MARTIN GARDNER ON ISAAC NEWTON • EXTRATERRESTRIAL HIGHWAY • GOATSUCKER HYSTERIA Skeptical Inquirer

i • THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON Volume 20, No. 5 • September/October 1996 4

Science Fiction, Skepticism, and Reality; . Stewart, Greg Bear

the First World and Paranoia Skeptics Congress An Afternoon Traditional Medicine and with a Psychic Pseudoscience in China Part 2 of a Report of the second CSICOP Delegation

Published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL

AT THE CENTEft FOR INQUIRY (ADJACENT TO TMi STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFAiO) • AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo Barry Karr, Executive Director and Public Relations Director Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Lee Nisbet. Special Projects Director FELLOWS

James E. Alcock,* psychologist. York Thomas Gilovich, psychologist, Cornell Joe Nickel I," senior research fellow, CSI­ Univ., Toronto Univ. COP Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Henry Gordon, magician, columnist, Lee Nisbet,* philosopher, Medaille Albany, Oregon Toronto College Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Stephen Jay Gould, Museum of James E. Oberg, science writer Kentucky Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ. Loren Pankratz, psychologist, Oregon Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, C E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Health Sciences Univ. author, consumer advocate, Wales John Paulos, mathematician, Temple Allentown, Pa. Al Hibbs, scientist. Jet Propulsion Univ. Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist, Laboratory Simon Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Mark Plummer, lawyer, Australia Douglas Hofstadter, professor of Canada human understanding and cognitive W. V. Quine, philosopher. Harvard Univ. Irving Biederman, psychologist, Univ. science, Indiana Univ. Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of Southern California of Chicago Susan Blackmore,* psychologist, Univ. Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of History of Carl Sagan, astronomer, Cornell Univ. of the West of England, Bristol Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical profes­ Henri Broch, physicist, Univ. of Nice, Science, Harvard Univ. sor of medicine, Stanford Univ. France Ray Hyman,* psychologist, Univ. of Evry Schatzman, President. French Jan Harold Brunvand, folklorist. pro Oregon fessor of English, Univ. of Utah Leon Jaroff, sciences editor emeritus, Physics Association Vern Bullough, professor of history, 77me Eugenie Scott physical anthropologist, California State Univ. at Northridge Sergei Kapitza, editor. Russian edition. executive director, National Center Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill Scientific American for Science Education Philip J. Klass,* aerospace writer, engi­ Glenn T. Seaborg, University Professor University of Chemistry. Univ. of California, John R. Cole, professor of anthropolo­ neer Berkeley; Nobel Prize laureate gy, Univ. of Mass. at Amherst Marvin Kohl, professor of philosophy, Thomas A. Sebeok, anthropologist, lin­ F. H. C Crick, biophysicist, Salk Inst, for SUNY at Fredonia guist, Indiana Univ. Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif; Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer, director, Robert Sheaffer, science writer Nobel Prize laureate Griffith Observatory Elie A. Shneour, biochemist; author, Richard Dawkins, zoologist, Oxford Paul Kurtz.* chairman, CSICOP director, Biosystems Research Univ. Institute, La Jolla, California Lawrence Kusche, science writer L. Sprague de Camp, author, engineer Dick Smith, film producer, publisher, Leon Lederman, emeritus director. Cornells de Jager, professor of astro­ Terrey Hills. N.S.W., Australia Fermilab; Nobel laureate in physics physics, Univ. of Utrecht, the Robert Steiner, magician, author, El Netherlands Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psycholo­ Cerrito, Calif. gy, Univ. of Washington Bernard Dixon, science writer, London, Jill Cornell Tarter, SETI Institute U.K. Paul MacCready, scientist/engineer, Carol Tavris", psychologist and author, Paul Edwards, philosopher. Editor. AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, Calif. Los Angeles, Calif. Encyclopedia of Philosophy David Marks, psychologist, Middlesex Stephen Toulmin, professor of philoso­ Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading Polytech, England phy. University of Southern California Univ., U.K. Walter C. McCrone, microscopist, Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer, Foothill Steven Weinberg, professor of physics College. Los Altos Hills, Calif. McCrone Research Institute and astronomy, University of Texas at Austin; Nobel Prize laureate Kendrick Frazier,* science writer, Marvin Minsky, professor of Media Arts Editor, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER and Sciences, M.I.T. Marvin Zelen, statistician, Harvard Univ. Yves Galifret Exec. Secretary, I'Union David Morrison, space scientist, NASA Lin Zixin, former editor. Science and Technology Daily (China) Rationaliste Ames Research Center * Member, CSICOP Executive Council Martin Gardner,* author, critic Richard A. Muller, professor of physics. • Associate Member, CSICOP Executive Murray Gell-Mann, professor of Univ. of Calif, Berkeley physics. Santa Fe Institute; Nobel Council H. Narasimhaiah, physicist, president. Prize laureate (Affiliations given for identification only.) Bangalore Science Forum, India Dorothy Nelkin, sociologist. New York Visit the CSICOP Univwe. b site at http://www.csicop.org

The Surncu INQUWR (ISSN 0194-6730) is published himomMr by the Committee for the Scientific work of individual authors. Their publication does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by CSI­ Investigation of Oimi of rh«- Paranormal. 3965 Rniih R.i . Asnhrra. NY 1422S-7743 Ftonrrd i„ COP or -. memkr, unl«» *o nud U-SA. Sccood-chss pottage paid at Amhcra, New York, and additional mailing offices. Subscription Copyright 61996 by the Comminee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal prices: one year (so issues). S3' 50. two yean. $54.00; three yean, $75.00, single issue, $4.95. All r-ghts reserved. The Surncu Isqmtrjt IS available on 16mm microfilm. 35mm microfilm, and Inquiries from the media and the public about the work of the Comminee should be nude to 105mm microfiche from University Microfilms International and is indexed in the Reader's Guide to Paul Kurtz. Chairmaii. CSICOP. Bd 703. Amhem. NY 14226-0703. Td.: (716) 636-1425. FAX Periodical Literature. 716-636-1733. Subscriptions, change of address, and advertising should be addressed to: SfcxroCAi IKQITUR. BOX Manuscripts, letters, books for review, and editorial irtquirks should be addressed to Kendnck 703. Amherst. NY 14226-0703- Old address as well as new are necessary for change of tubscnbcM Frauer. Editor. StirtKM IN****** *44 Deer Dnve NE. AJbuqterque NM 87122-1306 FAX 505- address, with six weeks advance notice. SarncAi INQIIMK subscribers may not ipcak on behalf of CSI­ 828-2080. For Guide for Authors, see page 65 of the May/junc 1996 issue or fax request, to the Editor. COP or the SurriCAi IMJIHOH Articles, reports, reviews, and k-ners published in the Surncu IKQCMUS represent the views and Postmaster Send changes of address to SWJTJCAI iKQUMfa. Box 703. Amherst. NY 14226-0703 Grossman reviews Skeptical Inquirer Stein, p. 51 THE September/October 1996 • VOL 20, NO. 5 ENCYCLOPEDIA oi THI: PARANORMAL WORLD SKEPTICS CONGRESS 5 Something for Everyone at World Skeptics Congress JM 6 Four Days with the Skeptics (.OKIION sri.lN. I'h.l). Commentary by WENDY GROSSMAN 7 CSICOP Award Winners 8 CSICOP Announces New Council for Media Integrity/ Asteroids Named for CSICOP, Kurtz Extraterrestrial Highway, p. 17

SCIENCE FICTION, SKEPTICISM. AND REALITY COLUMNS 19 Shades of Meaning: Science Fiction as a New Metric EDITOR'S NOTE 4 Science fiction can, and should, be used to explore paranormal and NEWS AND COMMENT fringe-science issues in compelling, meaningful ways. Noreen Reiner 'Put to the Test'—Hollywood EUGENE R. STEWART TV Style / Goatsucker Hysteria 9 Skepticism and Science Fiction, GREG BEAR / The Goulden NOTES OF A FRINGE-WATCHER Twig, HAL CLEMENT / Science Fiction and Scientific Isaac Newton: Alchemist and Fundamentalist Possibilities, FRED ERIK POHL MARTIN GARDNER 13 PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS ARTICLES Travels on the Extraterrestrial Highway ROBERT SHEAFFER 17 27 Traditional Medicine and Pseudo- NEW BOOKS 55 science in China: A Report of the Second ARTICLES OF NOTE 55 CSICOP Delegation FORUM This is the second of a two-part report of a recent CSICOP delegation Art, Reason, and Reality to the People's Republic of China. In this article the authors describe JANE HADDAM 57 their participation in a symposium on pseudoscience in China, held in Beijing, and their further interactions with practitioners of Traditional What Constitutes Scientific Evidence? Chinese Medicine in Shanghai. WAYNE R. ANDERSON 59 WALLACE SAMPSON and BARRY L. BEYERSTEIN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 62 35 Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference BOOK REVIEWS Some therapists' lack of skepticism may make them prime targets for racist propaganda. The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal Edited by Gordon Stein EVAN HARRINGTON WENDY M. GROSSMAN 51 43 We Need Science and the Humanities Leaps of Faith Science and technology will serve humanity welt only if ours hearts and by Nicholas Humphrey heads work in concert. Critical, rational thought and respect for the GORDON STEIN 52 world in which we live are both needed The Myth of Scientific Literacy JOHN W. WHITE by Morris H. Shamos ROGER KLARE 53 45 Testing the ESP Claims of SORRAT Bizarre Beliefs The Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT) claims by Simon Hoggart and Mike Hutchinson to be in contact with spirit "entities" that can divine the order of sealed GORDON STEIN 54 decks of cards. A tat was designed using a sealed deck of ESP cards and carried out after the protocol was approved Here are the results. RICHARD WISEMAN. JOHN BELOFF, and ROBERT L. MORRIS 47 Strange Vibrations: An Afternoon with a New Age Psychic It all sounds so convincing. Or does it? ON THE COVER: 1.0. LASICA Illustration by Gerald Fried Skeptical Inquirer IHI MA6A2IHI '01 SCIfMCf AND MASON

Skepticism, Reality, and Science Fiction IWTOH Kendrick Frazier any of today's scientists credit science fiction with stimulating their early interest in EDrTOKIAL BOARD James E. Alcock science. The same is true with some science journalists. I'm one of them. With me Barry Beyerstein it was Heinlein. Bradbury. Clarke. Asimov, Bester. Ballard, Blish, Van Vogt (among Susan J. Blackmore M Martin Gardner many others then and since), and their illustrious predecessors Verne and Wells. They stimu­ Ray Hyman lated the imagination and enlarged the world of possibilities, using scientific concepts to ask. Philip J. Klass "What if?" Paul Kurtz Science fiction has always applied hard science, soft science, and squishy-soft paranormal Joe Nickell concepts in exploring future possible technologies and societies. What is the science fiction Lee Nisbet Bela Scheiber writer's role and responsibility, if any, in distinguishing between fantasy and reality, possibility CONSULTING EDITORS and probability, meaning and mcaninglcssncss—between exploring real possibilities and pos­ Robert A. Baker sibly planting the seeds of paranormal belief? These ate fascinating questions, and in this issue John R. Cole we consider diem. Kenneth L. Feder C E. M. Hansel Writer Eugene R. Stewart and distinguished science fiction novelists Greg Beat, Frederik E. C. Krupp Pohl, and Hal Clement each address the issues in their own way. David F. Marks "Art, as well as science, tries to find meaning; and science fiction in particulai tries to make Andrew Neher James E. Oberg the search rational, understandable, and communicable, by thinking ahead, considering alter­ Robert Sheaffer natives, and trying to plan for a realistic mental attitude toward change and adaptation," writes Steven N. Shore Stewart in his lead essay. But he also criticizes some science fiction: "Gullibility, laziness, and MANAGING IPfTO* self-delusion, even hoax and fraud, divert some writers from real science, which might require Gwen Burda some difficult research, toward the false claims and fake magic of quick-and-dirty wonder­ ASSISTANT EDITORS ments that can be sewn of whole cloth." Thomas C. Genoni, Jr. Alice Loweecey Bear. Pohl, and Clement are renowned for their "hard science fiction"—using scienrifk ART DIRECTOR concepts and ptinciples tealistically in their fiction. Christine Kuzniarek "Science fiction writing, at its finest, Is an enormous leap of skeptical imagination," writes CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Bear. "The art is in choosing which impossibilities to shatter, which future advancements to Lys Ann Shore promote to reality." According to Pohl. "What science fiction can profitably do to counteract PIOOUCTION superstition is to explore the wonders of real scientific possibilities. . . . But that is precisely Paul Loynes CARTOONIST what a great many science fiction writers have been doing ... for the last half-century and Rob Pudlm more." Clement describes how "science fiction plays a demonstrable pan in the development of human ideas," starting at the most speculative end of the branch and extending out into the PUBLISHERS REPRESENTATIVE area of hypothesis. Barry Karr We would be interested in heating from other science fiction writers—and their readers— •USINtSS MANAGER Mary Rose Hays on the same topic. ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Sandra Lesniak ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Of DEVELOPMENT It's one of those wonderful coincidences (not synchronicity!), but in our Forum section in Anthony C. Battaglia this issue we also represent Jane Haddam's thoughtful essay "An, Reason, and Reality," asking CHIEF OATA omen Richard Seymour some of the same kinds of questions about literary fiction. A detective novelist, she wonders FULFILLMENT MANAGER why some of today's most respected literary fiction writers arc gratuitously inserting paranor­ Michael Gone mal themes into their books without even attempting to justify them. It's something novelists STAW of the hard-nosed detective genre could never get away with, she says. Elizabeth Begley Stephanie Damon Elizabeth O. Fellendorf Amy Goble If you are at all concerned about conspiracy theories, militias, controversial claims of Diana Picciano Alfreda Pidgeon repressed memories of ritual cult abuse brought out under therapy, and the interaction of all Etienne Rios these with paranoia and political world views (the Illuminati and the New World Order, for Ranjit Sandhu example), carefully read Evan Harrington's in-depth article in this issue, "Conspiracy Theories Sharon Sikora and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference." It's sobering. Vance Vigrass Dana Walpole CORPORATE COUNSEL Brenton N. VerPloeg

INQUIRY MEDIA PRODUCTIONS Thomas Flynn MM Of UMAJUCS Gordon S. Stein

The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. an international organization.

4 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER WORLD HIUHI CONGRESS

Something for Everyone at World Skeptics Congress

It began with a stirring live symphonic evolutionary disciple, Stephen Jay Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, the performance of Gustav Hoist's The Gould. Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the U.K., Planets beneath a striking video of A Council on Media Integrity (sec and the U.S. There was a Nobel laure­ spacecraft imagery of the planets and page 8) was created, a twentieth-birth­ ate (Leon Lederman), two MacArthur ended with Steve Allen at the piano day cake cut, awards presented, confer­ Fellows (James Randi and Stephen Jay banging out some boogie-woogie. ence T-shirts sold, and a second World Gould), an Emmy winner (Chris Between the rousing musical end- Skeptics Congress initiated (in Heidel­ Carter), and the recently knighted if points, audiences were treated to riiree berg, Germany, probably June or July chronically rumpled (a point amus­ days of packed scientific and scholarly 1998). ingly made by Randi in his introduc­ presentations on everything from anti- At least 1,200 people from twenty- tion) editor emeritus of Nature, John science and alternative health cures to four countries attended all or parts of Maddox. homeopathy, parapsychology, UFOl- The media were there in force as ogy, and the mechanisms of self-decep­ well. The Associated Press sent out an tion. opening-day story. National Public The first World Skeptics Con­ Radios Science Friday did two hours gress—also the twentieth-anniversary ive from the conference. WGN radio conference of the Committee for the Chicago, Australian radio, C-SPAN, Scientific Investigation of Claims of and the BBC were there; CNN did the Paranormal, "Science in the Age something, NBC's Today Show men- of (Mis)Information"—had a little ' tioned the conference, as did David something for everyone. Letterman on his CBS program Late There was a surprise announce­ Show, and there was an array of ment that asteroids had been named ^ other print reporters and writers after CSICOP and its founder, Paul June 20-23, 1996 ^ from round the world. The Boston Globe did a big feature (July 1), and the Kurtz (see page 8). There was a lively \ Amhe*. New Kxt USA New York Times published cxerpts from change between Chris Carter, the cre­ some of the conference papers (July 7). ator of the immensely popular X-Files We begin our coverage of the con­ television show, and an audience of gress in this issue with Wendy Grossman's skeptics ranging from admiring fans to the congress—by far the largest crowd lively, impressionistic account and critics worried that the Fox network for any CSICOP conference. (The local commentary, and several short pieces. drama promotes paranormal beliefs. newspaper estimated that 2,000 attended Look for more in our next issue and for The conference even featured a surprise Gould's lecture in the university gym­ articles based on several of the most visit from Charles Darwin (persuasively nasium.) They heard some seventy prominent presentations later. played in black cape by biology profes­ speakers, themselves a representative sor Clyde Herreid), introducing and roster of internationalism: Australia, briefly upstaging his twentieth-century Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, —Kendrick Frazier, Editor

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 5 CONCRESS

Four Days with the Skeptics: CSICOP 20th-Anniversary Conference Focuses on Science, Skepticism, Media Misinformation

WENDY GROSSMAN

he guy in the front of the airline where Paul Kurtz, CSICOP's founder seen plenty of uncritical programs on taxi from JFK airport to La and chairman, opened die proceedings the BBC about homeopathy and even TGuardia was tired: he'd traveled with the help of four other speakers. spontaneous human combustion in all die way from Costa Rica that day While diey were talking, forty black- addition to the hour-long program on and didn't appreciate the four-hour clad members of the Buffalo Phil­ UFOs Maddox mentions. Maddox delay and change of airport due to bad harmonic waited on stage to play four and Hyman are echoed the next day by weather. He wasn't too thrilled two sections from Hoist's The Planets. Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files, hours later either, when the Amherst, Three main themes reappeared over who adds that there is no TV equiva­ New York, Red Roof Inn told him they and over again throughout the confer­ lent of the divisions in book stores were sold out. That's when it dawned ence: First, the mass media are, for between fiction and nonfiction sec­ on me that we were going to the same many people, the primary form of edu­ tions. place. cation, and these same mass media do Carter, who got faxes warning him "You here for the CSICOP confer­ not understand science or present it not to appear in front of such a hostile ence?" I said. well. Second, antiscience is growing audience, found himself among auto­ "No. I'm here for the skeptics' con­ throughout die land. And, finally, it graph-seeking fans. His motives were gress." Aha. matters. simple when they started the show: "I CSICOP's twentieth-anniversary Or, as Australian journalist Phillip just wanted to scare the pants off peo­ conference ("Science in the Age of Adams put it, "We have to deal with ple every Friday night." (Mis)Information," June 20-23)— die fact that we're involved with the But now Maddox goes on to say billed as the first World Skeptics sort of madness that destroys societies, that he thinks the problem started with Congress—drew at least 1,200 people, not just makes skeptics irritated." die end of die Cold War: "Until then, according to Barry Karr, CSICOP's At the opening news conference, a scientists were respected." Now there's executive director. The couple at die reporter from Buffalo radio station increasing acceptance of the notion table next to mine at breakfast the next WBFO asked the panel why a program that science is just another point of morning telling the waitress they were on alien abductions is harmful—it's view. I am suddenly re-experiencing going to see Steve Allen at die Saturday not, after all, 60 Minutes or the evening die generation gap. night banquet were two of diem. The news. John Maddox, editor emeritus of I am forty-two, and in my lifetime, Danish reporter sitting at die Red Roof Nature, pointed out, and psychologist everything has been questioned. The Inn waiting for a taxi was another. Ray Hyman said later, over lunch, the world is not what anyone thought it There were also many dedicated skep­ same diing: it is no longer possible to was going to be when this over-fifty judge a program or news story by its tics from Germany, die U.K., Belgium, panel was growing up. The generation source. Maddox mentioned the BBC; all over the wodd, in fact. on whose cusp I coast through life Hyman mentioned the New York And so diey came and (most of Times. Both are correct in dieir exam­ them) were scooped up by old yellow Wendy M. Grossman is a freelance writer ples. I've seen an astrologer profiled in school buses and taken to die State based in London. She can be reached at die New York Times Magazine, and I've University of New York at Buffalo, wendygQcix. compulink. co. uk.

6 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER CONGRESS

learned from the protests against the results from honest education, but it ence is a human activity, if a self-cor­ Vietnam War and the Watergate hear­ may turn into skepticism about the recting one. ings that no authority could be trusted usefulness of science." The official news of the conference absolutely. Our generation became folk After all, as mathematician Norman is CSICOP's new Council for Media singers instead of middle managers, Levitt (co-author of Higher Super­ Integrity. The mission of the Council is and seeded the environmental move­ stition) argued the next day, "We will to counter more effectively some of the ment. Our images of science include be seen as guiding people to a place wont and most irresponsible TV pro­ the worst horrors of primate and med­ which is bleak and cheerless because it gramming. This was announced to a ical research and Chernobyl as well as is indeed bleak and cheerless. But we scattering of journalists by seven the shimmering, Michelin-man shape make it a tougher sell than it needs to prominent skeptics: Kurtz, Adams, of Neil Armstrong stepping down onto be." Skeptics, he observed, "are Dutch astronomer Cornells de Jager, the surface of the moon. No one has inclined to be show-offs about our physician Wallace Sampson, Joe the respect they had before the 1960s, tough-mindedness, perhaps as a com­ Nickell, John Maddox, Kendrick not teachers, religious figures, politi­ pensatory gesture. But it's dangerous Frazier, and communications re­ cians, royalty, doctors, or lawyers. Why when you're trying to increase respect searcher George Gerbner. All but Joe should scientists be any different? and attention." Nickell are over fifty. All are male. I personally probably watch more TV in Leon Lederman, the Nobel-laureate We need, Levitt wound up, "to a week than they do combined. physicist, in his speech that evening, understand ourselves as well as the touched on this when he said that the masses out there." Stephen Jay Gould, A few journalists polled say what more you "raise scientific understand­ similarly, in his keynote address ram­ they want most is good, working ing the more people may criticize it. I bled through stories to show the social think science needs the criticism that context in which science operates; sci­ Conference continued on page 60

Richard Berendzen (1990). Eugenie Scott (1991), Sergei Kapitza csCSICOP, Award Winners(1992) , and John Maddox (1994). The Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award Eight distinguished scientists, scholars, and journalists were hon­ Steve Allen, author and entertainer, was presented this award in ored by die Committee for die Scientific Investigation of Claims of recognition of his lifetime achievement in cultivating the public die Paranormal on June 22, 1996, at the awards banquet of the first appreciation of critical thinking and science. Worid Skeptics Congress—also CSICOP's twentiedi-annivcrsary conference, "Science in the Age of (Mis) Information"—in Buffalo, Responsibility in Journalism Award New York. Three journalists—Philip Adams, columnist, radio moderator, Australia; Piero Angela, journalist, television moderator, author, Italy; Pierre Berton, historian, author, broadcaster, Canada—were Isaac Asimov Award presented this award in recognition of their outstanding contribu­ Stephen Jay Gould, professor of geology, zoology, and history of tion to fair and balanced reporting of paranormal claims. science at Harvard University, was presented this award in recogni­ Previous recipients of die Responsibility in Journalism Award tion of his outstanding commitment and ability in communicating are David Yost (1984), Leon Jaroff (1984), Boyce Rensberger the achievements, methods, and issues of science to the public. The (1986), Ward Lucas (1986), Ed Busch (1987), Michael Willesee one previous recipient of diis award was Carl Sagan in 1994. (1987). Lee Dembart (1987). Eugene Emery (1988), Stephen Doig (1990). Keay Davidson (1991), Mark Curtis (1991), Andrew In Praise of Reason Award Skolnick (1992), Henry Gordon (1992). and Jack Smith (1994). Leon Lederman, Emeritus Director of Fermilab and Nobel laure­ ate in physics, was presented this award in recognition of his dis­ Distinguished Skeptic Award tinguished contribution to the use of critical inquiry, scientific evi­ James Randi, conjurer and author, was presented the dence, and reason in evaluating claims to knowledge. Distinguished Skeptic Award in recognition of his outstanding Previous winners of die In Praise of Reason Award arc Martin achievements in communicating to die public an appreciation for Gardner (1982), Sidney Hook (1984), Antony Flew (1985), die methods of scientific inquiry and die scientific outlook. Stephen Jay Gould (1986). Carl Sagan (1987), Douglas Hofstadter Previous winners of the Distinguished Skeptic Award are: (1988). Cornells de Jager (1990). Gerard Pie) (1990). Donald Henri Broch (1990), Susan Blackmore (1991), Evry Schatzman Johanson (1991). Richard Dawkins (1992). and Elizabeth Loftus (1992), and Philip J. Klass (1994). (1994). In past years CSICOP has given a Frontiers of Science and Public Education in Science Award Technology Award. Past winners of this award are: Paul MacCready Dean Edell, national radio medical commentator, was presented (1986) and Murray Gell-Mann (1987). mis award in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the public's understanding of science and scientific principles. Compiled by Stephanie Damon, staff member at CSICOP and previ­ Previous winners of die Public Education in Science Award are ously on the staff at Prometheus Books.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 7 presenting fringe science as real science. CSICOP Announces Creation of "The major networks have been running two or three such Council to Monitor Paranormal, specials almost every month. Recently there have been pro­ grams on prophecies, astrology, psychic powers, creationism, Pseudoscience on TV Noah's Ark, angels, alien abductions, etc. This is in addition to the popular Unsolved Mysteries, X-Files, and Sightings, as well The establishment of a new Council for Media Integrity was5 as new programs such as Paranormal Borderlands, and announced June 20 at the opening news conference of the first1 Poltergeist." World Skeptics Congress. The Council is sponsored by the* The Council noted that on June 8, NBC rebroadcast "The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the! Mysterious Origins of Man," narrated by Charlton Heston. The Paranormal (CSICOP). The charter members of the Council' program promoted pseudoscience and suggested that evolu- include many distinguished figures from the world of science! tion is questionable, that human civilization originated 100 and academia: Glenn T. Seaborg, Nobel Prize-winner for chem­ million years ago. and that humans coexisted with dinosaurs. istry; George Gerbner, professor of communications. UniversityI The program, originally broadcast in February, raised protests of Pennsylvania; Stephen Jay Gould, zoologist, HarvardI from the scientific community, which NBC ignored. It also University; Gerald Holton, physicist, Harvard University; Sirr broadcast the fourth in a series of "Prophecies," which pro- John Maddox, editor emeritus. Nature magazine; Eugenie! vided questionable scenarios of the end of the world. Scott, anthropologist and director of the National Center for Science Education, Berkeley; Gerard Piel, former president, The Council also complained about the many talk shows American Association for the Advancement of Science and for­ devoted to the paranormal, in which claims in favor of the mer publisher of Scientific American; Wallace Sampson, M.D., paranormal are given a platform but skeptical dissent is rarely Stanford University," Kendrick Frazier, editor. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; heard. A statement endorsed by members of the Council main­ Steve Allen, popular TV entertainer and author; John Rennie, tained that, "If the United States is to continue to provide lead­ editor. Scientific American; Alun Anderson, editor. New ership and compete in the global economy, then we need to Scientist, and Carl Sagan, astronomer, Cornell Univeristy,' raise the level of scientific literacy and understanding of the among others. general public. "We are not, of course, asking that TV producers not run According to Paul Kurtz, chairman of CSICOP, "The media1 these shows or make a profit. We surely do not wish to censor have now virtually replaced the schools, colleges, and univer­ the media. We only ask that they provide some balance and sities as the main source of information for the generalI provide some appreciation of the scientific approach. The new public . . . the irresponsibility of the media in the area of sci­ Council will monitor such programs, and attempt to persuade ence and the paranormal is a worldwide problem. But it espe­ producers, directors, writers, and the general public to leave cially applies to the United States, where the media have been1 room for the appreciation of scientific methods of inquiry. distorting science and, in particular, presenting pseudoscience "We realize that the media are being attacked from all as genuine science. Indeed, we are appalled by the number of' sides, but we think that a plea for raising the level of under­ 'documentaries,' which are really entertainment programs. standing of science should be heard."

Asteroids Named for CSICOP Here are the complete citations: Skepticus 6630 CSICOP. U.S. Organization and Founder Paul Kurtz Named for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) on its 20th anniversary. CSI­ COP is a nonprofit education organization, founded in 1976 to The contributions to public education of the Committee for investigate paranormal, occult, and fringe claims, using rigor­ the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSI­ ous scientific methodology. Articles and reports generated by COP) have earned both the organization and its founder, Paul investigation are published in its journal The Skeptical Kurtz, cosmic honors. An asteroid has been named for CSICOP, Inquirer. CSICOP has spawned a grassroots movement of some and another asteroid has been named for Kurtz, a surprise seventy autonomous groups worldwide. Through public edu­ announcement at CSICOP's twentieth-anniversary conference cation and outreach, CSICOP has become a voice of reason to revealed. counter pseudoscience and superstition. The honor to CSICOP recognizes its contributions to science education and skepticism and was timed to coincide with its Kurtz 6629 U.S. Philosopher twentieth birthday. The International Astronomical Union Named in honor of Paul Kurtz (1925-) of State University (IAU), the body that officially names asteroids, accelerated its of New York at Buffalo. Kurtz is professor emeritus of philoso­ procedures so that the names would be approved in time to be phy, chairman and founder of the Committee for the Scientific announced at the conference, says CSICOP scientific and tech­ Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), chairman nical consultant James McGaha, director of the Grasslands of the Council for Secular Humanism, and founder and chair­ Observatory in Tucson. McGaha initiated the process and made man of Prometheus Books. A noted author and philosopher, the announcement at CSICOP's Saturday night awards ban­ he has written over 30 books and 650 articles on philosophy, quet, June 22. Kurtz, CSICOP's founding chairman, was not humanism, and skepticism. He has been influential in bringing told of either honor in advance. philosophy back from a pure analytical study to a more activist stance. Kurtz actively promotes science and refutation of pseu­ CSICOP's asteroid—its numerical designation is 1982 VA1 doscience. (6630)—was discovered November 15,1982, by E. Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of Lowell Observatory. Although These asteroids join asteroids Gardner and Randi (for named for CSICOP, its actual name will apparently be Martin Gardner and James Randi) among asteroids named "Skepticus," from the Greek word for skeptic. McGaha says the after prominent skeptical authors and investigators. The des­ IAU preferred that to an acronym. ignation of Randi's asteroid came this spring.

8 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEWS AND COMMENT

associated with him in some way I see Noreen Renier 'Put to the Test' [the letter] "J" again. Perkins: I can't confirm diat. (This —Hollywood TV Style skeptic's comment: "Cold.") R: She was sitting, standing, back turned. There would have been some 1 can vaguely recall a weekly television previously solved Glendale, California, blows from the back, or from behind. program from the '50s called Stump the homicides. We are informed that on day P: I can't confirm that. (Good try, chough.) Stan, in which regulars Ross Martin and one "the results were split," although R: Close together, ot lived Beverly Garland, 1 assume with some Renier was "accurate on over seventy- together, or close together. I don't degree of success, would attempt to five percent of the facts." A "day two" know. Is that right? Is that right? determine the answer to something case was selected for showing—that of P: Yes, I can confirm that. (What? (hey, I was probably still in diapers!). an eighty-nine-year-old woman named OK, the killer did live very close by.) R: I feel a relative, a friend of a rel­ Less anciently, What's My Line? and Josephine, who was brutally murdered ative is involved. in 1994. Appearing in the room with I've Got a Secret were TV staples, and my P: I can confirm "a relative" or recollections of these programs are Renier are Alison Holloway (one of the "friend of." (The murderer was actu­ show's hosts), Glendale Police Depart­ much more vivid. I believe I can report ally a "friend'/neighbor of the victim, ment Sgt. Jon Perkins, and a retired not a relative or a friend of a relative.) authoritatively that the "lines" and judge to monitor the proceedings. "secrets" were very often correctly deter­ mined by the celebrity panelists. I Renier is handed Josephine's hearing At this point, the taped replay of the believe I can further report, without fear aid, and she then begins to describe the session is interrupted with a brief of contradiction, that despite their suc­ killer: "I feel some [increased] width to description by Holloway of how the cesses week after week, Kitty Carlisle the mouth. Might be a strong overbite. murder occurred. When they return to Renier, it cannot be determined if she and company made no claims of "psy­ Lips—short." To my eyes, she was correcdy found her way into the kitchen chic" ability. wrong on all three counts, and her asso­ without the assistance of Perkins feed­ A much more pretentious incarna­ ciate's composite sketch, unveiled later, back. tion of these variations of the children's seemed to me to bear little resemblance games of "hot and cold" and "twenty to the killer's face. questions" aired most recently on April But her "psychic" reading of the Renier: Maybe some weapon that was in the kitchen could have been 29, when Orlando, Florida, "psychic crime was more (excuse the pun) dead- used. detective" Noreen Renier was one of on. As Sgt. Perkins, who had worked the Perkins: OK. Can you describe three subjects on the ABC-TV program case, conducted the questioning, Renier the weapon? Put to the Test. The show's purpose, as described the place where rhe murder R: A knife? (Logical deduction, explained up front, is to "challenge our occurred: "It seems like there's a lot of even if tentatively offered. But a "psy­ chic" might have discerned the basic understanding of what can be, and white in it. And there's some strong nonobvious—it was a pocket knife!) what we've come to accept as truth," by slant . . . with the roof. ... A house or P: OK, where are we going to subjecting the guests' claims to "objec­ church, or a house near a church. Screen move to? Can you see that? tive" testing. door creaks." Even if Renier did not R: I think we go through two Renier's segment begins with her research the Glendale newspapers and more doorways. (You mean we move from one room to another one? Given looking into the camera and making scout the murder site in advance of the the last hint, even /can confirm that!) this modest claim: "If you give me the test (how many Josephines could have P: OK, I can confirm that. first name of a victim and something been murdered there recently?), her from that crime scene, I can tell you description may be reasonably represen­ I cannot assert with certainty if who did it, and how it happened." Her tative of many homes in the area. Renier's "success" thus far is the result of resume is then summarized, and testi­ (Interestingly, although the actual screen mere intuition, prior knowledge, monials of praise are offered by Capt. door does not "creak," it does, like Perkins' feedback, "psychic" power, or Robert Miller of the Ft. Pierce, Florida, many, scrape loudly along the porch sur­ some combination thereof. What I can Sheriff's Department and retired New face.) assert with certainty is that once she York Detective Ray Krolak (see refer­ Now rhe game of "hot and cold" "psychically" enters the bedroom, ence to Krolak in my chapter on Renier begins in earnest, as Renier offers bits Renier's play-acting becomes painfully in Psychic Sleuths, edited by Joe Nickell, and pieces of her "psychic" vision to absurd. A knife already having been Prometheus Boob, 1994). Perkins, who plays dutifully along: established as one of two murder Renier's test, conducted at her home weapons, rhe viewer is treated to the "over a two-day period," involved rhree Renier: In die [killer's] name or

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 9 CSICOP AT THE CENTER FOR N O U I R Y

An Unprecedented $20 Million Drive for the Future of Science and Reason

Martin Gardner Honorary Co-chair Human beings have never understood the material universe as thor­ oughly as they do today. Yet never has popular hunger for superstition, pseudoscience, and the paranormal been so acute.

CSICOP and die Skeptical Inquirer are leading advocates for skepti­ cism nationally and worldwide. But so much more must be done in the years to come.

