delphia, PA 19103.)

The Weil-Built Mind Brain Building: Exercising Yourself Smarter. By Marilyn vos Savant and Leonore Fleischer. Bantam Books, New York, 1990. 243 pp. Cloth, $18.95.

II MARK W. DURM

\ XT-he essence of Brain Building trust, your intelligence will expand ihse the taking of active control and your interests will broaden." Tof your thought processes— The quotation above is from the developing mental tools to approach Foreword, written by Robert Jarvick, difficult problems in an effective to an informative, educational, and fashion, freeing yourself from false enjoyable book written by Marilyn vos assumptions and the mental hammer- Savant and Leonore Fleischer. Vos lock that lack of self-confidence and Savant, known to many for her over-reliance on authoritarian opinion weekly "Ask Marilyn" column in the can have on you. You will learn to nationally syndicated Parade maga­ think with more clarity and with zine, is reportedly the smartest person greater precision. You will learn to in the world (IQ 230), and Fleischer trust yourself. And as you achieve that (IQ 183) is not far behind her.

Summer 1991 415 The book is very readable but was Vos Savant and Fleischer spend sev­ meant to be put down! The authors want eral pages warning the reader not to the reader to read only a chapter a allow this "hardening of the attitudes" week for 12 weeks. Why? Because to occur. each chapter represents something The writers continue to chide the different and the reader should master reader for believing ideas for which each one (and its Brain Builders) in they have no evidence. They ask if the turn before progressing. (There are a reader is relying upon opinion more total of 155 Brain Builders inter­ than information. Then they drive spersed throughout the text.) Some home the point that even information of the chapter titles are "Brain Vocab­ does not, in any stretch of the imag­ ulary," "Building a Logical Mind," ination, equate with the truth. They "Building Communication," "Building use the metaphor that searching for Information," and "Building Perspec­ truth is like panning for gold, because tive," concluding with a chapter titled "information" comes to us ceaselessly, "The Well-Built Mind!" for week 12. as does the water and its contents At the end of each chapter, the when we are panning, and we should authors include a "Brief Quiz" fol­ discard most of it as debris and choose lowed by the answers. only those pieces that show signs of In addition to the questions in the promise. These pieces of promise they text and the quizzes, the authors give call "data." They then write: "Hidden the reader nuggets of wisdom in the data are facts, which do contain gold, but which must be put through throughout the book. The main a cleansing and refining process to objective of the text is to create remove impurities and reveal its independent thinkers, because the perfections. Then, and only then, are authors believe, and rightfully so, you rewarded by the gleam of purest that too many people are not. They gold, the Truth" (p. 180). write: The greatest barrier to Brain Those who are not independent Building, according to the text, is the thinkers begin to see things selec­ inability to admit mistakes. The tively, to reinforce their previously authors argue that central to intellec­ held beliefs. The process begins tual growth is the ability to change early in life, and the longer it's beliefs when one discovers one is allowed to continue, the harder it wrong. Most people, however, are will be to shake those erroneous afraid that if they admit they are beliefs. As with any habit, the longer you hold onto a misconcep­ wrong about one thing then they may tion, the harder it is to let it go. start questioning everything. And if That's one reason older people are one questions everything "the earth often thought of as slow learners; wobbles under your feet, causing they have a lot more unlearning to anxiety and insecurity. But take heart. do. One of the reasons that children And take courage. The earth always are able to learn so quickly is that wobbles when you're searching for their personalities aren't yet fully the truth" (p. 211). developed and planted firmly in front of their intellects. If you stay This searching for truth is corollary young intellectually, you'll learn to mental objectivity, and the need for better. Mental old age is often not objectivity of thinking is the second so much a matter of hardening of main point of the text. The authors the arteries as it is hardening of the warn their readers not to trust their attitudes. feelings (subjectivity) because beliefs

416 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 and ideas are not necessarily right "Why should we draw a conclusion to because they feel correct. Vos Savant our thinking process? Why should we and Fleischer use the Aristotelian ever stop thinking?" (p. 241). There­ theory as an example of this. The fore, let me leave you with one final theory postulated that two objects of quote: "Your intellectual ability can be unequal weight would fall at unequal described as your ability to distin­ speeds. This belief was held for many guish, to a finer and finer degree, centuries. It was wrong but it felt sense from nonsense" (p. 242-243). right. At this point it would be appro­ priate to conclude this review. But, Mark W. Durm is a professor of alas, vos Savant and Fleischer do not psychology at Athens Stale College, like to draw conclusions. They write: Athens, .

Last Gasp of the Shroud Defenders The Shroud and the Controversy. By Kenneth E. Stevenson and Gary R. Habermas. Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tenn., 1990. 257 pp. Cloth, $15.95.

GORDON STEIN

hen the shroud of Turin was historical record for the shroud before finally carbon dated after 20 1350, (2) gross anatomical flaws in the Wyears of effort to make ar­ image (e.g., no "thickness" between rangements to do so, the results of the front and back images), (3) the the three independent laboratories all medieval appearance of the image agreed. They showed that the shroud from an art history point of view (e.g., dated from around A.D. 1300. This, of the hands over the genitals), (4) the course, meant that it was a medieval ability of the image to be duplicated forgery and not the burial cloth of today using techniques available to a Jesus. Many thought that the carbon medieval forger, (5) the presence of dating was the final nail in the coffin a notice to the pope by Bishop D'Arcis, of the shroud. Yet, if this new book back in the fifteenth century that the by theologian Gary R. Habermas and forger had been identified and had engineer Kenneth E. Stevenson (both confessed. fundamentalists) is any indication, the The present book crosses the line shroud will not be allowed to fade into between scholarship and polemics. oblivion. The authors downplay the Distortions abound on every page. All results of the carbon datings as being negative evidence is discarded because merely "suggestive." it fails to meet high standards, and yet If the carbon dating were the only all positive evidence in favor of evidence against the shroud, it might authenticity is admitted with almost be only suggestive; but it is not. Also no regard for standards. Carbon strongly pointing against authenticity dating is, of course, played down as are the following: (1) the lack of a a valuable and accurate technique.

Summer 1991 417 One or two old examples of inaccurate of plateaus and saturation points is not datings are dusted off and trotted relevant to Nickell's technique. (5) If out. a brush was not used, then we would Worse yet, distortion and misun­ not expect brush strokes. There are derstanding of the work of Joe Nickell nondirectional means of application. are rampant. In order to dismiss (6) Capillary flow would not be Nickell's recreation of the shroud observed on the image at this date using techniques possible for a medi­ because almost all of the pigment has eval forger, the authors misrepresent flaked off. What is left is a chemical what Nickell did and found. The real discoloration of the cellulose fibers lack of accuracy on their part can be themselves. (7) The pigments have most clearly seen in Appendix C of long since fallen off, as just mentioned, the book (pp. 215-221), which contains so how a fire would have affected a rough summary of the pro-shroud them is moot. (8) The effect of water position. The "refutations Al-9" listed is also moot for the same reason (9) against the forgery position are all The nontraditional body image speaks invalid. Let's summarize quickly: more toward the medieval forgery than (l) Pigments or paint media have been against it. found on the shroud (claiming that How likely is it that all nine of the they haven't will not make the evi­ authors' responses to the forgery dence go away). (2) The 3-D charac­ position would be invalid when they teristics of the image are due to a claim to have reviewed the shroud "smoke and mirrors" set of corrections literature? Rather, it suggests a of the image made by the Shroud of conscious effort to deceive. This book Turin Research Project (STURP) re­ appears to be a last-gasp defense of searchers on the assumption that a body a largely discredited relic by some was contained in the shroud. That was, people who seem to be afraid that the of course, the very thing that they shroud may be destined to join the were trying to prove, and so it could thousands of other relics already not properly be assumed. (3) The discredited. superficial nature of the image is exactly what would be expected if Nickell's Dr. Stein is a physiologist and a CS1COP technique had been used. (4) The issue consultant.

One Side of the UFO Debate UFOs in the 1980s: The UFO Encyclopedia, Vol. I. By Jerome Clark. Apogee Books, Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, MI 48826. 1990. 234 pp. Cloth, $65.00. b2l JAMES E. McGAHA

he new UFO Encyclopedia, written Senior Research Associate), Omnigra- by Jerome Clark, was commis­ phics, Inc., and Apogee Books. This Tsioned by the Santa Barbara is the first in a projected three-volume Centre for Humanistic Studies (for set that will make up the complete whom J. Gordon Melton is listed as UFO encyclopedia by Clark. Accord-

418 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 ing to the advertising flyer: "Because in comparison, contained roughly 300 of the immediate need, Volume 1 was entries: one-third people, one-third designated to cover UFOs in the cases, and one-third features, i.e., 1980s and hence call attention to the about 100 in each category. current leadership in UFO research Another disappointment is the and the spectrum of important issues total lack of illustrations. Clark's presently before the ufological com­ Encyclopedia contains no photos or munity." artwork of any kind. One would think Indeed, this volume definitely is that at least in the case of the "Gulf concerned more with the politics of Breeze Sightings," which is treated promoting belief in UFO abductions sympathetically by Clark as a possible and an alleged government conspiracy example of extraterrestrial intelli­ to hide evidence of crashed saucers gence (or stupidity), we would see than with giving an honest appraisal what these possible spacecraft look of the whole situation. I was surprised like. Does not this "extraordinary to see that, out of 84 entries, we find development" warrant some kind of only 8 new cases to represent the last illustration? ten years! Especially after Jerry Clark's In a short entry on the Committee comment in The Fringes of Reason for the Scientific Investigation of (Harmony Books, New York, 1989, Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP is edited by Ted Schultz, p. 161) that characterized as "an effort by intel­ Ronald D. Story's "Encyclopedia of lectuals and academics to combat UFOs, [Doubleday: New York, 1980] unorthodox beliefs about extraordi­ is dated. The 1980s have proved to nary phenomena, including, among be an extraordinarily eventful time in many others, UFOs" (p. 49). This ufology, and a new reference work reviewer would submit that it is not correcting the old one's shortcomings so much the beliefs themselves that and covering the intervening decade's CSICOP wishes to combat as it is developments is sorely needed." What the lack of critical thought that turns out to be the "extraordinary" characteristically produces those developments of the past decade are beliefs. the escapades of Budd Hopkins, Whit­ If you are expecting to find an ley Strieber, and William Moore. objective and definitive reference Predictably, the longest entries are work that presents all arguments, pro on the "abduction phenomenon" (13 and con, so that you can make an pages), "crashes of UFOs" (18 pages), informed decision about UFOs, you and "extraterrestrial biological enti­ will not find it in Clark's book. All the ties, or EBEs" (25 pages), while the pro arguments are there, and most of "fantasy-prone personality hypothe­ today's leading proponents are patron­ sis," which truly represents a key ized to the extreme; but the critical explanatory element of the UFO side is so watered down, it is virtually phenomenon—especially with regard unrecognizable. to alleged abductees and contactees— is quickly dismissed in one and a half pages. James E. McGaha, founder of ihe Tucson The total of 84 entries breaks down Skeptics, is a serious amateur astronomer as follows: 26 people, 12 publications, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical 8 cases, 23 organizations, and 15 Society. He is a major in the U.S. Air features (or miscellaneous subjects). Force and aircraft commander of an EC- Story's original Encyclopedia of UFOs, 130 Hercules.

Summer 1991 419 Some Recent Books

The Davenport Conspiracy Revisited. fantastic tale, unknown, unfortu­ Marshall McKusick. Iowa State Uni­ nately, to most of the inhabitants of versity Press, Ames, IA 50010, 1991. what we now proudly call the United 193 pp. $22.95, cloth. A detailed States of America." exposition on the sensational archaeo­ logical mystery of the 1880s—alleged Health Schemes, Scams and Frauds. evidence in Iowa and of a lost , M.D., and the Edi­ civilization of Mound Builders of tors of Consumer Reports. Consumer European or Near Eastern origin, the Reports Books, 9180 LeSaint Dr., discovery that it was a hoax, and the Fairfield, OH 45014, 1991. 256 pp., scientific scandal and maturation of $13.95, paper. A classic look at archaeology that followed. Updated, and health frauds, newly since the original 1970 version, by revised and updated. Topics include chapters about a resurgence of inter­ fringe-medicine, vitamin pushers, est in the past two decades in similarly dubious cancer therapy, arthritis specious archaeological "discoveries" maltreatment, weight-control fads about North American prehistory— and fakes, the mercury-almagam speculative and demonstrably false scare, , and the overselling theories about exotic migrations from of water safety, plus general chapters Europe and the Middle East to ancient on quackery, fact vs. fiction, and 38 America. ways to avoid being "quacked."

Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side Interpreting Evolution: Darwin and of North American Prehistory. Ste­ Teilhard de Chardin. H. James Birx. phen Williams. University of Pennsyl­ Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., vania Press, Philadelphia, 1991. 432 1991. 326 pp. $29.95, cloth. Both a pp. $28.95, cloth; $14.95, paper. A critical survey of the history of Harvard achaeologist's thorough and evolutionary theory and an explora­ entertaining excursion into the "wild tion and comparison of the lives of the side"—archaeology based on fantasy eminent naturalist and the Jesuit rather than on carefully recovered paleontologist/philosopher and their prehistoric evidence. The author contrasting world-views. Also describes numerous interesting cases emphasizes the need to distinguish of "fantastic archaeology," from its between the fact of evolution and nineteenth-century golden age to its interpretations about its processes. still rambunctious present; shows how archaeology really works to Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for unravel the story of America's past; Young Skeptics. Dan Barker. Illus­ and argues that the truly fantastic past trated by Brian Strassburg. Prome­ is in the hard-won knowledge of the theus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 1991. 80 first inhabitants of North America pp. $11.95, paper. The story of ten- from Pleistocene times to the arrival year-old Andrea, a skeptic confronted of the Spaniards—"a unique and with her friend's story of ghosts and

420 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 a haunted house, is intended to teach ophy, Vancouver Community Col­ the essentials of skepticism to children lege, 100 W. 49th Ave., Vancouver, in simple language and entertaining B.C. V5Y 2Z6, Canada, 1991. 125 pp. style. $9.00, paper. A summary of the claims made about the Indian guru and holy Myth Makers: Epigraphic Illusion in man Sri Sathya Sai Baba and of America. Edited by James P. Whittall. various investigations of them. Early Sites Research Society, Long Hill, Rowley, MA 01969, 1990. 90 pp. Science in a Nanosecond: Illustrated $12, paper. A collection of papers on Answers to 100 Basic Science Ques­ epigraphic hoaxes. Subjects include tions. James A. Haught. Illustrated by the Roanoke Stones hoax, the Ken­ Gary T. Hahn. Prometheus Books, tucky Ogam, a "Semitic inscription" Buffalo, N.Y., 1991. 110 pp. $12.95, in Maine, and the Los Lunas, New paper. Simple, illustrated answers to Mexico, trailstone fraud. the kinds of questions curious young people ask about the world around Psychology of the Unconscious: them: Why is the sky blue? What is Mesmer, Janet, Freud, Jung, and light? What holds an airplane up? Current Issues. William L. Kelly. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., The Transcendental Temptation: A 1991. 210 pp. $27.95, cloth. The Critique of Religion and the Para­ human unconscious remains a vast, normal. Paul Kurtz. Prometheus virtually uncharted territory in psy­ Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 1991. 500 pp. chology. Here a psychotherapist and $16.95, paper. The first paperback Georgetown University psychologist edition of this major philosophical and brings the subject to life by tracing empirical examination of the seductive the paths of four major trailblazers. lure of belief systems that satisfy the He follows that with a discussion of wish for certainty, security, and recent findings in five major areas of salvation. The book has received wide research: mind-body (psychosomatic) acclaim and provoked controversy. illnesses, sleep disorders, dream ther­ Our reviewer (Winter 1987-88) called apy, and parapsychology. it "an excellent book" and strongly recommended it "to all who place a Sai Baba's Miracles: An Overview. high value on rationality." Edited by Dale Beyerstein. Dale Beyerstein, Department of Philos­ —Kendrick Frazier

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Summer 1991 421 Articles Of Note

Anderson, Philip W. "On the Nature science-related rumor has spread of Physical Laws." Physics Today, through Latin America in the past five December 1990, p. 9. Princeton phys­ years, namely, that children are being icist addresses distortions/misunder­ smuggled into the United States to be standings about science and killed for their organs. This article determinism. Emphasizes the aston­ traces the legend's history and its ishing precision with which funda­ folklore and propaganda elements. mental constants can be measured and Inherent in the rumor are fears of strongly critcizes those seeking to American power and of medical tech­ demonstrate an experimental effect of nology. mind on matter who claim positive results with marginal data. Close, Frank. "Cold Fusion I: The Discovery That Never Was." New Barrett, Stephen, M.D. "Quack, Scientist, January 19, 1991, pp. 46-50. Quack." American Health, March Fascinating, detailed, critical narrative 1991, pp. 59-63. Quackery and health report on the cold-fusion controversy frauds aren't as easy to spot as you by a physicist who became involved might think. Barrett presents 30 in the unsuccessful efforts to confirm succinct strategies "to help you avoid the dramatic "discovery." getting quacked." "Cold Fusion—One Year Later." Baskin, Yvonne. "Creationist School Energy & Technology Review, 1-25, Lives On." Science, 251:738, February October 1990. A special issue of the 15, 1991. News & Comment report Lawrence Livermore National Labor­ on the California Department of atory journal with two unsigned Education's battle to revoke the articles and a roundtable discussion on Institute for Creation Research's cold fusion. One article is supposedly license to grant master's degrees for a "history" of cold fusion, but says creationist theses. little about pre-1989 work. The second article is about cold-fusion Blackmore, Susan. "Physics on the experiments at LLNL. In the discus­ Brain." New Scientist, January 5,1991, sion, laboratory scientists talk about p. 53. After attending a strange the experiments, the social pheno­ colloquium on "The Science of Con­ menon, and "." sciousness," psychologist Blackmore ponders the subjective nature of the Davidson, Keay. "What Makes Us subject. Who We Are?" Image (San Francisco Examiner). January 20, 1991, pp. 11- Campion-Vincent, Veronique. "The 15. Science journalist attempts to sort Baby Parts Story: A New Latin fact from fiction and politics from American Legend." Western Folklore, science in the nature vs. nurture 49(l):9-25, January 1990. A horrific debate.

422 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Ellis, Bill. "The Devil-Worshippers at 91, pp. 55-57. Essay about parapsy- the Prom: Rumor-Panic as Therapeu­ chologist John Beloff and review of tic Magic." Western Folklore, 49(1):27- Beloff's The Relentless Question: Reflec­ 49, January 1990. Suicide, legends of tions on the Paranormal. satanic cults, and normal teenage rebellion mixed together in some Grossman, Wendy. "May the Force Be Eastern towns in 1987 With Us." New Scientist, March 2, when rumors spread that Satanists 1991, p. 59. Column protests the were going to kill people at local media's notion of "balance" regarding proms. their reports on paranormal claims: usually such claims get published "Faith Surgery." Sentinel, 26(6):41, without skeptical criticism, while 1990. A brief article about a "faith skeptical views are rarely reported therapy" session conducted by Cana­ without comment from "psychics." dian military chaplains at the National TV and radio present particular Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa. problems. She writes: "Paranormal The service was declared a success but claims . . . are presented as if they no examples of results were offered. were social issues rather than as scientific ones. ... A program about Furnham, Adrian. "Hooked on Hor­ a scientific issue presents evidence. oscopes." New Scientist, January 26, Programs about social issues, on the 1991, pp. 33-36. Psychologist explores other hand, have debates, and people why horoscopes are so popular and 'are entitled to' their opinions." Yet, why, despite the overwhelming scien­ notes Grossman, paranormal claims tific evidence that astrology and are assertions of fact, not opinion, and are nonsense, it is so should be "verified by experimen­ difficult to dissuade believers. Dis­ tation." cusses the Barnum effect, the "Pol- lyanna principle," and selective Klass, Philip J. "Did the U.S. Govern­ memory, all of which work to have ment Set Up a Top Secret UFO us emphasize and recall positive Working Group?" Scientific American, statements about ourselves and de- February 1991. Investigative review emphasize and forget negative showing the errors and falsehoods in statements. Howard Blum's Out There; provides some additional detail not in Klass's Gagne, Helene, and Stuart J. McKel- shorter review in SI, Winter 1991. vie. "Effects of Paranormal Beliefs on Response Bias and Self-Assessment of Kottmeyer, Martin S. "Dying Worlds, Performance in a Signal Detection Dying Selves" UFO Brigantia (U.K.), Task." Australian Journal of Psychology, January 1991, pp. 24-32. World- 42(2):187-195, August 1990. People destruction fantasies are frequently who believe in ESP tend to rate encountered in the occult literature. themselves higher on the accomplish­ The author explores how psychology ment of psi-related tasks than non- has attempted to account for them. believers. Does this self-confidence carry over to tasks not related to psi? Lamolinara, Guy. "A Television Show In this experiment it did not. Production Shrouded in Mystery." Library of Congress Information Bulletin, Gardner, Martin. "The Search for the 49(20):342, October 8, 1990. A brief Holy Grail." Free Inquiry, Winter 1990/ report on the production of a tele-

Summer 1991 423 vision show on Houdini for the 49(l):83-98, January 1990. Milligan Library of Congress's Global Library reports on various theories about Project, and the unusual circumstan­ , suggesting that belief in a ces that supposedly made the produc­ UFO connection may be undermining ers feel Houdini was haunting them. the more familiar "terrestrial" hypothesis. Lippert, Randy. "The Construction of Satanism as a Social Problem in Palsson, Gisli, and E. Paul Durren- Canada." Canadian Journal of Sociology, berger. "Systems of Production and 15(4):417-440, Fall 1990. Satanism is Social Disclosure: The Skipper Effect perceived as a growing problem in Revisited." American Anthropologist, Canada, just as it has been in the U.S. 92(1):130-141, March 1990. Do the Lippert analyzes the process by which skill, luck, or hunches of the ship's the issue has been "legitimized" by captain affect the size of the fishing media reports, official statements, etc. boat's catch? The authors compare studies in Iceland, where this belief is Mahoney, William. "MCA Testing widely held, with studies in Canada Strip on Supernatural." Electronic and the U.S. Results were inconclu­ Media, 9(47):8, November 19, 1990. sive. They also consider the causes and MCA television is making plans for results of such beliefs. a series called "Report from the Unknown," about supernatural and Pool, Robert. "Science Literacy: The paranormal phenomena. If it goes into Enemy Is Us." Science, 251:266-267, production it will be a half-hour long January 18, 1991. Report stimulated and intended to run five shows a week by work of scientists Robert Hazen late at night. and James Trefil (authors of new book Science Matters: Achieving Science McKelvie, Stuart J. "Student Accep­ Literacy) showing that scientific illiter­ tance of a Generalized Personality acy extends to science itself: scientists Description." Handbook of Replication often know little or nothing about Research in the Social and Behavioral fields of science outside their own. Sciences. James W. Neuliep, editor (a Special Issue of the Journal of Social Read, Allen Walker. "Folk Criticism Behavior and Personality, vol. 5, no. 4 of Religiosity in the Graffiti of New (1990), pp. 92-96. Psychologist York City." Maledicta, 10:15-30,1990. obtained handwriting samples from Folklorist studying graffiti finds a 58 psychology students, who then considerable element of skepticism in received a generalized personality folk attitudes. profile. They rated the sketch as a good or very good description of Rooney, Karen J. "Controversial themselves, and their rating of belief Therapies: A Review and Critique." in graphology increased relative to a Intervention in School and Clinic, control group who did not receive the 26(3):134-142, January 1991. An sketch. Results support Forer's 1949 extensively researched article on claim that belief in the validity of a controversial techniques being used test can be influenced by generalized on children with various learning feedback. disorders. Rooney discusses the use of tinted lenses, orthomolecular diets, Milligan, Linda. "The 'Truth' About drug treatment for dyslexia, and visual the Bigfoot Legend." Western Folklore, training techniques. She identifies the

424 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 research done (or not done) in support Folklore, 49(l):51-81, January 1990. of each therapy and provides lists of Victor begins with a particular flap of questions for anyone considering satanic-cult rumors but then attempts them. to show a pattern: how similar rumors spread about Christians in the Roman Rosenblatt, Roger. "A Woman At era, about Jews in the Middle Ages, Christmas." Life, 13(15):43, December and so on. He also recalls cattle 1990. A brief article about Rita Swan, mutilations, the Procter & Gamble who dropped out of Christian Science logo, and child-care Satanism rumors. and founded CHILD (Children's Health Care Is a Legal Duty) after her Wintsch, Susan. "You'd Think You son died from meningitis. Were Thinking." Mosaic, 21(3):34-48, Fall 1990. A report on current studies Thomas, D. J. B. "Near-death Expe­ of the cognitive characteristics of riences." The Lancet, 337:116, January dolphins. Experiments are attempting 12, 1991. Letter by physician giving to evaluate cetaceans' ability to under­ reasons for skepticism about claims of stand and use symbols and language. NDEs during life-threatening medical Skeptical views and ethical consider­ situations. ations are also discussed.

