This reminds me of Ghostbusters: they make like the greatest discovery in human history since the discovery of fire, and what they do with it is a small business
I liked this, Tommy, because it raises twin questions of sufficiency: sufficient credence, sufficient testing. It's often said that 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence', but I think your treatment explores it better.
You're right that there's an objective component here: a claim with great benefit warrants more testing than a claim with little benefit. We could even quantify how much by comparing opportunity costs.
But you're also right that there's a responsibility for evidence of sufficient testing to come *with* any claim inviting investment. The bigger the claim, the better the testing should be -- absent that evidence, any purported benefit is irrelevant.
In engineering this distinction is between 'validation' and 'verification'. Validation: is the claim fit for purpose; and verification: is it borne out in practice? (Validation requires some notion of practical testability.)
I love it whenever kids are taught to test, but don't know anyone who teaches children how to know how much testing is enough, and how much should come with a claim. So they don't really distinguish between truth and validity. This seems a disturbingly overlooked opportunity, since it's also a key part of critical thought that adults too, generally lack.
You also picked up how easily crafted storytelling sidesteps this (except when Greg Egan writes.) We ask fewer questions when our emotions are kept stimulated and satisfied -- especially if we're cognitively loaded too at the time.
It's not just for children's shows -- that's exactly how car-advertising works too.
While I have scoffed at Reiki practitioners and their disciples, I am aware of the sensation when a person is close. We have electricity flowing through us and it seems logical that, like quantum widgets, they recognize and connect with one another. But.... healing without touch? I think burning sage or shaking a bag of chicken bones above the patient seems more effective. Historically, the laying of hands on a sick person can heal through the transfer of healing power. But, waving hands over a person seems less valuable than turning on a ceiling fan.
I think a much more likely explanation for being able to sense someone being close than an electrical field is the body heat, change in airflow, minor sounds, or minor vibrations, that someone's physical presence generates. We know we have robust mechanisms for sensing all of those things, while the electrical field generated by humans is very faint and our ability to sense electrical fields is weak (though not non-existent: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8809363/). We might not be consciously aware of what it is we're picking up on to sense another person's presence, but there's lots of information we could subconsciously be picking up on in any given situation
I have noticed that the hair on my arms sometimes stands out when in close proximity of another person. I suspect that is static electricity and it is not an exaggeration to say that in my old age, I am willing to consider that we are all electrical energy.
I have very similar questions around energy work. I’m very open minded about the mysteries that clearly and deeply exist in the universe. I think the human experience is deeply biased towards the intellectual at the expense of the intuitive, but I have my own history of being fooled by religious charlatans so I am a healthy skeptic. And while I think 90% of the claims made in the so-called energy healing space are bogus due to ignorance or fraud, i’m open-minded enough to recognize that there are some experiences out there that defy, rational and scientific explanation leaving room for the mystical possibilities. Reiki and astrology are two movements that I can’t find any rational reason to believe in even though I’m trying to keep a very open mind.
I also just wanted to say that I really enjoy your posts - you have a special knack in the way you put things across - may you keep on keeping on.
Thank you!
This reminds me of Ghostbusters: they make like the greatest discovery in human history since the discovery of fire, and what they do with it is a small business
I liked this, Tommy, because it raises twin questions of sufficiency: sufficient credence, sufficient testing. It's often said that 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence', but I think your treatment explores it better.
You're right that there's an objective component here: a claim with great benefit warrants more testing than a claim with little benefit. We could even quantify how much by comparing opportunity costs.
But you're also right that there's a responsibility for evidence of sufficient testing to come *with* any claim inviting investment. The bigger the claim, the better the testing should be -- absent that evidence, any purported benefit is irrelevant.
In engineering this distinction is between 'validation' and 'verification'. Validation: is the claim fit for purpose; and verification: is it borne out in practice? (Validation requires some notion of practical testability.)
I love it whenever kids are taught to test, but don't know anyone who teaches children how to know how much testing is enough, and how much should come with a claim. So they don't really distinguish between truth and validity. This seems a disturbingly overlooked opportunity, since it's also a key part of critical thought that adults too, generally lack.
You also picked up how easily crafted storytelling sidesteps this (except when Greg Egan writes.) We ask fewer questions when our emotions are kept stimulated and satisfied -- especially if we're cognitively loaded too at the time.
It's not just for children's shows -- that's exactly how car-advertising works too.
I definitely have questions about how Miss Rachel mesmerizes young children…..
🙂 Made me smile.
While I have scoffed at Reiki practitioners and their disciples, I am aware of the sensation when a person is close. We have electricity flowing through us and it seems logical that, like quantum widgets, they recognize and connect with one another. But.... healing without touch? I think burning sage or shaking a bag of chicken bones above the patient seems more effective. Historically, the laying of hands on a sick person can heal through the transfer of healing power. But, waving hands over a person seems less valuable than turning on a ceiling fan.
I think a much more likely explanation for being able to sense someone being close than an electrical field is the body heat, change in airflow, minor sounds, or minor vibrations, that someone's physical presence generates. We know we have robust mechanisms for sensing all of those things, while the electrical field generated by humans is very faint and our ability to sense electrical fields is weak (though not non-existent: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8809363/). We might not be consciously aware of what it is we're picking up on to sense another person's presence, but there's lots of information we could subconsciously be picking up on in any given situation
I have noticed that the hair on my arms sometimes stands out when in close proximity of another person. I suspect that is static electricity and it is not an exaggeration to say that in my old age, I am willing to consider that we are all electrical energy.
I have very similar questions around energy work. I’m very open minded about the mysteries that clearly and deeply exist in the universe. I think the human experience is deeply biased towards the intellectual at the expense of the intuitive, but I have my own history of being fooled by religious charlatans so I am a healthy skeptic. And while I think 90% of the claims made in the so-called energy healing space are bogus due to ignorance or fraud, i’m open-minded enough to recognize that there are some experiences out there that defy, rational and scientific explanation leaving room for the mystical possibilities. Reiki and astrology are two movements that I can’t find any rational reason to believe in even though I’m trying to keep a very open mind.