The New Ten-Year Plan To continue its leadership in the defense of reason, CSICOP has articulated a Ten-Year Plan designed to:

• Promote science and reason Steve Allen Honorary Co-chair • Develop public support ana1 participation

• Develop The Center for Inquiry as an education and research center

• Build up the Committees resources Publishing revenues alone cannot fund die bold outreach today's challenges demand. Hence the Fund for die Future Campaign, a How Can I Help? ten-year effort to add 20 million dollars to the Center for Inquiry endowments.* Gifts and endowment income will fund projects The Center for Inquiry Fund for the including: Future depends on generous support I from each of our readers and friends. • Council for Gifts of cash, securities and other Media Integrity assets are sought. A three-year pledge Formed just weeks after its inclusion in can make more substantial gifts sur­ the Ten-Year Plan, the Council for prisingly affordable. Many forms of Media Integrity will monitor and rebut planned giving arrangements can be media programs that convey unfounded arranged All requests will be held in claims and mislead the public about sci­ confidence. ence. Members include Steve Allen (chair), Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, and many others. CSICOP will invest in electronic infrastructure to facilitate Only financial support from skeptics rapid response to irresponsible pro­ and other friends of science can place grams. the skeptical movement on a firm financial foundation. • Adult Education The Council cosponsors the Center for Inquiry Institute, which has already expanded its offerings to include a new three-year certificate At the first World Skeptics Congress program in science and skepticism. Sessions are scheduled in Amherst in Amherst, New York, participants and Los Angeles. gave or pledged an unprecedented $201,000 to give the Fund for the • Enhancing Library Resources Future campaign a vigorous start. The Center for Inquiry's skeptics' library—already the finest of its kind in the world—needs expanded funding to enlarge its core collec­ tion and add electronic media. Worldwide modem access to the We invite you to make your commit­ library's catalog is already neady complete. ment to the Fund for the Future today. For more information, complete and • For the Young mail the postpaid reply card. To present skeptics' message more com- pellingly to the young, CSICOP will develop new materials—ranging from age-appropriate print publications to CSICOP audio and video cassettes and instruc­ at the tional courseware. Goals include Center for Inquiry enhanced understanding of science and improved critical thinking skills. ^ P.O. Box 703 Amherst NY 14226-0703 • Regional Outreach With the establishment of The Center for Inquiry - West (Los Angeles), The Center for Inquiry - Midwest (Kansas City) and The (716) 636-1425 Center for Inquiry - Rockies (Boulder, Colo.), giant steps have been taken to enhance direct field service to skeptical activists. Additional FAX (716) 636-1733 regional Centers are planned with expanded calendars of activities.

"Combined endowment goal of CSICOP and me Council for Secular Humanism, bodi nonprofit ux-exempt educational organizations. NEWS AND COMMENT spectacle of Renier simulating a repeat­ In my chapter on Renier in Psychic one had been bled dry. ing stabbing motion with her right arm: Sleuths, I describe on page 80 a simple When the scare spread to Mexico in "I get this motion with him, and I don't test protocol that would allow, with April, a scientific team staked out farm­ quite know what this motion is. But I mathenmtic.il precision, a determina­ yards where the goatsucker had report­ keep doing this. And I have sort of a tion as to whether or not her "psychic" edly struck. Wild dogs were caught each lunge-and-pull-back, and lunge-and- powers are genuine. Renier wanted no time. A police official remarked, "I don't pull-back motion." She then immedi­ part of such a test, not even for die know about die rest of Mexico or the ately makes a series of campy-looking Tampa Bay Skeptics' "$1,000 Chal­ rest of the world, but here the goatsuck­ puffing faces and sounds, as if exhausted lenge" ($1,000 is offered to anyone who ers are just dogs." He added: "There is from reliving the kill. Even if I were ini­ can successfully demonstrate psychic just this huge psychosis. You see it every­ tially inclined to believe in her "psychic" powers under scientific, controlled con­ where, even though everywhere we go powers, diis ridiculous acting and feign­ ditions). And not even die lure of James we prove that there aren't any extrater­ ing of ignorance would be a dead give­ Randi's new "2000 Club" jackpot (a restrials or vampires." away. similar challenge to anyone who can Investigating for CSICOP, Patricia As die test approaches its conclusion, demonstrate psychic powers under sci­ and Mario Mendez-Acosta of Mexico Holloway says, "Noreen [then] had her entific, controlled conditions, now City interviewed several veterinarian most startling vision of the reading—a worth more than $600,000) has caused pathologists who had conducted fact that was never printed in the news­ her to change her mind. numerous autopsies on alleged victims paper, never testified to in court, a fact of the goatsucker. Again, in every no one but the investigators knew. —Gary P. Posner instance blood was still present in the David had hidden one of the murder animal. weapons in the oven." Renier to Perkins: Gary P. Posner, a physician and medical Some news sources reported that a "I diink you had trouble finding one software company executive, is founder of nurse who lived in a village near Mexico weapon. Uh, there was a little disguise the Tampa Bay Skeptics and a CSICOP City had been attacked by die goat­ in the one weapon." Perkins: "I can con­ Consultant. sucker. Actually, she simply fell and firm tJiat." But Renier does not say that broke her arm but her cries for help the knife had been hidden in the oven. were misinterpreted by her grand­ And if diis one "vision" was the "most Goatsucker Hysteria mother, and neighbors rushing to her startling" of them all because it involved aid saw a black-winged form. In reality, one fact diat had not been previously pub­ Mimicking die "cattle mutilation" hype that was a flock of swallows, but thus licized, does this not imply that Renier of yesteryear, reports of a bloodthirsty the tumor was born. In another indeed had an opportunity (whether or beast—El Chupacabras, or "die goat­ Mexican incident, a man who claimed not she availed herself of it) to come up sucker"—have spread from Puerto Rico he had been attacked by the goatsucker with her other "visions" through prior to Mexico and, more recently, to later confessed that was a cover story for research? Florida. his having participated in a brawl (Los When the Renier-inspired sketch of According to the Cox News Service Angeles Times, May 19, 1996). the killer was shown to Perkins at the (April 1996), "The creature supposedly Largely through Miami's Latin radio conclusion of die test, he rated it as is part space alien, part vampire and part and television stations, the collective "very accurate ... a strong 7 [or] weak reptile, with long sharp claws, bulging delusion spread to the Sunshine State. 8" (I'd give it a "strong" 3). He added, "I eyes and a Dracula-like taste for sucking Prompted by local authorities and sur­ think she was probably ninety percent blood from neck bites." In Puerto Rico, rounded by members of the news accurate on the facts and the informa­ where the myth originated in late 1995. media, a University of Miami veterinary tion diat occurred during die course of "the creature has spawned something professor, Alan Herron, cut open a dead diis murder." But even if she was, did near hysteria." goat to demonstrate that it had merely she exhibit sufficient evidence of "psy­ It reportedly attacked turkeys, goats, been bitten, not emptied of its blood. chic" power to cause a rational, critically rabbits, dogs, cats, cows, and horses, Citing die bite wounds that were "sug­ thinking person to reassess his or her sucking all the blood from diem. gestive of predation," Professor Herron skepticism of the paranormal? Haven't However, as Reuters reported, the concluded, "A pack of wild dogs did it." magicians, psychology instructors, and Puerto Rico Agriculture Department "Of course," reported the Cox News others regularly performed similarly dispatched a veterinarian to investigate. Service, "that did lirde to calm the "accurate" readings, to demonstrate for Officials then announced diat all the Chupacabras frenzy." die public how easy it is to simulate animals had died under normal circum­ "psychic" power? stances and diat, contrary to claims, not —Jot Nickell

12 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NOTES Of k FRINGE-WATCHER MARTIN GARDNER

Isaac Newton: Alchemist and Fundamentalist

And from my pillow, looking His classic Philosophise naturalis prin- forth by light although he granted that the original Of moon or favouring stars, cipia mathematica was not published texts had been heavily corrupted by an I could behold until twenty years after his youthful unscrupulous Roman Church. He The antcchapel where the achievements, and then only at the accepted the Genesis account of cre­ statue stood insistence of astronomer Edmund ation in six literal days, the temptation Of Newton with his prism and Halley, for whom the comet is named, and fall of Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark silent nice, The marble index of a mind and who funded the book's publication. and the universal flood, the blood for ever For a large part of his life Newton's time atonement of Jesus, his birth by a virgin, Voyaging through strange seas and energy were devoted to fruitless his bodily resurrection, and the eternal of Thought, alone. alchemy experiments and efforts to life of our souls in heaven or hell. He interpret Biblical prophecy. His hand­ never doubted the reality of angels and —William Wordsworth, Prelude, demons, and a Satan destined on judg­ Book 3, lines 58-63 written manuscripts on those topics far exceed his writings about physics. They ment day to be cast into a lake of fire. constitute several million words now Bishop James Ussher, the seventeenth- century Irish scholar, had settled on here are three Sir Isaac Newtons. scattered in the rare book rooms of 41)04 B.C. as the year of creation. libiaiics and in private collections. The Newton revised it in the wrong direc­ known Newton has been the American philosopher Richard Popkin T tion by making it five hundred years great mathematical physicist who in his is currently working on a twelve-volume later! early twenties invented calculus, discov­ edition of these manuscripts. ered the binominal theorem, introduced Although other scientists of the time, Newton's universe was a vast polar coordinates, proved that white notably Robert Boyle, were interested in machine operating by laws created and light was a mixture of colors, explained alchemy, none was as obsessively occu­ upheld by a personal yet transcendent the rainbow, built the first reflecting pied with such research as Newton. He deity. Infinite space was God's telescope, and showed that the force read all the old books on alchemy he "Sensoriam"—the means by which he causing apples to fall is the same as the could find, accumulating more than observed and controlled the cosmos. force that guides the planets, moons, 150 for his library. He built furnaces for Although for Kant and later admirers of and comets, and produces tides. His dis­ endless experiments and left about a Newton the universe was deterministic, coveries revolutionized physics. His million words on the topic. He thought never deviating from unalterable laws, genius is undisputed. of himself as working within a secret Newton was convinced that from time Unknown to most people, even occult tradition of wisdom that traced to time God needed to adjust the orbits today, are two other Newtons. One is back to Earth's earliest history. He even of planets to keep them free of pertur­ bations caused by comets and other the alchemist who struggled for decades suspected that the ancients had known forces. to turn base metals into gold. The other the inverse-square law of gravity! is Newton the Protestant fundamental­ It is with Newton's fundamentalism This notion that God has to tinker ist. that this essay is mainly concerned. He with the universe to repair it struck Newton worked quietly alone, was a devout Anglican, firmly believing Newton's German rival, the great almost in secret, on his great discoveries. the Bible to be God's revelation, philosopher-mathematician Leibniz, as

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 13 blasphemous. If God is perfect, omnipo­ Both space and time were for pret the prophecies of Daniel in the Old tent and omniscient as Newton believed, Newton absolute. Space was a fixed, Testament, and the Book of Revelation why, Leibniz wanted to know, would he infinite, unmoving metric against which in the New. He left more rhan a million create a universe so flawed mat it would absolute motions could be measured. words on these subjects, seeing himself require perpetual adjustments? His proof of this was die centrifugal as one who for the first time was cor­ Newton had no use for pantheism. force produced by rotating bodies, and recdy judging both books. Having been His God was the God of die Bible, in which he correcdy guessed had caused so successful in solving some of the rid­ whose image we were created, but so the earth to bulge at its equator. It dles of God's universe, he turned his tal­ wholly other that we cannot compre­ would be foolish, he argued, to suppose ents toward trying to answer riddles hend how we resemble him. Newton's that a rotating bucket of water, which posed by God's Holy Word. greatest departure from die prevailing tossed water over its sides, was at rest Newton was firmly convinced that religion of England was his rejection of with the entire universe spinning Daniel and the Apocalypse, when cor­ die trinity. He was an Arian (forerunner around it. There was no way, of course, recdy deciphered, showed that Earth's of Unitarianism) for whom Jesus was he could have conceived of general rela­ history was about to end with the indeed the divine Son of God, but in no tivity in which even rotary motion is rel­ Second Coming of Jesus, followed by way equal to God. Trinitarianism, ative, but how he would relish it were he his judgment of die quick and die dead. Newton believed, was a crude heresy to return to earth today! "Newton, for­ In his youdi Newton speculated on concocted by the Roman Church in die give me," Einstein once wrote. 1867 as a possible date for the Second fourth and fifth centuries. He kept this Nor can we fault Newton for not Coming, but in later years decided it belief to himself, knowing well that if it undemanding cosmological and biolog­ was folly to use the Bible for predicting became known he would be expelled ical evolution. Like so many theists the future. The best we can do is recog­ from his Cambridge college, ironically before and after, he saw the intricate nize successful predictions after the called Trinity, where he was a professor patterns of life forms as another proof of events occur. Like millions of of mathematics for twenty-six years. It God's wondrous handiwork. He was Protestants in the seventeenth century, later would have endangered his job at particularly impressed by bilateral sym­ he believed the Papacy was the the Royal Mint where he worked for the metry: Antichrist foretold in the Apocalypse— last half of a long life. He was a diligent an incarnation of Satan in his last, futile servant, overseeing England's currency Can it be by accident that all birds, effort to thwart God's plan for cleansing and merciless in sending counterfeiters beasts and men have their right side the universe of sin. He accepted the and left side alike shaped (except in to the gallows. He was die first to rec­ dieir bowels), and just two eyes and prophecy that in the last days the Jews ommend gold as a monetary standard. no more on either side die face, and would return to Jerusalem and become For Newton, the beautiful patterns just rwo ears on either side the head, Christians. The coming of Christ would of die material universe were over­ and nose with two holes and no more be followed by a Millennium during between die eyes, and one mouth whelming evidence of God's creative under the nose, and either two fore­ which the Lord would rule over earth powers. As an example, he singled out legs or two wings or two arms on die "with an iron hand." In his old age the fact that all die planets revolve on shoulders, and two legs on ihe hips, Newton moved the date of the Second the same plane, in the same direction. one on either side and no more? Coming to some time after the end of with just enough centripetal force to the twenty-first century. keep them from crashing into die sun. Would Newton have accepted evolu­ Six years after Newton's death his Newton was puzzled by the fact that tion had he lived after Darwin? If so, he Observations upon the Prophecies of gravity seemed to operare instanta­ would have considered it God's method Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John was neously at a distance. He admitted he of creation, though it would surely have published in London. It was reprinted could do no more than describe it with­ demolished his belief in the accuracy of in 1922, but amazingly has been out comprehending how it worked. Not Genesis. unavailable since. The best summary of until Einstein's general dieory of relativ­ I also suspect that Newton, reincar- its contents known to me is a chapter in ity was gravity changed from a "force" to nared today, would embrace quantum the second volume of Leroy Edwin the movement of matter along die mechanics. Indeed, he thought that Froom's The Prophetic Faith of Our shortest paths in a curved space-time. As light consisted of particles, independent Fathers (Review and Herald, 1950-54), physicist John Wheeler likes to say, die of space though somehow influenced by a massive four-volume work by a stars tell space-time how to bend, and space. In quantum mechanics, light is Seventh-day Adventist historian. Froom space-rime tells die stars how to go. both a wave and a particle called die greatly admired Newton's religious photon. opinions. Many are shared by Adven- Martin Gardner's latest book is The Newton's passion for alchemy was tists, including the identification of the Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938- exceeded only by his passion for Biblical Papacy with die Antichrist, and a belief 1995 (St. Martins Press), published in prophecy. Incredible amounts of intel­ that God created the universe through July 1996. lectual energy were spent trying to inter­ Jesus. Like the Adventists, Newton took

14 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER interest in sex. A few Freudian analysts, stressing the death of his father before he was born, have suggested that Newton was a repressed homosexual. The main evidence is that in his middle age Newton became infatuated with Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, an eccentric Swiss disciple twenty years his junior. Gale Christianson, in his 1984 biogra­ phy of Newton, In the Presence of the Creator, strongly doubts any sex activity between the pair took place, but adds: "On the other hand, their correspon­ dence—with its lavish praise, requited loneliness at separation, and melancholy swings of mood—bears haunting over­ tones of an ill-fated romance. The final break itself appears to have been prefig­ ured in their agonizing desire to share the same chambers, a desire quite possi­ bly overridden by the fear of what might happen if they were to attempt it."

Newton had no interest in music or art, and once dismissed poetry as "inge­ Sir Isaac Newton nious fiddle-faddle." He never exercised, had no recreational hobbies, no interest the four pans of the metallic image in by such bizarre speculations. in games, and was so preoccupied wirh Daniel chapter 2 to symbolize the suc­ Newton's writings on Biblical his work that he frequendy forgot to eat cessive world powers of Babylon, Persia, prophecy are so huge an embarrassment or would eat standing up to save time. Greece, and Rome. Like the Adventists, to his admirers that to this day they are He had few friends, and even to them he he took the growth of the "little horn" downplayed or ignored. The long essay was often quarrelsome and vindictive. on the fourth beast in Daniel to repre­ on Newton in The Encyclopaedia In one of his letters to John Locke, his best friend among British philosophers, sent the growth of die Papacy. What Britannica's famous eleventh edition he wrote: about 666, the mysterious number of devotes only one brief paragraph to the Beast in Revrlarinn? Like today's Newton's Bible studies. They are not Adventists, Newton believed we do not mentioned at all in the fourteenth edi­ Being of opinion that you endeav­ oured to embroil me wth woemen & yet know its meaning. It would be inter­ tion, and are allowed one paragraph in by other means I was so much esting to compare Newton's exegesis of the Macropaedia of the current fifteenth affected with it as that when one told Biblical prophecy with the Adventist edition. me you were sickly & would not live classic Thoughts on the Book of Daniel What did Newton think of his great I answered rwere better if you were dead. I desire you to forgive me this and the Revelation, an 1882 work by discoveries in physics? Amazingly, he uncharirableness. Uriah Smith. seems to have considered them little To support his conviction that die more than youthful recreations. In a Old Testament is accurate history, memorable, often quoted, passage he Locke wrote back to grant forgive­ Newton worked out an elaborate likened himself to a little boy "playing ness, and to express undimmed love and chronology of Earth's history, drawing on rhc seashore, and diverting myself in esteem. on astronomical data such as eclipses now and then finding a smoother peb­ Newton seldom credited other scien­ and star motions, and legend such as ble or a prettier shell than ordinary tists with earlier work that had influ­ that of Jason and the Argonauts which whilst the great ocean of truth lay all enced him. Always insistent on getting he took to be genuine events. With undiscovered before me." full credit for his discoveries, he bitterly incredible ingenuity he tried to harmo­ Newton's peculiar, introverted, self- accused Leibniz, whose metaphysics he nize Biblical history with secular histo­ absorbed personality is still an enigma. despised, of stealing his invention of cal­ ries of the ancient world. It is sad to Contemporaries noticed his melancholy culus. It is now known that the two dis­ envision the discoveries in mathematics countenance. Although he occasionally coveries were independent. Newton's and physics Newton might have made if smiled, he almost never laughed. A life­ was earlier, but Leibniz had a superior his great intellect had not been diverted long bachelor, he had not the slightest notation.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 15 A few years after die publication of from the world—a rapt, consecrated, visible and intellectual world with the Principia, Newton suffered a massive solitary perusing his studies by intense same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less mental breakdown that took a year or introspection, with a mental endurance than 10,000 years ago. Isaac Newton, more to overcome. It was marked by perhaps never equaled." a posthumous child bom with no severe insomnia, deep depression, As for Newton's discoveries in math­ father on Christmas Day, 1642, was amnesia, loss of mental ability, and para­ ematics and physics, Keynes believed the last wondetchild to whom the noid delusions of persecution. In recent they resulted less from experiments than Magi could do sincere and appropri­ ate homage. years a few scholars have suggested he from an incredible intuition. Later may have suffered from mercurial and Newton would dress them up with for­ My major references for working on other toxic metal poisoning caused by mal demonstrations and proofs which this column are Richard Westfall's great his alchemical experiments. Odiers have had little to do with the insights that biography of Newton, Never at Rest conjectured that throughout his life he seemed to enter his head by sheer magic. (1980); Frank Manuel's The Religion of was a manic-depressive with alternating Keynes put it this way: Isaac Newton (1983); Bernard Cohen's moods of melancholy and happy activ­ sixty-page article on Newton in The ity. His breakdown was only the worst In the eighteenth century and since, Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1974); Newton came to be thought of as the of such episodes. first and greatest of the modem age of and two valuable papers by Richard When Newton's manuscripts on scientists, a rationalist, one who Popkin: "Newton and the Origins of alchemy were sold in 1936 at a Sotheby taught us to tin nk on the lines of cold Fundamentalism," reprinted in The and untinctured reason. I do not see auction, the economist John Maynard Scientific Enterprise (1992), edited by him in this light. I do not think that Keynes was the major buyer. In a bril­ any one who has pored over the con­ Edna Ullmann-Margalit, and "Newton liant speech on Newton, given at the tents of that box which he packed up and Fundamentalism," in Essays on the Royal Society's Newton Tercentenary when he finally left Cambridge in Context, Nature, and Influence of Isaac 1696 and which, thought pardy dis­ Celebration in 1947, Keynes spoke of Newton's Theology (1990), by James persed, have come down to us, can having gone through some million of see him like that. Newton was not the Force and Popkin. Popkin makes a Newton's words on alchemy and found first of the age of teason. He was the strong case for the enormous influence them "wholly devoid of scientific value." last of the magicians, the last of (he of Newton's Biblical exegesis on the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last Newton's "deepest instincts were occult, early history of Protestant fundamental­ great mind which looked out on the esoteric—with a profound shrinking ism. •

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IS September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS ROBERT SHEAFFER

Travels on the Extraterrestrial Highway

he State of Nevada appears to studio is also planning to unveil a "mon­ caravan by posting official-looking signs have pulled off another minor ument" along the Extraterrestrial for the "Extraterrestrial Highway," send­ Tmiracle, transforming a barren Highway intended to "serve as a beacon ing them miles out of their way on a stretch of desert road into a major for possible 'dose encounters' with visi­ wild UFO chase down dusty desert tourist destination. In this column tors arriving from the far reaches of roads, bypassing the paved state high­ (Spring 1992, 250) you were among the outer space," according to its press way. Campbell reports that at least forty first to read of the tall tales surrounding release. cars and one tour bus were thus the supposedly mysterious "Area 51," While the local UFO hucksters were "abducted" to the edge of the high-secu­ where UFOs galore could allegedly be doing a brisker business than ever, not rity area before arriving, covered with seen by anyone who took die trouble to everybody in the UFOlogical realm was dust, at the planned extraterrestrial ren­ drive out near the tiny hamlet of Rachel cheering. Area 51 promoter Glenn dezvous. along barren State Highway 375. This Campbell, who publishes a newsletter All the excitement over the new road is now officially designated die called The Desert Rat (http://www. Extraterrestrial Highway has obscured Extraterrestrial Highway by proclama­ ufomind.com/area51/descrt_rat), warns the most exciting development on tion of Governor Bob Miller, who spoke that "the state is setting up naive tourists which Campbell has yet reported: extraterrestrial linguistics. An anony­ ar a brirfrwmooy April i;i 1996, and for jnoi ot film seizure along the tense its speed limit is now posted as "Warp & poorly marked military border near mous earthling who uses the alias "Jarod 7." Another sign warns of alien encoun­ the highway," and he does have a valid 2" (pronounced Jay-rod) claims to have ters "next 51 miles." When I drove that point, as the guards who patrol the conversed briefly with his original road in July of 1992, stopping off for perimeter of the high-security Air Force namesake, an extraterrestrial now in res­ idence at Area 51. This Jarod (the origi­ lunch at the Little A'Le' Inn, the only test range take a dim view of the cat- nal) is reputed to be a consultant-alien, evidence of space visitors were the draw­ and-mouse games being played by ama­ one of several who are advising the U.S. ings and blurry photos plastered all over teur intelligence-gathers. Campbell also government on how to reproduce their the walls. Leaving Rachel for Tonopah, points out that Twentieth-Century Fox's flying saucers. That one or more extra­ there was a sign reading "Next Gas 97 "UFO monument," whatever it may be, terrestrials are now resident at that site is seems to have completely circumvented Miles," so I doubled back to buy a few not news. Several years ago, John Lear more gallons just to be safe. the normal process of permits and claimed that aliens had violated their I suspect that sign will be coming approvals, as state and federal agencies treaty with earthlings, resulting in down soon, if it hasn't already. have nothing on file about it, which humans at Area 51 being eaten by Twentieth-Century Fox sent from would seem to preclude anything being aliens. Bob Lazar later told a story of a Hollywood a whole convoy of movie constructed. However, Chuck Clark of battle being waged by earthly bullets stars, reporters, and film moguls to a Rachel, author of the rival Area 51 against ET Ray Guns (this column. Fall ceremony in the hamlet of Rachel to pro­ Handbook, suggests that Campbell may 1993, 23). However, nothing had previ­ mote its new blockbuster, Independence be "a government plant" sent to confuse ously been reported about the extrater­ Day, a film about aliens attacking the people. Perhaps giving expression to this restrials' language. earth. A base supposedly beneath Area discontent, certain pranksters "ab­ 51 plays a key role in the movie. The ducted" the studio's Las Vegas-to-Rachel Recently, Jarod 2 asked a group of

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 17 UFOIogists, "What is the most difficult not eat as we do, but diey apparendy do give them a good surge of psychic language on earth to learn?" When some­ drink liquids. energy. You have to do that sometimes body piped up and said "Hungarian" (I because we only use 10 percent of our have no idea whether this is true or not), minds." Jarod 2 said that was right, and claimed Nonetheless, not only did the season that die ETs speak Hungarian—actu­ Everyone knows that Uri Geller's psy­ go badly for Reading, but the team's ally, "a higher form of Hungarian." Or chic powers can supposedly bend mascot, a hamster named Miss Ellie, so he claimed to have been told by his spoons, but it seems diat the task of psy­ died. It was given a fitting burial in one supervisor at Area 51. Further evidence chically deflecting footballs has proven of the goalmouths. However, no sooner of diis is that die extraterrestrials speak much more difficult. The British news­ was Miss Ellie at rest than the team's for­ English woids in Hungarian tunes immediately turned word-order during their around, starting with a 3-0 terse conversations. "This is victory over a local rival something we never ex­ which saved the team from pected," Campbell observes relegation. More remark­ wryly. "The aliens can talk ably, goals are said to come to Zsa Zsa Gabor! But it's particularly freely at Miss a HIGHER FORM of Ellie's end of die field, and Hungarian, so maybe they many members of the team can talk to Eva Gabor now are convinced that they are diat she has passed on." receiving supernatural assis­ Jarod 2 claims that die Area tance from the dead ham­ 51 project employed many ster, and not Uri Geller. skilled human linguists, but James "The Amazing" Randi, all of them were stumped who has been debunking trying to figure out this Geller's claims for years, higher form of Hungarian. writes, "I trust that Mr. Campbell observes diat he Geller will act in a chival­ had previously suggested rous manner, and will resist that "prudent investors claiming diat his powers, consider boron as a possible working over a period of growth commodity, since it several months, and not is one product that Jarod Miss lilie's, achieved this says the aliens take from small wonder. Respect for Earth. Now we suggest die dead would seem to be ambitious college students called for here, and I, for consider the benefits of one, will not cast doubt Hungarian. Take a few upon the ability of a dead introductory classes, and rodent to lead a football when the aliens reveal themselves you'll paper The Independent reported on April team to victory." be way ahead of everyone else." 2 that "Mr. Geller has forsaken [psy­ In the final chapter of the saga of Apparendy eager to place himself at the chic] espionage and fork-bending to try psychic football, the Reading Evening head of that queue, Campbell recently to help his local football team, Reading Post reported on June 29 that "Uri traveled to Budapest, describing his trip FC. After all, if you can bend forks, you Geller says England would be in the in Desert Rat. While contemporary can bend free kicks. Last season he con­ Euro '96 final if police had not stopped Hungary is indeed in a state of UFO centrated all his powers by walking 48 him from standing behind die goal. The excitement, Campbell found nothing miles to Wembley to watch Reading in a Sonning psychic was about to move into that would direcdy confirm or refute play-off for promotion to the Premier position to 'beam' Garedi South gate's Jarod 2's statements. League, but they lost to Bolton and penalty into die net when Met Police Other interesting tidbits from Jarod missed a penalty to boot. And diis sea­ officers barred him." A spokesman for 2: The aliens keep clean by taking a son they're staring relegation in the face. the Metropolitan Police said, "our offi­ "bug bath" (actually, a microbe shower). What went wrong?" Mr. Geller cers would not have wanted to do any- They enter a shower stall where answered die question in an interview in diing diat would have stopped England microbes are sprayed onto die alien's Q Magazine: "It's going to be all right, I winning, but security had to be the first skin, and "die good bacteria eat the bad tell you. Don't give up hope. I might priority." They should have used a dead bacteria," as he explains. The aliens do invite the players over to my home to hamster. D

IS September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SCIENCE FICTION, SKEPTICISM. AND

Shades of Meaning: Science Fiction as a New Metric

Science fiction can, and should, be used to explore paranormal and fringe-science issues in compelling, meaningful ways.

EUGENE R. STEWART

Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life.

—Viktor E. Frankl, originator of logotherapy, or existentialist analysis

iterature seeks explicit meaning more often, and with more determination, than other categories of art. LScience fiction is one of the branches of literature most concerned v/ith meaning. It cxpiicidy employs science in fic- ••M. . ^mm^m^m tion to measure meaning in Introduction our future-shocked, techno- Kendrick Frazier, Editor phobic, information-aging What role does science fiction play in promoting good science and skepticism world. When meaning is suc­ or, conversely, bad science and paranor­ mal beliefs? In making use of both sci­ cessfully made clear, we call it entific and paranormal concepts, as well as powerful imagination, science fiction "sense of wonder" and feel as can inspire, entertain, educate, and .. . what else? Writer Eugene R. Stewart's if something almost mystical essay deals with these and other related issues from his particular viewpoint. We has been revealed. Isn't that then decided to ask three famous sci­ feeling a primary force in all ence fiction writers, Hal Clement, Greg Bear, and Frederik Pohl, for their views literature, all art, all human on the same topic. endeavor?

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 19 mum

If that frisson is sparked by fiction based solidly in reality, Stories of sightings, encounters, and even relationships with then meanings are deepened. Science fiction, by including sci­ osts have been around as long as human memory serves. ence, searches for new expressions of the basic grandeur and History may have more ghosts crammed into it than does liter­ wonder of the world as it really is, as it can be understood ature, and many family histories have eerie stories of uncanny through science and logic. events. Ghosts abound. This search, however, as well as science fictions powerful Debate about what ghosts might be is as old as ghost stories capacity to use almost anything as grist for its mills, often leads themselves. From each teller of a ghosdy tale, a skeptic, a writers into wistful, less-than-scientific inquiries. Gullibility, lazi­ doubter, or an unconvinced but interested investigator might be ness, and self-delusion, even hoax and fraud, divert some writers born. With each telling, every ghost story kindles new flames from real science, which might require some difficult research, from that spark that keeps people wanting, needing to know. toward the false claims and fake magic of quick-and-dirty won­ All that remains from a cold analysis is the fact that people derments that can be sewn of whole cloth. These writers mistake report ghosts. Some are hoaxers, some are in error, but many the theatrical stage set for the world they can depict and the gasp such people believe what they say. Does it matter whether a of a startled audience for the sign of amazement prompted by real ghost is an external, objective phenomenon or an internal, sub­ insight. It's the same as mistaking gore for horror or sex for love. jective manifestation of our humanity? The amazing variety of source material and imagery science The answer depends on how one feels about what ghosts fiction can accommodate is one of this branch of literatures mean. major strengths, if that variety can be kept under control. As For an atheist, ghosts promise only mockery and self-indul­ Darrell Schweitzer pointed out in his excellent article, "The gence, the wishful thinking of true believers. For a theist, how­ Necessity of Skepticism, Part Two" {Science Fiction Review, ever, ghosts may mean evidence of an afterlife, of angelic help, Autumn 1990, pp. 26-30), "The skeptical writer can take what or continued love from loved ones long gone. Agnostic minds, he wants from those sources, but then deliberately builds some­ poised between extremes and awaiting further evidence, admit thing far richer, far more entertaining, far more meaningful. He either possibility in theory, but claim data insufficient to deter­ can make forceful, convincing speculations or psychologically mine which way to lean. valid metaphors. He remains in control of his material." Few people are purely atheist, theist, or agnostic, however. Obviously, losing control of the search is like casting aside Most of us just plain don't know what to think, but we might maps, charts, and native guides in favor of thrashing about ran­ know, in our secret hearts, how we'd like it to turn out. Our domly. Columbus may not have known what he'd found, but he hopes, dreams, and wishes combine into knots of faith difficult knew how to get there and back again. Every good writer must to unravel with blunt, clumsy words. Our lives, loves, and losses navigate through treacherous waters where crystals heal, all clamor to convince us that existence simply must mean some­ revenants speak, and magic means more than a chosen thing. And it's that conviction of meaning that most infuses MacGuffin (term used by Alfred Hitchcock for any device that ghosts with perennial appeal. triggers anion in a story). Meaning, however, must be based on reality if it's to be any­ Consider as an example that oldest and least substantial of thing other than self-delusion or blind faith. How, then, is real­ companions from the supernatural realm, the ghost. Out of ity determined? Is it decided by simple belief, or by the applica­ fashion, oft ridiculed, and better dressed than his or her invisi­ tion of logic and scientific method? Science fiction can help us ble means of support would seem to allow, still the ghost lingers, think about these matters. In the deft plotting and insightful haunting us. One of the publishers of Alison I .uric (Pulitzer characterization of a good science fiction story, even ghosts may Prize-winning author of adult and juvenile fiction and nonfic- be considered from revealing angles, in ways perhaps not per­ tion that includes folktales, fairy tales, and legends), sponsored mitted to the scientist. In other words, science fiction can be a a ghost story contest recently. Is even science fiction a match for form of thought experiment. the ghost? When Steven Spielberg's film Poltergeist appeared in 1982, The ghost survives, defying skepticism, logic, and science. It viewers were treated to a quick overview of almost the entire provides a convenient jumping-off point for a discussion of field of parapsychology. Spielberg's approach to the subject mat­ things that go bump in our heads as we reach high or crouch ter of his films seems encyclopedic and all-inclusive, if not terri­ low, as we try to find meaning in our fiction, our lives. After all, bly skeptical. All's fair in entertainment, especially when it suc­ ghosts represent all those fogbanks of irrationality, credulous- ceeds. In all modern films, technological advances allow new ness, and worse, that threaten each seeker of meaning. They're realism in the portrayal of the supernatural and impossible. the surrogates for everything Dianetics claims to deliver, every­ George Lucas is revamping the special effects of his 1975 release thing New Age channelers pour forth, and for all the hokum Star Wars because technology now allows him do what he could holographic universe theories. So what can be said with any cer­ only imagine 20 years ago. Neither Lucas nor Spielberg lets real­ ity hinder or curtail his imagery. The science content of their tainty about these resdess spirits? films is low. Ghosts exist, but we don't know what they are.

