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Amhuxh.393 net.misc utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!ihnss!wheps!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhuxh!lute Fri Apr 16 16:46:39 1982 Reply to the skeptics

Some of the skeptics I have heard from on the net concerning psi astound me! They suggest that since there are phenomenon we cannot see, or test repeatedly at our whim and fancy, they do not exist and therefore do not warrant scientific investigation. These people are akin to the thinkers who challenged the preposterous assumptions of some "scientists" that small moving particles to small to see were actually the stuff of lightning bolts! What an absurd idea don't you think? Or, as the ancient Greeks believed, man lives by taking in air and the heart acts as a furnace to convert this to energy that man may use this energy to live. Any other explanation was a near blasphemy.

Or how about those fools who not only insisted that the world was round, but they dared to suggest that they had the means to attempt to prove it!! What heresy!!!! Torture the fools, make them confess to their misguided and demented beliefs, and then have them destroyed so as not to contaminate others with their misguided musings!

I guess the same should be done to those who put forth theories on tachyons (particles that can supposedly travel no slower than the speed of light) and black holes. Show me one! Prove to my satisfaction that either of these things exists!

Personally, I do believe the possibility of tachyons and black holes. Being somewhat familiar with some of the parapsychological literature and anecdotal evidence of peers and friends, I also believe the possibility of psi phenomena. However, I will not take the position of some skeptics that it is all a waste of tim just because that as with the 17th century scientist, I cannot prove that electrons exist. Nor will I make myself to sound as foolish as a member of the Spanish Inquisition to suggest that there can be such a thing as heresy in science, which is what several of you suggest. Science (philosophically) by its very nature CANNOT HAVE HERESY! (Did you get that class, there is no such thing as scientific heresy, as some of your comments suggest.) Besides, to a point any scientist, no matter what his/her discipline, is a skeptic. (If they are'nt, they shouldn't be allowed to run experiments).

I think utzoo!laura has the healthiest viewpoint yet where, although she feels that psi does not exist, she encourages the healthy exchange of discussion and the various ways we may consider psi if we SUPPOSE it does' exist (or if it can be tested). I hope that other skeptics opinions can be tempered with that small piece of reason.

Now before we finish, I want you all to repeat after me, "THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SCIENTIFIC HERESY."

Very good.

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