Victor, Jeffrey. "Satanic Cult Rumors —Kendrick Frazier and As Contemporary Legend." Western Robert Lopresti

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Teaching the Way Of Science MICHAEL WIRTH

or about 12 years, I've been are presented with readings on Uri teaching a course designed spe­ Geller's "paranormal" powers. All the Fcifically to overcome the dislike sources appear (to the class) to be very and ignorance of science by college reliable: all are Ph.D. physicists (Tay­ students that Vincent Safuto recently lor, Sarfatti, Targ, and Puthoff in their wrote about in this column (Winter Nature paper). Without lying or ex­ 1991). Now called "The Way of pressing an opinion, those of us who Science" (WOS for short), the course teach WOS subtly try to convince the has three primary goals (and it appar­ students that Geller may well be ently succeeds very well in these, if breaking the laws of physics. When the student questionnaires are to be the readings and discussions have believed). The first aim is to reinterest come to a close, most of the class (fre­ students in science and to overcome quently 100 percent) will say that the their antagonism. The second is to evidence for "paranormal" powers is make them think more like scientists, convincing and solid. that is, to weigh evidence in the light The material that follows this of skeptical/rational principles asso­ portion of WOS reveals that they have ciated with good science. The third been "taken." They read Randi on goal is to increase their knowledge of Geller and Project Alpha and many fundamental "facts" and unifying chapters from Paranormal Borderlands theories of the natural sciences (evo­ of Science, see videos of Randi in lution, plate tectonics, etc.). Australia (which includes a short The course begins with a series of metal-bending demonstration) and on statements from a variety of sources, the (Nova). When ranging from the National Enquirer to the students realize that they have legitimate scientific journals. The been following a false trail, some get students are asked to discuss the confused, some get amused, but validity of the statements. They soon almost all become fascinated. We then realize that some "facts" that everyone spend time talking about the nature "knows are true" are simply rubbish of good evidence (Occam's Razor, and that some strange and extraor­ "extraordinary claims need extraordi­ dinary claims are, indeed, good nary evidence," repeatability, etc.). science. Once convinced that they From then on, WOS maintains the need to keep an open mind, we move themes of strong vs. weak evidence into the first major unit of the and how there is frequently conflict semester: a "con job." The students over conclusions. This conflict is

428 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 sometimes within the scien­ tific community, and fre­ quently between scientists and nonscientists. We begin by reading "Asimov's Cor­ ollary," to point out that the public is almost always wrong when choosing sides in scientific "heresies." We then move to the develop­ ment of plate-tectonic the­ ory (conflict within the scientific discipline) and then to and cre- ationism (conflict between scientists and nonscientists, with some minor parallels thrown in for "spice" (lae- trile, the "war on drugs," etc.). Most of our students are unaware of the evolu­ tion/creation problem, and of the effect that creation­ ists have had on their own education. For many of- them, the revelation is disturbing. In this segment ends, I try to spend one addition, most students get their first class looking back over the semester real understanding of the fact and and comparing science, religion, and processes of evolution in this art as ways of knowing. sequence. Two of us now teach multiple small After these two topics, we move sections of WOS as part of the new to the conflict over environmental freshman general-education require­ disaster, so long predicted by many ment. (I am a biologist; the other is biologists and ignored or denied by the a physicist.) We will soon have a third public. We concentrate on one effect colleague teaching additional sections. only (time is very limited): the evi­ It's a rather difficult course to teach. dence for global warming. (Covering (Few of us are trained in so many this topic also allows the faculty to talk different areas of science.) In spite of about some basic chemistry, photo­ this difficulty, WOS has been success­ synthesis, respiration, etc.) ful; even students who fail frequently The course finishes by coming full- say that they now appreciate (and circle, in a sense. We began with even like) science and that their way extraordinary claims (the "paranor­ of thinking has been changed. mal") and we return to ideas that are If any readers of the SKEPTICAL even stranger and more fascinating: INQUIRER would like a syllabus for the birth, expansion, and death of the WOS, I'd be happy to oblige. universe; Einsteinian relativity; black holes; etc. Now, however, they see Michael Wirth leaches biology in the that these "affronts to common sense" Natural Science Division, New England have good supporting evidence. When College, Henniker, NH 03242.

Summer 1991 429 The Symbolic Significance Of Modern Myths ROBERT BARTHOLOMEW

n an effort to understand the tially, to the point where, ironically, widespread persistence of modern contemporary "encounters" resemble I myths, like those about UFOs and accounts attributed to early religious Bigfoot, it can be illuminating to prophets and magical fairy stories. In examine their symbolic function by the latter instance, thousands claimed tracing the evolution of earlier motifs. to have seen fairies while others were This can be achieved by analyzing such temporarily abducted to Fairyland. myths as legitimate, albeit erroneous, Hard evidence included photographs, social realities—the same status footprints, fairy rings, and eyewitness afforded by anthropologists to head­ testimony. In the former case, wit­ hunting and beliefs in nesses were given a glimpse of heaven many "primitive" societies. and offered the prospect of eternal life. In the case of UFOs, their power Today, UFOnauts typically are pur­ and function have increased exponen­ ported to possess extremely long,

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430 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 sometimes immortal lifespans, often include its ability to become partially hailing from a Utopian world that has transparent, suddenly vanish or extinguished disease and war through appear, change shape, withstand bul­ technological and philosophical lets and motor vehicle crashes, even evolution. communicate telepathically. "Well- During the past 25 years a new documented" Bigfoot-related abduc­ motif has emerged involving the tion and possession cases also exist. association between Bigfoot-type It is no coincidence that the annoy­ creatures and UFOs, fostering popular ing persistent annual sightings of speculation that Bigfoot is an extra­ "monsters" and "little green men" terrestrial. During this period, UFO- parallel the secularization of the abduction accounts increasingly depict American collective unconscious, Bigfoot-like UFOnauts. Previously seeking to resurrect the power and Bigfoot was portrayed as a shy, function of the gods within a plausible, nocturnal man-beast, a "noble savage" rationalistic framework. While cause- living in harmony with nature. But and-effect, social, psychological, and while the legendary Bigfoot possesses natural-science explanations for UFO extraordinary physical abilities and Bigfoot sightings and beliefs have (strength, speed, agility, keen senses), proved fruitful, these myths remain it is clearly of a natural, secular order. alive and well. Stressing the symbolic The linking of Bigfoot with UFOs aspects of why we need our monsters dramatically elevates the power and and men from Mars provides us with function of this previously terrestrial a significant tool that has yet to be creature into the realm of the other­ fully utilized in educating the misin­ worldly. Concordantly, Bigfoot's pow­ formed within a historical perspective. ers now rival those once reserved for fairies, apparitions, and gods. Super­ Robert Bartholomew is a sociologist at the natural qualities attributed to Bigfoot Flinders University of South Australia.