20 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER In Poltergeist, it is the family's emotions that arc centered on haven't changed beyond all recognition by die time our latest the loss and recovery of the youngest child, a pattern with barde with chaos is done. If not quite a paean to entropy, it's at mythic resonance and eternal layers of meaning. (This is a hor­ least a respectful nod to the inertia, the fake stability, found in ror movie of a family whose 5-year-old girl is abducted by a die established order. In diis, it shares traits with folktales and spirit that comes through the television set from a Native fairy tales. It endows die ghost with believability, not science. American burial ground beneath the family's home.) Each fam­ Faith counts more than fact. ily member responds as an individual to the wild happenings, And consider the film's initial premise: Underlying all the with the mother at first curious, even delighted, and the elder floating toys, hungry trees, indoor lightning, illusory maggots, sister dubious, frightened, and ultimately disassociated, if not disfigurations, regurgitated coffins, screaming demons, and alienated. The father fights back any way he can, and in baffle­ ectoplasmic goo is the elegant and unsettling simplicity of the ment, turns to authorities and self-proclaimed experts, but only fact diat reality might not behave always as we've come to after he's exhausted his own resources. In short, he capitulates expect. It's H. P. Lovecraft's crawling chaos, Nyarlathotep; it's control of his search for meaning and casts his (ate into odier the heart of a Stephen Hawking black hole; it's the core of hands, other game plans. This parallels the dogmatic religious Benoit Mandelbrot's fractals; in fact, it's Albert Einstein's asser­ impulse and the true believer phenome­ non. "How, then, is reality determined? Is it decided In these behaviot patterns can be seen by simple belief, or by the application of logic and society's structure: The charactets seek meaning by performing standard roles, by the scientific method? Science fiction can help fulfilling stereotypic duties. The mothet is us think about these matters." supportive, the siblings are at odds, and the father seeks control. Thus is a wild story line or plot hitched tion that, after all, physics as we know it might well be a local firmly to familiar, quotidian experience. Borrowing from myth, enomenon. old frights meet new doubts, ancient angst is brought to mod­ By the end of Poltergeist, however, order is restored, as it must ern suburbia, and so a kind of downscaled epic is launched. A be if we're to go on trudging through our well-filtered world. descent into hell and the hero's return are presented in modern Rifts between family members and society are all repented, idiom as a kind of reinforcement of our humanity. reconsecrated, and repaired. As in most things, the audience In the end (the family gets back the girl and flees to a motel members ultimately seek reassurance that they're okay. Their as their house is annihilated by the poltergeist), the father, rec­ parking has been validated once again. onciled to having experienced something no one really under­ Thus ghosts arc seen as manifestations of chaos, the stands, and ever seeking control, puts the motel room television unknown, and dieir unknowable effect nn our lives; foes to be set (Ky nmy 2 symbol of chaos) <> inside the room. Viewers laugh fought if never quite defeated. And this is how too many people at that final irony, even while recognizing it as somediing we feel about science: That it's incomprehensible, beyond their would all do. Order is restored, and meaning assured, even at control, and quite probably malevolent. They need better exam­ the cost of a bit of rationality, a dollop of healthy skepticism. ples, it seems. Our popular fiction is often blatantly meaningful, Spielberg opted for yet another of Hollywood's anti- stridently significant, albeit on a lowest common denominator intellectual, antiscience, antitechnology, pro-faith denouements. level. Why don't we use it more often for science? Remember Star Wars and die casting aside of technology in All things may ultimately find common ground in the favor of trusting "the force": The science in fiction is often human search for meaning, for significance. So Hamlet sees his routed by myth. father's ghost. What's it to me? Until the simple sighting of a A confirmation of die validity of family ries, of caring, of long-dead monarch walking casde ramparts can be analyzed and love, and the willingness to sacrifice self for others is the tangle comprehended, it seems superfluous: Another in-step charlatan of meanings gleaned from Poltergeist. In other words, a stamp of and dupe eaget to offer the latest explanation, usually a rehash of approval is placed on our general humanity. Beyond compe­ old nonsense. Shall pscudoscience then stake out the sole claim tence (as represented by the father), and unconditional love (the to our search for meanings on life's fringe? With traditional reli­ mother), luck sees us through, and we're grateful when things gion crumbling, and cults proliferating, we need rationality now more than evet (See SI, "Principles of Skepticism," May-June 1995). E. R Stewart has published fiction, nonfiction, criticism, maps, photography, cartoons, and poetry in various publications, And if one impossibility is discussed then all are tacitly under including Kendall/Hunt's Pegasus textbooks. The Yeats Best discussion, whether or not it's Lewis Carroll's breakfast time. Fantasy and Horror No. 7, and SIRS Discoverer CD-ROM. When the normal rules of exclusion and usual categories are He lives in Germany and can be reached at HQ USAFEI1M, exceeded, or tossed out, then no one can limit the discussion to PSC 2 Box 6151. APO AE 09012. defined terms and nothing can be declared irrelevant. That's

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 21 FICTION

why cranks are so difficult to exorcise from serious inquiry into science. things paranormal and mat's why established, "legitimate" sci­ We want meaning, too, that can be seen as counterpoint to entists rarely want to wander far afield of their disciplines. They mystery. And who could deny the importance of the search for dare not risk being called undisciplined, or worse, fall into the meaning; these days, there seems a particularly desperate need trap of trying to prove a negative. for meaning in all too many lives. Consider Einstein again from Art, as well as science, tries to find meaning; and science fic­ the same essay: "The man who regards his own life and that of tion in particular tries to make the search rational, understand­ his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate able, and communicable, by thinking ahead, considering alter­ but almost disqualified for life." Science fiction can be a method natives, and trying to plan for a realistic mental attitude toward of bringing such meaning to the needy. change and adaptation. But of late too many seem to prefer If our lives and this world mean nothing, then all is futile— thrashing about, hoping to stumble upon something. It's craft and that thought is intolerable. Groups of scientists deny and versus inspiration, Baroque versus Romantic, the scientific dismiss such things as ghosts, yet talk about quantum mechan­ method versus divine revelation. ics as if Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland were a blueprint. "In That doesn't mean the search for meaning is necessarily the world of quantum mechanics, the laws of physics that are invalid, however, if, as many assert, it is die journey that counts familiar from the everyday world no longer work," scientist and most. We should cover our mouths when we scoff sponta­ writer John Gribbin tells us in his excellent book In Search of neously, and beg pardon. After all, an insistence that there be Shrodinger's Cat. Some of it, such as fractals and chaos theory, is room for ghosts, as well as for many other unexplained things, downright counterintuitive and even scary. It's hair-raising when permeates humanity. We apparently want mystery, and we quantum mechanics starts talking about the observer creating always have. the observed, and it requires real work to link the quantum with As Einstein wrote in his essay "The World As I See It," "The the cosmological, the singularity with the quotidian. fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fun­ People sense a conflict of meanings when sober scientists tell damental emotion which stands at the cradle of true an and true them that Schrodinger's cat is neither dead nor alive, but poten-

22 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER FICTION. tially both, and only observing one or the other affects the cat's going on and that people are involved. Anecdotal evidence is state. As Niels Bohr said, "Anyone who is not shocked by quan­ never the best, but it's the best we have. That fact alone speaks tum theory has not understood it." volumes. People sense a dichotomy of meanings when they compare Be fair. Certainty shouldn't stem from pressure, no matter what science seems to say to what their life experiences seem to how graceful we prove to be while enduring it. Cool analysis hint. shouldn't be attempted in the heat of the moment, and experi­ That's when admitting ignorance helps. Ghosts are not ence is but raw material for thought and meaning. Consider defined. We don't know what they are, whether they are hallu­ Ernest Hemingway's out-of-body experience when the bomb cinations somehow hardwired into the human brain, or came down near him as he sat eating cold pasta with cheese. He glimpses of other worlds, or afterlives, or tricks of light and captured the raw material of experience, then employing the shadow, or ripples of interference from some pure frequency facts as best he could, wrote it as truthfully in fiction as possible realm, or more of gravy than the grave. That's the simple truth. and left the finding of meaning to the reader. Science fiction's We don't know. And admittedly some of the stories and ideas tropes permit just diis sort of approach. are so darned appealing. We must stress the difference between fact and truth. Great Tests cannot be performed on anecdotes, however, and trudis are to be found in much art, even in science fiction, lowly although demographic, statistical, and other analyses can be per­ though that art may be, even as the factual content varies wildly, formed on anecdotal evidence, the results are descriptions, widely. And how often have we read ostensible nonfiction— topographies, and inconclusive overviews. The nitty-gritty today's newspaper will serve as example—that failed to convince remains unreached, if it's there at all. us of its truth regardless of how stuffed with facts it might have Maybe someday someone will come up with a new way of been? And have you ever had an anxiety attack? Try telling your­ investigating such things, a way that answers more questions than self intellectually that everytJiing's fine. Your emotions don't it prompts. Until then we're stuck with being honest and that believe you. Parents know this dichotomy well, and often must means, unfortunately, being undecided because to leap to a faith struggle against feelings in order to do what they know intellec­ and decide on an answer would be to wallow in prejudice at this tually to be rational, orderly, and right. stage of our knowledge. "Undedded" is another way of saying And of the argument that we'll believe it when we see it, con­ "open-minded," meaning the question remains open. It may sider that even ghosts, no matter what sort comes to mind, in or never be closed. And that possibility shouldn't stop us from out of machines, are of relative importance only. If there are no checking into unusual claims as carefully and honesdy as possible. atheists in foxholes, tJien the converse must also be acknowl­ In literature, science fiction as a way of thinking helps us do edged, that precious few people in foxholes can spare a moment that very thing in the same way that the scientific method as a to ponder metaphysical or philosophical questions. Like most of way of thinking can help decide more tangible questions. It's in us most of the rime, they're busy. We rarely give ghosts and their iik tame to affect our lives. our nanirp m i»jnt jtruc i c. This doesn't stop us, though, from wanting, and experienc­ Ghosts, while bereft of fact, are fraught with meaning. Yet the ing, and maybe even projecting meanings, too. Ay, there's the nature, depth, and intensity of rhe meaning vary from individual rub. to individual and perhaps even from moment to moment. The fact that inexplicables have been widi us for as long as Hauntings are not repeatable, ghosts don't stand still for mea­ we can remember, combined with the fact that they have never surements or other analysis, and they aren't predictable. Science yet been defined, let alone explained, leads us to wonder why fiction as a new metric can take such anomalies and fit them into they hold such attraction for us. Why do supernatural ideas orderly, rational, and at least human-controlled environments. seem to hold such potential meaning? They attract like static This is one of science fiction's greatest services. As a way of drink­ cling and spark like lightning, such wonders. ing, as a tool for thought, science fiction can open closed minds. Can the meaning be the mystery of ourselves? Science fiction seeks meaning, even with ghosts, but it puts Alone each anecdote of ghosdy encounter sounds like a its money on the writers, readers, and thinkers among us. It dream, and like a dream, it's of compelling interest to, and employs restraint and form to release creativity, as in a sonnet. seems to hold the inexpressible meaning for, only die person Ancient astronauts aren't needed in order to explain ancient who experienced it. "After a while these stories of ghosts all monumental construction, because man is capable of more than sound alike, and they don't add up to much," says Daniel the Erich von Danikens among us admit or imagine. And just Waltimire, writer and researcher of strange events. "I keep because we can't do something now doesn't mean people could­ checking into them because there must be something to them, n't have done it back then, all on their own. Extraordinary some meaning in all the madness. And I guess the search means things flow every day from ordinary people. something, too." It's exactly that search for meaning the science It's not a matter of whether we believe in ghosts. What mat­ fiction can illuminate. ters is whether we believe in ourselves. Both exist, but only one In aggregate the anecdotes convince us only that something's deserves a chance of proving the other a fake. What a grand

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 23 SCIENCE FICTION

what if' such a Quod erat demonstrandum would be. mean, and meaning will accrue with interest in what they say. Science fiction can act as a new metric for measuring mean­ Despite its garish, pulpy genesis and tendency to go soft and ing in our world. In this way, science fiction can be more than hollow, science fiction can remain relevant and continue to be just popular. And it is popular. Most of die all-rime popular die leading-edge literature of the possible and the real, if the sci­ movies have been science fiction. Isn't it rime for the science in ence is emphasized by knowledgeable writers. Each time we read science fiction to reach out to its vast audience of seekers-after- or write science fiction, we ought to take responsibility for a new meaning? Or will we let it all go Celestine soft? aspect of humanity, and make sure it measures up. Scientists in particular ought to rally. They ought to write sci­ Our resdess shades exist in shades of meaning, shades as var­ ence fiction with emphasis on science and show how astounding ied, subde and complex as humanity itself. reality can be when clearly perceived, and use science fiction's elbow room to offer some balance to fringe science and die para­ "The question is," said Humpry Dumpty, "Which is to be normal. Tackle die things real science won't touch. Fear no sub­ master, that's all." ject matter, and write as honesdy as they can. Say what diey —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

diinkers. The art is in choosing which Skepticism and Science Fiction impossibilities to shatter, which future advancements to promote to reality. GREG BEAR Some writers lovingly cling to time travel and faster-than-light travel; others, to some form of psionic energy. I'm more s science fiction writing a guilty plea­ umphantly: "Gotcha! If charge isn't con­ doubtful about psionic energy than sure, or a social necessity? Bodi, I'm served when you create matter and anti­ faster-dian-light travel, but I'm willing to sure. Like sex and a good many other matter, it violates basic rules ..." or "No I be persuaded—and not by some oppor­ natural phenomena, an must be a little isolated farming-based society would ever tunistic self-deluding charlatan, but by a disreputable to be any good, and science function diat way, because ..." or "Your magnificent, entertaining, truly talented fiction writing is nothing if not an art. female character is completely unbeliev­ charlatan—that is, a real artist! The true But too much ill repute, and the an, like able in diat situation, because.. .." artist, in science fiction at least, knows sex, turns sour. In many respects, die rules for writing the difference between his or her fiction The aim of science fiction (we must science fiction are similar to diose for and reality. cry out again and again) is to entertain, writing any kind of fiction. We just have but of course different audiences find dif­ to create many more aspects of die world. The delusional, no-talent charlatans ferent things entertaining. The audience To create diose aspects, we have to may scoop in more money, but die game I write for is particularly intrigued by die understand, at the very least, the gram­ is truly not worth the coin. I sleep much notion that we can chink and feel our mar of reality: die syntax of real events, better at night than diey should. way into forward times, mat we can open which helps us decide how future events This brings up a case in point that the daddy wrapped package of the future might be constructed. illustrates the real role of skepticism in before die allowed Christmas morning. I believe diat science fiction writing, science fiction. Rumor has it diat L. Ron The enjoyable shiver of realization comes Hubbard, a pretty good science fiction at its finest, is an enormous leap of skep­ from a willing (but thoroughly skeptical) writer of die 1940s, made a conscious tical imagination. It is also a test of die suspension of disbelief. Every step of the decision that science fiction was a mug's writer, tougher dian any odier aesdieric way, my audience is analyzing, correct­ game, and that die real money was in test I know, for not only do we go up ing, criticizing—in short, playing a won­ starting a religion. So he did, using sci­ against a tough-minded audience (in derful, interactive game of ideational ten­ ence fiction magazines and a gullible, nis. If I falter at any point in my serve, principle, at least) but reality itself! In diis diough very famous, science fiction edi- the audience gives audible groans of dis­ respect, science fiction writing is quite belief, and die game is over! perishable; as perishable as modem scien­ tific knowledge, which is vulnerable to Greg Bear is a Nebula and Hugo award- It's a tough game. Perhaps die audi­ replacement and improvement. winning author of such novels as Beyond ence is not always as critical as I imagine, If science fiction frequendy deals widi Heaven's River, Eon, The Force of God, but I still watch every serve carefully. I notions considered impossible by current Eternity, Anvil of Stars, Moving Mars, know diat someday a respected scientist science, diat is hardly unscientific; we are and Legacy, and short stories such as or fellow science fiction writer is going to reminded again and again of advances "Blood Music," "Hardfought," and deliver a smashing return, shouting tri­ diat destroy the impossibilities of past "Tangents."

24 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER FICTION tor to get his start. No one knows aesthetic instincts to hoodwink large and cares so litde about the truth, that it whether he eventually came to believe in numbers of gullible people into believing oohs and aahs at every random serve, what he wrote and sold to others as and paying. every double bounce, every net ball. It revealed truth. If 1 had been Hubbard, I When we stop being artists, and start does not perceive die difference between would not have been able to convince being money-grubbing pseudoprophets, an earned point and a flub. The charlatan myself. me net is down, the ball can go anywhere on the court smiles and receives applause I suspect most charlatans realize that in the court, and the audience has for all. That's not our audience. That's diey have perverted very real, very useful changed. This audience knows so little, not my game.

inspiration; please don't blame me for The Goulden Twig someone's misuse of an illustrative exam- pie). HAL CLEMENT In die bush analogy, my self-support­ ing hobby of science fiction plays a he late John Arrend Timm, most essentially endless variety of directions the demonstrable part in the development of memorable of my chemistry pro­ growdi may take, and lack of preference human ideas. It operates at the base of the Tfessors, had the common difficulty for any particular one of diese—diat is, branch, at die speculative start and a litde with students who wanted to carry analo­ the absence of an upward-dirusring trunk. way—sometimes quite a respectable way— gies like me solar-system image of die I like to apply die same evolution anal­ out into die hypothesis sections. atom a trifle too far. I don't know how ogy to die growdi of human knowledge. It There are speculations about parallel many rimes I heard him say with empha­ applies nicely to my personal interest, sci­ worlds, personality transposition, and life sis, and sometimes with a bit of annoy­ ence. I may be grazing one of Dr. Gould's in die sun that, at least until recendy, no ance, "Every analogy has its limitations; if analogy limitations when I do this, one would have wanted to publish in any it didn't it would be an identity." because there does seem to be a direction other form and for which no suggestions Analogies seem to be a teaching neces­ of sorts to the knowledge growth—toward for testing have been offered. There are sity; learning something new that has no greater probability of correctness—but hypotheses, quite testable, on why crater- connection whatever widi earlier experi­ maybe diis is an illusion and, like life vari­ lets on the floor of Plato (a 100-km-wide ence is very, very difficult, and eties, we are merely expanding in all avail­ crater on die moon) are sometimes visible "Proceeding from the known to the able directions. dirough a giver, telescope am! sometimes Uiikiiown" is an aimost universally I tend to concentrate on the individual not, under what seem to be identical view­ accepted teaching technique. Even die fact twig. It follows a process of growth, start­ ing conditions. I suggested one, involving thar our imaginations have great difficulty ing widi a bud of speculation. This grows magnetic focusing of solar particles, some in merging die wavelike and parriclelike to die length of a hypothesis, where test­ decades ago in The Strolling Astronomer, aspects of light has not, as far as I know, ing of the increasingly detailed idea organ of the Association of Lunar and inspired any physics teacher to try to becomes possible. If it doesn't get nibbled bypass both analogies entirely. off by a dinosaur (in other words, fail in Hal Clement (Harry Clement Stubbs) is (Observational selection may be operating testing), it reaches the status of a theory one of the most scientifically oriented sci­ here, of course; efforts simply may not ("only" a theory, as die creationists put it) ence fiction writers. His first story, have succeeded, so I never heard of diem.) and becomes a real branch. The analogy "Proof," appeared in the June 1942 At primary, secondary, and popular does not extend to die idealistic level of Astounding Science Fiction (now teaching levels, where die customer is representing a completely established fact, Analog) magazine, and his first novel likely to be unfamiliar with much mathe­ of course. This is all right; real life seldom Needle was serialized there in 1949. His matical symbology, we have to fall back on does this either. It is conceivable, after all, best-known story (unfortunately, he feels), verbal and pictorial analogies. One of my that die earth is a cube embedded in a set "Mission of Gravity," appeared in 1953. favorites of diese is used often by Stephen of force fields which so alter gravitational, Jay Gould in his efforts to point out that electric, and magnetic lines of force and Other novels are Iceworld, Close to evolution is not a simple tree trunk lead­ die paths of electromagnetic waves and Critical, Star Light, Still River, and ing from "lower" to "higher" life forms. momentum vectors dial we are deceived Fossil. He was a B-24 pilot in World War He pictures a bush, and employs various into thinking the planet neariy spherical II and later a technical instructor, retiring verbal techniques to convey the complex­ (you could probably find someone who as a full colonel in 1976. He has a B.S. in ity and randomness of its branching, the would regard diis suggestion as sheer astronomy and an M.S. in chemistry and taught high school science for forty years.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 25 SCIENCE FICTION.

Planetary Observers. It produced a more recendy established lack of a signif­ astronomical body I called a "Superjovian." resounding silence among professional icant magnetic field does make it unlikely. It has since become quite respectable astronomers. However, 1 based a science I can live with this. under die name of "brown dwarf." fiction story, "Dust Rag," on die same Science fiction about space travel, (Discovery of the first brown dwarf, an idea a few years later, it sold readily, has sometimes with much detail about object known as Gliese 229 B, has been anthologized more dian once since, propulsion systems and orbit mechanics, recendy been confirmed by astronomers.) and 1 have been told of its use in sec­ by people like Willy Ley and Robert I would say not to worry about the ondary school science classes. As far as I Heinlein, are far enough along the branch limits of this or any odier analogy. It's bet­ know, diere has been no attempt to check to let one hold on and climb. I invented ter to have fun with die intellectual ecol­ die hypothesis direcdy, but die moon's for science fiction purposes in 1960 an ogy to be found in and around the bush. •

Science Fiction and fully stimulate die senses and excite the emotions, but of rational intellectual con­ tent diere is seldom very much. Scientific Possibilities What science fiction can profitably do to counteract superstidon is to explore FREDERIK POHL the wonders of real scientific possibilities ugene R. Stewart proposes an science issues ? as they relate to the real wodd—even agenda for science fiction writers, Perhaps. Despite what I said above, some possible future real world very far Ebut his article makes me wonder if some science fiction writers have tried to removed from present existence. But that he knows what science fiction is. The apply die more or less orderiy procedures is precisely what a great many science fic­ only work he discusses at any length is of science fiction to die diemes of fantasy. tion writers have been doing—in print Poltergeist, which is not science fiction at Among odiers, James Blish attempted to media, if not in film—for the last half- all. Poltergeist is a kind of horror-fantasy, provide a scientific rationale for telepathy century and more. and that is a whole other breed of cat. The in his novel Jack of Eagles; Larry Niven If diere is anyone not familiar with the themes of fantasy derive from myth and and Robert A. Heinlein tried to do die field who is interested in seeing how this superstition. Science fiction is reality- same for magic in various works; others is done, she or he would be well advised based. It deals with events that haven't have occasionally tried to do so for were­ to stay away from die moviehouses and happened yet, to be sure, and may well wolves, vampires, and even astrology. go to a bookstore or the public library. I never happen at all. But the reader should Some entertaining stories resulted am reluctant to recommend specific be able to believe, while reading the story, from diese attempts. However, diey could works because to name a few is to leave that under some circumstances some­ not have done much to further die objec­ out scores of others diat are equally thing very like diose events just might tives of CSICOP, namely: to counteract deserving, but some recent novels worth a come true ... and no well person believes beliefs in superstition or die occult. look would include works by Ursula K. th.it about fantasy. In fact, I fear diat stories of this sort LeGuin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Benford, Vernor Vinge, and many others. Can science fiction be used, as Stewart must inevitably go some way toward rein­ (They might even include some of my urges, "to explore paranormal and fringe- forcing these beliefs. Any attempt to use such stories to counteract superstition is own books.) Frederik Pohl is a three-time Nebula foredoomed by the fact that, in order to It is true diat, even in print science fic­ award winner (including the "Grand discuss these paranormal phenomena in uon, diere is a vast number of stories Master" Nebula awarded for lifetime con­ rational terms, the writer has to pretend which are as meretricious in dieir own tributions to science fiction), a six-time diat the ghosts and goblins and psychic way as any horror flick, but that's not sur­ Hugo award winner (he is the only person phenomena are real in die first place . . . prising; it is only an example of ever to have won the Hugo both as writer in effect, validating diose beliefs radier Sturgeons Law. That is die dictum laid and as editor), and a past president of than dispelling diem. down long ago by die late Theodore both World SF and the Science Fiction Poltergeist suffers from one other prob­ Sturgeon, one of die most gifted of sci­ Writers of America. His most recent sci­ lem in that it is a film, not a book or short ence fiction (and also fantasy) writers. ence fiction novels include Mining die story. Film does not offer a hospitable What Sturgeon's Law says is: "Ninety per­ Oort and The World at the End of venue for intellectual discussion, because cent of science fiction is crud. But dien, Time. that is the nature of film: movies wonder­ ninety percent of everything is crud." IZI

26 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation (Part 2)

This is the second of a two-part report of a recent CSICOP delegation to the People's Republic of China. In this article the authors describe their participation in a symposium on pseudoscience in China, held in Beijing and their further interactions with practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanghai.

WALLACE SAMPSON AND BARRY L. BEYERSTEIN

n Part 1 of this report (SI, July/August 1996) we dis- T. cussed the principles of Traditionai Chinese Medicine JL (TCM) and our observations of how it is practiced today in the Peoples Republic of China. We also described research we had observed during our visit to China that is attempting to identify those empirically verifiable portions of TCM that could be incorporated into scientific medical practice. This opportunity was afforded us by an invitation from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) to visit various centers in China and to participate in a symposium on pseudoscience held in Beijing in June of 1995. In this article we address the broader topic of the growth of pseudoscience in China, and present additional

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/OctoOer 1996 27 observations of TCM as seen in centers in Shanghai. centrated on external Qi. After Chinese investigators and the earlier CSICOP delegation had exposed several prominent The CAST Symposium Qigong masters as charlatans (Alcock et al. 1988), die govern­ ment was persuaded to crack down on their ilk (some have Part of our stay in Beijing was occupied by a seminar spon­ gone underground, but many still continue to enjoy protec­ sored by CAST and the State Science and Technology tion provided by high-level state officials). We did not deter­ Commission. There, Chinese scholars and physicians mine the extent of the crackdown, but we learned that many described the problems created by pseudoscience in their Qigong masters are still active, especially in the countryside. country. These authors and their fellow membet of the dele­ We were also told that we would not be able to observe any gation (Andrew Skolnick of the Journal of the American masters or "special ability" children because diey would no Medical Association) traded similar experiences from the U.S. longer cooperate. This was disappointing but it is a tribute to and Canada. We had expected this to be one of the highlights our hosts' debunking efforts that local performers are now too of our trip, and we were not disappointed. CAST had assem­ wary of being caught, as they were when exposed by James bled an impressive roster of social, physical, and medical sci­ Alcock, James "die Amazing" Randi, and the other members entists from various parts of China who described the obsta­ of the first CSICOP delegation. 1 cles that belief in Qigong and some of the extreme claims of Mr. Lin Zixin, the retired editor of China's Science and TCM have put in the way of their efforts to improve scientific Technology Daily and a CSICOP Fellow, was one of our prin­ literacy. From these presentations we achieved many insights cipal hosts. At the symposium, which he helped organize, he that would otherwise have been discussed die extent of belief in much more speculative. pseudoscience in China. He All Chinese speakers at the credited the 1988 CSICOP dele­ symposium made a clear distinc­ gation with helping to tarnish the tion between "internal Qi" and reputation of the Qigong "super­ "external Qi." The former equates man," Xiao, but admitted much roughly to what we would call remains to be done. He com­ "psychosomatic medicine"; while pared widely held superstitions believers consider the latter to be about the power of external Qi in a supernatural life force that, like China to the beliefs that inspired psychokinesis, can affect matter the Japanese sect, "Aum Shinri outside one's body (believers refer Kyo" (the cult that attacked the to this as "special ability" or Tokyo subway with nerve gas). Brain research laboratory at the Department of Neurobiology, "extraordinary functions of the Shanghai Medical University. Mr. Lin, one of China's top sci­ human body"). Belief in this entific journalists and policy dubious power was repeatedly defined at the symposium as experts, described the extent of superstition in China as Chinas major pseudoscience problem. Qigong was briefly out­ shameful and a threat to die nation's technological develop­ lawed during the cultural revolution (1966—1976) because it ment. Scientific literacy is more important than ever as China seemed too spiritual for die reigning Marxist materialists. It has tackles die arduous task of modernizing its economy, he said, since managed to stage a comeback by masquerading as a sci­ but superstition continues to impede progress. Mr. Lin firmly ence. Qigong masters and their disciples routinely defraud the reiterated his organization's support for CSICOP's efforts to public with conjuring tricks and falsely present themselves as combat pseudoscience worldwide. spiritual healers (Lin et al., in press). Honest practitioners of Professor Qui Renzong of the Chinese Academy of Social TCM eschew such deceptive practices, but they still adhere to Sciences compared the development of American and Chinese the mystical notion that an imbalance of internal Qi energy pseudoscience. He drew parallels between the concept of underlies all illness. Many of the TCM doctors we interviewed external Qi and the mysterious nonmaterial forces posited by still believe that specially gifted healers can use their external Qi parapsychologists, such as psychokinesis and extrasensory per­ to cure diseases by restoring the balance of a sufferer's internal ception. Professor Qui echoed Mr. Lin's assertion that the Qi. Qigong movement has had a negative influence on Chinese A few Chinese scientists we met maintained that although society. Professor Qui lamented the fact diat it has also been Qi is merely a metaphor, it is still a useful physiological psychologically damaging for some devotees, and that even abstraction (e.g., that die related concepts of Yin and Yang some scientists have been duped into believing in the power of parallel modern scientific notions of endocrinologic and meta­ external Qi—for example, an ardent promoter is Professor bolic feedback mechanisms). They see this as a useful way to Qian Xuesen, China's foremost rocket scientist and a former unite Eastern and Western medicine. Their more hard-nosed professor at the California Institute of Technology. Professor colleagues quiedy dismissed Qi as only a philosophy, bearing Qui concluded with die memorable phrases: "It's only your no tangible relationship to modern physiology and medicine.2 private experience, if it is not tepeatable," and "pseudoscience The first group of speakers at die CAST symposium con- is an infinite regression of excesses."

28 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Professor Wang Guozheng of the China Society for 1992). For example, they reported feeling Qi surging through Dialectics of Nature continued the dieme that pseudoscience is various parts of their bodies, and some would experience over­ becoming a major social problem. He described his investiga­ whelming lassitude that they attributed to Qi suddenly drain­ tion of "seeing wirJi ears," a trick similar to the "blind reading" ing from their bodies. In other cases, experiences were pro­ exposed by Martin Gardner in his famous article on the "peek- voked that were psychotic, including visual and auditory hal­ down-the-side-of-the-nose" ruse.' Professor Wang ended this lucinations, delirium, and feelings of being possessed by ani­ inquiry when he concluded that it was a wortJiless fad that mal spirits. Some exhibited symptoms we would classify as would disappear on its own. Apparendy it did not, despite its paranoid, such as the conviction they were being harmed by affront to official Marxist dialectical materialism. In ten years, the master's power or that Qi had imbued them with extraor­ not one claim had been substantiated, yet popular belief con­ dinary skills and a mission to cure diseases or save humanity. tinued to grow. Such concerns led Professor Wang to found the Some patients felt elated, perhaps manic, after their prolonged Society for die Protection of die Scientific Spirit. Its aim is to exertion, while others were left uncomfortably anxious, promote scientific attitudes and combat the growing influence depressed, and suicidal. The severity was the worst in those of pseudoscience. The society has encountered opposition from who spent many hours per day immersed in Qigong exercises paranormalists, such as when a Qigong advocate who was and in those with a long history of preoccupation with reli­ rejected as a speaker at one of its meetings disrupted the pro­ gious or superstitious pursuits. Dr. Zhang's portrayals were ceedings by trying to force his way onto die program physically. reminiscent of people we had encountered who were obsessed It seems Chinese skeptics are vulnerable to many of the same with alien-abduction fantasies or had become fanatically tactics as diose endured by their Western counterparts. immersed in Transcendental Meditation, Scientology, or irra­ Dt. Zhang Tongling, profes­ tional health schemes, leading at sor of psychiatry at Beijing times to behavior that bordered Medical University, presented her on the delusional. research on negative effects of Professor Guo Zhengyi, Qigong practices. She believes deputy director of CAST, has vis­ that diere is no such thing as Qi, ited the United States where he but she found that some vulnera­ studied organizations dedicated ble people, drawn into the Qi to spreading pseudoscience. In subculture, have been harmed his talk, he compared them to psychologically by obsessional similar movements in China. He involvement with diese brearh- described a Mafialike network in j. . • At Shanqhai International Airport Andrew Skolnick with two of China that has spread its influ­ n Hai Qiang, Andrew Skolnick, •ng, meditative, and movement the delegation's hosts. L to r, Che ence by promoting (allegedly exercises. Dr. Zhang now runs a Xiao Wan Quan. real) magical powers and fortune- clinic for former Qigong extrem­ teiiing in conjunction with acrobatic shows. These shady fig­ ists. Her study of 14S ra«« from ter. provinces flmuu that ures bill themselves as the future of science but, like pseudo- diese casualties were relatively well educated—about half were scientists everywhere, they mangle all valid scientific princi­ high school graduates or above. Forty-four were classed as ples. Their lucrative scams include Qigong demonstrations workers, thirty-nine were government employees, thirty were composed of fake acts of clairvoyance, superhuman physical students, and thirty-one were engaged in scientific research. strength, and "possession by animals." Professor Guo likened The group was found to be highly suggestible and their symp­ the practices of these roaming hucksters to practices that were toms were related to various alleged effects of Qi contained in common in feudalistic times, a theme that was taken up by his books they had read. Dr. Zhang described dieir responses as a colleague, Dr. Yuan Zhong. Dr. Yuan emphasized that official form of mental illness, probably the result of latent psychiatric materialist doctrines have merely suppressed, not eliminated, problems that were exacerbated by fanatical immersion in the strong desire of the masses to believe in ancient spiritual Qigong exercises. Many of these problems looked like those entities and magical powers. The pseudoscientific patina of we would call hysterical or psychosomatic symptoms (Shorter Qigong has allowed these old religious beliefs to reemerge in a way that is less likely to arouse official ire. Dr. Yuan referred to Wallace Sampson is clinical professor of medicine at the Stanford Qigong as a pseudoreligion, one that is growing as the regime University School of Medicine (Division of Hematology!Medical relaxes its demands for strict ideological conformity. Oncology, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, 751 South Occasionally, the chicanery of some of these impostors reaches Bascom Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95128). He is hoard chair­ proportions that spur the government to intervene. The offi­ man of the National Council Against Health Fraud and a Fellow cial responses were not spelled out, but we discovered in pri­ of CSICOP. Barry L Beyerstein is associate professor of psychol­ vate conversation that these tricksters are usually warned and ogy and member of the Brain Behavior Laboratory at Simon fined. Fraser University (Burnaby B. C, V5A 1S6, Canada). He is a Fellow and member of the Executive Council of CSICOP Professor Zu Shuxian of Anhui Medical University was one

