Alime.216
net.misc
utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!lime!glenn
Thu Apr 15 00:11:38 1982
PSI: Comments from a skeptic
Seems to me that you (mhuxt!lute) rested your case without ever
making it in the first place. I'm sure glad you're not my attorney.
A few words from Dr. Asimov are appropos here:
"The scientific view of the Universe is such as to
admit only those phenomena that can, in one way or
another, be observed in a fashion accessible to all,
and to admit those generalizations (which we call laws
of nature) that can be induced from those
observations."
"It is also perfectly possible to say that there are
[other phenomena] that can indeed be observed, but
only by certain people and only under certain
unpredicatable conditions."
"That may conceivably be so, but it doesn't fall
within the purview of science since under those
conditions, *anything* can be said. I can say that the
Rocky Mountains are made out of emeralds that have the
property of looking like ordinary rock to everyone
else but me. You can't disprove that statement but of
what value is it? Far from being of value, such
statements are so annoying to people generally that
anyone who insists on making them is liable to be
treated as insane."
From "Extraterrestrial Civilizations", by Issac
Asimov, Crown Publishers, New york, NY. pp 5-6.
As Joe Presley pointed out, those who believe in the existence of
Christ do so based on their faith, and make no pretense of
scientific rigor in that belief. Psionic enthusiasts are welcome
to state beliefs regarding purported psi phenomena. But, as Dr.
Asimov says, unless they can demonstrate them in a fashion
observable to all, those beliefs do not fall within the purview
of science. To present them as such is to exploit the reputation
of the scientific method.
- Glenn Golden (BTL Holmdel) (...vax135!lime!glenn)
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