Art et al.:

[That's a great name for an art center, gallery or museum -- eh?]

Seriously, this is one of the more logical postings of the past few weeks on
the subject of why ID, carried into the existence of metaphysics, is not
within the scope of scientific method.  I'll go one step further.  There
ways to disprove claims of metaphysical powers . . . like "mind reading"
which has been demonstrated time and again to come down to body language and
'suggestion' (subliminal hypnosis).

Like all my messages, this has a point and - at the end - pertains to museum
fodder.

Uri Geller demonstrated the same odds as a non-metaphysically enhanced human
when "seeing" shapes on cards, shrinking his claims of grandeur.  What about
the Amazing Kreskin, Max Maven (heard from Houdini yet?), John Edward
("Crossing Over"), Sylvia Browne, Gerry McCambridge, Rory Raven, Ehud Segev,
Christopher Caldwell, etc.  (BTW, Google provides over 200,000 results for
mentalist, nearly 700,000 for "psychic medium," and 4.5 million for "spirit
channel.")

People want to believe in something "out there" or that some people have
been granted special powers.  That's fine and dandy.  But try to prove it
scientifically?  Check out the James Randi Education Foundation
(www.randi.org) to understand why he's offering $1 million to anyone who
will submit to scientific testing AND prove "super" power.

BTW, Sylvia Browne accepted the challenge, but still hasn't scheduled her
appointment with Mr. Randi.  If it's that hard to get Browne, who has made
millions marketing her metaphysical powers, to submit to scientific testing,
one can only imagine how difficult it would be to make arrangements with a
divine entity!

To prove this is connected with museums, check these out:

    http://www.psychicmuseum.com/
        (co-founded by Uri Geller)

    http://www.skeptiseum.org/
        ("The Skeptical Museum of the Paranormal")

Best wishes,
Jay



On 6/30/05 8:53 AM, "Art Harris" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There still seems to be a lot of confusion about what science can and
> cannot do. Asking it to investigate the metaphysical (unless claims are
> made about the nature of the physical universe, and then limited to
> those claims) is asking it to do something it's not equipped to do. It's
> a tool that only works with the physcial universe because of the very
> limitations that makes it very good in that role (one of these
> limitations being that it cannot invoke the supernatural).  Asking it to
> study the metaphysical is much the same as asking religion to explicate
> the physical world--something religion has failed in miserably because
> that's not something it's designed nor equipped to do.
> If at some time ID delivers testible hypotheses, I can assure you that
> scientists will start taking it seriously as other than a way to sneak
> religion into schools under the disguise of science.
> If indeed aliens were involved in constructing complex features of life,
> there still lies the question as to how do we recognize this. However,
> there are scientific possibilities here. If such aliens were present on
> earth, they may have left signs that someday may be uncovered. Perhaps
> aliens have left communications somewhere in the universe that someday
> we may encounter. If we eventually find other beings on other planets
> that share our DNA code, etc., this would indicate a common cause. There
> probably are other possibilities. But current evidence strongly
> indicates that natural processes are sufficient to explain life on earth
> as we know it. If, and only if, someone can come up with testible
> hypotheses to the contrary will ID be accepted as worthy of scientific
> investigation.
> Cheers,
> Art Harris
> Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum
> University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX  79968-0915
> [log in to unmask]   http://museum.utep.edu/
> http://museum.utep.edu/chih/chihdes.htm

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