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 29 of the most trenchant critics of Qi as a medical concept. On to Shanghai Having done postgraduate training in epidemiology at the University of Virginia, he was well qualified to discuss why After a day spent trekking the Great Wall, our tour of China problems of medical quackery are worse in developing coun­ then moved on to Shanghai. There we were hosted by friends tries. Particularly in rural areas, folk-healing traditions and of CAST officials who were academics, but not themselves modest education make it difficult for people to distinguish associated with scientific institutions. They were able, however, between legitimate and bogus doctors. In addition, developing to introduce us to a variety of practitioners of TCM. Before countries have as yet little in the way of consumer movements exploring local TCM facilities, we were given a chance to inter­ that could help protect citizens from quacks. Dr. Zu act with conventional biomedical scientists during a most denounced die press for promoting quackery and for its appar­ interesting tour of the brain research laboratories at Shanghai ent inability to disdnguish between scientifically valid and Medical University. The research problems, techniques, and sham treatments. He lamented the tendency to credit patient apparatus we encountered at this well-equipped institute were satisfaction instead of rigorous testing as the measure of ther­ familiar to us; and the work we discussed with these Chinese apeutic success. Fraudulent medical institutions are now com­ neuroscientists revealed that they are working at the forefront peting with legitimate ones for money, while government of their fields. After this tour, our focus shifted back to TCM. funding for university research is diminishing. Once again, We next visited the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinas problems parallel our own. Chinese Medicine and its affiliated Shu Guang Hospital—the Also familiar to us was an interruption by a student at this largest TCM complex in China. The views expressed there were session. He complained that sci­ somewhat different from those entifically trained Chinese physi­ we had encountered at the Beijing cians do not spend enough time TCM Institute (Beyerstein and with patients and do not offer Sampson 1996), especially with enough emotional support, and regard to integration of scientific that diis feeds the popularity of and traditional medicine. At the quacks. Shanghai institute, where the pri­ Beyerstein, Sampson, and mary mission was the teaching of Skolnick delivered papers dealing TCM, the president, Dr. Wang with various aspects of fraud and Ling Tai, was also a gastroenterol- pseudoscience in health care and ogist who practices scientific bio- the proper methodology for test­ medicine. As in Beijing, we were ing putative treatments. told that TCM was requested by Meeting with the President of the Shanghai University of The CAST conference made Traditional Chinese Medicine. L. to r.: Tai Zischer (one of the dele­ less dian twenty percent of the it apparent, as Michael Fumento gation's hosts), unidentified TCM physician, Andrew Skolnick, Xiao patient population. (It seems that Wan Quan (delegation host), President Wang Ling Tai, Wallace has tided his recent book, that Sampson. self-medication with herbs is science is under siege—not just more pervasive in the country as a in North America and Europe, but in China, as well.' There, whole, however. The fifteen-to-twenty-percent figure refers to as here, superstition, quackery, and pseudoscience have infil­ those patients who choose to see a TCM doctor.) After a long trated academia, and some prominent scientists and philoso­ and enjoyable meeting with Dr. Wang, we were shown through phers are among the leading apologists. Their appeal to the complex, which appeared similar in setup to the clinic com­ ancient magical ways of thinking, cloaked in pseudoscientific plex in Beijing. We were shown a major manufacturing facility language, sounded depressingly familiar to us. In China, pseu­ for antibiotics that we were told were derived originally from doscience is becoming increasingly competitive with science traditional herbal medicines. This aspect of TCM made sense for public support and government funding. The extent to to us because we knew diat penicillin, for example, was derived which Chinese criminal elements have used superstition and from molds that had long been used in European folk remedies pseudoscience to bilk the gullible public was news to us, how­ (there are frequent historical references to use of moldy bread ever. Chinese academics are becoming more aware of possible for dressing dirty wounds). psychological harms resulting from involvement with pseudo- While in Shanghai, we also toured die largest herbal phar­ science and quack sects and cults. In 1994, awareness of these macy in China. TCM diagnosticians occupied booths around growing problems led the Chinese government to issue a the periphery of each floor in this multistory building, while proclamation decrying the rise of superstition and pseudo- herbalists busily moved about the center, filling prescriptions science and the erosion of science education (Sagan 1996). It according to die diagnosticians' recipes. With rapid, animated seems that for many Chinese, the concept of Qi supplies an movements, they grabbed handfuls of dried vegetable and ani­ all-encompassing vision of life and its role within the cosmos mal matter from rows of drawers stacked in massive cabinets as a whole. Qi has become a comfortable explanation for that resembled floor-to-ceiling library card files. The ingredi­ everything. Unfortunately, something that purports to explain ents were dropped somewhat unceremoniously on hand-held everything explains nothing. balances and then mixed on large sheets of paper. These were

30 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ilicn folded into dispensing packets and sold to waiting medical training in addition to their traditional specialties, patients, mosdy for preparation as herbal teas. The measure­ each gave brief introductory statements. The session was men ments struck us as radier imprecise by Western pharmaceuti­ opened for discussion and questions. We can best describe the cal standards, but greater accuracy might have been illusory event with a sample of our questions and the answers given. because a perennial problem with herbal remedies is that the We asked our questions as naive Westerners, but widi a per­ concentrations of active ingredients in the raw materials can spective of scientific inquiry. The answers, as will be evident, vary greatly from source to source (due to climate, soil condi­ highlighted the differences between the scientific oudook and tions, etc.). Also on sale were a variety of over-the-counter that of TCM. The answers are not verbatim in every case remedies that we also saw in department stores, corner phar­ because some were conveyed through a translator. macies, tourist centers, and airports throughout China. Some of these, to our dismay, included preserved bear gall bladder, Q: How are the roles of Western-trained and TCM physicians ground horns and penises of various wild animals, and other different? animal parts apparendy sold primarily for their alleged ability A: One example is a woman with cancer who failed with to enhance sexual potency.' Western treatments and was then treated with TCM and lived We also saw North American ginseng prominendy displayed four years longer than expected. [This exemplifies one of our major conclusions, namely that TCM still relies predomi- in diese stores—it is highly valued in China. Although many nandy on anecdotal evidence—its practitioners exhibited very bold therapeutic claims are made for ginseng, its scientifically little understanding of the need for controlled clinical trials. demonstrated effects are more modest. Its complex chemistry Most of the group seemed to lack stimulates several bodily systems. knowledge about how to do sci­ Ginseng can act as a pick-me-up entifically valid evaluations of their techniques.! in a number of ways: it produces caffeinelike effects in die central Q: Do you treat different cancers nervous system, enhances carbo­ differently, or do you use the hydrate metabolism and glycogen same treatment for all? synthesis, and may stimulate die heart because it contains some A: Every case is different, and digitalislike components (similar treatment is different. [Ironically, TCM sees all disease as resulting to those found in die common from the same cause (Qi imbal­ foxglove). It also has histiminic ance), but it sees each patient's activity, and it contains steroids case as unique. This answet also diat can affect die hormonal sys­ illustrates TCM's preoccupation tem (Siegel 1979).' with surface manifestations The dispensing table at China's largest traditional herbal pharmacy, rather than trying co reveal a Shanghai. At the Shanghai traditional more limited number of undedy- pharmacy, we encountered for the first rime TCM doctors who ing pathological processes that might manifest themselves in a still use die ancient technique of pulse diagnosis (see Wallnofer wider variety of symptoms.} and von Rottauscher 1975). People are said to have fifteen dif­ Q: How do the different cancer remedies work, and what are ferent pulses detectable by traditionally trained healers aldiough the biochemical mechanisms for combatting cancer cells? these have never been demonstrated scientifically. For us, die doctor placed his fingers on die pulse, stared vacandy into die A: We arc trying different methods to prevent cancer, espe­ distance for about a minute, as if absorbing its meaning, and cially in high-risk breast cancer patients—17,000 professional women. [Perhaps something was lost in translation.] Many then told us our diagnoses (none of which was accurate). He traditional medicines are static TCM is developing. We are then wrote a TCM prescription for an off-the-shelf concoction examining curative effects and theoretical basis. We regard the that we filled at die counter. We were also diagnosed by a woman patient as oneness. Every patient is "a small world." A major who held our hands and placed a small electrical probe at various reason for interest in natural developments is traditional points on our palms. From our muscle spasms, grimaces, and Chinese herbs. People are panicking about environmental chemicals, effects now being reversed by TCM. There are verbal descriptions of die tingling sensations, she arrived at a breakthroughs. Look at TCM from the Chinese perspective. diagnosis, again one that would be news to our family physicians We say, "Water the ponies [peonies?] well." [For example, pay back home. attention to internal stresses of the patient.] Rather than killing cancer cells, increase internal factors to bring one into balance. TCM doctors see a change in the patterns of things. TCM treats imbalance of the negative and positive sides of A Meeting with Professors of TCM things. [In other words, it does not treat disease processes per se.) TCM works well in circulatory disorders—it corrects Our main conference in Shanghai was with about a dozen blood circulation. [This was typical of many answers we prominent TCM physicians affiliated with Shu Guang received in that it sidestepped the original question and sub­ Hospital. Here, die flavor was quite different from die CAST stituted a rambling string of metaphors instead.] symposium in Beijing, skepticism being much less pro­ nounced. The Chinese doctors, most of whom had scientific Q: How about ephedra—herbs containing ephedrinc—arc

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 31 there two concepts of how it works—pharmacological and TCM and Western medicine concern homeostasis; TCM TCM? includes heatt and spirit. From die lab perspective, TCM an improve senile dementia, especially Alzheimer's [disease]. A: We have adopted several new ways of treating, and that is Some biochemical levels return to baseline. We also see aging one [a probable translation problem, so we tried again]. retarded in humans and animals, and thete ate othet neuro­ chemical and immune changes as well. Q: What is the rationale for the treatment with ephedra?

A: We have a division here—TCM and Western ways. Doctor A notable exception to the generalities presented by most recommends the method—sutgery, medicine, or TCM—and of die rest of this group of TCM physicians was a discussion the patient decides. Most doctors would use Western medicine we had with Dr. Yan De Xin. A scientist who studies the first for acute problems, then TCM if needed. Such as with chemistry of traditional herbs, he expressed the belief, in pri­ gallstones: opctation first, maybe we would use TCM after­ ward. Same with cancer. Doctors agree on how to combine vate conversation, that many traditional medicines will be them. [It was apparent we wete not going to obtain a ditect found to contain active ingredients of interest to scientific answer, and so we moved on. The gist of the remainder of this medicine (some of this has already happened—see, e.g., Lewis part of the discussion was that TCM is seen as a way of and Elvin-Lewis 1977). But, unlike most of the sentiments strengthening the body to resist disease in general, not a means expressed during the Shanghai conference, Dr. Yan was only of combatting specific diseases.] willing to grant that efficacy on the basis of scientific trials. He has been trying to extract possibly active ingredients from a Q: [To a ncphrologist (kidney specialist) who also uses TCM.] How does TCM tteat a new dis­ number of traditional herbs and ease or change as new concepts of to subject them to proper dou­ disease atise? Does TCM change? ble-blind tests. His understand­ A: We combine TCM and ing of what needs to be done was Western medicine in tteatment of impressive but, like researchers kidney disease, but we have dif­ everywhere these days, he has ferent ways in different phases of been hampered by funding short­ the illness. At first, we use TCM ages. to prevent progression. In later stages, we also adopt Western Our meeting with this group ways. We also use TCM in trans­ of TCM experts ended with a plants. [Again, we did not pursue formal dinner, each of the this inditect answer.] numerous courses flavored by a different Chinese herb used by

After the question-and-answer . . «. • • , u • -•••• • read by a traditional Chinese traditional Chinese physicians. It ^ Andrew Skolnick having his pulses was explained to us that TCM session, several TCM physicians physician, Shanghai. makes little distinction between tried to clarify earlier comments the health-giving properties of foods and medicines. with the following statements: Because of difficulties with cults, we have different definitions [for Qi, etc.]. TCM and Western medicine have sharp differ­ External Qigong ences in their concepts. Although we saw no external Qi demonstrations in China, Practice speaks the loudest. Results count most. Science is not both of us have observed such exhibitions in the large immi­ absolute; it has its limitations, and is also developing. So, each has its own advantages. Fot example. Western [medical] science grant Chinese communities in our home cities. One was at an used to be [exclusively?] biological. Now it is biological and American Medical Student Association meeting in San societal. Combining the biological, psychological, and societal Francisco, April 8, 1995. It was performed by Effie Poy Yew occurred 1,500 years ago in China. Western medicine is devel­ Chow, R. N., for an audience of about one hundred students. oping in die same way. TCM was ahead of Western medicine. She seemed to advocate a combination of Ju Jitsu, suggestion, and "applied kinesiology."' She also claimed (but could not TCM works and cures where Western medicine does not; demonstrate), as we heard in China, that Qigong masters can Western medicine is more toxic,7 so they are complementary and can leatn from each other. We hope TCM and Western transport Qi energy several thousand miles to alter the molec­ medicine can help and understand each other. ular structure of water. The students seemed to enjoy the lec­ ture and, surprisingly, none challenged Ms. Chow's rather Western proponents say diey know what wotks and now pre­ extreme claims. Barry Beyerstein had an equally unfulfilling sent a body of knowledge. Another way to look at it is diat encounter with a famous Qigong master in Vancouver.' TCM considers the macro or whole body; Western medicine Previously, this author's brother. Dale Beyerstein, had investi­ considers the micro. TCM does not apply to all cases; it is bet­ ter for recuperative and chronic cases. gated some prominent TCM practitioners in the Vancouver area and found them dangerously wanting in medical knowl­ Patients understand diis and know where to go. TCM has not edge (D. F. Beyerstein 1990).10 only a philosophy, but a background. It is bidirectional. Both

32 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Conclusion in these notions are an embarrassment to the Marxist ratio­ nalism of the government and to the scientific community as Looking back at our discussions with TCM proponents in a whole. Furthermore, the growing involvement of criminal China, it often seemed that our questions and their answers elements in paranormal spheres, as occurs to some extent in all came from two different worlds. It soon became apparent to us countries, is considered a growing threat to social order. that this is equally true when die scientific and traditional med­ Overall, we perceived a delicate balancing act, between tolera­ ical communities in China try to communicate. This was obvi­ tion and encouragement of TCM on the one hand, and ous in the wide gap between the remarks of the academics and attempts to restrict its more extreme manifestations, such as physicians gathered by CAST in Beijing, and the answers given external Qi quackery, on the other. by most of the TCM physicians we encountered in Beijing and We ended our tour unconvinced that Traditional Chinese Shanghai. The former spoke in terms we could understand, Medicine has objectively proven its claims to cure any specific emphasizing the requirement to support claims with evidence diseases. Acupuncture has some mild analgesic [lowered sensi­ and the need to understand such demonstrable effects TCM tivity to pain while conscious] properties and Chinese herbs might produce in terms of scientifically verifiable biological have already yielded to scientific analysis some useful drugs— mechanisms. Although the speakers at the CAST meeting in undoubtedly more will follow. We could find no scientific Beijing tended not to demean TCM during their presentations, support for the use of cupping, moxibustion, and acupuncture several of them dismissed it in private conversations. The rest for infectious diseases, deafness, and congenital deformities. refrained from making rationalizations for TCM. We acknowledge the emotional comfort Chinese patients suf­ The statements of the TCM fering from chronic or fatal disor­ physicians, on the other hand, ders receive from TCM ministra­ tended to be rambling, global, tions, but we saw no evidence to and tangential (this was not back up the oft-heard assertion merely a language barrier, for that TCM actually works where many of them spoke excellent Western medicine has failed. English). The traditionalists were Insofar as TCM offers a degree of difficult to pin down because comfort and hope for those in when they had no available difficult situations, it seems to answer, the question would be perform a similar role to those of redirected. While TCM physi­ vitamin supplements, chiroprac­ cians downplayed the impor­ tic, homeopathy, naturopathy, tance of statistical approaches and therapeutic touch, our homegrown Western pseudo- _i i_ ii j i. • i Andrew Skolnick being diagnosed by a TCM electrical palm stimu- d medicines." placebo-controlled clinical ( ,or trials, they did not hesitate to enlist such data when it seemed to their advantage. We came away with the strong feeling that the TCM community, with Notes a few exceptions, does not really understand the power of the 1. "Qi" is the name Chinese philosophy gives to a scientifically unde­ placebo effect nor the need for double-blind clinical trials. tectable "force" or "energy" believed to permeate everything in die universe. They seemed not to comprehend why we were not impressed TCM asserts that imbalances in the flow of Qi in anatomically unverified "meridians" are responsible for disease, fatigue, etc. Acupuncture, Chinese by testimonials or anecdotes about individuals who had recov­ herbs, massage, etc, supposedly restore well-being by rebalancing die flow of ered after TCM treatments. Many claims seemed inflated, this mystical essence. Qigong is a set of mental and physical exercises akin to those of Tai Chi Chuan and Ai-ki-do that also promise spiritual and physical such as that for TCM's effectiveness in Alzheimer's disease and benefits by channeling this mysterious energy. With its mental disciplines and AIDS (see, e.g., Hou 1991). In the end, we were left with the postural and breathing exercises. Qigong has long been practiced as a form of same sense of frustration we often felt after arguing with advo­ self-hypnosis that claims to promote relaxation and general health, much in the manner of certain yoga exercises. These days, practitioners of this aspect of the cates of "alternative medicine" at home. Both exhibit an essen­ discipline call it "internal Qigong" to distinguish it from the much more dubi­ tial vagueness when explaining the mechanisms presumed to ous "external Qigong," which has enjoyed a dramatic rise in popularity in China and in the West. Devotees of external Qigong claim they can control die underlie their treatments. Both are prone to assume that Qi force beyond their own bodies to debilitate their foes, achieve the sorts of metaphors count as explanations and that anecdotal evidence allegedly psychic feats familiar to Westerners, and diagnose and cure physical can substitute for systematic verification of claims. ailments. Qigong masters have become rich and powerful in China, filling massive sports arenas for their demonstrations of magic and faith healing. Several speakers in both Beijing and Shanghai laced their Chinese skeptics who have exposed these Qigong hoaxers were among the discussions with political references, for example, to the evils hosts of die delegation that included diese authors (Lin ct al., in press). of feudalistic times, the unwillingness to be subjected to logic 2. As an example of why scientific physicians consider external Qigong to (dialectics), and inhibitions to social progress. It seems that the be quackery, take the following advertisement for a "Qigong Herbal Pillow" practice of TCM and the concepts of internal and external Qi that appeared in the September 1994 issue of the English-language magazine. Chin* Today, published in Beijing by the China Welfare Institute. The pillow, place China in a dilemma. Advancement of these ideas, espe­ which sells for U.S. $198, is claimed to be effective for high and low blood cially overseas, increases China's prestige and is a matter of cul­ pressure as well as for "insomnia, diseases of the heart, brain, and blood ves- tural pride. Yet the inherent mysticism and magical thinking

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 33 sels." It also allegedly "reinforces die kidneys," relieves rheumatism, "builds up content with some "scientific" papers by Yan which he enclosed. As usual, the the spleen," "stops pain," aids digestion, and "energizes the mind." According claimed effects of Qigong were extremely unlikely by conventional scientific to the manufacturers, it is a "small-radar Qigong bionic device" that "works standards but were not published in peer-reviewed journals of any interna­ by utilizing the synchronicity of global and human magnetic fields and of tional scientific standing. trace elements, and through the magnetization of Chinese herbal medicines." 10. Dale Beyerstein, who suffers from diabetes, dropped several obvious Invented by the Qigong master Wang Shibo, it incorporates a "high-energy hints in describing his complaint for each TCM doctor he visited (he listed Qigong tube" that is supposed to generate its own power from the user's the textbook symptoms but did not mention the word "diabetes"). He even speech, breathing, and heartbeat. This causes it to vibrate in therapeutic ways; prominently displayed his "Medic Alert" bracelet while having his pulses read, and its radiant power can help users "develop their special bodily abilities" (a but none of the TCM doctors picked up on his diabetes (none even asked common euphemism for psychic powers). The pillow is sanctioned by the Bai what the clearly marked bracelet was for!). The herbal remedies that wcte pre­ Zi Yuan Shen Qigong Research Institute and, according to the ad, it is effec­ scribed for Dale differed at the different offices and some of them would have tive for three years. been medically dangerous for a diabetic to take.

3. Gardner, M. 1981. Dermo-optical perception: A peek down the nose. 11. Many scientifically trained physicians accept that chiropractic manip­ Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 63-73. ulations could be beneficial for certain purely musculoskeletal complaints. (Originally published in Science. February 11, 1966.) However, medical scientists remain dubious about the underlying rationale 4. Fumento, M. 1993. Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the for chiropractic still espoused by most of its practitioners. These theoretical Environment. N.Y.: William Morrow. "explanations" continue to fly in the face of scientific knowledge in the fields of anatomy and physiology (Jarvis 1987). Chiropractors who still insist that 5. While we are quite prepared to accept that certain herbal remedies con­ all diseases stem from spinal misalignments ("subluxations"), and can there­ tain biologically active ingredients that could be useful in medical practice fore be cured by joint manipulation, remain open to charges of pscudoscience. (some have already met this criterion of scientific proof—see Lewis and Elvin- The same is true of the many chiropractors who continue to reject the germ Lewis 1977), we see no such value in those concoctions made from organs of theory of disease, oppose basic immunization, and use scientifically discred­ endangered species. Their rationale, as we point out in Part 1 of this report, is ited diagnostic devices. purely that of "sympathetic magic," the basis of all superstitious practices (see Note 6). 6. A good example of the "sympathetic magic" aspects of TCM (the belief that "like begets like") is that the price paid for ginseng root is not determined References by the concentration of its active chemical ingredients. Rather, it is deter­ mined by the degree to which the variegated root structure resembles a human Alcock, ]., K. Frazier, B. Karr. P. Klass, P. Kurtz, and J. Randi. 1988. Testing body. Roots with a greater number of distinct parts that can be seen as a head, psi claims in China: Visit by a CSICOP delegation. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER torso, appendages, etc., fetch a higher price. 12(2): 364-375. Beyerstein, B. L. and W. Sampson. 1996. Traditional medicine and pseudo- 7. Wherever we went, TCM doctors tended to emphasize the toxic side effects of Western drugs while glossing over the well-known fact that herbal science in China: A report of the second CSICOP delegation (Part 1). medications have potential toxicities of their own (Tyler 1985). Many "nat­ SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 20(4): 18-26. ural" plant substances are virulent poisons; others can have serious side effects Beyerstein, D. F. 1990. Chinese herbal medicine. Rational Enquirer 4(1): 7, for the digestive, cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic, renal, and nervous systems. A 10-11. Newsletter of the B.C. Skeptics. Box 48844, Bentall Centre. major drawback among traditional herbalists of all ethnic stripes is their insuf­ Vancouver, B.C. V7X 1A8. ficient education concerning these potential harms. Barrett, S. 1990. Health Schemes. Scams, and Frauds. Mt.. Vernon, N.Y.: Consumer's Union. 8. "Applied kinesiology" is a scientifically discredited technique for read­ China Report: Health care in the world's most populous country. 1983. ing the "muscle weakness" that allegedly follows (instantaneously) exposure to Canadian Medical Association Journal. Special Report 109(2): 150a-150n. certain presumed pathogens (refined sugar, food dyes, preservatives, and fluo­ Hou. R L. 1991. The golden age of Traditional Chinese Medicine. China rescent lighting arc favorite culprits). This pscudoscience should not be con­ fused with the authentic discipline of kinesiology, which is the scientific study Today. March, pp. 32-34. of the control of bodily movement. Jarvis. W 1987. Chiropractic: A skeptical view. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 12(l):47-55. 9. A recent meeting of the B.C. Skeptics in Vancouver, B.C., Mr. Ge Lewis. W H. and M. R F. Elvin-Lcwis. 1977. Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Yingcai, a famous Qigong master and healer who had immigrated to Canada. Health. NY: Wiley-Interscience. Mr. Ge had promised to demonstrate, under double-blind conditions, his Lin. Z. X.. L. Yu. Y. Z. Guo. H. L. Zhang. Z. Y Shen. and T. L. Zhang. In ability to make distilled water taste sweet by irradiating it with his Qi energy. The audience was disappointed and annoyed, however, when, after a rambling press. Qigong: Chinese Medicine or Pscudoscience.' Amherst, N.Y: two-hour lecture, the master announced that he was now too tired to partici­ Prometheus Books. pate in the controlled test. Mr. Ge said he had a degree in nuclear physics from Pantanowitz, D. 1994. Alternative Medicine: A Doctor's Perspective. Johannes­ Beijing University, but his interactions with several professors of physics in the burg: Southern Book Publishers- audience revealed significant gaps in his understanding of basic science. Randi, J. 1989. The Faith Healers. Amherst. N.Y: Prometheus Books. Likewise, in discussion with Dr. Kirsten Emmott, a physician member of the Richardson, P. H. and C A. Vincent. 1986. Acupuncture for the treatment of B.C Skeptics, Mr. Ge exhibited deficiencies in elementary medical knowl- pain: A review of the evaluative research. Pain 23: 15-40. . For instance, he had no comeback when Dr. Emmott pointed out that Sagan. C. 1996. Does truth matter?: Science, pscudoscience. and civilization. his claim to diagnose disease in his clients' organs by feeling pain in the cor­ SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 20(2): 28-33. responding ones in his own body was doubtful because the organs he referred Shorter, E. 1992. From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Medicine to have no nerve supply that could signal such sensations (even if his organs in the Modern Era. N.Y: The Free Press. could somehow magically resonate with those of his clients). Although Mr. Ge Siegel, R K. 1979. Ginseng abuse syndrome: Problems with the panacea. had specifically agreed to produce scientific studies to substantiate his con­ Journal of the American Medical Association 241(15): 1614-1615. ceptions of disease and his claimed cures, all he could deliver were the usual Skrabanek. P. 1985. Acupuncture: Past, present, and future. In Examining testimonials from satisfied customers. Holistic Medicine, ed. by D. Stalker and C. Glymour. Amherst, N.Y: The B.C. Skeptics were similarly frustrated when they issued a challenge Prometheus Books, pp. 181-196. to be scientifically tested to die Qigong master Yan Xin during his North Stalker, D. and C. Glymour, editors. 1985. Examining Holistic Medicine. American tour in 1990. Yan's associate, Wu Xutian. wrote saying that the Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books. skeptics only remained dubious because they had never seen a real Qigong Tyler, V. 1985. Hazards of herbal medicine. In Examining Holistic Medicine, master in action, but he declined to show them what his supposedly real col­ ed. by D. Stalker and C. Glymour, Amherst. N.Y: Prometheus Books, pp. league could do. In his letter of rejection addressed to Dale Beyerstein. Wu 323-339. condescendingly dismissed the skeptics' challenge: "... Dr. Yan Xin and I arc Unschuld. R U.. editor. 1985. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley: not interested in the very low level test which was very popular in China ten University of California Press. or fifteen years ago. He is busy on some cooperating research subjects with Wallnofer, H. and A von Ronauschcr. 1975. Chinese Folk Medicine and several important organizations in U.S." Wu suggested the skeptics should be Acupuncture. London: White Lion Publishers. •

34 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference

Some therapists' lack of skepticism may make them prime targets for racist propaganda.

EVAN HARRINGTON

he debate over "recovered" and "false" memories continues to be one of the most contentious issues in Tthe field of psychology today. The debate is extremely polarized with very little amicable communication among members of the opposing camps. While such a dis­ pute may eventually be beneficial to science, in that both sides are clearly being spurred on to produce original research at a frenetic pace, at the moment the clearest man­ ifestation of this dichotomy is miscommunication and fric­ tion between factions. Such miscommunication has been exacerbated by a tendency of some theorists on both sides to make sweeping generalizations and use vague terminology. An example of such miscommunication is the use of the

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 35 term recovered memory therapy, used frequendy in books such credit available through the Texas State Board of Examiners of as Making Monsters by Richard Ofshe and Ethan Waiters Licensed Professional Counselors. (1994). The term as they used it is not without its critics (e.g., The conference was attended by 150 to 200 people. A sig­ Dalenberg 1995) who complain that the term is over- nificant minority of the audience consisted of patients who generalized. Conversely, in a televised debate, Charles claimed to have had recovered memories of ritual abuse (sev­ Whitfield, a trauma therapist, stated that there is no such eral of whom I spoke with) and who were allowed access to thing as recovered memory therapy. The true state of affairs even the most advanced professional training sessions, some­ likely rests somewhere in between. times at the recommendations of their therapists. While some misunderstandings may be rooted in seman­ The SITPRCA organization was created by Dallas therapist tics, odiers are more difficult to trace and harder still to James Randall "Randy" Noblitt, currently the president of the describe adequately. It is very difficult to get quantitative data group, and Pamela Persian, its executive director. Noblitt lec­ in the area of the beliefs held by therapists regarding topics tures widely on the existence of ritual cults and mind-control that may manifest in the form of false memories in their techniques, and has served as an expert witness in a number of patients. And although some surveys have attempted to child-abuse cases. In the 1992 Austin, Texas, day care case of Fran and Dan Keller, he helped obtain a "According to Bowart, the CIA is currently conducting conviction by informing the jury that a campaign of mind control against the American pub­ cults across America regularly ritually abuse children through torture and sex­ lic and wants to discredit victims of these experiments ual abuse and that the cults make child so that their stories will be seen as false memories." pornography with these victims. Noblitt stated that these children will often not obtain quantitative measures of therapists' beliefs, practices, be able to recall the events because they are so highly trauma­ and experiences regarding traumatic memory recovery and tized, and that the severity of the abuse causes the amnesia. therapy (e.g., Poole, et. al- 1995), such surveys fail to fully This testimony, combined with Noblitt's statement that he inform the reader of the quality of those beliefs. In an attempt was "convinced" that the child in this case had experienced to obtain a qualitative analysis of the beliefs of therapists with extreme trauma, apparently helped convince the jury that the regard to recovered memories of traumatic events, I have fre­ Kellers operated a ritual-abuse cult in their day care center. At quendy attended sexual- and ritual-abuse conferences. Some the time of that trial, Noblitt testified that in addition to of these conferences have afforded me valuable insight into the supervising his own clinical employees he had been sought to dynamics of a scientifically informed trauma therapy. At other consult in 15 similar cases and that he provides supervision for times I have gained valuable insight into the beliefs of some therapists individually and in groups. Noblitt and Persian "fringe" therapists who believe in vast and nefarious conspira­ (1995) recently released a book outlining their beliefs about cies organized to harm children. My purpose here is not to ritual abuse. While some mainstream therapists may conclude argue whether such beliefs are accurate or not; rather, I simply that those associated with SITPRCA represent a fringe ele- wish to oudine what some of those beliefs are. The following ment, I would point out that such organizations are able to is not meant to be representative of all therapists in this field. have a dramatic influence on society. I offer only a description of what some therapists believe. The reader will please keep in mind that any qualitative descrip­ tion, such as this one, may not be used to infer anything about Opening Remarks the population as a whole, but it may be illuminating in that there is a certain subpopulation that clearly is represented. The conference opened wirh a panel consisting of Walter Bowart (author of Operation Mind Control Dell, 1978), Mark This article describes my experiences at a conference held Phillips (who claimed to have inside information on govern­ in Dallas, Texas, March 23-26, 1995, by a group calling itself ment mind-control techniques), and Alan Scheflin. Scheflin is the "Society for the Investigation, Treatment and Prevention a lawyer who has for years documented the Central of Ritual and Cult Abuse" (SITPRCA). SITPRCA may be Intelligence Agency experiments wirh "brainwashing" in the reached at P.O. Box 835564, Richardson, Texas 75083-5564. 1950s and 1960s and who spoke on a panel at the 1993 The 1995 SITPRCA conference was tided "Cult and American Psychological Association (APA) meeting with Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, and Dissociation: A memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus and again at the 1995 Multidisciplinary Dialogue." The word dialogue is misleading annual meeting along with Richard Kluft and several others. because there were no skeptics or critics among the speakers Bowart opened the conference with a direct appeal to the ther­ and, as will be demonstrated, any dissension from the audi­ apists. Bowart claimed that "the False Memory Spindrome [sic] ence was strongly discouraged—it was essentially a mono­ Foundation ... is a Central Intelligence Agency action. It is an logue. The 1995 conference offered continuing education action aimed at the psychological and psychiatric mental health community to discredit you, to keep you in fear and terror." Bowart stated that everyone connected with die False Evan Harrington is a graduate student in social psychology at Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) will be shown to be Temple University, e-mail [email protected].