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Summer 1991 431 Back Issues of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 15% discount on orders of $100 or more ($6.25 for each copy. To order, use reply card insert.) SPRING 1991 (vol. 15, no. 3): Special report: Hi-fi mystery, Gardner. pseudoscience, Davis. Searching for Extraterrestrial FALL 1989 (vol. 14, no. 1): Myths about science, Intelligence: An interview with Thomas R. McDonough. Rothman. The relativity of wrong, Asimov. Richard Getting smart about getting smarts, Faulkes. Carrying Feynman on . Luis Alvarez and the the war into the never-never land of psi: Part 1, Gill. explorer's quest, Muller. The two cultures, Jones. The Satanic cult 'survivor' stories, Victor. 'Old-solved 'top-secret UFO papers' NSA won't release, Klass. The mysteries': The Kecksburg incident, Young. Penn & metaphysics of Murphy's Law, Price. The Unicorn at Teller, the magical iconoclasts, Gordon. Magic, large, Gardner. medicine, and metaphysics in Nigeria, Roder. What's SUMMER 1989 (vol. 13, no. 4): The New Age—An wrong with science education? Look at the family, Examination: The New Age in perspective, Kurtz. A Eve. Three curious research projects, Gardner. New Age reflection in the magic mirror of science, WINTER 1991 (vol. IS, no. 2): Special report / Gallup O'Hara. The New Age: The need for myth in an age poll: Belief in paranormal phenomena, Gallup and of science, Schultz. Channeling, Alcock. The psychology Newport. Science and self-government, Piel. West Bank of channeling. Reed, 'Entities' in the linguistic collective hysteria episode, Stewart. Acceptance of minefield, Thomason. Crystals, Lawrence. Consumer personality test results, Thiriart. Belief in astrology: culture and the New Age, Rosen. The Shirley MacLaine A test of the Barnum effect, French, Fowler, McCarthy,phenomenon , Gordon. Special report: California court and Peers. A test of using signal-detection, jails psychic surgeon, Brenneman, McKelvie and Gagne. Intercessory prayer as medical SPRING 1989 (vol. 13, no. 3): High school biology treatment? Wittmer and Zimmerman. Tipler's Omega teachers and pseudoscientific belief, Eve and Dunn. Point theory, Martin Gardner. Evidence for Bigfoot? Dennett. Alleged pore structure FALL 1990 (vol. 15, no. 1): Neural Organization in Sasquatch footprints, Freeland and Rowe. The lore Technique: Treatment or Torture, Worrall. The of , Stein. Levitation 'miracles' in India, Spooks of Quantum Mechanics, Stenger. Science and Premanand. Science, pseudoscience, and the cloth of Sir William Crookes, Hoffmaster. The 'N' Machine, Turin, Nickell. Rather than just debunking, encourage Gumming. Biological Cycles and Rhythms vs. Bior- people to think, Seckel. MJ-12 papers 'authenticated'? hythms, Wheeler. The Mysterious Finger-Lift Levita- Klass. A patently false patent myth, Sass. tion, Gardner. 1990 CSICOP Conference. WINTER 1989 (vol. 13, no. 2): Special report: The SUMMER 1990 (vol. 14, no. 4): Ghosts make news: 'remembering water' controversy, Gardner and Randi; How four newspapers report psychic phenomena, Bibliographic guide to the 'dilution controversy.' Klare. Thinking critically and creatively. Wade and Pathologies of science, , and modern Tavris. Police pursuit of Satanic crime. Part 2, Hicks. psychophysics, Jensen. A reaction-time test of ESP and Order out of chaos in survival research, Berger. precognition, Hines and Dennison. Chinese psychic's pill- Piltdown, paradigms, and the paranormal, Feder. bottle demonstration, Wu Xiaoping. The Kirlian Auras: Searching for the light, Loftin. Biorhythms and technique, Watkins and Bickel. Certainty and proof in the timing of death, Lester. Relativism in science, creationist thought, Leferriere. Gardner. FALL 1988 (vol. 13, no. 1): Special report: Astrology SPRING 1990 (vol. 14, no. 3): Why we need to and the presidency, Kurtz and Bob. Improving Human understand science, Sagan. The crisis in pre-college Performance: What about parapsychology? Frazier. science and math education, Seaborg. Police pursuit of The China syndrome: Further reflections on the satanic crime, Part 1, Hicks. The spread of satanic- paranormal in China, Kurtz. Backward masking, cult rumors, Victor. Lying about polygraph tests, Mclver. The validity of graphological analysis, Furnham. Shneour. Worldwide disasters and phase, Kelly, The intellectual revolt against science, Grove. Reich Saklofske, and Culver. St. George and the dragon of the rainmaker, Gardner. creationism, Gardner. SUMMER 1988 (vol. 12, no. 4): Testing psi claims WINTER 1990 (vol. 14, no. 2): The new catastro- in China, Kurtz, Alcock, Frazier, Karr, Klass, and Randi. phism, Morrison and Chapman. A field guide to critical The appeal of the occult: Some thoughts on history, thinking, Lett. Cold fusion: A case history in 'wishful religion, and science, Stevens. Hypnosis and reincar­ science'? Rothman. The airship hysteria of 1896-97, nation, Venn. Pitfalls of perception, Wheeler. Wegener Bartholomew. Newspaper editors and the creation- and pseudoscience: Some misconceptions, Edelman. An evolution controversy, Zimmerman. Special report: investigation of psychic crime-busting, Emery. High­ New evidence of MJ-12 hoax, Klass.Th e great Urantia flying health quackery. Hints. The bar-code beast, (continued on next page) Keith. Occam's Razor and the nutshell earth, Some remote-viewing recollections, Weinberg. Science, Gardner. mysteries, and the quest for evidence, Gardner. SPRING 1988 (vol. 12, no. 3): Neuropathology and SPRING 1986 (vol. 10, no. 3): The perennial fringe, the legacy of spiritual possession, Beyerstein. Varieties Asimov. The uses of credulity, de Camp. Night walkers of alien experience, Ellis. Alien-abduction claims and and mystery mongers, Sagan. CSICOP after ten years, standards of inquiry (excerpts from Milton Rosen­ Kurtz. Crash of the crashed-saucers claim, Klass. A berg's radio talk-show with guests Charles Gruder, study of the Kirlian effect, Watkins and Bickel. Ancient Martin Orne, and Budd Hopkins). The MJ-12 Papers: tales and space-age myths of creationist evangelism, Part 2, Klass. Doomsday: The May 2000 prediction, Mclver. Creationism's debt to George McCready Price, Meeus. My visit to the Nevada Clinic, Barrett. Morphic Gardner. resonance in silicon chips, Varela and Letelier. Abigail's WINTER 1985-86 (vol. 10, no. 2): The moon was full anomalous apparition, Durm. The riddle of the and nothing happened, Kelly, Rotton, and Culver. Psychic Colorado ghost lights. Bunch and While. The obligation studies: The Soviet dilemma, Ebon. The psycho- to disclose fraud, Gardner. pathology of fringe medicine, Sabbagh. Computers and WINTER 1987-88 (vol. 12, no. 2): The MJ-12 papers: rational thought, Spangenburg and Moser. Psi Part I, Philip ]. Klass. The aliens among us: Hypnotic researchers' inattention to conjuring, Gardner. regression revisited. Baker. The brain and conscious­ FALL 1985 (vol. 10, no. 1): Investigations of fire- ness: Implications for psi, Beyerstein. Past-life hypnotic walking, Leikind and McCarthy. Firewalking: reality or regression, Spanos. Fantasizing under hypnosis, Reveen. illusion, Dennett. Myth of alpha consciousness, The verdict on creationism, Gould. Irving Kristol and Beyerstein. Spirit-rapping unmasked, V. Bullough. The the facts of life, Gardner. Saguaro incident, Taylor and Dennett. The great stone FALL 1987 (vol. 12, no. 1): The burden of skepticism, face, Gardner. Sagan. Is there intelligent life on Earth? Kurtz. Medical SUMMER 1985 (vol. 9, no. 4): Guardian astrology Controversies: Chiropractic, Jarvis; Homeopathy, study, Dean, Kelly, Rotton, and Saklofske. Astrology and Barrett, M.D.; Alternative therapies, ]ones; Quackery, the commodity market, Rotton. The hundredth Pepper. Catching Geller in the act, Emery. The third monkey phenomenon, Amundson. Responsibilities of eye, Gardner. Special Report: CSICOP's 1987 the media, Kurtz. 'Lucy' out of context, Albert. The conference. debunking club, Gardner. SUMMER 1987 (vol. 11, no. 4): Incredible cremations: SPRING 1985 (vol. 9, no. 3): Columbus poltergeist: Investigating combustion deaths, Nickell and Fischer. I, Randi. Moon and murder in Cleveland, Sanduleak. Subliminal deception. Creed. Past tongues remem­ Image of Guadalupe, Nickell and Fischer. Radar UFOs, bered? Thomason. Is the universe improbable? Shotwell. Klass. , McCoy. Deception by patients, Psychics, computers, and psychic computers, Easton. Pankralz. Communication in nature, Orstan. Relevance Pseudoscience and children's fantasies, Evans. of belief systems, Gardner. Thoughts on science and superstrings, Gardner. Special WINTER 1984-85 (vol. 9, no. 2): The muddled 'Mind Reports: JAL pilot's UFO report, Klass; Unmasking Race,' Hyman. Searches for the Loch Ness monster, psychic Jason Michaels, Busch. Razdan and Kielar. Final interview with Milbourne SPRING 1987 (vol. 11, no. 3): The elusive open mind: Christopher, Dennett. Retest of astrologer John Ten years of negative research in parapsychology, McCall, lanna and Tolbert. 'Mind Race,' Gardner. Blackmore. Does astrology need to be true? Part 2: The FALL 1984 (vol. 9, no. 1): Quantum theory and the answer is no, Dean. Magic, science, and metascience: paranormal, Shore. What is pseudoscience? Bunge. The Some notes on perception, D. Sagan. Velikovsky's new philosophy of science and the 'paranormal,' interpretation of the evidence offered by China, to. Toulmin. An eye-opening double encounter, Martin. Anomalies of Chip Arp, Gardner. Similarities between identical twins and between WINTER 1986-87 (vol. 11, no. 2): Case study of West unrelated people, Wyatt et al. Effectiveness of a reading Pittston 'haunted' house, Kurtz. Science, creationism program on paranormal belief, Woods, Pseudoscien- and the Supreme Court, Seckel, with statements by tific beliefs of 6th-graders, A. S. and S. ]. Adelman. Ayala, Gould, and Gell-Mann. The great East Coast UFO Koestler money down the psi-drain, Gardner. of August 1986, Oberg. Does astrology need to be SUMMER 1984 (vol. 8, no. 4): Parapsychology's past true? Part 1, Dean. Homing abilities of bees, cats, and eight years, Alcock. The evidence for ESP, C. E. M. people, Randi. The EPR paradox and , Hansel. $110,000 dowsing challenge, Randi. Sir Oliver Gardner. Followups: On fringe literature, Bauer; on Lodge and the spiritualists, Hoffmaster. Misperception, Martin Gardner and Daniel Home, Beloff. folk belief, and the occult, Connor. Psychology and FALL 1986 (vol. 11, no. 1): The path ahead: Oppor­ UFOs, Simon. Freud and Fliess, Gardner. tunities, challenges, and an expanded view, Frazier. SPRING 1984 (vol. 8, no. 3): Belief in the paranormal Exposing the faith-healers, Steiner. Was Antarctica worldwide: Mexico, Mendez-Acosla; Netherlands, Hoe- mapped by the ancients? jolly. Folk remedies and bens; U.K., Hutchinson; Australia, Smith; Canada, Gordon; human belief-systems, Reuter. Dentistry and pseudo- France, Rouze. Debunking, neutrality, and skepticism science, Dodes. Atmospheric electricity, ions, and in science, Kurtz. University course reduces para­ pseudoscience, Dolezalek. Noah's ark and ancient normal belief. Gray. The Gribbin effect, Roder. Proving astronauts, Harrold and Eve. The Woodbridge UFO negatives, Pasquarello. MacLaine, McTaggart, and incident, Ridpath. How to bust a ghost. Baker. The McPherson, Gardner. unorthodox conjectures of Tommy Gold, Gardner. WINTER 1983-84 (vol. 8, no. 2): Sense and nonsense SUMMER 1986 (vol. 10, no. 4): Occam's razor, Shneour. in parapsychology, Hoebens. Magicians, scientists, and Clever Hans redivivus, Sebeok. Parapsychology psychics, Ganoe and Kirwan. New dowsing experiment, miracles, and repeatability. Flew. The Condon UFO Martin. The effect of TM on weather, Trumpy. The study, Klass. Four decades of fringe literature, Dutch. haunting of the Ivan Vassilli, Sheaffer. Venus and Veli- kovsky, Forrest. Magicians in the psi lab, Gardner. articles by Oberg, Bauer, Frazier. Academia and the FALL 1983 (vol. 8, no. 1): Creationist pseudoscience, occult, Greenwell. Belief in ESP among psychologists, Schadewald. Project Alpha: Part 2, Randi. Forecasting Padgett, Benassi, and Singer. Bigfoot on the loose, Kurtz. radio quality by the planets, Dean. Reduction in Parental expectations of miracles, Steiner. Downfall of paranormal belief in college course, Tobacyk. Huma­ a would-be psychic, McBurney and Greenberg. Para­ nistic astrology, Kelly and Krutzen. psychology research, Mishlove. SUMMER 1983 (vol. 7, no. 4): Project Alpha: Part SUMMER 1980 (vol. 4, no. 4): , Bainbridge 1, Randi. Goodman's 'American Genesis,' Feder. Battling and Stark. Psychic archaeology, Feder. Voice stress on the airwaves, Slavsky. Rhode Island UFO film, Emery. analysis, Klass. Follow-up on the 'Mars effect,' Landmark PK hoax, Gardner. Evolution vs. creationism, and the Cottrell tests. SPRING 1983 (vol. 7, no. 3): , Worrall. The SPRING 1980 (vol. 4, no. 3): Belief in ESP, Morris. Nazca drawings revisited, Nickell. People's Almanac UFO hoax, Simpson. Don Juan vs. Piltdown man, de predictions, Donnelly. Test of , Dlhopolsky. Mille. Tiptoeing beyond Darwin, Greenwell. Conjurors Pseudoscience in the name of the university, Lederer and the psi scene, Randi. Follow-up on the Cottrell and Singer. tests. WINTER 1982-83 (vol. 7, no. 2): , Part. The WINTER 1979-80 (vol. 4, no. 2): The 'Mars effect' great SRI die mystery, Gardner. The 'monster' tree- — articles by Kurtz, Zelen, and Abell; Rawlins; Michel and trunk of Loch Ness, Campbell. UFOs and the not-so- Francoise Gauquelin. How I was debunked, Hoebens. The friendly skies, Klass. In defense of skepticism, Reber. metal bending of Professor Taylor, Gardner. Science, FALL 1982 (vol. 7, no. 1): The prophecies of Nostra­ intuition, and ESP, Bauslaugh. damus, Cazeau. Prophet of all seasons, James Randi. FALL 1979 (vol. 4, no. l): A test of dowsing, Randi. Revival of Nostradamitis, Hoebens. Unsolved mysteries Science and evolution, Godfrey. Television pseudo- and extraordinary phenomena. Gill. Clearing the air documentaries, Bainbridge. New disciples of the para­ about psi, Randi. A skotography scam, Randi. normal, Kurtz. UFO or UAA, Standen. The lost panda, SUMMER 1982 (vol. 6, no. 4): Remote-viewing, Marks. van Kampen. Edgar Cayce, Randi. Radio disturbances and planetary positions, Meeus. SUMMER 1979 (vol. 3, no. 4): The moon and the Divining in Australia, Smith. "Great Lakes Triangle," birthrate, Abell and Greenspan. Biorhythms, Hints. 'Cold Cena. Skepticism, closed-mindedness, and science fic­ reading,' Randi. Teacher, student, and the paranormal, tion, Beyerstein. Followup on ESP logic, Hardin and Morris Krai. Encounter with a sorcerer, Sack. and Gendin. SPRING 1979 (vol. 3, no. 3): Near-death experiences, SPRING 1982 (vol. 6, no. 3): The Shroud of Turin, Alcock. Television tests of Musuaki Kiyota, Scott and Mueller. Shroud image, McCrone. Science, the public, Hutchinson. The conversion of J. Allen Hynek, Klass. and the Shroud, Schafersman. Zodiac and personality, Asimov's corollary, Asimov. Gauquelin. Followup on quantum PK, Hansel. WINTER 1978-79 (vol. 3, no. 2): Is parapsychology WINTER 1981-82 (vol. 6, no. 2): On coincidences, a science? Kurtz. Chariots of the gullible, Bainbridge. Ruma Falk. Croiset: Part 2, Hoebens. Scientific crea- The Tunguska event, Oberg. Space travel in Bronze tionism, Schadewald. Follow-up on 'Mars effect,' Rawlins, Age China, Keightley. responses by C5ICOP Council and Abell and Kurtz. FALL 1978 (vol. 3, no. 1): An empirical test of astrol­ FALL 1981 (vol. 6, no. 1): : Part 1, ogy, Bastedo. Astronauts and UFOs, Oberg. Sleight of Hoebens. Test of perceived horoscope accuracy, Lackey. tongue, Schwartz. The Sirius "mystery," Ridpath. Planetary positions and radio propagation, lanna and SPRING/SUMMER 1978 (vol. 2, no. 2): Tests of three Margolin. Bermuda Triangle, 1981, Dennett. Observa­ psychics, Randi. Biorhythms, Bainbridge. Plant percep­ tion of a psychic, Mclntyre. tion, Kmetz. Anthropology beyond the fringe. Cole. SUMMER 1981 (vol. 5, no. 4): Investigation of 'psy- NASA and UFOs, Klass. A second Einstein ESP letter, ;hics,' Randi. ESP: A conceptual analysis, Gendin. The Gardner. jxtroversion-introversion astrological effect, Kelly and FALL/WINTER 1977 (vol. 2, no. 1): Von Daniken, Story, Gaklofske. Art, science, and paranormalism, Habercom. The Bermuda Triangle, Kusche. Pseudoscience at Profitable nightmare, Wells. A Maltese cross in the Science Digest, Oberg and Sheaffer. Einstein and ESP, \egean? Loftin. Gardner. N-rays and UFOs, Klass. Secrets of the 5PRING 1981 (vol. 5, no. 3): Hypnosis and UFO psychics, Rawlins. abductions, Klass. Hypnosis not a truth serum, Hilgard. SPRING/SUMMER 1977 (vol. 1, no. 2): Uri Geller, H. Schmidt's PK experiments, Hansel. Further Marks and Kammann. , Hyman. Tran­ comments on Schmidt's experiments, Hyman. Atlan- scendental Meditation, Woodrum. A statistical tean road, Randi. Deciphering ancient America, test of astrology, McGervey. Cattle mutilations, McKusick. A sense of the ridiculous. Lord. Stewart. WINTER 1980-81 (vol. 5, no. 2): Fooling some people FALL/WINTER 1976 (vol. 1, no. 1): , Wallis. all the time, Singer and Benassi. Recent Psychics and clairvoyance, Fine. "Objections to developments, Schadewald. National Enquirer astrology Astrology," Westrum. Astronomers and astro­ study, Mechler, McDaniel, and Mulloy. Science and the physicists as astrology critics, Kurtz and Nisbet. mountain peak, Asimov. Biorhythms and sports, Fix. Von Daniken's chariots, FALL 1980 (vol. 5, no. 1): The Velikovsky affair — Omohundro. Letters to the Editor^ 'Sr^'iffi- :-\.'iOL%-d . •* '~*..7Z*I'5s38hS\

