The subject of psychic phenomena and parapsychology arouses a

huge amount of controversy and doubt. This is not unreasonable

(and probably a good thing), given their extremely checkered

past. Fake have abounded: false mediums, charlatan mind readers,

conjuring tricks passed off as the real thing. The list goes on

forever.

Hence, the use of Science should be welcomed in helping to verify

some of the psychic community's claims.

However, this can also become unhealthy for several reasons, and

it is equally important to stand guard against these flaws. They

too are all too common.

(1) Biased scientists.

The pitiful truth is that the field of psychic investigation, with only

very rare exceptions, fails to excite or attract the very

scientific brains. Career-wise, the field of psychic investigation is

extremely badly funded, is nearly impossible to make a solid,

respected career in, and is the source of endless derision from

mainstream scientists and diehard skeptics.

Therefore, there is always gigantic pressure upon

psychic researchers to justify their own existence. At the end of

the day, they have to find something, somewhere! If, from start

to finish, their careers consisted solely of disproving every

single psychic experience that they were presented with, they

would quickly give up the psychic investigation field from

sheer boredom or depression. After all, from a purely personal

standpoint, why bother? Hence, most of them are intrinsically

believers to start with. To put it bluntly, the probability is

high that they possess a strong in-built bias in place.

This is not to imply that they would fake results. However, we

must be aware that, by their very existence in this much maligned

field, there is an invisible pressure upon these people to

produce something to validate their own existence. Hence, this

sort of science is extremely difficult to maintain in a totally

objective manner.

Regular academic scientists are always under pressure to justify

their funding through their results. How much worse then for

scientists who, for the most part, have no funding, and who are

often the laughing stock of the scientific community?

For all of these reasons, the profession of psychic investigation

cannot and will not attract the very finest minds, at least not

at the present times. This is not intended to be an snub to

scientists involved in the field. It is just reality. The very

best will tend to gravitate towards "safe" fields where their

ability will be recognized, and not derided and scoffed at.

It is a pity, but that is just how the world works at present.

(2) The inadequacy of Science.

The scientific method has served the human race extremely well, but it

has its limits. It cannot do everything.

Hence, we must be cautious of trying to apply scientific methods

where they may not work well at all. Such is the manner in which

science has been elevated to a religion in our world, this

statement might seem almost absurd.

Yet, there are clear occasions where science cannot measure

anything. You cannot measure the emotions of love or anger with

scientific instruments. Yet, few would doubt that they exist.

You cannot use instruments to provide a printout of what somebody

is thinking. Yet, nobody would deny that they DO think, and they

very often think in words.

You cannot prove scientifically that there are NO toy airplanes

in orbit around the planet Mars! It might sound absurd, but

no matter how much you search for them and fail to find them, you

CANNOT PROVE that they are not there. You can only say that you

have not found one YET, and that it is extremely unlikely that

they exist. You might be able to say that with 99.99999999%

certainty. But you can NEVER say it with 100% certainty.

Science cannot "prove" a negative.

Thus, in the realm of psychic phenomena, science cannot

categorically state that there is no such thing. You CANNOT

PROVE that ghosts do not exist, for instance. You can only say

that, to date, there has been no conclusive proof that they DO.

That is NOT the same as saying that they do NOT.

In addition, the scientific method itself has limitations that

psychic phenomena would definitely stretch. In science,

something has to be repeatable for it to have any validity. In

other words, other scientists have to be able to replicate your

process and get exactly the same results.

However, this is almost certainly doomed to failure in the

psychic realm. Imagine repeating your experiment in a haunted

house and DEMANDING that the sprite appear on cue, just because

you are performing the same experiment!

If, by its very nature, a experience is extremely rare and

unpredictable in nature, it is very hard to use Science to say

much about it at all.

Science has very little to say about rare and unrepeatable events. Yet, these are the very things that life itself is full of.

The Scientific Method has little or nothing to say regarding rare or unrepeatable events. Nevertheless, these are the very things that life itself is filled with.

It is for this very reason that, initially, the idea that a

meteorite collision caused the extinction of the dinosaurs

was met with hoots of laughter by the scientific community. It

was the very rarity of the event, and the fact that no evidence

could be found, that caused ridicule to be heaped upon the

heads of the theory's proponents. Until, of course, the crater

was discovered.

We now also know that the role of the experimenter can

dramatically change the results of the experiment. This may

explain why certain famed psychics seem to have their skills

flee them in the cold harsh light of the scientific

laboratory. Yet, only a mediocre investigator would claim that

because this is the case, it proves that there were no psychic

phenomena to begin with!

(3) Psychic Skeptics.

This may, in part, explain the James Randi effect. This is a

psychic investigator who is a total skeptic on the subject, and

who approaches the subject with this powerful ingrained bias. He

has issued a challenge to pay a large sum of money to anyone who

can demonstrate psychic powers to him in a scientifically

controlled environment. To date, he still has his money.

Now, part of the problem may be that, even if somebody is

genuinely psychic, the attitude of the investigator is

sufficiently negative to completely extinguish whatever psychic

abilities exist, as long as he is present. Again, a true

investigator of any professionalism cannot discount this possibility.

This is a purely human factor we are talking about, a function of

the human brain, and not a measurement of the boiling point of

water. Hence, it is entirely plausible that the negative

attitude of the investigator, plus the undue pressure that the

psychic is placed under as a result of it, could act to diminish

the very effect being measured.

However, the bias of people like Randi and the organization of

skeptics that calls itself Psicop, is worrying for another

reason. These are people who, while claiming to be scientists,

are actually approaching the entire subject with a deep

bias that has nothing to do with Science whatsoever.

They are skeptical, because they are skeptical. That's all. They

are believers in "Disbelief". It's just the opposite end of the

spectrum of Belief. That's all.

There is no scientific reason for it whatsoever. While they

pretend to be scientific, their approach is more akin to a

religious dogma; that of treating Science like a religion. It is

often called "Scientism" for this reason.

They might claim that there is no proof that psychic phenomena

exist. Yet, it can be stated with equal validity that there is

no proof that they do NOT. That is a totally equivalent

statement. As we have seen earlier, Science cannot PROVE a

negative statement. It can only talk about probabilities and

likelihood. And, as we have discussed, many psychic phenomena

are intrinsically rare or fragile in their very essence.

Like any good zealot, these skeptics like Randi and Psicop

have a hidden agenda in "proving" that the world functions the

way they think it does. Frankly, a major motivation is FEAR. More

people than would like to admit it are terrified of the

possibility of psychic phenomena. What if someone really COULD

read your mind? Every dirty little secret. What if YOU too could

develop psychic powers?

Just imagine what sort of world THAT would be!

Hardly the boringly predictable, ultra-conservative, Newtonian

"scientific" universe that these people inhabit. For them, it's a

possibility too terrible to contemplate.

In conclusion , it's vital not to be too credulous in examining a

psychic experience, or in rushing to accept the claims of the

"professional" investigators in this field. Nevertheless, we

must also be extremely cautious of the skeptics who, while

pretending to be scientific, are often better viewed as

ideological zealots than even mediocre scientists.

Copyright 2006 Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.