36 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER "spooks or dupes." According to Bowart, the CIA is currently by Richard Hofstadter (1965). conducting a campaign of mind control against the American While the llluminati conspiracy theory is widely endorsed public and wants to discredit victims of these experiments so by militia members, it is also embraced by reactionary groups that their stories will be seen as false memories. Phillips spoke such as: the Lyndon LaRouche organization (political analyst for a while about how he would reveal the trade secrets of Chip Berlet [1994] stated that in the early 1970s, Lyndon mind control. LaRouche "took his followers .. . and guided them into fascist Scheflin gave a lengthy talk about how therapists can pro­ politics"); die John Birch Society (which Berlet [1994] said tect themselves against the lawsuits brought by former patients believes "Insiders" have for years controlled the U.S. and for­ who retract memories of childhood abuse. These lectures were mer Soviet Union governments); and the Liberty Lobby. The warmly received, especially Scheflin's. Perhaps because several Liberty Lobby, with its newspaper Spotlight, was created by speakers at the conference had been successfully sued by for­ Willis Carto, who also founded the Institute for Historical mer clients, the therapists in attendance seemed quite fearful Review, which asserts that the Holocaust was a hoax (Berlet that their clients would retract their memories of abuse and 1994). sue them for instilling false memories. I felt that the opening Author Linda Blood, who spoke later in the day, protested remarks were overtly political for what was purported to be a that she was "unhappy to be following someone [Marqui] who scientific gathering. is pushing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which she said was anti-Semitic trash. Blood's protest deeply angered some Racist Conspiracy Theories and the Militias and bewildered others, while about four of Blood's friends clapped in support. Perskin, who moderated the session, Doc Marqui, a self-described former "school teacher and announced that although she is Jewish she found nothing witch," lectured about the satanic "llluminati" conspiracy, offensive in Marquis lecture. Marqui appeared to me to be which he alleged President Bill Clinton was part of, serving as connecting existing tacist conspiracy theories with the thera­ the "anti-Christ." Marqui assured the audience that this the­ pists' theories about satanic cults. ory is not racist; but the fact is the llluminati theory is the Marqui was followed by former Federal Bureau of same one advocated by most members of the American mili­ Investigation agent Ted Gunderson, who highly praised tia movement, and it was utilized by the Nazis in their effort Marquis lecture. Gunderson is well known for his claims that to justify their campaign of genocide against the Jews of an archaeological dig under the McMartin preschool showed Europe (Cohn 1966). The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an evidence of tunnels, through which the children were allegedly anti-Semitic document (based on the llluminati conspiracy spirited to other buildings to be prostituted in the community theory) that purports to document plans for Jewish world (Summit 1994). The results of this dig have for years gone domination and which first appeared in Russia in 1903 in a unpublished while calls for funds to self-publish the results newspaper edited by a "noted and mili- „ _ . , _ _ . , ,, tant anti-Semite" (Cohn 1966, p 65) Gunderson and Marqui seem to me to be attempting The book was instituted as mandatory to introduce therapists to racist conspiracy theories reading in German schools bv die Nazis in 1933 (Cohn 1966). Marqui touted the and reactionary propaganda, while at the same time overall validity of the Protocols while groups such as the LaRouche organization endorse replacing the word Jews with the word satanists. The llluminati conspiracy satanic conspiracy theories to draw in new members." holds, in part, that large Jewish banking families have been have been issued in newsletters such as the Survivor Activist orchestrating various political revolutions and machinations (1994). Meanwhile, the integrity of the dig has been strongly throughout Europe and America since the late eighteenth cen­ disputed (Earl 1995). Gunderson presented what he called tury, with the ultimate aim of bringing about a satanic New "new evidence" in the 1984 McMartin preschool sex-abuse World Order. Members of the militia movement have said case in Manhattan Beach, California. He produced a number they believe that the United Nations has been infiltrated by of photographs of the foundation of a house in the hills above these "demonic forces" and is poised for a violent overthrow of San Bernadino, California, that had burned down, he claimed, the American government, after which American rights to the night the charges were filed in the McMartin case. He own firearms will be removed and American citizens will be alleged that the McMartin children were flown to this house enslaved by the introduction of a cashless society, as foretold and ritually abused, and that the house was torched to destroy in the Bible's book of Revelation (see, e.g., Constantine 1995; evidence. The sum total of the evidence he presented to sup­ Kelly 1995; Springmeier 1995; Stern 1996). Marqui stated port this allegation was the existence of spray-painted satanic that the llluminati is essentially a shadow government that has graffiti on the foundation stones and on boulders on the prop­ controlled the United States since its inception, controls the erty. Apparendy, several years had gone by between the time of Masonic order, and commits all manner of occult crime cul­ the alleged fire and the time Gunderson snapped the photos. minating in human sacrifices on eight days of each year. Yet Gunderson was dismissive of the idea that die house foun­ Much of this paranoia was chronicled more than 30 years ago dation on die lot, with its hillside vista of San Bernadino, had

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 37 «£-•> <. *

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been used by teenagers who might have painted the graffiti bans bought children and took them away. According to after the fire. The therapists were enraptured and later asked if Gunderson: "Nobody knows what happened to those kids. Gunderson was planning to publish his photos or if there was They use them for several things: body parts, diey use diem any chance of using diis evidence in a new trial. The for sacrificing, for sex slaves. But this is a big market. Does McMartin preschool case resulted in the longest criminal pro­ anybody have any idea what a blue-eyed, blond-haired eleven- ceeding in American history and failed to produce any con­ or twelve-year girl would sell for? Fifty thousand dollars." victions (see e.g., Nathan and Snedecker 1995). Gunderson claimed that there are currently 500 satanic Gunderson then described a conversation he had with a cults in New York City alone, each averaging eight sacrificial witness, Paul Bonacci, from an alleged satanic-ritual abuse case murders a year, for a total of 4,000 human sacrifices every year. in Nebraska that was detailed by former Nebraska state Sen. Gunderson did not explain how die cults remove bodies in the John DeCamp (1992), who was also a speaker at this confer­ asphalt jungle of New York. ence. The grand jury of Lincoln described this case as an attack Gunderson believes in the threat posed by the New World by DeCamp "for personal political gain and possible revenge" Order, as do Marqui and militia members. Gunderson has (Dorr 1991 • p. 1), a "smear campaign," and a "carefully crafted appeared on Dateline NBC, at militia conferences (Witt hoax" (United Press International, September 18, 1990). The 1995), on Michigan Militia member Mark Koernke's short­ grand jury jailed one and indicted two others (including wave radio program, and on the cover of Spotlight (May 13, Bonacci) for perjury, and was so critical of DeCamp that he 1995), stating that the U.S. government intentionally bombed sued die grand jury for ridicule, though he quickly lost (Dorr die Oklahoma City federal building in April 1995, in order to 1991). A church in die area, the Nebraska Leadership remove our rights through anti-terrorism bills. Gunderson Conference, responded by publishing a tract (no date) named informed die audience that Spotlight "tells it like it is," and The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted Hoax, with a foreword by urged audience members to call die subscription number, Gunderson, in which he continued the allegations of satanic- which he read aloud. On top of this, Gunderson gave an inter­ ritual crime. At die conference Gunderson related Bonacci's view to Lyndon LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review (May description of a slave auction in Las Vegas in which 25 to 30 25, 1990), in which he described FBI special agent Ken vans pulled up, airplanes landed, and foreign men widi tur­ Lanning as "probably die most effective and foremost speaker

38 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER for the satanic movement in this country, today or at any time learned that the woman claimed to have recovered memories in the past." Gunderson and Marqui seem to me to be of being abused in a satanic cult. She drove across two states attempting to introduce therapists to racist conspiracy theories to attend the conference, she said, in the hope that she could and reactionary propaganda, while at the same time groups learn about Nazi scientists being brought to the United States such as the LaRouche organization endorse satanic conspiracy after World War II. She knew nothing about this topic but theories to draw in new members. seemed to suspect that it had something to do with her. The Political analyst Chip Berlet's argument that radical right conversation drifted to the topic of treatment for sex offenders elements are seducing the left should be taken seriously. In his while they are incarcerated. At this point we were joined by a monograph Right Woos Left (Berlet 1994), he describes, among man, whom I'll call Felix, and his companion, who said that other examples, how the LaRouche organization has persis­ treatment for sex offenders is unnecessary because when the tently destabilized legitimate leftist activist organizations by New World Order takes control of the country, members are infiltrating these groups and then claiming that these groups going to shoot all prisoners and also eliminate three-quarters endorse LaRouche. The LaRouchians also gain credibility of the world's population. Felix described to us how the New through their association with legitimate political activists, World Order operated, manufacturing multiple personality which enables them to draw new converts. The cult-ritual disorder through torture and creating sex slaves and drug abuse field is a prime example of such infiltration. Many ther­ mules under the mind control of the CIA (this is the basis for apists who specialize in treating ritual or other forms of abuse the alleged "Operation Monarch"). Felix also described how identify to some degree with feminism and other liberal ideals. the black helicopters of the New World Order landed in his When radical right conspiracists get such liberals to believe in hometown of Portland, Oregon, and black-suited storm the New World Order or "Operation Monarch" (a similar troopers illegally searched all the homes in the neighborhood. movement, described later) they gain a boost in credibility far There was a total news blackout of this because, Felix said, the beyond what they could expect by printing their stories in media are part of the conspiracy. Later, Felix confided to me Spotlight or the Executive Intelligence Review. that his companion was wrong: the New World Order would not kill all the prisoners, but would use them as slave labor. Former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp, mentioned ear­ Felix said he did not like to disagree with her because she was lier, has been on the ritual-abuse circuit for some time now, a former "Monarch" mind-control slave. talking about his 1992 book The Franklin Cover-Up, which purports to document a satanic organization in Nebraska that Felix sold me his newsletter, as big as a book, in which he abused children and prostituted them within the White makes some very strange claims: Charles Manson was pro­ House. DeCamp gives a favorable mention to a fact-finding grammed by die Illuminati, the Anti-Defamation League is mission sponsored by LaRouche (DeCamp 1992, p. 241). The controlled by Jewish satanists, and Marilyn Monroe was a editors of the Executive Intelligence Review repeat DeCamp's mind-conttol slave. According to Felix, virtually anyone who claims and praise his book as "important" in their virulently disagrees with Felix is a Monarch slave, including prominent anti-Semitic party tract tided The Ugly Truth About the ADL militia leader Bo Gritz, who talked Randy Weaver into sur­ (Anti-Defamation League) (Editors of the Executive rendering at the 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Most Ingelligence Review 1992). The July 27, 1990. issue of the disturbingly, Felix told me that he works as a counselor and Executive Intelligence Review stated that the FBI in Nebraska has helped "a lot" of people suffering from multiple personal­ covered up child abuse and murder. ity disorder. Felix apparendy has no mental-health counseling credentials, and his name badge identified him as "clergy." On June 15, 1995, DeCamp appeared before a U.S. Senate Nevertheless, he said he counsels dissociative clients and subcommittee hearing on domestic terrorism chaired by Arlen guides them through the intricacies of international cabals. Spector. DeCamp appeared as a lawyer representing the American militia movement and the four militia leaders testi­ By this time a crowd had gathered around Felix and me. fying diat day. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, After Felix's monologue, a social worker from Nonh Carolina DeCamp glowingly described die militia movement as "a informed the group that in the day care sex-abuse case she was political movement in the birthing . . . painful, joyous, con­ investigating, she thought she remembered the kids talking fusing, and exciting" (Janofsky 1995, p. 10). DeCamp also has about black helicopters. She said she would look into it. clear ties with the Nebraska Leadership Conference. A call to the church office confirmed that the Nebraska Leadership Conference had "contributed significantly" to DeCamp's Secrets of Mind Control Revealed book. Felix's claims paled in comparison to what came next. Mark DeCamp delighted the therapists at this conference during Phillips claimed to be a former government agent involved in a luncheon session in which he described the allegations put mind-control experiments. He was always vague, never giving forth in his book. any information that could be checked. His companion, Cathy O'Brian, claimed to have survived years of torture and Conspiracy Theories in Action abuse at the hands of her CIA handlers in Operation Monarch (these two seem to be the source of most of the Monarch I struck up a conversation with a woman and het son and material). O'Brian maintained she had been tortured in

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 39 unimaginable ways since the time she was a child, and that her that mind-control programming boosts the immune system, cult handlers successfully created dissociative identity disorder making the victim resistant to die HIV virus, and that is why in her, which was cured by Phillips, who also managed to hide children in day care satanic-ritual abuse cases do not have ele­ her from the CIA. She was so savagely tortured, she said, that vated levels of sexually transmitted diseases. her back was a complete mass of scar tissue. Phillips added that Well, if diey've found a cure for AIDS, why do they bother he had once tried to count the scars but lost count somewhere making money with pornography? Such a cure must be worth in the hundreds. We never saw the scars, photos of the scare, several billion dollars! In the grand tradition of conspiracy the­ or doctors' reports about the scars. ories, discrepant information is explained away or, as in this O'Brian stated diat she was forced to have sex with a case, incorporated into die scheme. Amazingly, chis solution to piediora of political figures including George Bush, Ronald die AIDS conundrum appeared to be taken seriously by most Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford (whom she said she in the room. knew as "the neighborhood porn king"). She also said she was abused by Hillary Clinton (but not by Bill). Politicians were Alternate Views Not Welcome not the only ones involved—O'Brian stated that a number of baseball figures were in this satanic/CIA mind-control plot. Chrystine Oksana lectured on her experiences of recovering She told me personally that virtually the entire country music memories of ritual abuse and her subsequent search for cor­ industry is set up by the New World Order to make money. roboration (see Oksana 1994). Oksana stated that she had According to O'Brian, most popular country singers are read some 500 books on the topic of trauma and child abuse. Monarch slaves who had alter-personalities created with good For this reason I asked what she thought of die recent study by voices for singing. Phillips and O'Brian, along with Bowart Linda Meyer Williams (1994). Oksana said she had not heard and ouSere, claimed that the CIA is currently abusing people of it. The report by Williams is a pivotal study that demon­ through Operation Monarch. Phillips claimed 20 years of strated that a substantial minority of adults failed to disclose experience in genetics and said that the cults would breed their documented emergency room visits when they were chil­ slaves selectively to create musical geniuses. To test his vast dren, which ostensibly occurred because they had been sexu­ experience with genetics, I asked him what he thought of the ally abused. The study demonstrated that some people may Human Genome Sequencing Project. He had never heard of forget such events. There is a mistake in the text of die paper it. It seems impossible for anyone with even a rudimentary that states the existence of a nonsignificant trend such that, as knowledge of genetics to be unaware of the biggest project the amount of force used in the commission of the abuse ever in that field. Nevertheless, one author claims that Phillips increases, recall decreases. The trend in the data actually shows is "currendy deprogramming at least six Monarch slaves" that as the amount of force used in the commission of the (Springmeier 1995, p. 243). abuse increases recall increases, which is opposite from, and fails to support, the theory of repression of traumatic memory It seems that a number of people in the audience were (Harrington 1995). My description of diis data set visibly accepting of Phillips's and O'Brian's claims, although Persian angered several in the audience. One woman voiced disbelief (of SITPRCA) informed me that this duo will not be asked of what I had said (preferring to believe that greater trauma back in die future because diey failed to produce evidence of typically was related to nonrecall), while a second woman Operation Monarch. In a personal conversation with me (July shouted at me twice to read Lenore Terr's Unchained 12, 1995). Scheflin stated that he had been able to obtain Memories. After a couple more rebuffs, the session ended in a internal CIA documents corroborating the existence of mind- stony silence. Yet another woman approached me and bluntly control experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. (The documents stated that she did not believe what I had said. I told her that demonstrate that die CIA conducted unethical experiments to I had a signed letter from Williams affirming my observations. try to create multiple personalities in people for the purpose of This woman shrugged her shoulders and walked away smiling, creating a super spy who could keep vital information sub­ as if to say diat she still did not believe me. This appears to be merged in an alter personality [Thomas 1990].) But, he said, an example of the resistant nature of strong beliefs toward dis­ the paper trail completely died out by 1976. According to crepant information. Scheflin, there are no credible reports of mind-control experi­ ments after 1976 and no credible reports of any nature on In die final analysis of the Williams data, die nonsignifi­ Operation Monarch. cant trend of force being associated widi greater recall is prob­ Catherine Gould gave an advanced workshop in which she ably a confound wherein both greater force and greater recall described the mechanics of cult mind-control, extensively uti­ are associated with older age at time of abuse. Nevertheless, lizing the mind-as-computer model. At one point she puzzled mine was a legitimate question to raise during a session on over the idea of cult members catching AIDS. She said that traumaric memory where it was stated that events that are no one can figure out why the offenders are not "dropping like more traumatic are more likely to be dissociated from con­ flies, because we know they don't practice safe cult sex." Widi sciousness. The scalding reaction I received from the audience all the blood, cannibalism, and unprotected sex, diey ought to supports the view that group social representations are not be catching a lot of sexually transmitted diseases. Therapist amenable to contradiction (Guerin, in press), and indicates Jerry Mungadze offered a unique explanation. He suggested that these are not issues open for discussion.

40 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Skepticism and Satanism is, if not wholly rational, at least intensely rationalistic" (Hofstadter 1965, p. 36). Conspiracy theories offer individu­ The next session featured lawyer John Kiker and therapists als well-organized enemies against whom the self is defined; Noblitt, Michael Moore, and Jan Maclean on the topic of the this offers them a guiding structure and purpose (Farr 1987). travails of being sued. Moore described in detail how violated I frequently observed a categorical rejection of the possibility he felt by being sued by former patients. Maclean stated you that thete could be "false" memories of traumatic events, and can always believe the stories children tell of being abused— that anyone who made such claims must be "dirty" or a part of children might make up other diings, but they never make up the "backlash," and that such claims could be dismissed without traumatic events. I asked the panel what they thought of Steve serious consideration. There was dearly an assumptive woddview Ceci's work. There was a moment of dead silence. None of die or social representation that unified the audience and speakers, four panelists had ever heard of Ceci, who is one of the top deviation from which would brand one as a spy. Actual debate developmental psychologists in the country and is well known was an anathema. The assumptions mat united the group often for his recent experiments demonstrating die suggestibility of veered toward conspiracism, though the particular dements of children. Ceci's "mousetrap" experiments (Ceci 1993; Ceci the conspiratorial plots could change from person to person and Bruck 1995) demonstrated that repeated interviews (satanic cults, New World Order, etc.). Most, though by no regarding a false traumatic event (getting a finger caught in a means all, of die therapists appeared to be previously unaware of mousetrap and being taken to the hospital) can result in a por­ New World Order conspiracy, though some appeared receptive tion of children saying (and apparently believing) that the fictional traumatic "Immediately after the session a man connected with the event occurred. After I described this experiment, the panelists concluded conference demanded to know who I was, where I was (without reading Ceci's papers) that from, and why I had asked [my] question. He was not "these analogue studies" cannot be gener­ alized to the real world. satisfied with my answers and became visibly agitated...

It seems incredible that a psychological He soon gave up and informed me in a brusque tone conference could be constructed with a that 'everyone here thinks you are a plant'" seminar focusing on legal issues and the testimony of children in court, widiout a single person to such ideas. Many seemed to be familiar with and believe in the involved ever having heard of Ceci, who has contributed so Operation Monarch conspiracy, despite the lack of credible evi­ much in this area. Indeed, this was the third day of the confer­ dence for this. Of course, bdief in conspiracies does not neces­ ence and there had been much talk of children's accusations of sarily indicate therapeutic incompetence. However, I would be abuse, but not one mention of Ceci's research, which was why worried if those dierapists interviewing children who are sus­ I felt obliged to pose the question. Often when I attend lectures I ask the speakers what they think of criticisms against them. pected of being victims of sexual abuse bdieved that the biblical revelation was coming in the form of satanic U.N. troops sweep­ Immediately after the session a man cnnnrrrrA with the ing up children in black helicopters. conference demanded to know who I was, where I was from, We cannot know what effect these therapists' conspirator­ and why 1 had asked the question. He was not satisfied with ial beliefs may have on their clients. What we can see from my answers and became visibly agitated when I tried to these anecdotes is that strong beliefs are highly resistant to dis­ describe Ceci's experiments in greater detail. He soon gave up crepant input and they do have a certain persuasive power. An and informed me in a brusque tone that "everyone here thinks indication of the influence of this conference can be seen in a you are a plant." Perturbed, I entered the main hallway where quote from Jerry Leonard, a physicist who attended and wrote I was confronted by Perskin, who asked if I had set out any lit­ erature in the bathroom. Apparendy, someone had set out fly­ a review of the conference (Leonard 1995), in which he stated: ers from the Temple of Set, a satanic church, in the men's room! I came away with the opinion that cults are formor e prevalent, well connected, sophisticated and dangerous than I had ever dreamed ... apparently, this type of cult activity is fairly wide­ Conclusion spread. Police departments have stumbled on well organized nationwide child kidnapping rings. Ted Gunderson . . . Conspiracy theories have operated in many societies at many described one case in which he personally uncovered an ele­ mentary school which had been built on a system of tunnels times and may be seen from a social-psychological perspective through which children were taken into neighboring houses as serving certain functions within society. Conspiracy theories ... to participate in Satanic ritual abuse. .. . It is my personal may of course represent real conspiracies, but they may also act view that the larger satanic cults arc being manipulated by the in a manner similar to racist stereotyping in which the targeted tcderal intelligence and law enforcement agencies from behind the scenes. group is seen as deviant and deeply immoral (Moscovici 1987). Conspiracy scholarship is on the one hand irrational, Leonard informed me that this was his introduction to claims while on die other "far more coherent than the real world, of cult child abuse. This testimonial demonstrates the persua­ since it leaves no room for mistakes, failures, or ambiguities. It sive power of the rumors that were put forth at this confer-

SKEPT1CAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 41 ence, at least to someone who was receptive to hearing them. the Right Wing Backlash, ed. by C. Bcrlet. Pp. 246-265. Boston, Mass.: South End Press. We have no way of knowing the percentage of practicing Constantine, A. 1995. Psychic Dictatorship in the U.SA. Portland, Ore.: Feral therapists who are represented by this style of thinking. Even House. if only a very small minority of the therapeutic community is Dalenberg, C.J. 1995. The war against recovered memories of trauma. represented, it is troubling to think of the effect these thera­ Contemporary Psychology 40: 1065-1067. DeCamp, J. W. 1992. The Franklin Cover-Up: Child Abuse. Satanism, and pists may have on their colleagues, to say nothing of their Murder in Nebraska. Lincoln, Neb.: A.W.T., Inc. clients. The theories presented at this conference may at times Dorr, R. 1991. DeCamp suit against grand jury dismissed. Omaha World find wider appeal among more traditional therapists who are Herald, January 5, p. 1. Earl, J. 1995. The dark truth about the 'dark tunnels of McMartin.' Issues in searching for evidence of cults, and it appears that such theo­ Child Abuse Accusations 7: 76-131. ries have enjoyed fairly wide popular circulation in the recent Editors of the Executive Ingelligence Review. 1992. The Ugly Truth About the past (Victor 1993). Sherrill Mulhern (1991, 1994) has out­ ADL Washington, D.C.: Executive Intelligence Review. Farr, R.M. 1987. Self/other relations and the social nature of reality. In lined the role played by conspiracy theories both historically, Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, ed. by C. F. Graumann and S. and at prestigious gatherings of psychologists. While the Moscovici. New York: Springer-Verlag. majority of psychological trauma specialists are not "conspir- Guerin, B. In press. Some recent and future developments in the study of social representations. Japanese Journal of Experimental Social Psychology acists," they may at times be influenced by conspiracy claims, Hardisty, J. 1995. Constructing homophobia: Colorado's right-wing attack on such as the claim that tunnels existed under the McMartin homosexuals. In Eyes Right: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash, ed. by C. preschool, because such claims resemble or circumstantially Berlct. Pp. 86-104. Boston, Mass.: South End Press. Harrington, E. 1995. Research note. FMS Foundation Newsletter 4(2): 9-10. support in some way the memories reported by clients. Hofstadter, R. 1965. The Paranoid Style in American Politics. New York: Alfred The possibility of right-wing racist organizations using the A. Knopf. present mental-health dilemma for their political gain is some­ Janofsky, M. 1995. Paramilitary group leaders try to burnish their image. New York Times, May 26, section A, p. 10. thing therapists working in this area should be aware of. Kelly, M. 1995. The road to paranoia. The New Yorker, June 19. Therapists who only seek what is best for their clients may at Leonard, J. 1995. Mind control conference reviewed on the Internet. Free times be vulnerable to propaganda put out by such groups. In Thinking 1(6). Newsletter of the Freedom of Thought Foundation, P.O. Box 35072, Tucson, AZ 85740. the end it is the client, along with the client's family, who suf­ Moscovici, S. 1987. The conspiracy mentality. In Changing Conceptions of fers. Whether motivated by such groups, claims that critics are Conspiracy, ed. by C. F. Graumann and S. Moscovici. New York: Springer- active CIA agents who are engaged in a secret war against the Verlag. Mulhern, S. 1991. Satanism and psychotherapy: A rumor in search of an American public, or that they are part of a nationwide back­ inquisition. In The Satanism Scare, ed. by J. T. Richardson, J. Best, and lash against belief in child abuse, only serve to make some D.G. Bromley. Pp. 145-172. New York: Aldine dc Gruyter. therapists antagonistic to all forms of criticism, regardless of . 1994. Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: A socio-historical perspective. International Journal of Clinical and the motives of the critic. This is unfortunate because, as Experimental Hypnosis 42: 265-288. trauma therapist and researcher John Briere stated at the 1995 Nathan, D. and M. Snedeker. 1995. Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the APA meeting, many of the criticisms have merit, and the field Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books. will be made better, not worse, because of them. Nebraska Leadership Conference. No date. The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted Hoax: A Report. Nebraska Leadership Conference, Box 30165, Lincoln, NE 68503. Note Noblitt, J. R. and P. S. Persian. 1995. Cult and Ritual Abuse: It's History, Anthropology and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Weapon, I would like to thank Sherrill Mulhern for comments. Conn.: Praeger. Ofshe, R., and E. Warters. 1994. Making Monsters: False Memories, Psycho­ therapy and Sexual Hysteria. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. References Oksana, C. 1994. Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse. New York: Harper Perennial. Bcrlet. C 1994. Right Wool Left: Populist Party. LaRouchian. and Other Neo- Poole. DA, D. S. Lindsay, A. Memon, and R. Bull. 1995. Psychotherapy and Fascist Overtures to Progressives, and Why They Must Be Rejected Political the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British Research Associates, 678 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 702, Cambridge, MA practitioners' opinions, practices, and experiences. Journal of Consulting 02139. and Clinical Psychology 63: 426-437. Bcrlet, C. 1995. Armed Militias. Right Wing Populism, and Scapegoating. Springmeier, F. 1995. Project Monarch: How the U.S. creates slaves of Satan. Cambridge, Mass.: Political Research Associates. In Cull Rapture, cd. by A. Parfrey. Portland, Ore.: Feral House. Bcrlet, C, and J. Bellman. 1989. Lyndon LaRouehe: Fascism Wrapped in an Stern, K. S. 1996. A Force upon the Plain: The American Militut Movement and American Flag. Cambridge, Mass.: Political Research Associates. the Politics of Hate. New York: Simon and Schuaer. Blood. L 1994. The New Botanists. New York: Warner. Summit, R.C. 1994. The dark tunnels of McMartin. Journal of Psychohistory Burke, W. K. 1995. The wise use movement: Right-wing anti-environmental- 21:397-416. ism. In Eyes Right: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash, cd. by C. Berlct. Survivor Activist. 1994. Announcements. Survivor Activist 2: (4) p. 12. Pp. 135-145. Boston, Mass.: South End Press. Available from Frank Fitzpatrick, 52 Lyndon Road, Cranston, RI 02905- Ceci, S.J. 1993. "Cognitive and Social Factors in Children's Testimony." 1121. Master lecture presented at the 101st annual meeting of the American Thomas. G. 1990. Journey into Madness: The True Story of Secret CIA Mind Psychological Association, August. Control and Medical Abuse. New York: Bantam. Ceci, S.J., and M. Brack. 1995. Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis Victor, J. S. 1993. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. of Children's Testimony Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Chicago: Open Court Association. Williams, U M. 1994. Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of Cohn. N. 1966. Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World- women's memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. New York: Harper and Clinical Psychology 62: 1167-1176. Row. Win, H. 1995. Amid Oklahoma myaeries, conspiracy ideas win hearing. Collette, l_ 1995. Encountering holocaust denial. In Eyes Right: Challenging Chicago Tribune. May 9. U

42 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER We Need Science and the Humanities

Science and technology will serve humanity well only if our hearts and heads work in concert. Critical, rational thought (of a physical-science style) and respect for the world in which we live (seeking truth and beauty in the tradition of the liberal arts) are both needed.

JOHN W. WHITE

Antiscience attitudes have been around for a long *__» time, particularly in religious organizations. A new -I. JL. development has been the emergence of antiscience within a part of academia, traditionally a strong supporter of science. This antiscience movement has been centered in the arts, humanities, and social science departments. I lump these under the title "humanities" for brevity in this article. Academic antiscience has been described in a book titled Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1994). It has also been discussed by many others in a variety of media, including articles in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER by Paul Kurtz and Gerald Holton

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Sepl.mber/Ociober 1996 43 (both in Spring 1994) and by Gross and Levitt (March/April appropriate for operational definitions. However, it is also true 1995). mat the botders of topics mat are amenable to operational def­ This academic antiscience problem is easy to describe. initions continue to grow rapidly. Science is continually mov­ Some college teachers in the humanities are seriously misrepre­ ing into realms that were previously the sole domain of the arts senting the nature of science: its current state of knowledge, the or the humanities. One recent example is die research into the methodology of science, and its philosophical foundation. Their human mind and how it works. Science appears to be able to message is that physical science (I include biology) is not sig­ shed light on thought processes and emotional responses that nificantly more reliable than other areas of knowledge; that it were formerly considered a pan of other (nonscientific) disci­ is a search for knowledge dominated by politics, bias, ambigu­ plines. There are many similar instances throughout history, ity, and uncertainty. such as that which occurred when the heliocentric model of One example (generalized and para­ the heavens was proposed. phrased) follows. Since perfect objectivity is not The real measure of the reliability of knowledge is how that possible, all knowledge is equally reliable. knowledge permits people to make predictions about future In other words, any given physics events. In mis regard, no other field of human endeavor has topic is no more dependable come close to the record achieved by physical science in recent than a branch of literature or centuries. This ability to predict accurately also is evidenced by sociology. Since objectiv­ the performance of modern technology that provides count­ ity cannot be perfect, less (literally) specific examples of the reliability of science. relative degrees of Our model of the electron (its charge, mass, and other prop­ objectivity don't erties) is the same for every application: chemistry reactions, matter, and one toaster design, cathode ray tube design, radar performance, and others. A similar case could be provided by die many might be well advised applications of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. The to fotget the attempt to try for objectivity. These academics list of successful scientific models and think that seeking knowledge through the use of observation their applications goes on and on. and logic is illusory. The vast majority of physical scientists disagree. Operational definitions provide pow­ These misguided scholars in the humanities simply do not erful concepts that can be expressed understand physical science; specifically they do not understand with unusual clarity; researchers the role of operational definitions. (Quantities are defined by the around die globe can communicate operations that are performed when we measure them. Example: and discuss issues with each other Length is the quantity that you obtain when you use a meter stick from an unusually uniform perspec­ in the following way, etc.) The "etc." stands for a lot of carefully tive. Use of operational definitions described detail, but it is readily provided in an unambiguous also makes the scientific mediod form. The uniformity with which physical scientists pursue (comparison of theory and experi­ mental data) more precise and effi­ their work throughout the world provides testimony that cient; it makes peer review (orga­ operational definitions are relatively unambiguous. The nized skepticism) more objective human mind and human senses can be trusted to perform reli­ and reliable. The conclusion is that ably when used with this type of carefully prescribed opera­ quantities in physical science tion. (length, time, mass, etc.) can be dis­ Physical science is based on experiments performed in the cussed with a relatively high degree natural world. By limiting our investigations to those quanti­ of accuracy and in a relatively {much) more objective manner ties mat allow the use of operational definitions, the response than the quantities (love, loyalty, greed, etc.) that arc encoun­ of nature to experiments is independent of national borders, tered in other research disciplines such as the humanities. By the gender of the experimenter, and so on. Models that scien­ die same token, die sciences are limited to diose topics diat are tists develop to explain nature must match experimental data amenable to operational definitions. with a high level of precision or the model is discarded, even if the proposer of the theory has a great reputation. Decisions Aldiough the degree of objectivity obtained is not perfect about theories are decided by nature! in science, it is quite remarkable when compared to other dis­ In one sense, physical scientists have defined dieir disci­ ciplines. There is a significant gain in the knowledge obtained pline in a realm that ensures objectivity and reliability. This is when the area of study can be examined more objectively. The done by restricting their interests to those quantities mat are degree of objectivity is the whole story with respect to reliabil­ ity. Objectivity is harder to achieve for the humanities than for John W. White has been a physics staff member at the Lawrence the sciences. This very point argues in favor of an attempt to Livermore National Laboratory for the past 30 years. He has a attain a high degtee of objectivity for practitioners in the Ph.D. in Applied Science from the University of California at Davis. Humanities continued on page 56

44 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Testing the ESP Claims of SORRAT

The Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT) claims to be in contact with spirit "entities" that can divine the order of sealed decks of cards. A test was designed using a sealed deck of ESP cards and carried out after the protocol was approved. Here are the results.

RICHARD WISEMAN, JOHN BELOFF, and ROBERT L. MORRIS

he Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT) claims to be in touch with spirit "enti­ Tties" that produce a vast range of paranormal phe­ nomena including rapping, table levitation, apports (the appearance of objects through objects), and the movement of objects inside carefully sealed containers or "minilabs." This Missouri-based group was founded in the 1960s by John Neihardt, a respected academic and authority on the Plains Indians. After Niehardt's death in 1973, the leader­ ship of the group was taken over by Tom Richards and Alice Thompson (John Neihardt's daughter). In 1977, William Cox, a well-known parapsychologist (since deceased), moved to Missouri to study tiie SORRAT phenomena and has done much to publicize its activities (see, e.g., Cox 1983). A few years ago Cox contacted us and claimed that the entities had developed a new skill, and were now able to divine the order of sealed decks of ESP cards (twenty-five playing cards widi either a square, cross, star,

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 45 circle or lines on their faces) with almost one hundred percent small dark spots of different shapes and sizes, which fell to dif­ accuracy. Cox explained that he simply placed the decks into ferent depths in the resin. The exact position and diameter of the cellar of a home of a well-known SORRAT member, and these dots were recorded such that it would have been very dif­ the entities were able to write the order of the cards in the deck ficult to duplicate. The encapsulated deck was then placed on a piece of paper. Cox asked us if we would like to send him inside a second tamper-evident envelope. a sealed deck and test the entities' abilities. Such an investiga­ We realized that if the returned deck showed signs of dam­ tion appeared worthwhile because although SORRAT has age or tampering, it may be difficult to decide if this would generated much anecdotal evidence of ostensible psi phenom­ constitute evidence of cheating, damage in transit, or opening ena (see, e.g., Richards 1982), the group has rarely been sub­ by another individual (e.g., a customs official). This was an jected to controlled testing (but see Phillips and McBeath important consideration, as Cox (1986) has claimed that pos­ 1982; Hansen and Broughton 1991; and Stillings 1991). For sible signs of tampering on a similar package used in a previ­ this reason we decided to carry out the following test. ous test (see Hansen and Broughton 1991) may have been Our experiment involved sealing a shuffled deck of ESP caused by a dishonest postal employee, possibly looking for cards and sending them to Cox, from Britain to Missouri. Cox jewelry. To minimize this possibility, a strip of paper was would ask the entities to divine the order of the cards in the placed around the package. This explained that the package sealed deck. He would then return to us this card order listed was part of a parapsychology experiment and asked individu­ on a piece of paper, along with the scaled deck. The actual als not to open the package. In addition, the labels carried our order of the cards would then be compared with the order dis­ addresses and that of William Cox, noting that more informa­ cerned by the entities. To be successful, the entities must score tion about the experiment could be obtained from either of at least fifteen out of twenty-five possible hits. This was well these sources. Cox was asked to replace this strip of paper within the range of the claim (Cox had claimed that many pre­ around the parcel when returning it to us. vious trials had obtained twenty-five hits) and clearly above We also thought it important that the entities make their chance. predictions regarding the order of the cards in the deck in a In past tests of this type, claimants who have failed to pro­ completely unambiguous way. For this reason, we asked Cox duce ostensible paranormal phenomena have stated fiiat the to have the entities complete a call-sheet consisting of twenty- experimental conditions were not favorable to their psychic five sets of the five ESP symbols, each set corresponding to a abilities. To help prevent such misunderstandings, we asked position in the ESP deck. Cox had to ensure that the entities Cox and Richards to examine our protocol prior to the exper­ circled one of the symbols in each set, indicating their call for iment. After a few minor modifications mey wrote back to say the card in that position of the deck. Any missing or ambigu­ that the experiment had their approval and that they were ous calls would count as a miss. looking forward to receiving our sealed deck. The test was on. The secured package and call-sheet were dispatched to We thoroughly shuffled a deck of ESP cards, made a list of Cox. A few weeks later Cox informed us that the package had iheir order, and placed this list in a secure location at a uni­ arrived and did not appear to have been damaged in transit. versity. Two months later, we received both a completed call-sheet and The ESP cards were then placed inside a commercially a handwritten letter, allegedly from the entities. These docu­ available, high-security, "tamper-evident" envelope. This enve­ ments had been mailed to another member of SORRAT (res­ lope is constructed from polyethylene and cannot be slit and ident of California), who had then kindly forwarded diem to resealed without detection. It is sealed with a special self-adhe­ us. The call-sheet contained twenty-five unambiguous calls sive strip that reveals any signs of tampering including (each circled in black ink). The letter read: attempts to peel off the strip, the application of heat or cold, and the use of various solvents. Each envelope carries a per­ Friend Richard- manent, and unique, six-digit number to help prevent it from We have tried to rearrange the cards in your packet to approx­ being opened and then replaced by a second duplicate, but imate the calls we have marked. We often fail, of course. undamaged, envelope. Shanti-expeditor/Rector/J.K. Next, die sealed envelope was encapsulated in transparent industrial embedding resin. To prevent someone from break­ Cox then returned the sealed deck to us. We inspected it for ing up the entire block (e.g., by melting it), and then replac­ any signs of damage or tampering. To counter the idea that we ing it with an identical but undamaged block, a number of may have damaged the package while opening it, we carefully drops of chemical dye were placed in the resin. These formed filmed our examination. Both the outer tamper-evident bag and resin block were found to be free from signs of damage. Richard Wiseman is senior research fellow in the Perron- Warrick The actual order of the cards was then compared with the calls Research Unit, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, allegedly made by the entities. They had obtained only eight Hatfield Herts AL 10 9AB., U.K. John Beloff and Robert L. hits. Morris are at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K., As the entities had claimed also to reorder the cards, it was where Beloff is in the Department of Psychology and Morris holds the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology. SORRAT continued on page 61

46 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER nge Vibrations: An Afternoon with a New Age Psychic

It all sounds so convincing. Or does it?

J. D. LASICA

r ihis is very, very unusual," Emma says, leaning closer to inspect the whorls on my fingertips -I- and the lines on my right palm. She pauses, then raises her eyes. "This is going to just knock you out of the water, Joseph." I ease forward in the cream-colored armchair, keeping my feet fl?t -- — — ~w-f,v, wuuui nui IU ciu^s my energy, i peer down and study the lines of my palm. I look for pat­ terns. Instead, I see a jumble of cracks and creases. Mostly, I see chapped skin. But what do I know? I'm not the expert here. Emma is. Emma is a spiritual counselor, a palm reader, a numerolo- gist, a clairvoyant, a practitioner of divine sciences. She is, in a word, a psychic—by reputation, one of the bright rising stars of the psychic community in Northern California, I am told. Emma fixes me with a soulful stare. "Arc you ready for this, Joseph?"