Gallup Poll of look up my horoscope, but this shouldn't paranormal belief be taken as an index to my belief in astrology either. In reading George Gallup and Frank UFOs are defined by Gallup and Newport's "Belief in Paranormal Phen­ Newport in their questionnaire as omena Among Adult Americans" (SI, "unidentified flying objects." Certainly Winter 1991) I find various odd assump­ by that mundane definition, practically tions, poorly worded questionnaire all of us have seen "UFOs" and not items, and non sequiturs in the inter­ merely thought we saw them, as Gallup pretation of responses. and Newport would have it. Similarly, My belief that some people feel on one can believe that UFOs are "some­ occasion that they have been somewhere thing real," such as misinterpreted before or done something before, when, conventional aircraft or weird atmos­ in fact, they haven't, so far as they know pheric phenomena, without believing in (the critical words in italics or others to anything paranormal. Probably a lot of the same effect are curiously lacking in people think that some UFOs are Gallup and Newport's questionnaire misinterpretations and others are "just definition of deja vu), should not, by any people's imagination," an option of belief stretch of the imagination, be regarded not allowed for by Gallup and Newport. as a paranormal belief, unless I should I've consulted a fortune-teller more or also happen to believe that the deja vu less as a lark—many others may have experience can be taken as evidence that also. Finally, I wonder what percent of the experiencer has been in the place in the people queried by Gallup and question or has done a similar deed in Newport thought they knew what the a previous life, or favor some other undefined term New Age meant but paranormal explanation for a feeling I were thinking of something else, such have had myself. as, for example, merely a type of music. Certainly the position of the stars and If there's a more thoroughgoing the planets can affect people's lives— skeptic (in the CSICOP sense) than I am, probably most notably the lives of those I've never met him or her—and yet if astronomers who study such matters, I conscientiously answered Gallup and make discoveries concerning them, and Newport's questions, I'd be counted as then publish them. I'm sure the rest of a "believer" in various areas in which us have various thoughts stimulated by I'm not. I am aware that there are viewing particular configurations in the problems inherent in all polling regard­ heavens, and our thoughts can certainly less of how well thought out the queries influence our subsequent actions one and inferences are, but there are inade­ way or another; but a recognition of quacies in Gallup and Newport's study these self-evident truths and less that could have been easily corrected. obvious ways in which planet and star positions may affect our lives in untrace­ Ronald H. Pine able and unpredictable ways does not Resident Scientist make one a believer in astrology, as Illinois Mathematics and Gallup and Newport would have it. I also Science Academy read astrology columns sometimes and Aurora, 111.

Summer 1991 435 The report by Gallup and Newport importance of carefully worded ques­ illustrates that starting with the wrong tions if an inference of belief in the theory leads to the wrong experimental paranormal is to be drawn. results. One of the 18 questions in their poll on belief in paranormal phenomena Bill May is whether the respondent believes "in Los Alamos, N.M. deja vu, or the feeling that you have been somewhere or done something before." As the editor correctly points out, deja vu is not a paranormal phenomenon, but Gallup and Newport's citing of "the is a perfectly normal psychological possibility of life on other planets" as phenomenon. So it is not surprising that a belief that "contradict[s] our physical 56 percent of the public has had that senses and what is known 'rationally' " experience. So have I. strikes me as strange. We have no sensory evidence either way outside of This would be an important error if one tiny solar system. Considering the that was as far as it went. However, size of the universe, invoking the Gallup and Newport use this bit of data "sophisticated exploration of our solar to create a totally incorrect conclusion, system and the universe" to which the when they say "only 7 percent of authors refer is analogous to performing Americans deny believing in any of a a termite inspection on a condominium list of 18 paranormal experiences." But development by looking at one square belief in deja vu is one of these expe­ inch of one house. riences. Therefore, if I say I believe in deja vu (even though to me it is not a Another point is the imprecision of paranormal effect) then I am contribut­ the question, "Do you believe in ing to the 93 percent the authors claim witches?" "Witches" could be inter­ believe in at least one paranormal preted either as people who get magical phenomenon. powers from the Devil or as people who adhere to the Wiccan belief and pursue We now have to decide whether this certain occult practices. For the latter was an innocent error or a trick designed group, "believing in" them could mean to fudge the data and make it appear either believing in their existence (which that almost the entire country believes is incontrovertible) or believing that in the paranormal. Perhaps we should they have occult abilities and knowledge. know what Gallup and Newport think Probably most people took the question about psychic phenomena. We should as referring to the first of these, but know what their biases are. a substantial portion of the 14 percent who answered affirmatively may have Milton Rothman had one of the other interpretations in Philadelphia, Pa. mind.

Gary McGath I would have leaned toward a positive Hollis, N.H. response to the "power of the mind to heal" while denying any acceptance of pseudoscience. I have not followed the field closely enough to know what is Gallup and Newport equate reading the supported by experimental evidence or astrology column with belief. Why not remains speculation, but the concept get 99.9 percent credulity by asking if that neuro- or brain-chemistry induced respondents read their fortune cookie by mood, attitude, stress, or physical messages? ... The silliness of Americans' activity can be synergistic or destructive beliefs cannot be accurately gauged by to healing and immunochemistry is a this survey. legitimate scientific hypothesis unre­ lated to supernaturalism. Barbara Judd My point is only to emphasize the Berkeley, Calif.

436 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 I was not amused by Gallup and New­ conclusive statements are made pre­ port's article in which belief in "the sumptively, in a manner inconsistent ability of the mind to control and heal with the evidence and more suggestive the physical body" is said to be one of of a purpose of political and ethnic several beliefs that "contradict our disparagement than credible scientific physical senses and what is known inquiry. 'rationally.' " James R. Stewart cites little to Well, my mind controls my physical support the total rejection of a toxic body quite well, thank you, and it is agent causing the 1983 outbreaks of through just such a miracle that I am mass illness in the Israeli-occupied West typing this letter. As for the ability of Bank. Access to the sites of the out­ the mind to heal the body, this is well breaks by outside investigators was accepted by physicians and biomedical subject to the acquiescence of the researchers and has been demonstrated occupying power, which had political innumerable times in scientific studies. reasons for wanting the charge of toxic Of course, since it isn't understood very poisoning discredited. Further, the fact well, it gets pushed into a sort of that Israeli soliders in one area came intellectual wastebasket called the down with the symptoms indicates an "placebo effect." There's no point in objective extraneous cause. In addition, scientists and medical doctors' taking local public-health authorities are this effect seriously, because there's no reported by the author to have been money in it for them. . . . insistent upon an external cause of the outbreak. Thus, the West Bank episodes Bart Laws form a rather poor place to study the Jamaica Plain, Mass. social behavior of psychogenic illness when a critical examination would reveal no certain conclusion that the illness . . . The positive response of professed outbreak had no external stimulus. Christians to the reincarnation question But even if one were to assume the on the Gallup poll seems less surprising illness episodes to have been psycho­ upon consideration of the fact that the genic, the conventional mass-hysteria question's definition of reincarnation, model (stress plus an unpleasant stimu­ "the rebirth of the soul in a new body lus resulting in symptoms among a after death," contains nothing to distin­ susceptible class) is hardly to be lightly guish it from the Christian doctrine of disposed of. Stewart seems unfamiliar the resurrection of the dead. with the high level of stress likely to be found in the West Bank deriving from Jeffry D. Mueller the occupation (collective punishment, Finksburg, Md. frequent brutality, the fear of dispos­ session, the particularly violent orien­ Illness-hysteria analysis biased? tation of Israeli settlers in the Hebron area, etc.—all unmentioned). The mandate of SI is to investigate and The "craze" model explaining mass- debunk claims of the paranormal illness phenomena (again, are they through a careful investigation of fact paranormal claims?) presupposes that a and a critical inquiry into popular desire for reward induces the illness credulity. Debunking political claims of episode. Yet Stewart makes no distinc­ the PLO hardly seems appropriate. Yet, tion as to whether some or all of the in "The West Bank Collective Hysteria outbreaks' real or purported victims Episode: The Politics of Illness" (Winter were part of this craze. Because of this, 1991), readers are treated to the appli­ a reasonable person might be led to cation of a model for social behavior to suspect that he had a broader purpose a political situation where to this day in writing the article—namely, to dis­ the facts are still too unclear to justify credit all Palestinians in the illness any definitive hypothesis. Further, episodes out of some political or ethnic

Summer 1991 437 bias. In any case, the behavior described well perform daily miracles to ensure is either too suspect in source or our belief. (2) No experiment to test interpretation to be conclusively strong prayer would or could have an effective evidence of a craze pattern of behavior. control group unless the experimenter Or the behavior described is not neces­ could guarantee that no one prayed for sarily inconsistent with other explana­ the controls—no parent, no family tions of the illness outbreaks (actual friend, no nurse or doctor—a guarantee toxicity or mass-hysteria). no sensible critic is likely to accept. Inci­ For example, the atmosphere in the dentally Galton's error was to assume hospitals is described as "carnival-like." that prayer efficacy could be correlated In another case, we are informed, with the numbers of those praying. without attribution to a particular Sound medical practice is that giving source, that the victims acted out their many times the optimum dose of a drug symptoms "almost on cue" for journal­ lessens its effect rather than enhancing ists. These statements are highly sub­ it. Even the most skeptical could hardly jective and may have come from suspect imagine a god that metes out benefits sources seeking to discredit the Pales­ proportional to the number of prayers tinians. Further, even if true in some offered. cases, it hardly demonstrates that the original symptoms were not genuine or Jeffrey Myers, M.D. the result of a subjectively honest Memorial Hospital hysteria. Contemporary events validate Mount Holly, N.J. the reason for refraining from jumping to the craze model so easily. Palestinians who are incontrovertibly injured from As a Christian, I read your article on external causes (bullets, tear gas, etc.) intercessory prayer with interest. I in recent violence manifest the same believe that its logic and conclusions are behavior as that described in the article: flawed. flashing the V-sign, being treated as The article states that "advocates of martyrs, engaging in attempts to dis­ any medical treatment have an obliga­ credit Israeli authorities to the media, tion to conduct appropriate studies and so on. before making extensive claims regard­ Finally, the article was just plain ing effectiveness." Christians do not offensive in its disparaging tone and claim that medical science has proved assumptions toward the Palestinians prayer effective. The issue here is really under occupation. . . . twofold. First, can observation or experimentation prove the lack of Matthew C. Hogan effectiveness of intercessory prayer and, Dallas, Tex. if not, are there other, nonempirical bases that would lead one to believe in the effectiveness of intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer A little thought shows that it is not possible to design a conclusive study on While I personally do not believe inter­ this subject. If the underlying theory is cessory prayer is an effective medical to have any meaning, then the subject treatment ("Intercessory Prayer as of the experiment is God, not the Medical Treatment," by Jeff Witmer and patient. The patient's recovery is merely Michael Zimmerman, SJ,Winter 1991), the operational measurement of God's there are several reasons for not trying action. If we theorize that He exists, is to test the (possible) effect scientifically. omniscient, and is the subject of the (1) If one believes that God demands experiment, then how can the experi­ acceptance by faith alone, wouldn't he ment be double-blind? A philosophical or she confound any experiment and spiritual (not scientific) bias of the designed to provide evidence that prayer reviewers caused them to treat God as is efficacious? He or she might just as a material stochastic process instead of