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER S.ptember/October 1996 47 I am ready. I'm sitting here today, in the sun-splashed liv­ And the earth is our big university. We all come many times. ing room of Emma's ranch-style home near the San Francisco Basically, my role is to get people connected with what their Bay, for precisely this reason: to get in touch with my inner mission's about, with what they're really here for." path. I nod. We get down to some serious energy-reading. I had briefly met Emma at a business function early last Emma directs me to hold my palms up and press forward, year. A vibrant, vivacious, life-hugging woman in her 40s, she as if against an imaginary window. She meets my hands with has a bright, chipper voice, soft hands, and dark eyes that lock hers. She closes her eyes. "There are influences in your per­ onto you and won't let go. A crystal necklace dangles loosely sonal life that are blocking your energy, interfering with what around her neck. you're here to do in this life. Whatever it is, you're not com­ pletely in control. There are influences and circumstances that This is my first reading. And going in, I am just a bit skep­ are holding you back." tical. But I am also open to the possibilities. My older sister She pauses, as if waiting for me to jump in. But I'm not believes in die paranormal. And close friends have sold yet. I'm waiting to hear some solid, specific told me tales of readings they've had by strangers, evidence. I want a smoking karmic gun. strangers who knew things about their pasts that Emma forges on. "You like to no one could possibly know. control events. But you're not a con­ Later, after today's session with Emma, I'll troller of people. You can be the most contact two experts in the field of para­ stubborn person in the world, if you psychology to get their takes on set your mind to be, but there's also a this. But for the moment, I want part of you that can be easily manipu­ to get my own impressions. lated by other people." At die beginning of our ses­ "Um-hum," I say. I'm still waiting sion—Emma is letting me tape- for some snippet of insight that doesn't record what turns out to be a 100- hold true for 95 percent of the popula­ minute visit—I pay the $75 fee tion. and, as instructed, smear black ink "You go, 'Um-hum,'" she says, a on my palms. While Emma goes ofF litde impatiently. "Do you see that in to meditate with my palm prints, I your life?" study a piece of paper that I'm I feel a twinge of guilt for not instructed to sign before we can pro­ being a team playet. So I prattle on a bit ceed. It's a legal waiver. Apparently, before we move on. there have been cases of psychics being Next, Emma inspects the curve lines at the sued by clients who were bad sports about base of my right forefinger. "See these lines?" their bad karma. I sign the form. Welcome tc she says. fortune-telling in die nineties. I peer closer. "Which lines?" We chat for a while. I ask about her back­ "Right here," she says, running her finger ground, and Emma tells me she has had "die CID> across them. "These ate the rings of gift, some people call it ESP," since child­ Solomon. This is very, very unusual, Joseph. hood. She has studied at the International Institute of Hand Very rare, only one or two out of a hundred people have rhis. Analysis in Sausalito and at Psychic Horizons in San Francisco. It means you're extremely intuitive. You've got several gift She taught a workshop last spring at the international markings—look at all this water energy! This curving energy, astrologers' convention in Anaheim. On a radio program last right here—" She pauses dramatically. "It means you're clair­ year, she read "the energy" of palm prints faxed in by listeners. voyant," she says at last. "Are you in touch with that?" She's currendy coauthoring a book on astrological physiog­ I'm surprised by this news. "Well," I say, "sometimes I do nomy (judging character by facial features). sense things before they happen. But I've never felt any special Emma now sits directly across from me and asks my per­ powers or abilities." mission to do a reading. She recites a meditation prayer, "You're just shut down," Emma says without missing a repeating my full birth name three times. She invokes "the beat. "You're a closet clairvoyant. Your energy's blocked, you consciousness of the entire universe" so that she may be "an don't have a handle on it yet. You've got all these bursts of instrument for Joseph Lasica today and read what's up for him energy in your moon, in your spiritual realm, but you're resist­ on a soul's level." ing it. You have to learn to use that, it's meant for your higher She gives me the 30-second crash course in the divine sci­ good on the planet." ences: "Everything in the universe is energy; it just changes I'm still trying to get a handle on all the new buzzwords I'm shape into different molecular structures. The DNA and RNA hearing—"soul agenda," "karmic debts"—but Emma is in the physical body is affected—changed—by astrological already plunging into more personal spheres. She runs a finger forces. This body you have is a skin bag to house your soul. across my right palm. "You've got trouble on your heart line.

48 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER sweetheart. See this bubble right here? Lots of emotional An ex-girlfriend, who believed in the supernatural, once scars." related to me some of her psychic's findings: that she had a very I draw back a little. She's hit on something, and her words old soul, and that she had an important mission to accomplish resonate deeply. I feel my palms begin to dampen. I peer into for the planet that would reveal itself within five years. (This her eyes and wonder, What does she see? What does she know? other psychic also confirmed that my ex-flame—who had a Has she tapped into some cosmic pipeline to the truth? But a special kinship with dolphins and whales—had originally moment later the thought intrudes: I'm not wearing a wedding come from another planet. This revelation did not do wonders band. And the skeptical side of me thinks, What 39-year-old for our relationship.) single guy doesn't have emotional scars? The rest of my session with Emma races by. She discusses Emma runs a finger across my right palm. "Somewhere my numerology. She reads my fingerprints. I ask about my life when you were a child you had humiliation and embarrass­ line and what the future holds. But Emma won't talk about ment, whether you're aware of it or not. It affected you so that, not at a first reading. much that the energy created these lines." She shows me the Instead, she speaks vaguely of "closures, endings, comple­ bubbles on my heart line. "See? This is energy imprinting. tions" that took place two years ago. This doesn't ring any bells. You've got some issues that have not been resolved in the heart My last serious relationship ended four years ago; I've been in arena. This has to be healed. The emotional arena is not easy my job for eight years. for you. It's not easy for you to express your feelings. Are you "You're now entering a period of illumination," Emma says. in touch with that?" "The vibration over you for the rest of your life is a nine; it's "Yes," I say. Still, I am waiting for a revelation, an epiphany, about expanding you, stretching you. If one is in denial during a moment of spiritual eureka. Instead, I am hearing general­ this vibration, it's a hellacious life. Nothing flowers. If people izations that could be applied to any male in America. with nine paths don't wake up, they're the most miserable peo­ Emma now takes my left hand. "Things have never come ple on the planet when they're seventy, eighty years old. But if easily for you. You've had a tough life, things never seem to you are open and you follow the truth about this path, then work out—whether it was your mother, your father, your fam­ you can get over this hurdle. You'll look upon this day and rec­ ily, the church, or whatever. You've got a lot of repressed feel­ ognize what it was all about." ings—hurt, anger, pain. You didn't have a 'Father Knows Best' She springs up and disappears into the bedroom. "I want childhood." you to be open to new ideas," she calls out. "I want you to Well, no. Not exactly. But in fairness, my childhood fairly accept personal growth and do some serious healing stuff". I brimmed with humdrum. I had an uneventful upbringing in a want you to really dig deep and do the inner child work. If we typical middle-class suburban neighborhood. I'm unusually work on our souls' growth, then our lives will flourish." close to my parents; they just celebrated their 50th wedding Emma reappears and hands me a brochure for a "Life anniversary. But I don't mention this. I haven't "I am waiting for a revelation, an epiphany, a come here to argue. moment of spiritual eureka. Instead, i am F.mma nnw moves into the mcaning- of-life realm. "You have a very old soul," hearing generalizations that could be applied she says. The room goes quiet, the sec­ to any male in America." onds swimming past. "You've been hang­ ing around this planet for a long time. Are you in touch with Training Systems" seminar, where participants can discover what you're here to do yet in this life?" their "ultimate destiny" (for a mere $1,200). She also hands me "No," I say, bracing myself. My pulse quickens. Souls, life fliers for a half-dozen self-help groups: Codepcndents missions—I haven't talked about this sort of thing for years. Anonymous, Workaholics Anonymous, and other 12-step pro­ "Your life in this time is about being an artist with some­ grams. thing to say—writing, art, music. You have an enormous gift The leaflets brim with "positive affirmations": "I am a pre­ that you're not fully utilizing yet. Your time here is about car­ cious person. I am capable of changing. The pain that I might rying out the message to the world, to serve the higher good of feel by remembering can't be any worse than the pain I feel by the planet. The message you're here to bring out is to heal peo­ knowing and not remembering." ple. You're here to be a leader and to pass on new concepts. I am taken slightly aback by this. My mind flashes on a You're here to help the planet. This is big-time stuff, Joseph." recent magazine article about the nineties being "The Twelve- Instantly, I regret the fact that I'd mentioned my writing Step Decade." Apparently, if you're not in recovery, you're in career to Emma when we met briefly several months ago. But denial, and now, for the first time, I wonder if I need to get something else bothers me. The patter I'm hearing strikes me with the program. as oddly familiar. Emma has some final admonitions. She urges me to open up my chakras, to explore the spiritual, to visit metaphysical / D. Lasica is an editor at the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, bookstores, to work on meditation exercises, "to get out of California. your head, you're spending too much time in there." She sug-

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Scplember/October 1996 49 gests another visit in three to six months. dressed, your weight, posture, body language, speech patterns, As I prepare to leave, she has one last parting gift: a rose- Then they go into their basic spiel, making it sound as if these colored stencil cutout of the word "love." Across the bottom general, univi :rsal problems we all have—about childhood, of the stencil she has penned, "I love you!" work, m.irriai ;e—is a very personalized experience unique to "I want you to tape this to your bathroom mirror," she says. you. All the v diile, they're picking up on subde cues you give I thank her. We hug. I walk outside into die bright after­ off—eye cont act, gestures, the way you move your hands—to noon sunlight, feeling a bit dazed, clutching the leaflets and find out wher i they're hitting home or when they're cold, die bright-colored love note. "The perse in being read, meantime, is doing all the work, Later, I convey die gist of my encounter with Emma to It's part of ou r nature to make sense out of nonsense, to find Charles T. Tan, an internationally known authority on para­ more meaninj»tha n is really there. What happens is, the psy- psychology. Tart, a senior fellow at the Institute of Noetic chic begins to tell you things about yourself that you already Sciences in Sausalito, has written 11 books on parapsychology know, and so you'll feel validated by that. You'll overlook the and altered states of consciousness. things the psy chic says that are dead wrong because you want He tells me that most psychics absolutely believe in the the psychic to succeed." legitimacy of what diey're doing. "The vast majority of psy- Hyman sa) 's that a small minority of psychics—"fewer than ten percent"—are charlatans who use "Ray Hyman ... says that researchers have unethical methods, such as license plates consistently failed to find any evidence of and computer databases, to discover a telling personal detail in a person's back­ psychic phenomena when controlled laboratory ground. But Hyman also says that many conditions are in place." psychics "mean well and believe in what they're doing." chics are honest," he says. "They're not out to fleece the pub­ Hyman knows about the power and allure of the "divine lic." sciences." He used to be a palm reader himself, as a teenager People go to psychics for two reasons, Tan says. "Some peo­ in Boston. ple go to test if there's anything to it or not. More commonly, He tells this story: "After doing it for years, I actually came they go to get some counseling with what to do with their life, to believe in the 'science' of palmistry. Until one day, when a to get some feedback on their problems, whether it's about friend whom I respected, a professional mentalist, said it love, relationships, money, sex, the meaning of life." would make an interesting experiment if I would deliberately Tart believes that certain aspects of psychic ability—occa­ give readings that were the exact opposite of what the lines on sional flashes of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition—do the palm indicated. I tried it out. And, to my horror, my read­ take place in everyday life. But he doubts that these abilities ings were as successful as ever." can be summoned at will or controlled during a psychic read­ Hyman chuckles at the memory. "Of course, it had noth­ ing. "There's no evidential value to those sorts of claims," he ing to do with the lines on people's hands. They're the ones says. who were creating the meaning, shaping the reading to make Ray Hyman, a professor of psychology at the University of it fit into their lives." Oregon in Eugene and a respected critic of parapsychology, I ask Tan and Hyman to make a judgment call: Do psy­ takes a more emphatic view. He says that researchers have con- chics serve any beneficent purpose? sistendy failed to find any evidence of psychic phenomena Tan thinks they may. "We have a spiritual nature that's when controlled laboratory conditions are in place. largely repressed in our society. We're not sure of what values "They've tested psychics and none seem to be able to do and beliefs we can depend on anymore. We are desperately what they claim," says Hyman, a Fellow and member of the hungry for deep meaning. So we'll take this kind of spiritual executive council of the Committee for the Scientific Investi­ junk food, tied in with all the mumbo jumbo, because we're gation of Claims of the Paranormal. "There's no scientific evi­ looking for these litde cores of truth. So in that sense, psychics dence that psychics have any paranormal powers of any son— are filling a social need, if you put the science aside and other than good observational powers." approach it from a therapist's perspective." But it's not surprising, Hyman says, that a lot of people buy But Hyman thinks psychics contribute to Americans' sense into these psychic parlor games. of disillusionment. "We're the least scientifically literate soci­ "Anyone who's been to a reading knows that it's quite a ety of any country in rhe civilized world, and this just feeds powerful experience. A psychic has the upper hand right from into that trend. Look at what's popular on TV: Unsolved the start. You're entering their world, using their language, fol­ Mysteries, In Search Of— all these pseudoscientific shows. It all lowing their rules." gives people a false idea about where the source of our health What really makes it all work, Hyman and Tan both say, is and well-being comes from. It opens up all sorts of dangers of this: Psychics are tenifically keen judges of character. people being manipulated and deceived and exploited. Hyman says: "The psychic reader can make an educated Ultimately, it perpetuates the popular appetite for irrational­ guess about your background by observing the way you're ity." •

50 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER BOOK REVIEWS

A Scientifically Based Encyclopedia of the Paranorma

WENDY M. GROSSMAN

The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Edited by Gordon Stein. Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 1996. ISBN 1-57392-021-5. 859 pp. Hardcover, $149.95.

ny skeptic who gets called with tors' names should be just as familiar to Leonora Piper, D.D. Home, Margery any regularity to represent the SI readers: James Alcock, Paul Kurtz, Crandon, and Eusapia Palladino, and Amovement on radio or TV longs Larry Kusche, Bernard Leikind, Persi 1960s guru Carlos Castaneda, but no for a solid encyclopedia on the paranor­ Diaconis, Martin Gardner, and Terence separate entry for Uri Geller. Geller does mal to crib from. The other night, I got a Hines. The editorial board for the book get a couple of pages in die entry on CSI- call from an astronomy type who had COP itself, and another under psychoki- been asked to go on BBC Radio One to netic metal bending. The Society for debate a prominent British astrologer. He Psychical Research, Charles Fort, and wanted information about die astrologer, Harry Houdini get entries, but not James which was no problem. But then he asked THE Randi (although he is quoted in a num­ a question that had me stumped: By what ENCYCLOPEDIA ber of articles). There are vampires, exor­ authority do astrologers claim to speak? cisms, coincidences, and miracles—but What are die origins of beliefs about the OF THE only a single paragraph on homeoparhy. characteristics of particular «ig"? of die and no separate section or index listing zodiac? I've done countless debates on for either the scientific method, the astrology, and I didn't know this most Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, or basic information about die discipline. quantum mechanics. Gordon Stein's The Encyclopedia of the This book loosely shares its category Paranormal could have provided an with a number of other tides. Leslie answer to my astronomer's question. Shepard's two-volume Encyclopedia of The section on astrology, written by Occultism and Parapsychology (Gale Geoffrey Dean, Arthur Mather, and Ivan Research, 1991) is much more complete W. Kelly, traces astrology from its on paranormal topics and claimants, but Mesopotamian origins through the Alan much less skeptical. James Randi's An Leo-inspired rebirth in the early 1900s to includes Carl Sagan (who also wrote the Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and the advent of today's personal computers, foreword), Antony Flew, and Stephen Jay Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (St. which make days' worth of calculations Gould. Martin's Press, 1995) covers much of die die routine work of a second. Along die Many of die book's odier topics have same ground but in a series of short, pop­ way, they analyze the main arguments for also been covered in SI: crop circles (writ­ ularly written entries. Simon Hoggart's and against, and critique the most signif­ ten by Joe Nickell), palmistry (Ray and Mike Hutchinson's Bizarre Beliefs icant evidence. If Geoffrey Dean's name Hyman), biorhydims (Terence Hines), (Richard Cohen Books, 1995), reviewed sounds familiar, it should: he was die and skepticism and die paranormal (Paul author, back in 1987, of a two-part series Kurtz). What's difficult to figure out is Wendy Grossman is a writer and the on astrology for die SKEPTICAL how the particular topics were chosen. founder of The Skeptic (U.K.). She lives INQUIRER. Many of the other contribu­ There are entries for the mediums in Richmond, Surrey

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 51 BOOK REVIEWS

in this issue, is aimed at the mass market metaphors valuable, it's difficult to accept tion; there are many other well- of people who have never thought about the dismissal of Castaneda's stories on the researched sections such as graphology these issues rather than at informed skep­ grounds that his reports are untypical. and psychic healing (Chris French) that tics. But die best all-round introduction That example illustrates why con­ lay out the history and significant is probably still Terence Hines's textbook- structing an encyclopedia like this is such research relating to a particular topic. I'd style Science and the Paranormal an ambitious and difficult project. Much like to think that this encyclopedia is (Prometheus, 1983), which manages to of this encyclopedia is really excellent. only die first version of a work that will be both readable and thorough. I've already mentioned the astrology sec­ be regularly updated and enlarged. D But Stein is trying to do something different from all of these: His goal is to produce a scientifically based encyclope­ dia. This explains many of die puzzling The Paranormal As a gaps in coverage. Stein says for some sub­ jects he was unable to find suitable schol­ Search for the Soul arly experts. Rather than commission GORDON STEIN articles by people whose credentials or background were, he felt, insufficient, he Leaps of Faith: Science, Miracles, and the Search for Supernatural preferred to leave some subjects out. At Consolation. By Nicholas Humphrey. Basic Books, New York, the same time, he limits his definition of 1996. ISBN 0-465-08044-8. 244 pp. Hardcover, $23. "paranormal" to include only phenom­ ena—or anomalies—whose truth would icholas Humphrey was a real Again, I do not fault the book for this, depend on a violation of currently surprise to the people who but I do think that the choices possibly known principles of science. This means Nawarded the Perrott-Warwick ought to be a little broader. Humphrey he sticks to phenomena that are scientifi­ Fellowship in Psychical Research at writes well, and the book holds the cally testable, leaving out purely religious Cambridge University. Although he did reader's attention. phenomena. Exceptions like the Shroud get the fellowship (despite fears that he Humphrey does take some strange of Turin are included because science is might be a skeptic), it turned out that he positions ("strange" in the sense that used to justify the claims made for it. has produced a book. Leaps of Faith, mat they seem to contradict some of his Fair enough. The result, though, is to is strong critique of the whole idea of other ideas). Among them is the proba­ leave you frustrated when the subject you psychical research. Humphrey feels that bly true idea that even the most fervent the goal of most (if not all) psychical want isn't covered. The sections on statis­ of skeptics (deep in his or her heart) researchers is to search for the soul. In tics and assessing coincidence are really hopes on occasion that the nontn.iten.il other words, diere is a stricdy religious useful, but most of us would really be world really does exist. Of course, motivation present. While I am certain glad to have a convenient place to grab wishes and hopes are not the same as that some psychic researchers (and prob­ briefings on die scientific principles that facts. People can hope that the soul ably most psychic believers) have diis as paranormal claims violate. How do you their motivation, it is quite possible to exists without a single fact to support its argue against die often-repeated claim be motivated to do psychical research existence. that quantum mechanics supports a merely because you are interested in Humphrey feels that many who number of parapsychological claims? whether there are new natural phenom­ believe in the paranormal are on what he It's inevitable that a book of this size ena that we do not at present under­ calls a search for the soul. Their motiva­ and scope will be somewhat uneven, stand. Humphrey sees a strict tion is to have the world become a bet­ since no two authors will approach their dichotomy of motivations here, which ter place by harnessing the force of the topics in exacdy the same way. So die docs not allow for a middle ground. paranormal, even though some would graphology article (Barry Beyerstein) say that by its very nature the paranor­ details die history and claims of graphol­ Of course, Humphrey's skepticism mal can never be explained or under­ ogy and summarizes the relevant about phenomena of a new sort in die stood by science. He posits what he calls research, but the Castaneda piece (Jay C. world or universe is perfectly proper. All "The Argument from Unwarranted Fikes) is disappointingly diffuse. For a scientists should be skeptical. The result Design," by which he means that //"an layperson who doesn't understand the of Humphrey's skepticism in Leaps of explanation of a phenomenon provides methods and accepted practices of scien­ Faith will delight some readers, for it us widi no real reason why it should tific anthropology but has read certainly tries to downplay the likeli­ occur as it does, then die real explana­ Castaneda's books and found their hood that psi phenomena are real. tion of die phenomenon probably lies

52 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER BOOK REVIEWS

elsewhere. He gives the following exam­ them by doing effects that conjurors issues. Shamos asks if this is a reasonable ple: Suppose your explanation of why a could do by trickery (for example, bend goal and concludes that it is not, for parrot speaks in English to you as you keys or spoons)? only about 5 to 6 percent of adults in go by is that it has mastered die English Among the other topics Humphrey this country have the detailed knowl­ language. Then it is pointed out that the discusses are: why people tend to accept edge of the workings of science to have parrot only says two things: "Who's a a paranormal explanation of things this kind of scientific literacy. Will this pretty boy then?" and "Strike a light." when it is not the proper, logical thing number change dramatically any time Had the parrot truly mastered the to do; whether "traditional" science has soon? The author shows that this is English language, it certainly would be actually been testing many of the major extremely unlikely. Why this is so forms able to say more than these two things. postulates of parapsychology all along; the heart of the argument presented in Therefore, your explanation is unlikely whether the actions of Jesus, as the book. to be correct. Humphrey feels that a described in the New Testament, bolster First, thete is the nature of science similar case can be made for the (non) the case for the existence of psi forces or itself. The author shows that for most existence of the paranormal. not; and whether the abilities of con­ people, science is interesting, but it is Although Humphrey recognizes that jurors to duplicate many of the results also hard to learn. Science, like any the position of the skeptic would be that so-called psychics claim are pro­ worthwhile human endeavot, takes much stronger if that skeptic could sug­ duced by their special "powers" says any­ some effort to master. Learning the lan­ gest how a particular effect was thing about the genuineness of those guage of mathematics adds another achieved, and could, in fact, duplicate powers. layer of difficulty. Of course, it is possi­ the effect, he claims that there is no real Leaps of Faith is a very thoughtful and ble to teach much of science without obligation on the skeptic's part to do so. instructive book. Humphrey has mar­ mathematics. Yet it is through mathe­ Another clever point made by shalled his arguments carefully and illus­ matics that one comes to see clearly the Humphrey is that if you really had para­ trated them well. It is the kind of book nature of science. For me, science normal powers, would you demonstrate that both skeptics and believers in the became more interesting as I learned paranormal would do well to read, and it more about mathematics. Gordon Stein is a physiologist, editor of holds a unique place in the literature for Then there is the difference between The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal that reason. It should be mentioned in scientific thinking and what we would (Prometheus Books, 1996), and director passing that this book has the tide Soul call "commonsense thinking." The of the Center fir Inquiry Libraries. Searching in the United Kingdom. • author notes that while commonsense thinking works well for everyday living. a different kind of thinking is necessary for science. The idea of a black hole is certainly remote from anything we meet Dissecting Scientific in our normal lives. Literacy Finally, there is the way science is taught in schools. Science seems to be something "cut and dried," a subject presented as a package with no loose • <&f**^J, The Myth of Scientific Literacy By Morris H. Shamos. Rutgers ends. Shamos points out that befote sci­ L^~^A^' University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1995. ISBN 0- entific ideas reach textbooks, the scien­ 8135-2196-3. 261 pp. Hardcover, $27.95. tific community has reached consensus on them. So the nature of science causes hat does the term scientific this out in his book The Myth of it to appear to be a done deal. literacy mean? Does it mean Scientific Literacy. He is professor emer­ What about the majority of students knowledge of science facts itus of physics at New York University. W not destined to become scientists and and ideas? Does it mean familiarity with In addition, he has been president of the engineers? And what about the majority how science works? Does it mean hav­ New York Academy of Sciences and the of adults who do not have scientific lit- ing sufficient understanding to make National Science Teachers Association. independent judgments on science- In today's usage, scientific literacy Roger Klare is a science writer in Athens, based issues in society? Ot does it mean has come to mean an understanding Ohio. He is writing a book about Gregor all the above? Morris Shamos has taken that enables the public to make inde­ Mendel for young people, to be published on the monumental task of sorting all of pendent judgments on science-based in 1997 by Enslow Publishers.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 53 BOOK REVIEWS

eracy? pers are vehicles for developing science an unforeseen effect. Public opinion Throughout the book, Shamos awareness in adults. Informal science polls appear to show an inverse relation­ builds the case for radically changing education in the mass media does have ship between knowledge about science the goals of science education. He potential. On closer inspection, how­ and knowledge about pseudoscience. argues for science awareness in place of ever, the problems with the mass media The battle against pseudoscience is one science literacy. He describes three prin­ approach become apparent. Isolated sci­ reason for developing science awareness. ciples of science awareness. They are: ence facts are given without context. Combating spurious arguments and 1. Teaching an appreciation of sci­ Often journalists search for conflicting beliefs demands constant efforts. ence as an ongoing endeavor and a part views that end up confusing the audi­ Science awareness is important for of our culture. ence. And there is an ever-present fasci­ another reason. Science is fascinating. 2. Focusing on technology and how nation with pseudoscience topics as soft Shamos defines it as "a very special way it affects personal health and safety. news and entertainment. that humans have devised for looking at 3. Emphasizing the wise use of scien­ Not all the news about science pre­ ordinary things and trying to under­ tific experts. sentations in the mass media is bad. But stand them." A few scientists, such as The aim of science awareness is to the public often ends up with a very Einstein or McClintock, have seen fur­ get an idea of how science works. The limited view of science. ther than most. To appreciate just part stress is more on process and less on A limited view of science may have of what they saw is worth the effort. facts. Technology becomes a way to dis­ cuss something that is directly relevant to people's lives. It also serves to intro­ duce the nature of science. The use of The Case of the scientific experts may seem controversial to some. Yet since it is impossible for Disappearing Mysteries everyone to be a scientific expert, learn­ ing to use genuine experts is a necessary GORDON STEIN skill. Several avenues to science awareness Bizarre Beliefs. By Simon Hoggart and Mike Hutchinson. Richard are open. All have their own strengths Cohen Boob (7 Manchester Square, London V/1M 5RE), 1995. and weaknesses. As Shamos reminds us, ISBN 1-86066-022-3. 224 pp. Oversize paperback, £13, cloth, £20. there are no simple solutions. Elementary school is a promising he authors of Bizarre Beliefs, withholding (intentionally or uninten­ place for developing an appreciation of written for the layperson, exam­ tionally) all of the facts about a case. science. Children are naturally curious Tine and review the evidence for a The authors properly point out that and full of imagination. In my own number of supposedly paranormal phe­ Occam's razor is a powerful tool for experience as a teacher at an after-school nomena. Included are such perennial examining alternative explanations. science program, I found the students favorites as the Bermuda Triangle, Many times there is a simpler, naturalis­ very excited about the subject. I taught Nostradamus, crop circles, astrology, fire tic explanation, and that is the one we them what I knew, and they were ready walking, dowsing, ghosts, and the Loch should accept if we are forced to make a for more. I functioned as a science men­ Ness monster. There is not much that is choice. A healthy skepticism pervades tor. That is one way Shamos suggests to totally new or original here, but the the author's presentation. Again, this is fulfill some of the potential for science authors do a fine job in objectively sum­ the proper attitude for scientists and education at the elementary level. marizing material. They have examined philosophers, especially when results in Another way is to take a look at how the skeptical literature, as well as the one direction will cause many thor­ we prepare elementary teachers to teach credulous material. In many cases, as is oughly tested explanations to have to be science. With all the subjects these well known to skeptics, the "mystery" reevaluated. teachers must teach, it is perhaps not disappears as soon as all of the facts are The usefulness of Bizarre Beliefs will surprising that science preparation is presented. Once you know, for example, be largely for the nonspecialist who limited. Yet the preservice training is that there was a storm in the area and the wants a brief, accurate, and clearheaded vital. As the author points out, the wreckage was found later, all of the mys­ summary of the present knowledge teacher, not the curriculum, has the pri­ tery about a ship's disappearance in the about the various phenomena men­ mary role in shaping science education. so-called Bermuda Triangle vanishes. It's tioned, plus some very nice color pho­ Television, magazines, and newspa­ easy to make mystery out of anything by tographs and drawings. U

54 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEW BOOKS

The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938- Cults in American Society: A Legal Analysis and historian of science attempts to clarify 1995. Martin Gardner. St. Martin's Press, of Undue Influence, Fraud, and the debate over the rightful place of science 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. 1996. Misrepresentation. David Hominik. in our culture. Using Einstein as a concrete ISBN 0-312014380-X. 672 pp. $29.95, American Bar Association Report. ID example, he addresses the modern counter- hardcover. A magnificent new collection rep­ Number 'ABA' $12 in USA. $14 outside movement against science by influential resenting die brilliant thinker and critics USA. A report prepared for the American intellectuals outside science. He refers to this lifelong interests in seven areas: physical sci­ Family Foundation and the Cult Awareness as "a seismic shift" away from the belief ence, social science, pseudoscience, mathe­ Network by the ABA's Commission on espoused since the Enlightenment that sci­ matics, the arts, philosophy, and religion. Mental and Physical Disability Law. Deals ence and technology are, on balance, positive "Martin Gardner is one of die great intellects with both legal principles and case law forces. Through his exploration of Einstein's produced in this country in this century,'' regarding undue influence and fraud and thought, Holton provides an eloquent warn­ says Douglas Hofstadter on the cover, and misrepresentation, as applied to cults. An ing against today's "Romantic rebellion" that the contents of this work appropriately appendix discusses both law and recent deci­ blames science for all our social ills and reveal Gardner's astonishing breadth and sions about standards for expert testimony. replaces it with New Age "ways of knowing." depth of knowledge and ideas. Each is per­ sonally introduced by Gardner, and many Faces in the Clouds. Stewart Guthrie. The Outer Edge: Classic Investigations of the are followed by his amusing and informative Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Paranormal Joe Nickell, Barry Karr, and updates or postscripts. Ave., New York, NY 10016-4314. 1995. Tom Genoni, editors. Commirtee for the ISBN 0-19-506901-3. 336 pp. $16.95, Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Bizarre Beliefs. Simon Hoggart and Mike paperback. An anthropologist argues that Paranormal. Box 703. Amherst, NY 14226- Hutchinson. Richard Cohen Books, 7 religion and related phenomena may best be 0703. 1996. 133 pp. $10, paperback. This Manchester Square, London WIM 5RE. understood as anthropomorphism—the short, handy book introduces the reader to 1995. ISBN 1-86066-022-3. 224 pp. attribution of human characteristics to non- evaluating the paranormal by reproducing £12.99, paperback This beautifully illus­ human things and events. This anthropo­ thirteen classic articles from the SKEPTICAL trated book looks like many of those slightly morphism stems from a strategy that inter­ INQUIRER, including Carl Sagan's "The oversize pro-paranormal books that attract prets all ambiguities as those possibilities Burden of Skepticism" and Ray Hyman's wide readership because of their striking that matter most. The strategy can lead to "'Cold Reading': How to Convince color visuals and easy-to-read material about mistakes but also to vital discoveries. Strangers That You Know All about Them." popular claims. But this one is skeptical It's Understanding it helps illuminate both reli­ Others deal with full-moon myths, scientific the kind of book skeptics have been wanting: gious and secular experience. tests of astrology, UFO hoaxes, psychological popular in format, skeptical in treatment. explanations of alien-abduction experience, Subjects include UFOs, alien abductions, Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The non mysteries of perception such as the great the Bermuda Triangle, crop circles, cold Rebellion Against Science at the End of the stone face and the face on Mars, near-death reading, prophecy, spiritualism, psychic Twentieth Century. Gerald Holton. experiences, firewalking, spontaneous com­ detectives, astrology, graphology, fire walk­ Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., One bustion, Sasquatch "tracks." and thr ing, psi, biorhvthms. hynnrwK. Hnurein^ Jacob ™'i>, Reading, MA 0iS6/. 1996. Columbus poltergeist case. ghosts, curses, monsters, and coincidence. ISBN 0-201-40716-7. 240 pp. $14 in USA, See review, page 54. $19 in Canada, paperback. A noted physicist —Kendrick Frazier

ARTICLES OF NOTE

Anderson, Robert B. "The Case of the Marked with the initials of Martin A. C. International Corporation over the past three Missing Link, Parts 1 and 2." Pacific Hinton, a curator of zoology at the time of decades. (See Hyman's two articles about this Discovery, Spring 1996: 15-20, 32-33. An the fraud, it contains bones stained and in the March/April 1996 SKEPTICAL extensive analysis of the Piltdown-man fraud carved in the same way as the Piltdown fos­ INQUIRER). Hyman's text is preceded by the exonerates the scientists who have been sils and associated artifacts. Hinton appears text of statistician Jessica Utts's evaluation implicated in the fraud and concludes that to have been the hoaxer. (pp. 290-320) of the same material and is fol­ the hoax's perpetrator was Arthur Conan lowed by her response to Hyman's report. Doyle. (But, see the next item . .. ) Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena." Hyman, Ray. Review of Richard Wiseman Gee, Henry. "Box of Bones 'Clinches' Journal of Parapsychology 59(4):321-351, and Robert L. Morris, Guidelines for Identity of Piltdown Paleontology Hoaxer." 1995- This is the text of Hyman's evaluation Testing Psychic Claimants. Journal of Nature 381:261-262, May 23. 1996. A of government-sponsored research of psychic Parapsychology 59(4): 381-384, 1995. trunk discovered in the attic of London's functioning, primarily remote viewing. The Review offers reservations about the guide­ Natural History Museum appears to have evaluation was commissioned by the lines offered due to their brevity, lack of provided vital evidence allowing the American Institutes of Research (AIR) for the detail, and failure to recognize some inherent Piltdown-man fraud—one of the most suc­ Congress and the CIA, and conducted at SRI differences between evaluating psychics and cessful hoaxes in history—to be put to rest. International and Science Applications conducting other kinds of scientific studies.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 55 Holden, Constance. "Anti-Evolution TV Raloff, Janet. "When Science and Beliefs entists to get involved but to avoid debates Show Prompts Furor." Science 271:1377, Collide." Science News 149:360-361, June 8, and preserve the middle ground (don't make March 8, 1996. News story about the anger 1996. A good report on the breadth of seri­ people choose between mainstream religious of biologists and other scientists over the ous misunderstanding or conscious rejection faith and evolution). "absolutely shameful" (in the words of one of of science in the United States today. them) pseudoscientific antievolution "docu­ Reports on research into this by Raymond Simons, Marlise. "Land of Descartes Under mentary" "The Mysterious Origins of Man" Eve discussed at a symposium at the the Spell of Druids?" New York Times broadcast by NBC. American Association for the Advancement International, April 30, 1996. Article from of Science annual meeting, with additional Paris reports on how France, the emblem of Kolata, Gina. "In Quests Outside Main­ comments from Gerald Holton, Eugenie rational thought, is these days giving much stream, Medical Projects Rewrite Rules." Scott, Paul Kurtz, Jon Miller, and Noretta attention to seers and psychics. The French New York Times. June 18, 1996. pp. Al, B7. Koertge. are reportedly consulting clairvoyants and After the spate of news articles last year about numerologists in greater numbers than ever, the supposed new mainstream respectability Scott, Eugenie C. "Monkey Business." The and are also seeking dowsers, healers who of alternative medicine (including articles in Sciences, January/February 1996: 20-21, 24- work via telephone, and handwriting inter­ die New York Times), this excellent article 25. One hundred and fourteen years after preters. examining the matter critically and skepti­ the death of Darwin, seventy-one years after cally is welcome. Subtitled "Alternative die Scopes trial, and nine years after the Zhou, Meiyue. "Scientists Seek Allies in Medicine: Research Without Results," it Supreme Court struck down laws requiring Fight Against Pseudoscience." Science relates numerous criticisms of the research equal time for creation and evolution, the 272:807-808, May 10, 1996. Article from sponsored by the government's Office of struggle over evolution in the schools is alive Beijing recounts the uphill battle scientists Alternative Medicine, indicating that die lack and well. Now, instead of lobbying for state and engineers in China are waging against of controls and poorly designed study proto­ laws to put creation "science" in the class­ the popularity of pseudoscience in the cols essentially doom the studies to failure. room, advocates pressure local school boards world's most populous country. Six letters of response appear in die New York and teachers. The article reviews die back­ Times, June 23, p. 12. ground and recent skirmishes and urges sci­ —Kendrick Trader

Humanities from page 44 to offer insights where their perspective must address by educating the populace is unique; and they may try to provide and its political leaders. There are many humanities. understanding where their knowledge is issues that the arts and humanities Science has not yet shown promise least reliable. should bring to the attention of society for measuring "greed" or "generosity" The humanities are extremely impor­ with both a persuasive and positive mes­ via operational definitions that are tant to our society; and they are fasci­ sage. In die long run, launching silly unambiguous and widely agreed upon. nating. The same can also be said for attacks on science can only be self- Perhaps science will never do so. I sus­ physical science. Still, physical science destructive for the humanities. pect that most scientists would agree can claim to be more objective and more The point is that science and tech­ that greed and generosity are real and reliable. This relative degree of objectiv­ nology will serve humanity well only if important; as well as being difficult to ity and reliability matters a great deal, our hearts and heads work in concert. understand. The ambiguity involved in but it is not sufficient to provide all of Critical, rational thought (of a physical- measuring crucial concepts like greed the solutions for humanity's problems. science style) and respect for the world and generosity brings into focus the Science and the humanities must collab­ in which we live (seeking truth and challenge encountered when trying to orate. beauty in the tradition of die liberal achieve academic progress in the In fact, it is impossible to fully sepa­ arts) are both needed. Put simply, we humanities. rate science from an. It is silly to try to need all the knowledge we can get. This The humanities also are handicapped separate diem. Everyone can (and must) is the goal of a classical education in by the fact that the number of impor­ understand and employ both which we learn how to think broadly, tant variables can be large, and the approaches in almost every aspect of life. rather than what to think narrowly. effects of many variables are difficult to Learning to discriminate the degree A philosophical or political position isolate. Some of them may even be of reliability associated with ideas is a that assigns the same degree of reliabil­ unidentified. The fact that many schol­ real test for an educated individual. ity to all knowledge equally is dangerous ars in the humanities and social sciences Each issue should be examined on an for society. The flight from science, rea­ are nor well versed in physical science individual basis regarding its reliability. son, and objectiviry is cowardly; and it is means that they may not see their own In terms of value, research is appropriate a matter for serious concern. The acqui­ knowledge base in a sensible perspec­ on all topics; and all knowledge is sition of knowledge is a serious task that tive. This can result in misguided views important. Still, knowledge that is of requires thought that is caring, thor­ about physical science that, in die long low reliability may be held to be of less ough, and critical. In the future (as was run, can only damage the very disci­ value; and this creates a problem that true in the past) courage will be needed plines diat they cherish. They may fail the humanities and the social sciences to perform this task.