438 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 as an omniscient spiritual being. satisfy the curiosity of a few researchers. It is important to remember the Such a God would, of necessity, know limitations of science. Scientific inquiry of the suffering, the effects on those can determine that splitting an atom is close to the sufferer, and any wish, a means of producing energy. Science whether or not expressed, that the cannot decide whether to use the illness be cured. The remission of illness resultant energy for industry or mass would be possible in any case. killing. Thus science cannot be the only source of truth in our world. Ernest Jackson The Christian basis for belief in Kingston upon Hull intercessory prayer is the teaching of Yorkshire, England Jesus Christ, who claimed that He was God in human form and the revealer of truth to the world ("I am the way, I'm glad SI tackled the subject of prayer the truth and the life, no one comes to and disease. However, I believe that a the Father but by me"). Here we reach few moments' reflection will show that the pivotal flaws in logic of the article further studies are unnecessary. The (and with much of the content of the human race already has conducted a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER). The flaws are the massive experiment in this area, and the assumption that all truth must be results should be conclusive to any measurable with lab equipment and that reasonable person. human reason (not revelation validated Prior to the nineteenth century, by conscience) is the highest possible when (for practical purposes) modern source of authority. In this worldview medicine and sanitation methods began (the premises of which are philosophical, taking shape, how did people deal with not scientific), the moral authority of illness? Jesus Christ is inadmissible as evidence Well, they had many folk remedies of truth. of varying utility and they had prayer. And people's lives generally were short, Mark Gass ranging on average up into the low 30s. Durham, N.C. A small percentage of people reached their 40s, fewer their 50s, and rare individuals passed 70. While it seems feasible that patients may For thousands of years, the ill prayed experience more rapid recovery know­ to a wide range of deities. For many ing that there are people sufficiently centuries in the Christian world, the concerned about their fate to take time Christian god was beseeched in the face praying for their good health, I feel that of plague and sickness with prayers, any statistical analysis of the effects of penances, flagellations, and donations. intercessory prayer can never produce If any form of prayer were effica­ evidence of the benefits, if any, of cious, you would expect the supplicants' prayer. mortality rate to reflect it. For instance, First, it would be necessary to ensure a majority of the prayerful might reach that no prayers are offered independ­ their 60s, and they would live with the ently on behalf of the population to be expectation—barring accidents—of investigated. Any prayer for the benefit reaching old age, as opposed to those of a party allocated to the "neglected" praying to false gods or those who don't set would invalidate the experiment. pray, whose mortality rates would Second, in order for the results to remain high and their expectations be accepted by both believers and limited. nonbelievers, the believers would have Yet the devout can point to no such to agree beforehand that their omnis­ situation in history. The average life­ cient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and spans in Medieval Europe, a time of great loving God could deliberately ignore the personal and cultural spirituality, didn't suffering of a sick person merely to rise. And during the period when only

Summer 1991 439 prayer was available, a variety of other letters from respondents, and common illnesses afflicted mankind, such as practice suggest otherwise. The flawed article bubonic plague, typhus, and smallpox, by Randolph Byrd (Southern Medical not to mention many less notorious Journal, 81:826-829), which originally infections. At no time is there any prompted us to conduct our research, says evidence that epidemics were halted "these data suggest that intercessory prayer before they'd run their natural course. to the Judeo-Christian God has a beneficial Additionally, many people suffered from therapeutic effect in patients admitted to a chronic, nonfatal illnesses or handicaps CCU." Byrd goes on, in his acknowledg­ that now can be relieved. ments, to write, "In addition, I thank God Only when the scientific treatment for responding to the many prayers made of illness appears do we see a majority on behalf of the patients." The letter we of people reaching their natural life­ received from a registered nurse was fairly spans, while smallpox is destroyed, typical: "After my experience with miracle tuberculosis and polio suppressed, and healing, I began to use it in my work as typhus blocked by sanitation and treat­ school health nurse. I eventually would ments. Many other illnesses that once 'sense' a child's problem before being told. afflicted the prayerful are rarely heard Things like poison ivy rash would disappear of today. nearly overnight with prayer." Medicine doesn't claim perfection. No But even more to the point are the tragic one escapes death, and illness still takes situations where parents refuse standard some in their prime. But the numbers medical attention for their children, trusting today are nothing like the high mortality to prayer instead. As the recent measles rates among the young in prayer-only epidemic in Pennsylvania demonstrated, the societies. Faith may console people, but consequences can be devastating. Unfortu­ it certainly can't cure them. nately, in far too many states, parents relying solely on prayer are exempt from prosecution William Sierichs, Jr. under child-neglect laws. Shreveport, La. Given the very serious repercussions of an uncritical belief in the therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer, we believe that it is Jeff Witmer and Michael Zimmerman re­ of paramount importance to discuss the data spond: that do exist. Our research has demonstrated that currently there are no controlled studies One of the major points in our original that have been able to demonstrate any article was that "advocates of any medical beneficial effects associated with intercessory treatment have an obligation to conduct prayer. We stand by our conclusion that appropriate studies before making extensive until such studies have established a positive claims regarding effectiveness." We still effect, it is highly irresponsible for anyone fully support this position. Effectively, to make such claims. Myers, Gass, and Jackson all argue that no meaningful experiment examining the therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer can Tipler's Omega Point be designed. We are not advocating such experiments, since we recognize the many With all due and considerable respect for problems inherent in their design and Martin Gardner, I must say he seems implementation. Indeed, problems associated rather unfair to Frank Tipler (Winter with experimental design only strengthen our 1991). Granted Tipler's Omega Point point that all claims of efficacy must be concept is imaginative, to say the least. carefully and fully documented. Even an amateur like myself can raise It is important to be very clear about some basic questions about the physics the claims that are being made for prayer. of it. These questions do not at present Although Gass states that "Christians do have definite answers, of course, but not claim that medical science has proved Tipler emphasizes throughout that his prayer effective," the literature, numerous ideas are testable and that certain

440 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 discoveries may well be made in the near have opposed scientific inquiry per­ future to falsify them. sistently, sometimes murderously. All He is emphatically not setting himself supernatural religious ideas are anti­ up as the prophet of a new religion, a thetical to scientific epistemology. That la L. Ron Hubbard. If anything, what this is so inherently and currently as well he offers is fresh commentary on long- as historically may account for the established faiths, especially Christian­ reviewer's failure to offer the required ity, and it is worth noting that he first minimum of one example of a meta­ did so at a respectable conference on physical proposition that can be exam­ science and religion. ined by physics or of a process of physics In an era when basic principles of that is in any way metaphysical. physics, e.g., causality, are being re­ Hoffmaster's failure suggests the examined, we still need skepticism, possibility that it is he who has the but we can ill afford dogmatism. hidden agenda. Perhaps some pet meta­ Personally, I look on Tipler's notion physical nonsense of his own to as a sort of high-powered playfulness, defend? not altogether unlike some that Far from "counterproductive" (as the Gardner himself has indulged in occa­ reviewer worries) in encouraging stu­ sionally to the great pleasure of his dents' interest in science, it is essential, readers. if science is to be learned at all, that the scientific epistemology be clearly distin­ Poul Anderson guished from metaphysical and "super­ Orinda, Calif. natural" mental muddles. A wonderful adventure awaits those who would learn of the natural world, but can Hoff master interest students in science if he lacks Martin Gardner replies: the clarity or courage to draw the essential line between reality and make- In response to Poul Anderson's friendly believe? letter, 1 gather he thinks Tipler is proposing his new religion in a spirit of fun, comparable to the entertaining resurrection Graham motif in Philip ]ose Farmer's Riverworld Olympia, Wash. novels. My impression, based on Tipler's papers, letters, and phone conversations, is that he is quite serious in believing his I am concerned that Hoffmaster's conjectures to be superior to any of the world's criticism of Stenger's Physics and Psychics great faiths, or to the speculations of will scare people away from a very good philosophers. book. Other than a little nitpicking here and there, Hoffmaster's case against the When I concluded that Tipler's views book is that the author makes clear that might become, like those of L Ron Hubbard, physics—even the "new physics"— the basis of a new science-fiction religious doesn't support belief in the super­ cult, that was intended as "high-powered natural, including God. I fail to see this playfulness." as legitimate criticism. I realize that the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER does not include religion as a paranormal target, but is 'Physics and Psychics' review that any reason to criticize a book that does? Religion may be a matter of The title of Steven Hoffmaster's review personal faith, but to many of us, it is of Victor Stenger's Physics and Psychics not any different from other super­ (Winter 1991) suggests that Stenger has stitions. And it does incalculably more a "hidden agenda." Yet the review makes harm. clear that the author's agenda is "not- so-hidden" (p. 186). Richard F.Stratton Historically, major Western religions San Diego, Calif.

Summer 1991 441 I must take issue with a point in Steven If that is discovery, what shall we call Hoffmaster's criticism of Physics and the model-building step? Why not Psychics by Victor J. Stenger. Hoff master "invention"? The activity is surely contends that the principle of Occam's similar to inventing a machine that Razor is compromised because of the accepts observations as input and gener­ complexity of modern physics ("Occam's ates predictions. We should expect the Razor has a few dents in it"). It appears scientific-model builder to rely on the he does not fully understand this same ingenuity and creative juices as principle. other inventors. Occam's Razor states that of several "Invention" fits especially well during theories that adequately account for the the early stages of disciplines. One can facts, the simplest is usually the best. picture early "astronomers" groping for This in no way implies that a complex ways to think about the heavens. theory cannot best account for the facts. Imagining figures in the night sky does Obviously, simpler physics theories did not advance the science much, but it does not explain experimental data ade­ help organize the data. (It helps me quately. locate the North Star.) In my view this is doing science, albeit rudimentary. In Robert O.Walker any case, I doubt if anybody would want Frederick, Md. to call it "discovery." A useful example can be found in approaches to the physical properties of Inventing or discovering reality? gases. The thermodynamics model consists of the notion of entropy and This letter addresses the article "Relat­ the two very powerful laws of conser­ ivism in Science," by Martin Gardner (SI, vation and degradation of energy. Summer 1990), and Bruce Gregory's Thermodynamics is often cited as one response (Winter 1991), accompanied by of the most powerful generalizations of Gardner's reply. classical physics. Because I have not seen Gregory's More recently, the same relations book, I cannot defend it. I do, however, were derived by treating a gas as a large feel that invention is often a more collection of molecules in motion. By satisfactory word than discovery when applying statistical mechanics and clas­ discussing science. I will try to defend sical particle physics to the molecules, this view. "kinetic theory of gases" was born. This Certainly, the process of uncovering model was successively refined and natural laws is one of discovery. Also, eventually augmented by modern phys­ I have no quarrel with Gardner's frame­ ics in this century. Most now prefer it work: The outside world exists. Some as a representation of nature. theories are better than others. And I leave it to the reader. What best investigators in different cultures (dif­ describes the "thinking up" of these two ferent worlds, for that matter) will models? I like "invention." eventually arrive at the same con­ clusions. I will argue, nonetheless, that Gerald Lippey the word invention is useful here. Los Angeles, Calif. In the discovery process, one looks at reality. Then a model is constructed and tried out. To the extent that the The argument between Martin Gardner model explains relations between obser­ and Bruce Gregory is more semantics vations and (especially) has predictive than substance. The use of the term value, discovery is occurring, i.e., a good invention in connection with natural representation of nature has been phenomena can only be metaphorical. If found. Most of us would subscribe to a condition exists independent of this approximation of doing science and humans it can be discovered but not would apply the word discovery. invented; an invention is manufactured.