56 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER FORUM

Art# Reason, and Reality JANE HADDAM

he first time it happened, I confusion about what you were to believe writer of ghost or horror or detective fic­ thought it was a fluke. The only could happen in the real world. tion would assume her reader's willing­ Tthing that bothered me was that American popular fiction, on the ness to swallow the existence of ghoulies none of the reviews I'd read had warned other hand, has always been enamored of and goblins and beasties. Even Frank me. There, right at the center of Alice the fantastic, the religious, and die para­ Peretti's religious novels, aimed at an audi­ Hoffman's otherwise relentlessly mun­ normal. Even the hard-boiled private eye ence of born-again and Pentecostal dane novel Seventh Heaven was a witch. novel, diat quintessential home of "gritty Christians, surround their miracles with Norma could cast spells to make people realism," has really been a fantasy, the explanations and theories, to make the smaller and communicate teleparJiically daydream home of people who would unscientific sound scientific and dierefore with runaway housewives and grade acceptable for belief. school principals. She could do this while Why is literary fiction In Alice Hoffman's Seventh Heaven standing in line at Sears, worrying about there is no attempt to explain or justify seemingly giving up on the the brand of snow shovel she was buying the use of the paranormal at all. It is just that she didn't know how to use anyway. naturalistic tradition? there, like the Bosco chocolate syrup and Finding elements of the supernatural the Metrecal weight-loss milkshakes that in American fiction U. ofcoaoe, nothing prefer So 11nnk of themseives as possessed turn up in every one of the neariy identi­ unusual. From Nathaniel Hawthorne to by cynicism rather than the devil. Still, cal houses in her 1959 Long Island sub- Stephen King, there has always been an hard-boiled private eye novels were con­ urt>. In Turtle Moon, the Hoffman novel element of the Gothic in the American sidered "literary" exacdy to the extent to that followed Seventh Heaven, there is a imaginative landscape. During most of which diey were considered realistic. The lovesick ghost and a dog with telepathy. the twentieth century, however, American more obviously unrealistic productions— In Practical Magic, the two old women literary fiction has been determinedly real­ die vampire and werewolf novels, the who serve as foster parents to the girls istic. With one or two exceptions—Joyce ghost stories and tales of religious conver­ whose stories are at the center of the novel Carol Oates comes to mind—the writer sion—spent a great deal of space setting are witches with a vengeance. It's what who wanted to produce fiction-as-art over die stage to make their premises more they do for a living. the past eighty years dedicated himself to believable. 1 have written fourteen detec­ If this phenomenon were restricted to a naturalist tradition. Dreiser wanted to tive novels, and in only one of them did I die work of Alice Hoffman, there wouldn't show what life was like for the poor and have an element (highly ambiguous) that be anything to worry about. I could either disenfranchised. Hemingway wanted his might be considered paranormal. I spent decide not to read Alice Hoffman's novels, readers to understand what it really felt three pages preparing the reader for it and or only to read them when I wouldn't like to be in a war. Roth committed him­ hedging around it in every way I could mind if the fat middle-aged housewife self to recreating the experiences of think of, because I didn't want my work checking out the price of Kraft Singles in American Jews, without favor. Every once to be treated as a joke. All the popular Safeway is also able to move large objects in a while one of these writers would pro­ writers of the fantastic, from Stephen just by thinking about it. Unfortunately, duce a fantasy, like Roth's about the man King to Dean R. Koontz, treat the para­ over the past ten years, more and more who turned into a gigantic breast, but it normal as in need of vigorous defense if it self-consciously literary novels, the kind was clearly Libeled a fantasy. There was no is to be acceptable in fiction. No modern of novels that get reviewed in The New

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 57 liminal persuasion: The cargo-cult science of sublim­ inal persuasion / Subliminal perception: Facts and fal­ FILL IN THE GAPS IN YOUR lacies / Subliminal tapes / The Avro VZ-9 "flying saucer" / Two 19th-century skeptics: Augustus de Morgan and John Fiske.

WINTER 1992 (vol.16, no.2): On being sued: The chill­ Skeptical Inquirer COLLECTION ing of freedom of expression / The crop-circle phenom­ • 15% discount on orders of $100 or more • enon / Update on the 'Mars effect' / A dissenting note on Ertel's 'Update* / Magic Melanin: Spreading scien­ • $6.25 a copy. Vols. 1-18 ($5.00 Vols. 19, 20). To order, use reply card insert • tific illiteracy among minorities. Part 2 / Adventures in science and cyclosophy / Searching for security in the JULY/AUG 1996 (vol. 20, no. 4): Traditional Medicine SUMMER 1994 (vol 18, no 4.): 'Extraordinary science' mystical. and Pseudoscience in China. Beyerstein and Sampson I and the strange legacy of Nikola Tesla / Nikola Tesla: CSICOP at Twenty. Kurtz I Maria's Near Death Experi­ Genius, visionary, and eccentric / Pollens on the "Shroud": FALL 1991 (vol. 16, no. 1): Near-death experiences / ence. Ebbern. Mulligan, and Beyerstein I Alternative A study in deception / Do televised depictions of para­ Multicultural pseudoscience: Spreading scientific illiter­ Health Education and Pseudocredentialing. Raso I normal events influence viewers' beliefs? / Synchronidty acy. Part 1 / Science and commonsense skepticism / Spook Pentagon Grant Funds Alternative Health Study, Selby and the archetypes / The synthetic mind dashes with the Hill / Lucian and Alexander /1991 CSICOP conference. and Scheiber. reductionist text / Psi in pyschology. X1991 (vol. 15, no. 4): Lucid dreams / Nature fak­ MAY/JUNE 1996 (vol. 20, no. 3) Delights and dangers SPRING 1994 (vol. 18, no. 3): The Antiscience Threat The ing in the humanities / Carrying the war into the of sensory illusions. Wolf I The enigmatic battery of growth of antiscience / The antiscience problem / never-never land of psi: Part 2 / Coincidences / Locating Baghdad, Eggert I The claims of aromatherapy, Measuring the prevalence of false memories / Bleulers invisible buildings /True believers. McCutcheon / Fun and fallacies with numbers. Savant views on inheritance of acquired characteristics and on SPRING 1991 (vol. 15, no. 3): Special report: Hi-fi I A study of fantasy proneness in John Mack's psi phenomena / Examining the satanic panic ... A per­ pseudoscience / Searching for extraterrestrial intelli­ Abduction, Nickell I The great egg-balancing mystery, sonal perspective ... A sociological and historical per­ gence: An interview with Thomas R. McDonough / Gardner ($5.50) spective / Philosophy and the paranormal. Part 2: Getting smart about getting smarts / Carrying the war Skepticism, miracles, and knowledge. MARCH/APRIL 1996 (vol. ». no. 2) Science and into the never-never land of psi: Part 1 / Satanic cutt superstition. Sagan I Special report: Evaluation of mil­ WINTER 1994 (vol. 18, no. 2) The new skepticism / 'survivor' stories / 'Old-solved mysteries': The itary's program on psychic spying, Hyman I The role of Philosophy and the paranormal. Part 1: The problem of Kecksburg incident / Magic, medicine, and meta­ representativeness in erroneous and pseudoscientific 'psi.' / Electromagnetic field cancer scares / Attacks on physics in Nigeria / What's wrong with science educa­ beliefs, Gilovich and Savitskyl Vampires of role-playing games / Global fortune-telling tion? Look at the family. folklore and legend. Barber I Miracle pho­ SKEPTICAL and Bible prophecy / Chernikov pattern puz­ WINTER 1991 (vol. 15, no. 2): Special report: Gallup tos Nickell I Claiborne Pell: Senator from zle. outer space, Gardner (S5.50) QUIRE poll: Belief in paranormal phenomena / Science and FALL 1993 (vol. 18, no. 1): 'Perspectives self-government / West Bank collective hysteria JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996 (vol. 20. no on education in America": Sandia study episode / Acceptance of personality test results / Belief 1) How to make an alien for autopsy. challenges misconceptions / Do 'honesty' in astrology: A test of the Barnum effect / A test of Stokes I EMDR treatment. Lilienfcld I tests really measure honesty? / Astrology clairvoyance using signal-detect ion / Intercessory Psychic crime detectives. Wiseman, West strikes back—but to what effect? / prayer as medical treatment? and Slemman I Health statistics bad for Diagnoses of alien kidnappings that result FALL 1990 (vol. 15, no, 1): Neural Organization our health, Paulos I Science and reason in from conjunction effects in memory / Technique: Treatment or torture / The spooks of quan­ film and television, Evans I Post-Freudian Mathematical magic for skeptics / The tum mechanics/Science and Sir William Crookes/The "N' dream theory, Gardner (S5.00) blind girl who saw the flash of the first machine / Biological cycles and rhythms vs. biorhythrro / nuclear weapon test / Science: The femi­ 1990 CSICOP Conference. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199S (vol. 19. no. nists' scapegoat? 6) The 6AO report on Roswell. Klass I Why SUMMER 1990 (vol. 14, no. 4): Ghosts make news: creationists don't go to psychic fairs, Tayfor, Eve, and SUMMER 1993 (vol 17, no. 4): The right hemisphere: An How four newspapers report psychic phenomena / Harrold I Eyewitness testimony and the paranormal, esoteric doset? / Improving sdence teaching: The text­ Thinking critically and creatively / Police pursuit of Wiseman, Smith, and Wiseman I Objectivity and book problem / The eyewitness: Imperfect interface satanic crime. Part 2 / Order out of chaos in survival repeatability in science, Mussachia I Culture-bound syn­ between stimuli and story / Pathological science: An research / Piftdown, paradigms, and the paranormal / dromes as fakery, Bartholomew I Freud's theory of update / Jack Horkheimer, 'Star Hustler,' interview / The Auras: Searching for the light. dreams, Gardner ($5.00) false memory syndrome. SPRING 1990 (vol.14, no.3): Why we need to under­ SPRING 1993 (vol 17, no. 3): Anguished silence and SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 199S (vol. 19, no. 5) The stand science / The crisis in pre-college science and paradox of knowledge, Loevinger I Consciousness as a helping hands: Autism and facilitated communication / math education / Police pursuit of satanic crime. Part 1 valid subject for science, Ingalls I School daze: review Facilitated Communication, autism, and / The spread of satanic-cult rumors / Lying of African-American baseline essays, Rowe I Mystical Ouija / Treading on the edge: Practicing about polygraph tests / Worldwide disas­ medical altemativism, Raso / China, chi, and chi­ safe science with SET! / Education for sci­ _Roswell incident. ($5.00) them? / Psychic detectives: A critical exami­ dence of MJ-12 hoax. nation / Therapeutic touch. / Improving sci­ MAY/JUNE 1995 (vol. 19, no. 3) The belief engine. ence teaching in the U.S / The Big Sur 'UFO' FALL 1909 (vol. 14. no. 1): Myths about sci­ Alcock I h skepticism tenable? Bcloff plus Blackmore, /The strange case of the New Haven oys­ ence / The relativity of wrong / Richard Hyman. Kurtz, Akock, and Gardner I Mediumship. ters. Feynman on fringe science; Luis Alvarez Stein I Ancient aluminum. Eggert I Cop circle mania and the explorer's quest / The two cultures wanes, Nickell I Doug Kenning and TM, Gardner I A FALL 1992 (vol 17, no 1): A celebration of Isaac / The 'top-secret UFO papers' NASA won't release / The young Grand Canyon? Heaion. ($5.00) Asimov: A man for the universe, Kendrick Frazier, metaphysics of Murphy's Law. Arthur C Clarice. Fnderik Pohi Harlan Ellison, L MAROVAPRR. 1995 (vol. 19. no. 2) Remembering dan­ Spraguc de Camp, Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, 1909 (voL 13. no. 4): The New Age—An gerously. Loftus I Antiscience in academia, Gross and Martin Gardner, Paul Kurtz, Donald Goldsmith. James examination: The New Age in perspective / A New Age Levitt / Feminism now alienating women from science, Randi, and E. C Knjpp I Gaia without mysticism / Gala's reflection in the magic mirror of science / The New Age: Koenge /'Ughts out': A faxlore phenomenon, Brunvand scientific coming of age / The curse of the runestone: The need for myth in an age of science / Channeling / I Critique of evolution study, Larhammar. ($5.00) Deathless hoaxes / Night terrors, sleep paralysis, and The psychology of channeling / 'Entities' in the linguistic JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995 (vol. 19. no. 1) Wonder devil-stricken telephone cords from hell / Scientific cre- minefield / Crystals / Consumer culture and the New Age and skepticism, Sagan I Putting away childish things. ationism: The social agenda of a pseudoscience / / The Shirley MacLaine phenomenon / Special report Dawkirts I The astonishing hypothesis. Crick. I Nuclear Observing stars in the daytime: The chimney myth / California court jails psychic surgeon. medicine, Seaborg I literary science blunders, Gardner Does an ancient Jewish amulet commemorate the con­ SPRING 1909 (vol. 13, no. 3): High school biology I Air Force report on the Roswell incident / 1994 CSI­ junction of 2 8.C? teachers and pseudoscientific belief / Evidence for COP Conference. ($5.00) 11992 (vol. 16. no. 4): Freedom of scientific Bigfoot? Alleged pore structure in Sasquatch footprints FALL 1994 (vol. 18. no. 5): Empirical evidence for rein­ inquiry under siege / Psychic experiences: Psychic illu­ / The lore of levitation / Levitation 'miracles' in India / carnation? / Reader's guide to the ozone controversy / sions / The scientist's skepticism / The persistent popu­ Science, pseudoscience, and the doth of Turin / Rather Bigfoot evidence: Are these tracks real? / Why we are larity of the paranormal / Self-help books: than just debunking, encourage people to think /Mi 12 unmoved as oceans ebb and flow / Anomalous phe­ Pseudoscience in the guise of science? papers 'authenticated*? / A patently false patent myth. nomena in Kazakhstan / False memories. SPRING 1992 (vol. 16, no. 3): Special Report The For a complete listing of our back issues, Maharishi caper: JAMA hoodwinked / Myths of sub call 800-634-1610. York Times Book Review, The Atlantic, and civilization rhat is destroying a noble peo- some plausible explanation as to how a The New Yorker, have wandered into die pie. dead man could walk. It might not be an territory of the semi-real. What is more Most of these novels, however, throw explanation rhat impresses scientific peo­ discomforting is that none of the high­ in elements of the supernatural simply ple, but it will at least be an explanation. brow journals of review has thought it because they do. Unlike popular horror Alice Hoffman gives no explanation for important to mention that they have. In fiction, the supernatural is not the point her witches and telcpaths at all. the reviews of Ann Beatrie's Another You, of the stories they tell. It's just another Other people worry about the reli­ there were complaints of a lack of the detail, like the brand names and car gious right. I worry about a climate of usual fire in Beanie's writing, but no men­ makes and suburban street names (Maple unreason where the world is no longer tion of the fact that two of the characters Way, Lilac Lane) that dot the prose like wanted as a rationally knowable place. I arc connected in some cosmic, unspeci­ pats of butter. When one of the three worry about a highly privileged group of fied way that involves telepathy across women in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres people with a great deal of influence over decades. lies down on the bed in her childhood the content of theit culture who have room and gets up with a recovered mem­ Sometimes these books are attempts to given up any pretense of fidelity to ratio­ ory so paranoically complex it could have address the differences between Western nality or even common sense. I worry done duty as an Oliver Stone screenplay, and Eastern ways of looking at the world, about what it means that Harper's and none of the othet characters is even sur­ with the Eastern (predictably) coming off The Atlantic and even Vanity Fair know prised. the winner. In Amy Tan's The Hundred what is dangerous about fundamentalist Baptists and militant creationists, but Secret Senses, one of the two main charac­ My question is this: at what point did don't know what is dangerous about ram­ ters is a ghost come to earth to return the we become a society in which reports of pant acceptance of the paranormal as fact. reincarnated spirit of her friend to rhe the paranormal ceased to be remarkable, iness she was not able to achieve in which even highly educated people In the meantime, I have some advice when the two of them were together in a were willing to accept telepathy and spells for anyone in the skeptical community former life. This is presented as the silly as easily as they accept Big Macs and fries? who wants to read contemporary nonsense of an uneducated Chinese The readers of these booh an* assumed to American Pinion: go for the popular immigrant untii the end of the book, be at the top of the intellectual pyramid. stuff. If there are elements of the super­ when it turns out to be true. In the nov­ Licensed practical nurses and waitresses at natural in the plot, the cover copy will els of Louise Etdrich, Native American Denny's don't get their advice from The tell you so. If there aren't, you may very healing rituals fight valiantly against the New York Review of Books. Licensed prac­ well find yourself reading one of the last rationalistic excesses of the white scientific tical nurses and waitresses at Denny's have great crusaders for the primacy of logic more sense than the present cultural elite. in human affairs. All the people I know Nobody is going to present them with an Jane Haddam is the author of fourteen who could fit that description write ambulatory zombie without giving them crime novels. • detective novels.

What Constitutes Scientific Evidence?

WAYNE R. ANDERSON

just finished teaching an astronomy cover-up. They were told to state their expressed varying degrees of credence, course at Sacramento City College conclusion, give evidence for it, and ranging from openmindedness, leaning Ion the possibility of extraterrestrial explain why they thought the govern­ toward belief, to absolute conviction life. Students were expected to turn in ment might be doing this. We had not that rhe government knew of alien visi­ weekly writing assignments on various yet discussed this topic in class, so all tors but was keeping this knowledge a topics related to the subject. As their ideas were their own. secret. Up to this point, I was not really final such assignment, I asked them to About half of the class was skeptical surprised. It was the evidence cited by explain whether they felt the govern­ of a cover-up and of UFOs (as alien vis­ die believers that shocked me. ment was engaging in a grand UFO itors) in general. The other half Only one person cited a book as evi-

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 59 dence, in this case Above Top Secret by as presenting a credible account of a gov­ grams for evidence on a controversial and Timothy Good, published in 1988 by ernment cover-up. complex subject—by college students. To William Morrow and Company; this Why would the government be hid­ be fair, in discussion some students were person cited no other evidence except ing the existence of aliens from us? Most openly dismissive of considering televi­ the book. Almost all the other evidence felt that it was to prevent societal chaos sion entertainment as evidence of any­ came from television programs: the and to garner the benefits of alien tech­ thing. And the class members did look made-for-television movies Fire in the nology. Yet none of the students (save quite sheepish when I drew their atten­ Sky and Roswell; and "Alien Autopsy," on one) suggested any type of technology tion to the low-quality evidence they had the Fox network. Abductee interviews that might have resulted from this used. Nevertheless, nearly half of the were also cited, but it was unclear secrecy. The lone person who did suggest members of this college class were unable whether they came from television, technology cited computers, color televi­ to cite any other evidence except televi­ tabloids, or other written sources. sion, and "medical advances," apparently sion entertainment on a science topic. Although no one used it in their papers, totally unaware of any genealogy of Now who says that television is innocu­ the X-Files was cited in class discussion research leading up to these develop­ ous entertainment but nothing worse? If ments. many of these students have been getting Wayne R Anderson is in the Physics/ What astonished, even frightened, me all of their information on UFOs from Astronomy Department, Sacramento City about these papers was the almost total television entertainment programs, can it College, Sacramento, California 95822. reliance on television entertainment pro- be much different with other subjects? LJ

Conference from page 7 Piero Angela, and moderator Milton the morning panel for an unannounced Rosenberg, a professor of psychology spot of fund-raising. CSICOP reports, one numbers of people who will talk from the University of Chicago. All but however, that the fund appeal was very to them quickly when they're researching Paulos are over fifty. All are male. successful, raising over $200,000 in cash relevant topics so they can make their Rosenberg has an unmistakable radio- and pledges.) But the Edell fan at my daily deadlines. They are frustrated, too. quality voice; he hosts American Reader lunch table the following day was still When they try to cover a story responsi­ on PBS for WGN Chicago. What upset. bly, too often they find themselves calling grabbed conference attendees' attention By then, a day and a half of largely scientists who won't talk to them, either was not Paulos's rundown, with digres­ theoretical presentations had left me because they disapprove of the topic sions, of the contents of his latest book, hungry for practical demonstrations and being written about, or through lack of or Angela's careful statistical records reports of work in progress. 1 am not trust. The suspicion between scientists showing that his skeptical TV programs good at passively consuming skepticism. and the mass media appears to be do affect people's beliefs but that some of I am normally either a working skeptic, mutual, by the way. Mathematician John the effect wears off over time. It was the irregularly called in to respond to claims moment when medical broadcaster Dean Allen Paulos tells us during die afternoon on TV shows, or as journalist chasing Edell phoned through from his call-in panel that his academic colleagues were after information. So the session on radio show with his audience of five mil­ deeply suspicious when he wrote some­ therapeutic touch was especially interest­ lion people via four hundred radio sta­ thing that was "read by more than nine ing, as it covered a new topic under tions to invite the panel to talk to people." (His Innumeracy was on the active investigation by the Rocky America. Rosenberg said hello, and bestseller list for five months.) This may passed the microphone to George Mountain Skeptics. I longed for more be partly another generation gap. The Gerbner, who didn't realize this was a sessions like that—the skeptical equiva­ UK's young psychologist Richard planned part of the session and told lent of scientific "poster" sessions—espe­ Wiseman, whose Saturday morning talk Edell, "We are not talking to you. You are cially after the Australian Skeptics was one of the few where you could actu­ eavesdropping on our session. . . ." announced at the World Roundup on ally read the slides, fields an annual Sunday morning that they had, three experiment with and through the UK One audience member later pasted weeks earlier, busted a psychic scam by media. the panel for this, advising them that if infiltrating a member onto the scam out­ But in general, everyone agreed. they really wanted to understand why fit's staff. Science needs better PR. Science has an science gets short shrift on television they Meanwhile, I have a question I wish image problem. should look in the mirror. Some agreed someone would answer. How do you Perhaps it does. By the second day, with Gerbner; one audience member was explain to a challenging questioner the attendees were still talking about the first so offended by the interruption he difference between a "good" and a "bad" panel, which concentrated on science's walked out. (Some people, though, were scientist when both skeptics and believ­ need to communicate itself better to the far more offended by the interruption ers quote scientists' findings to bolster the following day, when four CSICOP mass media. Featured were Paulos, their points of view? It's bad science, officials took the stage halfway through Gerbner, Adams, Italian TV journalist though human, to judge the quality of

60 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER scientists by whether or not one agrees compared a skeptics' conference to a Bern, as well as the Virginia Polytechnic with their conclusions. Star Trek convention without the cos­ Institute's Henry Bauer. Bauer says the This came up Saturday morning, tumes (and without the coffee breaks, scientific method is a myth. Bern claims when statistician Jessica Utts and Ray parties, informal late-night sessions, success in replicating the Ganzfeld Hyman went head to head over the public bulletin boards, and participants' experiments (and says in passing that future of parapsychological research. list). But I was reminded of it when an Hyman is the most knowledgeable critic Utts is bright, clear, and easily under­ English skeptic told Utts her results were of these studies). Pinch spends his pre­ stood, and she thinks it's time for para­ due to "an excess of female power." sentation talking about CSICOP, saying psychology to move on from meta­ It would be less fair to apply that to that CSICOP has done many good analyses and statistical proofs that psi the Florida-based retired candyman things, but he is unhappy about the case exists and focus on possible mechanisms. from Minnesota next to me on the bus of Jacques Benveniste (of "remembering Which, she asked the audience, is more on Saturday. ("Why did you want to water" notoriety), who he says was a seri­ likely to convince you? Which, there­ come?" "I have nothing else to do.") ous scientist whose career was destroyed fore, should we research? Ray Hyman. Then there was the graduare student by a "kangaroo court." (Whether that's who reviewed Utts's work, praising it a.s who paid his way to the conference by the case or not, I pointed out to Pinch some of the best work done in parapsy­ selling "genuine Big Foot tracks" over that CSICOP was not involved in any chology, ended up agreeing on this poinr the Internet. There was even a guy who way with Nature's investigation at even though his critique concluded that slipped me a copy of the history of CSI- Benveniste's lab in France other than to a psi effect was not proven. Hyman out­ COP he wrote for the Journal of the report on it after it was published in lined numerous problems with the American Society for Psychical Research, Nature.) experiments she cites and said her con­ and seemed almost proud to tell me Pinch sparks a protective instinct. clusion that psi had been demonstrated CSICOP never refers to it. was "a big leap" and unjustified. "If CSICOP is not perfect, but it's all we Jessica's right, she's given us a promissory After the conference I go back to have in the way of organizations doing note, not data. We don't do science on a Ithaca, New York, where I lived for this work. This gets reinforced when I promissory note. We do science on what eleven years. The occasion is 2 hands-on 1..1I! an old friend to say hi. She can't talk we produce." science workshop for journalists that right now: she thinks her son has mono, includes presentations from sociologist and she's waiting for the homeopath to I've lost track now of who it was that Trevor Pinch and psychologist Daryl call. •

This failure does not agree with the SORRAT from page 46 (1991): results obtained by at least two other Researchers must decide where to decided to open the resin block itself. experiments reported by Cox, both of focus their energy, and for us it Again, this was carefully filmed. An which obtained a much larger number appears that the SORRAT phenom­ ena are not apt to produce a payoff industrial circular saw w« used re cur of hit* (Cox 1992a). This disccpancy for further research. off three sides of the block. The block could be interpreted in several ways. It is was then pried apart, and the card case possible that the security precautions References 1 used in those previous studies were not removed. We then removed the card , Cox, W. E. 1983. Selected static-PK phenomena and compared the order with the deck as effective as the controls used in this under exceptional conditions of security. order made before the cards were mailed study. An alternative view was presented Paper presented ai the 26th Annual Con­ by Cox (1992b), who noted that he was vention of the Parapsychological Association, to Missouri. All twenty-five cards were Madison, N.J. disappointed with the results and in the same order: The entities hac . 1992a. Some extremely significant ESP failed to reorder the deck. believed them due to either Richard scores produced by PK. Journal of the Society In short, SORRAT failed on two Wiseman's unfavorable attitude toward for Psychical Research 58(829): 353-362. SORRAT's research, or the fact that: . 1992b. My comments on Richard counts. First, the entities obtained only Wiseman's findings. Journal of the Society for eight hits. This is not statistically signif­ Psychical Research 58(829): 378-379. icant; it falls below the fifteen hits The provision of an unfamiliar Hansen. G. P, and R. S. Broughton. 1991. Card sorting tests with SORRAT. Artifix 9: 19-26. required by the experiment; and it is printed form for entering calls via the encircling of symbols from among Phillips. P R and M. K. McBeath. 1982. An considerably below the rwenty-five hits five columns of them . . . presented attempted replication of the Cox films of PK. that Cox claims has occurred on past problems ... which had not occurred In Research in Parapsychology, ed. by William occasions. Second, the entities claimed to me when we agreed to the proce­ Roll. John Beloff and Rhea While. Metuchen. dure. N.J.: Scarecrow Press. 113-115. to have rearranged the order of the cards Richards. J T. 1982. SORRAT: A History of the in deck. However, when the deck was Ncihardi Psychokinesis Experiments. 1961- opened, all twenty-five cards were in tht Either way, given the time and resources 1981 Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. same order as when we sent them from Soilings, D. 1991. The Society for Research on that we invested in this study, we must Rapport and Telekinesis: Experiences and Britain. agree with Hansen and Broughton experiments. Anifix 9:4-17. •

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 61 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

It's Not Journalism book display, and omits die odiers; and foresee that awareness of the existence of fan­ dien, why, he discovers diat diey do have tasy-prone people would have important I'm afraid Bryan Farha went to a lot of trou­ tlio.se traits. Then he makes up more "indi­ implications to investigations of paranormal ble for nothing with his analysis of the jour­ cators of fantasy-proneness" from other phenomena. nalistic errors in Fox TVs Sightings (SI, traits diey have, which seem to include any May/June 1996). The show is not journal­ Rev. Clore says my methodology "appears" interest in religion or spirituality, to die ism. lacking. In fact, 1 was able to pick out the point of listing have been raised as a Roman indicators that I did because diey were pre­ It is true that "journalism requires a mas­ Catholic sent I did not "make up more" and I did not sive effort for accuracy," but entertainment Labeling diese people "fantasy-prone" list being raised a Roman Catholic as an indi­ programming about litde green men does­ follows a clear agenda: having labeled diem cator of fantasy proneness. (Wilson and Barber n't. The semantic errors discussed in die dius, we can discount dieir experiences, just found that religious "visionaries" like those article would be obvious to a good journal­ as in die past we could by caUing them who talk with the Virgin Mary were fantasy- ist, and I suspect a good entertainment pro­ "crazy," or asking how much diey've been prone types.) ducer would nonce also. The difference is drinking, or what diey've been smoking. diat die journalist at least intends to be If the Rev. Clore finds objectionable my truthful and objeoive, while die entertain­ Worse, he fails to understand that labeling certain abductees fantasy prone, why ment producer has no such obligations. Occam's razor does not simply prescribe is his label of "some form of fantasy experi­ Dissecting die show for journalistic errors is die simplest hypothesis, but die simplest ence" less so? Does it not also tend to dis­ like criticizing Home Improvement for not one diat accounts for all the facts. We need count—publicly and even without founda­ showing you how to fix your water heater. a theory diat accounts for die production tion—the abductee experience? and the content of die fantasies (assuming As to Occam's razor, given the books and Go ahead and criticize Sightings for diem as such), not one diat merely labels textbooks I have written that discuss the dic­ being a slipshod compilation of scary sto­ them fantasies but explains nothing. Why tum, I hardly think I need be schooled on the ries, all presented with the obvious inten­ did these individuals fantasize? Because subject by one who appears not to understand tion of making you believe. And dicrc's they're fantasy-prone! So answers Nickell. evidence. One can establish the fact that some­ room to address die fact that die producers Remember die doctor in Moliere who one is a murderer without proving motive. don't mind if lazy viewers think it is jour­ explained diat a sleeping-potion makes I did not discuss the why of Mack's sub­ nalism. But don't criticize it as poor journal­ you fall asleep because it has a "soporific jects' fantasy proneness because that was ism. property"? Don't use Occam's razor to cut beyond the scope of my study Why people fan­ I'm a professional journalist, and I know your own throat. tasize was addressed by Wilson and Barber, bad journalism when I see it. That's not As for die content of die fantasies (if and why people fantasize alien abductions has journalism of any son. such), Nickell has no explanation, except to been addressed by Robert A Baker—both of Greg Freeman hint diat Mack "may be leading his wit­ whom I cited Decatur, Ga. nesses." The culprit covers his tracks weU, considering diat Nickell does not seem to have found any evidence of die crime in die Aromatherapy and Chemical hundreds of pages in Mack's book. Allen Abductees and Fantasy Sensitivities Proneness Finally, what does it say diat Carl Jung attempted precisely die task of understand­ Lynn McCutcheon's article decrying Before responding to Joe Nickell's article on ing die fantasy content of UFO experiences unfounded and exaggerated claims for aro­ alien abductees and fantasy-proneness (SI, fifty years ago, and diat neither die true matherapy (SI, May/June 1996) brought to May/June 1996), I should state that I do not believers nor die true disbelievers have ever mind die problem of Multiple Chemical accept die extraterrestrial hypothesis, and foUowed up on his work? Sensitivities, which may represent aro- do in fact think that some form of fantasy madierapy in reverse. experience most likely accounts for die phe­ Rev. Dan Clore These patients are chronicaUy iU widi an nomenon. St. Helens, Ore. apparent multisystem disorder. They are fre­ That said, I must find fault with quently intolerant to some foods, chemicals, Nickell's article. First, he says diat Wilson and environmental agents at much less dian Joe Nickell replies: and Barber did not include alien abduction usually tolerated levels. Morbidity varies in their study because only a "handful" of Rev. Clore faults my study, yet believes "some from mild discomfort to total disability. cases had been reported. But three years form of fantasy experience most likely accounts They are usually free of objective findings before dieir article, an anthology of selected for the phenomenon." On what basis does be and diere is an absence of any generally cases had appeared (Alien Abductions, ed. D. "think" that is so? Intuition? Communion accepted explanation. Scott Rogo, 1980); this only skimmed die with angels? If he knows of some evidence to In a recent paper (Spyker, D. A 1995. surface of published accounts. Many dozens that effect, why doesn't he mention it? He did Multiple chemical sensitivities—syndrome of cases had appeared by then. find space to cite a work that Wilson and and solution, Clinical Toxicology 33[2]:95- Barber probably had not seen and that virtu­ His mediodology also appears lacking. 99), Spyker describes this problem and ally no one took seriously at the time, includ­ He picks out diose "indicators" of fantasy- points out diat many of diese patients trace ing many ufologists. Wilson and Barber did proneness which die subjects of Mack's dieir problem to an experience widi some

62 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR presumed toxic material where there was it be that the iron rod was not a rod but a in 110 minutes—the length of the movie). also an associated odor. He presents a per­ tube having a single hole or even capillary A believer would immediately get the suasive case that this syndrome may repre­ holes that are now obliterated by the oxida­ willies and reach for the Sightings phone sent a conditioned reflex where odor has tion of the iron? If such were the case, the number, but I had rational thought on my become a conditioned stimulus triggering a Baghdad artifact becomes something from side. I thought back to an hour and fifty variety of physiologic symptoms. He has the occult—a "spirit" lamp (alcohol or minutes earlier when a human being (me) had success on this basis in treating several petroleum spirits, of course). I have in my had last stepped foot in the kitchen; and I patients with a desensitization program. possession a sketch of an alcohol burner. An remembered washing out a bowl so 1 could If this works out, might not not the iron tube could replace the brass tube, an enjoy some ice cream with the movie. reverse also be true? Might an aroma, per­ asphalt plug could replace the cork plug, and Clearly I had left the water running. But haps serendipitously, become a conditioned the cap layer (relic) of the Baghdad artifact that seemed unlike me! I'm usually very stimulus for a favorable physiologic resembles the glass cap of the alcohol burner, attentive! Why hadn't I heard the whoosh response and under certain circumstances which serves to snuff the flame and prevent and the plink of the water falling in the become an actual healing agent? I bring this evaporation of the alcohol. My supposition sink? would require the ancients to have discov­ up only to complement and not to contest Looking at the arrangement of dishes. 1 ered how to concentrate or refine fermenta­ McCutcheon's thesis. saw that they were "leveled out." When I tion liquors or petroleum liquids to make first left the water running, the water made volatile, burnable fuels, however. Would a Albert Rauber, M.D. litdc or no sound. But after a while, a bowl porous or capillary rod of iron or even iron Professor Emeritus had filled with water, which made it shift to oxide work as a wick? I don't know. Food for Emory University one side of the plate it was resting upon— thought, or experiment, however. Atlanta, Ga. and the resulting arrangement of plates was quite different from the original setup. By Lynn McCutcheon is somewhat in need of Hadley Wellborn doing this "kitchen-sink archaeology," I saw a new database. Patchouli is a labiate shrub Powder Springs, Ga. clearly that certain Hish tracking: produce from Southeast Asia (pogostemon patchnuk) noise, while others produce almost no noise Gerhard Eggert replies: The name is derived from die Tamil, pad) at all. 1 couldn't hear the noise from the sink (green), ilia (leaf)- The 'Battery of Bagdad' is really fasdnating. until almost two hours later, not because Who could resist to speculate about its use? But ghosts had turned on die faucet two hours Charles Goatley I know of no evidence for the existence of alco­ later, but because it took a while for the Peterfield, Hands. hol or petroleum spirits or of iron rods with a noise to form. By then I was upstairs and U.K. thin hole or capillaries at the time in watching an engrossing movie. Mesopotamia. The just took plant oil and a textile wick for their lamps. I think it's quite fun and wonderful and exciting to be able to use scientific thought Battery of Baghdad to piece together a mystery. I don't under- In the matter of "The Enigmatic 'Battery of aiiiiu why some people would rather live in Baghdad" (SI. May/June 1996), I offer the Ficchiy Together a Mystery a creepy, scary world of ghosts and buga­ following comments. In "Exhausting the Mundanely Possible" boos when they can instead live in the sane, I think that the superficial resemblance (SI, May/June 1996), Ralph Estling wrote predictable—and thrilling and mysteri­ of the Baghdad artifact to our own axial ly- about a "paranormal" experience he had ous—world of science. symmetric, carbon-zinc-manganese-diox­ with an envelope that transported itself ide-sal-ammoniac paste, not quite dry cell, through time. His point was that such odd Dennis Fiery has unduly influenced many opinions con­ occurrences can rectify themselves with a lit­ Princeton, N.J. cerning the device. tle thought. While it is apparent that the thing could I'd like to mention my own recent fall have been an electric-current-producing into the "supernatural." If was night and I Sagan's Does Truth Matter?' device of sorts—and I even believe that the was alone in the house. The video I was The article by Carl Sagan "Does Truth ancient technicians and craftsmen of 2,000 watching had ended, so I shut off the TV Matter?" (SI, March/April 1996) was very years ago could have had access to at least and hit the rewind button. As I was getting instructive not only for Russian skeptics, one strong mineral acid, namely, sulfuric ready to go to sleep, I began hearing a but. I think, for the whole skeptical com­ acid (read of the vast quantities of sulfuric strange noise from downstairs. (Home munity. acid created in some volcanic eruptions alone, remember!) Cautiously I tiptoed It is not necessary for me to say how [Science May 10, 1966, p. 817])—I do not down to the kitchen, when- 1 found the much Russian intellectuals appreciate Sagan water flowing in the sink. The water was think that it is necessary to name the artifact as a thinkei, scientist, and writer. whooshing from the faucet, and plink- "battery" when there may be simpler solu­ But, as a Russian, I was especially tions to the enigma. plinking into the suck of dishes left behind touched by the pan of his article relevant to from dinner. Ghosts had turned on the my country. "Under the tsars," writes The supposedly one-time iron rod of the faucet! (Certainly it wasn't /who had turned Sagan, "religious superstition was encour­ device is quoted as being "completely oxi­ on the water, for I had not been downstairs dized" and is no longer metallic iron. Could aged, but scientific and skeptical think-

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 63 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ing—except by a few famous scientists— give some commentary to Mr. Sagan's affir­ views except by science. was ruthlessly expunged." [Sagan's word mation that "(c]ritical thinking—except by Brian Templeton admonishes me for criti­ was tame, not famous—ED.] [Soviet] scientists in hermetically sealed cizing easy pseudoscientific targets and avoid­ The first half of this affirmation is true, compart ments of knowledge . . . was pun­ ing more difficult Judeo-Christian targets. but die second not. ished ..." The excerpts from The Demon-Haunted I must say in connection with this that, This is absolutely true only for the sci­ World printed in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER personally, I am an ardent enemy of monar­ entists engaged in Soviet military nuclear were chosen by the editor. If Mr. Templeton chy in general and Russian monarchy espe­ and rocket works. Of course we know rhe will look at the full book, I think he will find cially. But excepting the reign of Nicolas I tragedy of Soviet biology. We know also the at least a little of what he's looking for. (1825-1855), the critical and skeptical troubles experienced by such great scientists Thomas Munden says I have "left no thinking in Russian science and humanities as Kapitsa and Landau. But in general the doubt" about my "belief" in extraterrestrial during die nineteenth and beginning of the Soviet era in the physico-technical domain life. Let me state clearly, as I have done twentieth centuries was not ruthlessly was fruitful, and this is unanimously recog­ repeatedly that there is no compelling evi­ expunged. Even under Nicolas I, the works nized by the world community. The works dence for extraterrestrial life, and therefore it of our greatest poet and thinker, Pushkin, of Semenov (Nobelist in chemistry), of would be absurd for me to "believe" in it. were not suppressed, but were inspired by a Tamm, Frank, and Cerenkov (Nobelists in Belief in the absence of compelling evidence is profound free thought. physics), of Freed man, Seldovich, and called faith. Belief after acquiring compelling Linde (cosmology), of Nicolas Vavilov and The reign of Alexander II (1855-1881) evidence is called knowledge. The two are Koltzov (genetics, before the Lysenko was especially rich in independent, criti­ quite distinct. What I have argued is that the affair), of Tsiolokovsky (father of space cally minded writers. The philosophers and search for extraterrestrial life is an issue of flight)—all this testifies to the powerful literary critics Chernishevski, Dobrolinbov, such surpassing importance, both scientifi­ dan of Russian science during the post-rev­ Pisarev (a most radical freethinker) were cally and philosophically that it is worth a olution era. favorites of the Russian public at large— sizeable effort to try and find it, and that the not only at Petersburg and Moscow, but in idea is not so implausible as to be rejected out This part of the article in question tells of hand. the oudying provinces also. us, alas, that even for such great American The works of such eminent (but not thinkers as Sagan, the history of Russian Finally as to Vladimir Lvov's thoughtful privilegedly famed) scientists as Sechenov culture remains terra incognita. What a letter [received later and published in this (neurophysiologist), Vassie; Struve pity for all us Russians! issue—ED.]: Of course there was a brilliant (astronomer, founder of Pulkovo intelligentsia in nineteenth-century Russia Observatory), Butlerov (chemist), Lebedev Vladimir Lvov and world-class science and technology in the (physicist), Daniel Khvolson, senior Science Writer Soviet era. And of course there was ruthless (Hebraist and historian of antique Judaism) St. Petersburg, Russia suppression in both regimes of those few polit­ are examples of the salutary intellectual ical activists who called for the overthrow, atmosphere of that epoch. and especially the violent overthrow, of the Characteristically, when academician Sagan Responds to Letters regime. But I was writing about something Butlerov became an enthusiastic follower of I'm very pleased that my recent book. The different—the absence of widely available medium Hume and participant in his spir­ Demon-Haunted World: Science as a direct and non-allusive criticism of doctrines itualist seances, a special investigating com­ Candle in die Dark, briefly excerpted in the with which the regime has identified; for mission was formed in the Petersburg March/April 19% issue of the SKEPTICAL example, dialectical materialism and the reli­ University, headed by Mendeleev himself. INQUIRER, elicited so many thoughtful letters gion of Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet era, Hume and Butlerov were exposed and (July/August 1996). Here is an abbreviated or the divine right of kings and the sanctity of blamed as mystifiers and deceivers. response to some of them: the Russian Orthodox Church under the Tsars. My limited knowledge of nineteenth- R H. Davis worries that a non-supersti­ It is interesting to note that this positive century Russian literature and the 1839 tious use of the word "spirituality" could be intellectual atmosphere in Russia in the late memoirs of the French traveler the Marquis confused with an endorsement of mysticism. nineteenth century was colorfully described de Custine may have led me astray but I This is readily prevented by a single cautionary in the contemporary American literature, know of no Russian equivalents of Mark sentence, and the benefit I think far outweighs namely in the autobiographical book by the Twain's or H. L Mencken's religious writings. the cost. famous concert pianist Samuel Chorzinoff Nor do I know of any publication like (A Lost Paradise, Aero Press, New York, Gary McGath argues that some meta­ McKay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions 1975). The Chorzinoff family left tsarist physics must underlie all of science—at least and the Madness of Crowds, or Martin Russia and settled in die United States in the idea that there exists a consistent external Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of the end of the century. Reading this reality I entirely agree, but the acceptance of Science. As I mentioned in The Demon- remarkable book, we meet the great figure such a reality comes from the fact that science Haunted World, Russia today is awash in of Chernisheoski and his famous novel works. My concern about metaphysics is not pseudoscience and mysticism, as well as a What Must be Done?—a manifesto of free just what McGath describes as "the bizarre resurgence in superstition and religious mysti­ thought addressed to the younger genera­ metaphysical theories philosophers have pro­ cism. It remains to be seen how this situation tion of the epoch. posed " but the fact that there is no way to will work itself out. adjudicate between conflicting metaphysical Concerning rhe communist era, I must

64 September/October 1996 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Web Is Even Weirder fascinating. Who are Johnson's "very capa­ Medicine Considering Therapeutic ble associates"? Law students widi a passion The article "The Weird World Web" (SI, Touch for anonymity? May/June 1996) only barely scratched the In my review I was referring to more The Health Care Financing Administration surface of bizarre web sites on the Internet. reputable articles on evolution such as, per­ (HCFA), die governmental agency diat dis­ The information superhighway is littered haps, "Concerted Evolution in Protists: tributes Medicare payments, is currently with misinformation trash and detritus, cast Recent Homogenization of a Polyubiquitin monitoring four Community Nursing upon the byteway by zealots of a hundred Gene in Trichomonas Vaginalis," by R J. Organization (CNO) demonstration pro­ different sorts. . .. Keeling and W F. Doolitde (Journal of jects. These capitated home care projects are Molecular Evolution 41:556-562, 1995). focusing on nurse-driven case management Rev. David Michael Rice of health care in patients' homes. These Johnson's Research Notes show that he Dana Point, Calif. dirce-year projects are to end in December lias read widely, but in fields of minor con­ 1996, but Congress may vote to extend troversies rather dian in die substantive liter­ them. Egging Things On ature of evolution, which he does not tackle. Eli Research recently cited Ruth Regarding Martin Gardner's column "The Thomas H. Jukes Mitchell of Visiting Nurse Service of New Great Egg-Balancing Mystery" (SI. May/ Berkeley, Calif. York, one of the CNOs: "[She] reports that June 1996)—a wonderful article, clearly her organization is using complementary deserving a standing ovation. therapies such as therapeutic touch, visual­ (Sorry, couldn't help myself!) More on vampire Lore ization, self-massage ... to address an older population with chronic care problems." Joseph Mockus Paul Barber was, of course, correct when he She admonishes care providers to avoid Columbus, Ohio wrote (SI, March/April 1996) that we can never know for sure about die origins of ". . . 'cookie-cutter home health' by making vampire folklore. After all, it's not even reli­ a complete [nurting] assessment of environ­ mental, psychosocial, and behavioral fac­ The ManiC nf An&igrSKIS able asking the very person who has an orig­ inal idea how it came about. tors, not just of the patient's physiological In May/June's News and Comment column However, we can speculate, and it occurs condition you reproduced Scott Kim's "Inversion" of to me that vampire folklore about "cantan­ Martin Gardner's name. Readers interested Bullough and Bullough reported in kerous peasants who came back as spirits to in studying this an form, also known as "Therapeutic Touch: Why Do Nurses torment their nearest and dearest" could be "ambigrams," further should look for a copy Believe?" (SI, Winter 1993) that our gov­ seen as a development of "sightings" of of John Langdon's book Wordplay, from ernment spent $200,000 for therapeutic- deceased relatives. From a belief in these Harcourt-Brace. For skeptics, the art form touch training for nurses. If HCFA ulti­ spirits as entities "out there," it might seem itself is a fascinating application of the mately authorizes reimbursement to nurses to be a logical solution to re-open the grave mind's proclivity for finding familiar pat­ for such pseudoscientific practices as thera­ of one such denam-d ro rri^ke ;urc the phys­ terns in visual cur* ""A disregarding infor­ peutic touch and self-massage instruction, ical body was dead. This dien gave rise to mation it considers extraneous. It's almost that $200,000 grant will become utterly the genuine observation of the vampiric magic. insignificant. More to die point, such reim­ phenomena in the corpse and the plot was bursement would needlessly exacerbate the complete. already dire financial condition of W. L Orlicki Medicare. Hemet, Calif. Even today, sightings or "ghosts" are rou­ tinely explained as "restless spirits" who need to be laid to rest, although today there Robert R. Weilacher Johnson and Articles on Evolution is a more charitable attitude towards the Palestine, Texas departed souls, and there are solutions Tom Morrow (Letters, May/June 1996, p. which do not require exhumation and a (See also our Special Report, "Science or 63) challenges my statement that Phillip stake through the dead body. Pseudoscience' Pentagon Grant Funds Johnson had not read articles on evolution Alternative Health Study," SI, July/August present in publications. Morrow says diat I However, both are extraordinary ways of overlooked the Research Notes at the end of rationalizing extraordinarily unsettling 1996—ED.) Johnson's book diat he had read such arti­ experiences, and are examples of the way in cles. Morrow cites die fact that Johnson had which die attribution of a cause "out dicre" read "an article by Kenneth R. Millet in the is so often seen as a more acceptable expla­ The letters column is a forum for views on February/March 1994 Technology Review nation dian die possibility that one's own the matters raised in previous issues. Letters ("Life's Grand Design")." Miller's article is brain is playing nasty tricks, even when it should be no more than 250 words. Due to questionable, as Morrow notes; therefore it requires an acknowledgement of occult and the volume of letters, not all can be pub­ is not a good example of an article on evo­ paranormal forces. lished. They should be typed double-spaced. lution. However, Morrow quotes Johnson Address: Letters to the Editor. SKEPTICM as saying that his "very capable associates" Brian Martin INQUIRER, 944 Deer Dr. NE, Albuquerque. have investigated all such examples. This is Waterlooville, Hants. NM87122. U.K.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September/October 1996 65 International Network of Skeptical Organizations

ARGENTINA. CAIRP. Director, Ladislao Enrique 611976, E-mail: charismaanetvision.net.il). Inquiry. Danielle Kafka, President P.O. Box 2792, Marquez. Casilla de Correo 26, sue 25, 1425, ITALY. CICAP (Comitato Italiano per il Controllo Oes Plaines, IL 60017-2792. Rational Examination Buenos Aires. delle Affermazioni sul Paranormale), Largo Assoc, of Lincoln Land (REALL), David AUSTRALIA. National: Australian Skeptics. P.O. Box Europa, 2-35137 Padova. Scienza & Paranormale, Bloomberg. Chairman, P.O. Box 20302, Springfield A2324. Sydney South. NSW 2000. (E-mail: skep- Massimo Polidoro, Editor, P.O. Box 1117. 35100 IL 62708(217-522-7554). ticsOspot.- tt.sw.au.oz). Regional: Australian Padova. (Tel, Fax: 39-426-22013.) INDIANA. Indiana Skeptics, Robert Craig, Capital Territory, P.O. Box 555, Civic Square. 2608. JAPAN. Japan Skeptics. Jun Jugaku, Chairperson, Chairperson, 5401 Hedgerow Drive. Indianapolis, Newcastle Skeptics. Chairperson, Colin Keay, Business Center for Academic Societies Japan, 16-9 IN 46226. Physics Dept., Newcastle University, NSW 2308. Honkomagome 5-chome, Bunkyo-Ku. Tokyo 113. KENTUCKY. Kentucky Assn. of Science Educators Queensland. P.O. Box 2180. Brisbane, 4001. South MEXICO. Mexican Association for Skeptical and Skeptics (KASES), Chairman, Prof. Robert A Australia. P.O. Box 91. Maglll. 5072. Victoria. P.O. Research (SOMIE). Mario Mendez Acosta*. Baker, 3495 Castleton Way North. Lexington, ICY Box 15S5P. Melbourne. 3001. Western Australia. Chairman, Apartado Postal 19-546. Mexico 03900, 40502. P.O. Box 899, Morley WA 6062. D.F. LOUISIANA. Baton Rouge Proponents of Rational BELGIUM. Committee Para. J. Dommanget. NETHERLANDS. Stichting Skepsis. Rob Nanninga, Inquiry and Scientific Methods (BR-PRISM), Dick Chairman, Observatoire Royal de Belgique. Avenue Secretary. Westerkade 20. 9718 AS Groningen. Schroth. Director, 425 Carriage Way. Baton Rouge. Grculaire 3. B 1180 Brussels. SKEPP, W. Setz, NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand Skeptics. Vicki Hyde, LA 70808-4828 (504-766-4747). Secretary, Laarbeeklaan 103, B1090 Brussels (FAX: Chairperson, South Pacific Publications. Box 19-760. MASSACHUSETTS. Skeptical Inquirers of New 32-2-4774301). Christchurch 5, NX, Fax: 64 3 384-5138. England. Contact Laurence Moss, Ho & Moss, 68 BRAZIL. Opcao Racional. Luis Gutman, Rua Santa NORWAY. Skepsis, St. Olavsgt 27, N-0166. Oslo. Harrison Ave.. 5th. Floor, Boston 02111. Clara.431. Bloco 5, Apt. 803, Copacabana - Rio de RUSSIA. Contact Edward Gevorkian, Ulyanovskaya 43, MICHIGAN. Great Lakes Skeptics. Carol Lynn, con­ Janeiro 22041-010 (55 021 237 2088). Kor a, 109004, Moscow. tact 1264 Bedford Rd., Grosse Pomte Park. Ml CANADA. Alberta Skeptics. Heidi Lloyd-Price. SLOVAK REPUBLIC. Society for Advocacy of 84230-1116. Secretary, P.O. Box 5571, Station A. Calgary, Alberta Critical Thinking (SACT), Igor Kapisinsky. MINNESOTA. Minnesota Skeptics. Robert W. McCoy. T2H 1X9. British Columbia Skeptics. Lee Moller, Secretary. Dostojevskeho rad 13, 811 09 Bratislava. 549 Turnpike Rd., Golden Valley, MN 55416. St. contact. 1188 Beaufort Road. Vancouver V7G 1R7. Slovak Republic Kloud ESP Teaching Investigation Committee Manitoba Skeptics. Contact John Toews, SOUTH AFRICA. Assn. for the Rational (SKEPTIC). Jerry Mertens, Coordinator, Psychology President. Box 92, SL Vital, Winnipeg, Man. R2M Investigation of the Paranormal (ARIP), Marian Dept., St. Cloud State Univ., St. Cloud, MN 56301. 4A5. Ontario Skeptics. Henry Gordon. Chairman. Laserson, Secretary, 4 Wales St., Sandringham 2192. 343 Clark Ave West. Suite 1009. Thomhill Ontario SOCRATES, Leon Retief. contact. 3 Hoheizen MISSOURI. Kansas City Committee for Skeptical L4J 7K5. Sceptiques du Quebec: Donald Gilbert Crescent Hoheizen, Bellville 7530. Inquiry, Verle Muhrer, Chairman. 2658 East 7th. CP. 202. Succ. Beaubicn, Montreal H2G 3C9 (e-mail: SPAIN. Alternative Racional a las Pseudosciencias Kansas City, MO 64124. Gateway Skeptics, sceptiqO ibm.net web: libertel.montreal.qcca/ (ARP). Carlos Telleria, Executive Director, Apdto. Chairperson, Steve Best 6943 Amherst Ave., info/sceptiques). 1516, 50080 Zaragoza. El Investigador Esceptico. University City, MO 63130. CHINA. China Association for Science and Contact Felix Ares De Bias. Gamez/Ares/Martinez. P. NEW MEXICO. New Mexicans for Science * Technology. Contact: Shen Zhenyu, Research O . Box 904, 20080 Donostia-San Sebastian. Reason, John Geohegan. Chairman, 450 Center, CAST, PO Box 8113, Beijing. China. Chinese SWEDEN. Vetenskap dc Folkbildning (Science and Montdaire SE. Albuq., NM 87108; Dave Thomas, Skeptics Circle. Contact: Wu Xianghong, Box 4- People's Education), Sven Ove Hansson. Secretary, Vice President PO Box 1017, Peralta NM. 87042. doctor, Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing 100872. Box 185, 101 23 Stockholm. NEW YORK. Inquiring Skeptics of Upper New York CZECH REPUBLIC Czech Club of Skeptics. Milos TAIWAN. Tim Holmes, P.O. Box 195. Tanzu. Taiwan. (ISUNY). Contact: Michael Sofka. 8 Providence St.. Chvojka, nam. Jirfho z Lobkovic 7, CS-130 00 Prague UNITED KINGDOM. SKEPTKAI INQUIRE* Representative, Albany, NY 12203. (518-437-1750). New York Area 3, The Czech Republic. Michael J. Hutchinson, 10 Crescent View, Loughton, Skeptics (NYASk), Alan Weiss, contact person, 44 ESTONIA. Contact Indrek Rohtmets. Horisont EE 0102 Essex IG10 4PZ. The Skeptic magazine, Editors. Parkview Drive, Millburn, NJ 07041, e-mail: Tallinn, Narva mnt 5. Toby Howard and Steve Donnelly, P.O. Box 475, nyaskOliii.com. Western New York Skeptics, Tim EUROPEAN COUNCIL OF SKEPTICAL ORGANIZA­ Manchester M60 2TH. (E-mail: tobyOcs.man.ac.uk). Madigan, Chairman. 3965 Rensch Road., Buffalo, TIONS. Amardeo Sarma, Secretary, Postfach 1222, Wessex Skeptics, Robin Allen, Dept. of Physics, NY 14228. 0-64374 Rossdorf (FAX *49 6154 81912). Southampton Univ., Highfield, Southampton 509 OHIO. South Shore Skeptics, Page Stephens. PO Box FINLAND. Skepsis, llpo V. Salmi, President. Secretary 5NH. 5083, Cleveland. OH 44101 (216-631-5987). and contact person: Anneli Aurejdrvi, Sireenitie 10b Association for Rational Thinking (Cincinnati A2. FIN-01390 Vantaa, Finland. E-mail contact: Sami United States area). Joseph F. Gastright Contact 111 Wallace Hiltunen, sjhiltunOcchelsinki.fi. ALABAMA. Alabama Skeptics, Emory Kimbrough, Ave., Covington, KY 41014 (606-581-7315). FRANCE. Card* Zetetique. Contact Paul-Eric Blanrue, 3550 Watermelon Road. Apt. 28A. Northport AL OREGON. Oregonians for Rationality, Contact, 12 Rue David Deitz. 57000 Metz. Comite Francais 3S476 (205-759-2624). Secretary: John Reese. 7SSS Spring Valley Rd NW, pour I'Etude des Phenomenes Paranormaux, ARIZONA. Tucson Skeptics Inc. James McGafia, Salem, OR 97304 (503) 364-6676. email: Claude Benski, Secretary-General, Merlin Germ. Chairman. 5100 N. Sabino Foothills Dr. Tucson. AZ joshrOncn.com. RGE/A2 38050 Grenoble Cedex. Union Rationalist 85715. e-mail: JMCGAHAOPimaCCPima.EDU. PENNSYLVANIA. Paranormal Investigating Contact: Jean-Paul Krivine. 14, Rue de I'Ecole Phoenix Skeptics, Michael Stackpole, Chairman. Committee of Pittsburgh (PICP), Richard Busch. Polytechnique. 75005 Rue Paris. P.O. Box 60333. Phoenix. AZ 85082. Chairman, 8209 Thompson Run Rd., Pittsburgh, PA GERMANY. Society for the Scientific Investigation CALIFORNIA. Bay Area Skeptics. Wilma Russell. 15237 (412-366-4663). Philadelphia Association of Para-Science (GWUP). Amardeo Sarma*. Secretary.17722 Buti Park Court. Castro Valley. CA for Critical Thinking (PhACT), Bob Glickman, Convenor, Postfach 1222. D 64374 Rossdorf (Phone: 94546. East Bay Skeptics Society. Daniel Sabsay. President PO Box 21970 Philadelphia. PA 19124 •49 6154 695022. FAX +49 6154 695021). Prat, P.O. Box 20989, Oakland. CA 94620 (215-533-4677). HONG KONG. Hong Kong Skeptics. Contact Rebecca (510-420-0702). Sacramento Skeptics Society. TEXAS. Houston Association for Scientific Bradley, P.O. Box 1010. Shatin Central Post Office, Terry Sandbek. 3550 Watt Ave., Suite «3. Thinking (HAST). Darrell Kachilla. P.O. Box 541314. Shatin, NT. Sacramento, CA 95821 (916-488-3772), E-mail: Houston. TX 77254. North Texas Skeptics. HUNGARY. Hungarian Skeptics. Gyula Bencze. tsandbek.mother.com. San Oiego Association Virginia Vaughn, President. P.O. Box 111794. Termeszet Vilaga. P.O. Box 25, Budapest 8,1444. for Rational Inquiry, Contact: Bruce R. Wallace, Carrol Hon. TX 75011-1794. (Fax 011-36-1-118-7506). 945 Fourth Avenue. San Diego, CA 92101 (619-233- INDIA. Indian Skeptics, 8. Premanand. Chairman, 10 1888 Fax:: 619-696-9476). WASHINGTON. The Society for Sensible Chettipalayam Rd., Podanur 641-023 Coimbatore COLORADO. Rocky Mountain Skeptics. Bela Explanations. P.O. Box 7121. Seattle. WA 98133- Tamil Nadu. Indian Rationalist Association. Scheiber, President P.O. Box 7277. Boulder. CO 2121. Tad Cook. Sec/Treas. (E-mail: tadOssc.com). Contact Sanal Edamaruku. 779, Pocket 5. Mayur 80306 (phone: 303-444-5368, web: bcn.boulder. WISCONSIN. Contact person: Roxine McOuitty. Vihar 1. New Delhi 110 091. Maharashtra co.us/community /rms). MATC-West 1200 5. 71st St, West Allis. Wl 53214 Superstition Eradication Committee. Dada D.C Capital Area. National Capital Area Skeptics, (414-456-5402. Fax: 414-673-4446). Chandane, Secy., D/6, First Floor, Super Market c/o O.W. "Chip- Denman, 8006 Valley Street Silver Solapur 413001. Dravidar Karhegam. General Spring. MD 20910. " Associate Members of CSICOP Executive Council Secretary K. Veeramnani, Periyar Thidal. 50, EV.K. FLORIDA. Tampa Bay Skeptics. Gary Posner, 1113 Sampath Road. Madras - 600 007, Tamil Nadu. Normandy Trace Rd.. Tampa, FL 33602 The organizations listed above have aims similar to IRELAND. Irish Skeptics, Peter O'Hara. Contact. St (813-221-3533), E-mail: garyposOaol.com. those of CSICOP but are independent and autonomous. Joseph's Hospital. Limerick. GEORGIA. Georgia Skeptics. Becky Long, President Representatives of these organizations cannot speak on ISRAEL. Israel Skeptics Society. Philip Marmaros. 2277 Winding Woods Dr.. Tucker. GA 30084. behalf of CSICOP. Please send updates to Barry Karr. P.O. Chairman. P.O. Box 8481. Jerusalem. (Fax: 972-2- ILLINOIS. Midwest Committee for Rational Box 703. Amherst NY 14226-0703. THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL AT THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY (ADJACENT TO THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO) • AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz, Chairman Barry Karr, Executive Director

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS

George Agogino, Oept. of Clyde F. Herreid, professor of biology. Steven D. Schafersman, geologist. Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico SUNY. Buffalo Houston University Terence M. Mines, professor of psychol­ Bela Scheiber,* system analyst, Bill G. Aldridge, executive director, ogy. Pace University, Pleasantville, Boulder, Colo. National Science Teachers Assoc. N.Y. Chris Scott statistician, London, Gary Bauslaugh, dean of technical Philip A. lanna, assoc. professor of England and academic education and pro­ astronomy, Univ. of Virginia Stuart D. Scott, Jr., associate professor fessor of chemistry, Malaspina William Jarvis, professor of health of anthropology, SUNY. Buffalo College, Nanaimo, British Columbia, promotion and public health, Loma Erwin M. Segal, professor of psycholo­ Canada Linda University, School of Public gy. SUNY, Buffalo Health Richard E. Berendzen, astronomer. Steven N. Shore, associate professor Washington, D.C. I. W. Kelly, professor of psychology. and chair, Dept. of Physics and Martin Bridgstock, lecturer, School of University of Saskatchewan Astronomy, Indiana Univ. South Science. Griffith University. Brisbane, Richard H. Lange, M.D., Mohawk Bend Australia Valley Physician Health Plan, Barry Singer, psychologist, Eugene. Richard Busch, magician, Pittsburgh, Schenectady, N.Y. Oregon Pa. Gerald A. Larue, orofessor nf hihlirai "•aiW Slovak, astronomer, university of Siiavvn Carlson, pnysicist, San Diego, history and archaeology, University Wisconsin-Madison of So. California. Calif. Gordon Stein, physiologist, author; Charles J. Cazeau, geologist, Deary, Bernard J. Leikind, staff scientist, GA editor of the American Rationalist Idaho Technologies Inc., San Diego Waclaw Szybalski, professor, McArdle Ronald J. Crowley, professor of William M. London, Director of Public Laboratory, University of Wisconsin- physics. California State University, Health at the American Council of Madison Fullerton Science and Health Ernest H. Taves, psychoanalyst. Roger B. Culver, professor of astrono­ Thomas R. McDonough, lecturer in Cambridge, Massachusetts my, Colorado State Univ. engineering, Caltech, and SETI Sarah G. Thomason, professor of lin­ Felix Ares de Bias, professor of com­ Coordinator of the Planetary Society guistics, University of Pittsburgh puter science, University of Basque, James E. McGaha, Major, USAF; pilot Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist. San Sebastian, Spain Joel A. Moskowitz, director of med­ Princeton University *p.4 the H-ydcr. Michael R nnnnott. writer, tavcstiga ial (jsycriidtry, CaiaDasas Mental Planetarium tor, Federal Way, Washington Health Services, Los Angeles. Richard Wiseman, Senior Research Sid Deutsch, Visiting Professor of elec­ Robert B. Painter, professor of micro­ Fellow in psychology, University of trical engineering, University of biology. School of Medicine, Hertfordshire South Florida, Tampa University of California J. Dommanget astronomer. Royale John W. Patterson, professor of mate­ Observatory, Brussels. Belgium rials science and engineering, Iowa Nahum J. Duker, assistant professor of State University CSICOP pathology. Temple University Steven Pinker, professor and director Subcommittees Barbara Eisenstadt, psychologist, edu­ of the Center for Cognitive cator, clinician. East Greenbush, N.Y. Neuroscience, MIT Astrology Subcommittee: Chairman, John F. Fischer, forensic analyst, James Pomerantz, Provost, and profes­ I. W. Kelly, Dept. of Educational Orlando, Fla. sor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, Psychology, 28 Campus Drive, Frederic A. Friedel, philosopher. Brown Univ. Saskatoon. Sask.. Canada. 57N-OX1 Hamburg. West Germany Gary P. Posner, M.D., Tampa, Fla. Health Claims Subcommittee: Co- Robert E. Funk, anthropologist. New Daisie Radner, professor of philoso­ chairmen. William Jarvis, Professor phy, SUNY. Buffalo York State Museum & Science of Health Promotion and Education. Service Michael Radner, professor of philoso­ School of Public Health, Loma Linda phy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Eileen Gambrill, professor of social University, Loma Linda. CA 93350. Ontario. Canada welfare. University of California at and Stephen Barrett. M.D., P.O. Box Robert H. Romer, professor of physics. Berkeley 1747. Allentown. PA 18105. Sylvio Garattini, director. Mario Negri Amherst College Pharmacology Institute. Milan, Italy Milton A. Rothman. physicist. Parapsychology Subcommittee: Laurie Godfrey, anthropologist. Philadelphia. Pa. Chairman. Ray Hyman. Psychology University of Massachusetts Karl Sabbagh, journalist. Richmond. Dept.. Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR Gerald Goldin, mathematician, Surrey. England 97402. Rutgers University. New Jersey Robert J. Samp, assistant professor of UFO Subcommittee: Chairman, Philip Donald Goldsmith, astronomer; presi­ education and medicine, University J. Klass. 404 "N" Street S.W.. dent. Interstellar Media of Wisconsin-Madison Washington. DC 20024.

•Member of CSICOP Executive Council CENTER FOR INQUIRY The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal P.O. Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226 • (716) 636-1425

The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal encourages the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminates factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public. It also promotes science and scientific inquiry, critical thinking, science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues. To carry out these objectives the Committee:

• Maintains a network of people interested in critically examining paranormal, fringe-science, and other claims, and in contributing to consumer education • Prepares bibliographies of published materials that carefully examine such claims • Encourages research by objective and impartial inquiry in areas where it is needed • Convenes conferences and meetings • Publishes articles that examine claims of the paranormal • Does not reject claims on a priori grounds, antecedent to inquiry, but examines them objectively and carefully

The Committee is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization. The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is its official journal. Skeptical Inquirer

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