442 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 America was discovered, not invented. on "semantic truth," now accepted by almost However, Gardner's reference to every philosopher of science. Dewey was an pragmatism and the philosophy of John influential writer on ethics, politics, and Dewey as in decline is shocking. Dewey education, but his influence on the philosophy has not always been understood, and of science was minimal and is now close often misunderstood, but I have never to zero. He had nothing to say about any read or heard anyone who understood of the deep problems with which such Dewey say that his ideas are "on the philosophers are concerned, such as the skids." Pragmatism is the scientific nature of induction, the role of simplicity, method applied to philosophy and the the philosophical implications of quantum best antidote to metaphysical and mechanics, and a raft of others. paranormal beliefs. It is a made-to-order If Edwards doubts this decline of Dewey's and positive philosophy for skeptics. I influence, let him make the following simple do not mind the hair-splitters' having lest. Check the indices of 50 randomly their word games, but John Dewey selected books on the philosophy of science stands for something that is too im­ written since 1940. He will find either no portant to be trivialized by the word- mention of Dewey, or only a few scant smiths. references compared with lengthy discussions of the views of Bertrand Russell, Karl Norman L. Edwards Popper, Hans Reichenbach, Rudolf Carnap, Newton, Mass. and many others. Russell was the most implacable foe of Dewey's idiosyncratic version of pragmatism, yet no one can accuse Martin Gardner replies: Russell of favoring metaphysics, or of not understanding scientific method. Who could disagree with Norman Edwards If pragmatism is taken in the broad sense and Gerald Lippey that scientists "invent" of no more than the need for empirical testing theories? The theories of course must be of theories, then of course everyone is a tested, and if they pass enough tests they pragmatist. But this trivializes the term in become "discoveries." Newton invented his a way that ignores the heart of the revolution laws of gravity. It later turned out he had Dewey struggled so hard to achieve. discovered them. Einstein invented relativity theory. It was soon apparent he had discovered that e = mc2. If Lippey will read The unconscious exists Gregory's book he will see why I stressed discovery as against invention. Regarding J. C. Corey's review of As to the decline of Dewey, I think Encounters (SI, Winter 1991), it is Edwards is half a century behind the times. incredible that anyone in the free- That conjectures must pass empirical tests, thought movement, especially a profes­ and that all science is fallible, is not a sor of psychology, would say, as he does: Deweyan proposal but one that goes back "The 'subconscious' mind is not a to the Greek empiricists. Dewey's distinctive scientifically valuable or falsifiable contribution was much more than this. He concept. There is no proof that you or wanted to do away with a correspondence I have—or don't have—a 'subcons­ definition of truth (that goes back to cious.' " Those who doubt the existence Aristotle) and substitute the defining of of, or who deny the immense impor­ truth as the passing of tests. Indeed, Dewey tance of, the unconscious would be wanted to drop the word truth altogether equally irrational to doubt the existence and replace it with "warranted assertabil- of, or importance of, the conscious level ity." In proposing this he was following in of mind. the steps of William fames, who in turn The reality of the unconscious can had misunderstood his friend and mentor be proved by a most simple test: Think Charles Peine. of the most embarrassing experience in Dewey's effort to abandon "truth" was your life. One minute ago you were not dealt a fatal blow by Alfred Tarski's work conscious of this episode. It had to be

Summer 1991 443 recollected from your unconscious Free publicity for SI ? memory bank. Nightmares from trau­ matic experiences, including in child­ Education and reason transform the hood, are further proof. They are ignorant into coparticipants in this playbacks from indelible images stored grand adventure of life. CSICOP has in the unconscious. done much, but remains obscure; con­ Understanding unconscious scars cerned individuals should assist them that cause many mental ills by no means toward a larger audience. heals the illness, but it certainly helps The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER'S easily individuals cope better with their neu­ grasped format is a good way to put roses and psychoses and benefit more thinking skills in the mind of the public. from reconditioning therapy. It is now Critical thinking may be second nature known that Sigmund Freud made major to the readers of the SKEPTICAL mistakes, and orthodox Freudianism INQUIRER, but all too often it is a stranger became a cult in itself. But his emphasis to the targets of quackery, greed, and on the profound importance of the dogmatism. Preaching to the choir is a unconscious will remain forever his pitfall CSICOP cannot avoid without invaluable contribution to the world. growth. Our increasing understanding of the I invite the consideration of teachers, unconscious and the forces that condi­ speakers, and authors toward an idea; tion it is one of the most important why not give mention of the SKEPTICAL means toward mental, physical, and INQUIRER in classrooms, speeches, and social health. Getting at the root forewords in books? Many of us have causes of mental health and of mental the ear of millions. A little free publicity illness, whether the causes are mental could be of incalculable value toward an or physical, is not only important for informed and happier democracy. the patient; it is also imperative in Reason must prosper. Reflect its light education to prevent undesirable onward from this journal. conditioning. John Trim Elver A. Barker Nashville, Tenn. Denver, Colo. Demoralizing science teachers ]. R. Corey replies: . . . As a science teacher for six years, The "unconscious mind" is the major I found I could fascinate many students; UFO of psychiatry and has no place in the yet when it came to the hard work science of psychology. There is no way to necessary for an education, exhaustive test for the presence or absence of an sprints through a bunch of old tires were "unconscious" any more than there is a more attractive. scientific way to establish the existence of Until the powers that be (including an immortal soul. parents and presidents) begin to pay Karl Popper teaches that scientific more than lip service to education, concepts and theories must be falsifiable— children will be lost long before they that is, they must be vulnerable to being arrive in a junior-college or even a high- shown to be false. The theory of the school classroom. "unconscious" is not falsifiable. Sure there are bad teachers, but I agree that it would be extremely surprisingly few. There are many Mr. valuable to understand the causes of and Ms. Wizards out there, too. . . . behavioral disorders. However, free thinkers Teacher bashing, like that in the should remain skeptical about appealing Forum contribution by Vincent E. to unobservable and uniestable "ghosts in Safuto ("College Science Courses . . . ," the machine" to explain behavioral phe­ Winter 1991) will not accomplish any­ nomena. thing and never will. Demoralized

444 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 teachers like myself usually leave Add us to your list of those news­ because they are tired of competing with papers who wish we'd never run that Joe Montana and Spuds Mackenzie. first astrology column. It should be made clear to children that education, like sports, is more hard Jeannine R. Schaub work than anything else, although, as Associate Publisher with sports, the rewards are worth the The Boone News-Republican effort Boone, Iowa

Terry O'Connor Cleveland, Ohio

Another disclaimer The letters column is a forum for views on matters raised in previous issues. Brief letters As daily newspapers go, we're small (less than 250 words) are welcome. We potatoes. But we do have our standards. reserve the right to edit longer ones. They With the Astro-graphs we get from should be typed double-spaced. Due to the a syndication service, we run this volume of letters, not all can be published. disclaimer: Address them to Letters to the Editor, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, 3025 Palo Alto The following feature is offered Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111. purely for entertainment purposes.

OUT Rob Pudim

Summer 1991 CSICOP News i

Skeptical Briefs, columns, such as "Inside CSICOP," "Who's Who in CSICOP?" and profiles CSICOP Newsletter of CSICOP's prominent personalities, together with other special features. Skeptical Briefs is published in or several years CSICOP has February, May, August, and Novem­ distributed a quarterly newslet­ ber. Subscription rates are: 1 year, ter, Skeptical Briefs, to keep inter­ F $15.00; 2 years, $25.00; and 3 years, ested skeptics informed of CSICOP $30.00. (A single issue is $4.00.) To activities and the pursuits of inde­ subscribe, send your check (or charge pendent local and national skeptics it to your VISA or MasterCard) to organizations. Skeptical Briefs brings Skeptical Briefs, Box 229, Buffalo, NY you CSICOP news and views not 14215. often published in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. Lynda Harwood, Editor The Skeptical Briefs mailing list has grown to more than a thousand Skeptical Briefs readers. In order to make it available to an even wider audience, and to help cover the rising costs of printing and European Skeptics to postage, we are now offering it on a subscription-only basis. • Meet in Amsterdam The newly designed Skeptical Briefs has been expanded to include regular kepsis, the Dutch skeptics organ­ ization, will host the Third Euro­ Spean Skeptics Conference, in Amsterdam, Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5, 1991. The meetings will be held in the Rembrandt Room of the Park Hotel, adjacent to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. A block of rooms has been reserved for advance bookings by conference attendees. The conference will begin at 10:00 A.M. Friday, and concluding remarks will be made on Saturday at 5:00 P.M. The deadline for submitting papers is July 15. Proposals should be sent to Dick Zeilstra, Treasurer, Skepsis, Postbus 2657, 3500 GR Utrecht, the Netherlands. For more information contact Dick Zeilstra at the address above; or call or write Barry Karr at the CSICOP office. •

446 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 15 Local, Regional, and National Organizations The organizations listed below have aims MICHIGAN. MSU Proponents of Rational similar to those of CSICOP and work in Inquiry and the Scientific Method cooperation with CSICOP but are indepen­ (PRISM), Dave Marks, 221 Agriculture dent and autonomous. They are not affiliated Hall, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, with CSICOP, and representatives of these MI 48824. Great Lakes Skeptics, Carol organizations cannot speak on behalf of Lynn, contact, 1264 Bedford Rd., Grosse CSICOP. Pointe Park, MI 84230. UNITED STATES MINNESOTA. Minnesota Skeptics, Robert W. ALABAMA. Alabama Skeptics, Emory Kim- McCoy, 549 Turnpike Rd., Golden Valley, brough, 3550 Watermelon Road, Apt. MN 55416. St. Kloud ESP Teaching 29A, Northport, AL 35476 (205-759- Investigation Committee (SKEPTIC), 2624). Jerry Mertens, Coordinator, Psychology ARIZONA. Tucson Skeptical Society Dept., St. Cloud State Univ., St. Cloud, (TUSKS), James McGaha, Chairman, MN 56301. 2509 N. Campbell Ave., Suite #16, MISSOURI. Kansas City Committee for Tucson, AZ 85719. Phoenix Skeptics, Skeptical Inquiry, Verle Muhrer, Chair­ Michael Stackpole, Chairman, P.O. Box man, 2658 East 7th, Kansas City, MO 62792, Phoenix, AZ 85082-2792. 64124. Gateway Skeptics, Chairperson, CALIFORNIA. Bay Area Skeptics, Rick Moen, Steve Best, 6943 Amherst Ave., Univer­ Secretary, 4030 Moraga, San Francisco, sity City, MO 63130. CA 94122-3928. East Bay Skeptics NEW MEXICO. New Mexicans for Science & Society, Daniel Sabsay, President, P.O. Reason, John Geohegan, Chairman, 450 Box 20989, Oakland, CA 94620 (415-420- Montclaire SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108; 0702). Sacramento Skeptics Society, John Smallwood, 320 Artist Road, Santa Terry Sandbek, 3838 Watt Ave., Suite Fe, NM 87501 (505-988-2800). C303, Sacramento, CA 98821 (916-488- NEW YORK. Finger Lakes Association for 3772). Critical Thought, Ken McCarthy, 107 COLORADO and WYOMING. Rocky Mountain Williams St., Groton, NY 13073. New Skeptics, Bela Scheiber, President, P.O. York Area Skeptics (NYASk), William Box 7277, Boulder, CO 80306. Wade, contact person, 97 Fort Hill Road, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DELAWARE, MARY­ Huntington, NY 11743-2205. Western LAND, and VIRGINIA. National Capital New York Skeptics, Tim Madigan, Chair­ Area Skeptics, c/o D. W. "Chip" Denman, man, 3159 Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215. 8006 Valley Street, Silver Spring, MD NORTH CAROLINA. N.C. Skeptics, Michael 20910. J. Marshall, Pres., 3318 Colony Dr., FLORIDA. Tampa Bay Skeptics, Gary Posner, Jamestown, NC 27282. 6219 Palma Blvd., #210, St. Petersburg, OHIO. South Shore Skeptics, Page Stephens, FL 33715 (813-867-3533). 6006 Fir Avenue, Cleveland OH 44102 GEORGIA. Georgia Skeptics, Correspon­ (216-631-5987). dence Secretary, P.O. Box 654, Norcross, PENNSYLVANIA. Paranormal Investigating GA 30091. Committee of Pittsburgh (PICP), Richard ILLINOIS. Midwest Committee for Rational Busch, Chairman, 5841 Morrowfield Inquiry, Lawrence Kitsch, President, P.O. Ave., #302, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (412- Box 2792, Des Plaines, IL 60017-2792. 521-2334). Delaware Valley Skeptics, INDIANA. Indiana Skeptics, Robert Craig, Brian Siano, Secretary, Apt. 1-F, 4406 Chairperson, 5401 Hedgerow Drive, Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Indianapolis, IN 46226. SOUTH CAROLINA. South Carolina Commit­ KENTUCKY. Kentucky Assn. of Science tee to Investigate Paranormal Claims, Educators and Skeptics (KASES), Chair­ John Safko, 3010 Amherst Ave., Colum­ man, Prof. Robert A. Baker, 3495 Cas- bia, SC 29205. tleton Way North, Lexington, KY 40502. TENNESSEE. Tennessee Valley Skeptics, LOUISIANA. Baton Rouge Proponents of Daniel O'Ryan, Secretary, P.O. Box Rational Inquiry and Scientific Methods 50291, Knoxville, TN 37950. (BR-PRISM), Henry Murry, Chairman, TEXAS. Austin Society to Oppose Pseudo- P.O. Box 15594, Baton Rouge, LA 70895. science (ASTOP), Lawrence Cranberg, MASSACHUSETTS. Skeptical Inquirers of President, P.O. Box 3446, Austin, TX New England, Laurence Moss, Chairman, 78764. Houston Association for Scientific c/o Ho & Moss, Attorneys, 72 Kneeland Thinking (HAST), Darrell Kachilla, P.O. St., Boston, MA 02111. Box 541314, Houston, TX 77254. North (continued on next page) Texas Skeptics, John Blanton, President, Para-Science (GWUP), Amardeo Sarma, P.O. Box 111794, Carrollton, TX 75011- Convenor, Postfach 1222, D-6101 1794. West Texas Society to Advance Rossdorf. Rational Thought, Co-Chairmen: George INDIA. B. Premanand, Chairman, 10, Chet- Robertson, 6500 Eastridge Rd., #73, tipalayam Rd., Podanur 641-023 Coimba- Odessa, TX 79762-5219 (915-367-3519); tore Tamil nadu. For other Indian organ­ Don Naylor, 404 N. Washington, Odessa, izations contact B. Premanand for details. TX 79761. IRELAND. Irish Skeptics, Peter O'Hara, WASHINGTON. The Society for Sensible Contact, Dept. of Psychiatry, Airedale Explanations, Philip Haldeman/Michael General Hospital, Steeton, Keighly, West Dennett, T.L.P.O. Box 8234, Kirkland, Yorkshire, UK BD20 6TD. WA 98034. ITALY. Comitato Italiano per il Controllo . Wisconsin Committee for delle Affermazioni sul Paranormale, Rational Inquiry, Mary Beth Emmericks, Lorenzo Montali, Secretary, Via Ozanam Convenor, 8465 N. 51st St., Brown Deer, 3, 20129 Milano, Italy. WI 53223. MALTA. Contact: Vanni Pule', "Kabbalah," 48 Sirti St., The Village, St. Julian's. ARGENTINA. CAIRP, Director, Ladislao MEXICO. Mexican Association for Skeptical Enrique Maiquez, Jose Marti, 35 dep C, Research (SOMIE), Mario Mendez- 1406 Buenos Aires. Acosta, Chairman, Apartado Postal 19- AUSTRALIA. National: Australian Skeptics, 546, Mexico 03900, D.F. P.O. Box E324 St. James, NSW 2000. NETHERLANDS. , Rob Regional: Australian Capital Territory, Nanninga, Secretary, Westerkade 20, P.O. Box 555, Civic Square, 2608. New­ 9718 AS Groningen. castle Skeptics, Chairperson, Colin Keay, NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand Skeptics, Physics Dept., Newcastle University, Warwick Don, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of NSW 2308. Queensland, P.O. Box 2180, Otago, Dunedin, NZ. Brisbane, 4001. South Australia, P.O. Box NORWAY. NIVFO, K. Stenodegard, P.O. 91, Magill, 5072. Victoria, P.O. Box 1555P, Box 2119, N-7001, Trondheim. Skepsis, Melbourne, 3001. Western Australia, 25 Terje Emberland, Contact, P. B. 2943 Headingly Road, Kalamunda 6076. Toyen 0608, Oslo 6. BELGIUM. Committee Para, J. Dommanget, SOUTH AFRICA. Assn. for the Rational Chairman, Observatoire Royal de Bel- Investigation of the Paranormal (ARIP), gique, Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Marian Laserson, Secretary, 4 Wales St., Brussels. SKEPP, W. Betz, Secretary, Sandringham 2192. Laarbeeklaan 105, B1090 Brussels (FAX: SPAIN. Alternativa Racional a las Pseudo- 32-2-4774311). sciencias (ARP), Luis Miguel Ortega, CANADA. National: Chairman, James E. Executive Director, P.O. Box 6.112, Alcock, Glendon College, York Univ., Bilbao. 2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. SWEDEN. Vetenskap & Folkbildning Regional: Alberta Skeptics, Elizabeth (Science and People's Education), Sven Anderson, P.O. Box 5571, Station A, Ove Hansson, Secretary, Box 185, 101 22 Calgary, Alberta T2H 1X9. British Stockholm. Columbia Skeptics, Barry Beyerstein, SWITZERLAND. Conradin M. Beeli, Con­ Chairman, Box 86103, Main PO, North venor, Rietgrabenstr. 46 CH-8152 Vancouver, BC, V7L 4J5. Manitoba Opfikon. Skeptics, Bill Henry, President, Box 92, UNITED KINGDOM. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER St. Vital, Winnipeg, Man. R2M 4A5. Representative, Michael J. Hutchinson, 10 Ontario Skeptics, Henry Gordon, Chair­ Crescent View, Loughton, Essex IG10 man, P.O. Box 505, Station Z, Toronto, 4PZ. British & Irish Skeptic Magazine, Ontario M5N 2Z6. Quebec Skeptics: Jean Editors, Toby Howard and Steve Don­ Ouellette, C.P. 282, Repentigny, Quebec nelly, P.O. Box 475, Manchester M60 J6A 7C6 (514-498-7977). 2TH. London Student Skeptics, Michael FINLAND. Skepsis, Matti Virtanen, Secre­ Howgate, President, 71 Hoppers Rd., tary, Kuismakuja 1S18, SF-00720 Winchmore Hill, London N21 3LP. Man­ Helsinki. chester Skeptics, David Long, P.O. Box FRANCE. Comite Francais pour l'Etude des 475, Manchester M60 2TH. Wessex Phenomenes Paranormaux, Claude Skeptics, Robin Allen, Dept. of Physics, Benski, Secretary-General, Merlin Gerin, Southampton University, Highfield, Sou­ RGE/A2 38050 Grenoble Cedex. thampton S09 5NH. GERMANY. East German Skeptics, A. U.S.S.R. Edward Gevorkian, Science & Religion, Gertler, Chairman, Inst, for Forensic Ulyanovskaya 43, Kor 4,109004, Moscow. Medicine, Humboldt Univ., Berlin 1040. Oleg G. Bakhtiarov, Director, Perspectiva, Society for the Scientific Investigation of 36 Lenin Blvd., Kiev 252001. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman Scientific and Technical Consultants (partial list) William Sims Bainbridge, professor of sociology, Illinois State University. Gary Bauslaugh, dean of technical and academic education and professor of chemistry, Malaspina College, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Richard E. Berendzen, astronomer, Washington, DC. Barry L. Beyerstein, professor of psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Martin Bridgstock, lecturer, School of Science, Griffith Observatory, Brisbane, Australia. Vern Bullough, dean of natural and social sciences, SUNY College at Buffalo. Richard Busch, magician, Pittsburgh, Pa. Shawn Carlson, physicist, Berkeley, Calif. Charles ]. Cazeau, geologist, Tempe, Ariz. Ronald J. Crowley, professor of physics, California State University, Fullerton. Roger B. Culver, professor of astronomy, Colorado State Univ. J. Dath, professor of engineering, Ecole Royale Militaire, Brussels, Belgium. Felix Ares De Bias, professor of computer science. University of Basque, San Sebastian, Spain. Sid Deutsch, Visiting Professor of electrical engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa. J. Dommanget, astronomer, Royale Observatory, Brussels, Belgium. Natham J. Duker, assistant professor of pathology. Temple University. Barbara Eisenstadt, educator, Scotia, N.Y. Frederic A. Friedel, philosopher, Hamburg, West Germany. Robert E. Funk, anthropologist, New York State Museum & Science Service. Sylvio Garattini, director, Mario Negri Pharmacology Institute, Milan, Italy. Laurie Godfrey, anthropologist, University of Massachusetts. Gerald Goldin, mathematician, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Donald Goldsmith, astronomer; president. Interstellar Media. Clyde F. Herreid, professor of biology, SUNY, Buffalo. Philip A. Ianna, assoc. professor of astronomy, Univ. of Virginia. William Jarvis, chairman, Public Health Service, Loma Linda University, California. I. W. Kelly, professor of psychology, University of Saskatchewan. Richard H. Lange, chief of nuclear medicine, Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, New York. Gerald A. Larue, professor of biblical history and archaeology, University of So. California. Bernard J. Leikind, staff scientist, GA Technologies Inc., San Diego. William M. London, assistant professor of health education, Kent State University. Jeff Mayhew, computer consultant, Aloha, Oregon. Thomas R. McDonough, lecturer in engineering, Caltech, and SETI Coordinator of the Planetary Society. James E. McGaha, Major, USAF; pilot. Joel A. Moskowitz, director of medical psychiatry, Calabasas Mental Health Services, Los Angeles. Robert B. Painter, professor of microbiology. School of Medicine, University of California. John W. Patterson, professor of materials science and engineering, Iowa State University. Steven Pinker, assistant professor of psychology, MIT. James Pomerantz, professor of psy­ chology. Rice University; Daisie Radner, professor of philosophy, SUNY, Buffalo. Michael Radner, professor of philosophy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Robert H. Romer, professor of physics, Amherst College. Milton A. Rothman, physicist, Philadelphia, Pa. Karl Sabbagh, journalist, Richmond, Surrey, England. Robert J. Samp, assistant professor of education and medicine, University of Wisconsin- Madison. Steven D. Schafersman, geologist, Houston. Chris Scott, statistician, London, England. Stuart D. Scott, Jr., associate professor of anthropology, SUNY, Buffalo. Erwin M. Segal, professor of psychology, SUNY, Buffalo. Elie A. Shneour, biochemist; director, Biosystems Research Institute, La Jolla, California. Steven N. Shore, astronomer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Md. Barry Singer, psychologist, Eugene, Oregon. Mark Slovak, astronomer. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Douglas Stalker, associate professor of philosophy, University of Delaware. Gordon Stein, physiologist, author; editor of the American Rationalist. Waclaw Szybalski, professor, McArdle Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ernest H. Taves, psychoanalyst, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sarah G. Thomason, professor of linguistics. Uni­ versity of Pittsburgh, editor of Language.

Subcommittees Astrology Subcommittee: Chairman, I. W. Kelly, Dept. of Educational Psychology, University of Saskat­ chewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0W0, Canada. College and University Lecture Series Subcommittee: Chairman, Paul Kurtz; Lecture Coordinator, Ranjit Sandhu, CSICOP, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Education Subcommittee: Chairman, Steven Hoffmaster, Physics Dept., Gonzaga Univ., Spokane, WA 99258-0001; Secretary, Wayne Rowe, Education Dept., Univ. of Oklahoma, 820 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK 73019. Electronics Communications Subcommittee: Chairman, Page Stevens, 6006 Fir Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102. Legal and Consumer Protection Subcommittee: Chairman, Mark Plummer, c/o CSICOP, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Paranormal Health Claims Subcommittee: Co-chairmen, William Jarvis, Professor of Health Education, Dept. of Preventive Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 93350, and Stephen Barrett, M.D., P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105. Parapsychology Subcommittee: Chairman, Ray Hyman, Psychology Dept., Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97402. UFO Subcommittee: Chairman, Philip J. Klass, 404 "N" Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal

The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal attempts to encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and to disseminate factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public. To carry out these objectives the Committee: • Maintains a network of people interested in critically examining claims of the paranormal. • Prepares bibliographies of published materials that carefully examine such claims. • Encourages and commissions research by objective and impartial inquiry in areas where it is needed. • Convenes conferences and meetings. • Publishes articles, monographs, and books that ex­ amine claims of the paranormal. • Does not reject claims on a priori grounds, antece­ dent to inquiry, but rather examines them objec­ tively and carefully.

The Committee is a nonprofit scientific and educa­ tional organization. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is its official journal.