Woo Woo Taboo

The psyche’s attachment to the brain, i.e., its space-time limitation, is no longer as self-evident and incontrovertible as we have hitherto been led to believe.… It is not only permissible to doubt the absolute validity of space-time perception; it is, in view of the available facts, even imperative to do so. – Carl Jung, Psychology and the Occult

A while back I posted one of Radin's videos, DEAN RADIN - TABOO WOO WOO SCIENCE?
 on my Facebook page and asked for comments, the only two people to respond were in-laws. One insisting that there was no taboo, people simply "choose not" to do certain research. He never explained why, they just didn't. The other wouldn't address the issue of taboo at all, instead asserting, rather vigorously, that psychic phenomena didn't exist. (I'm not sure what that has to do with anything) He almost seemed proud to say that he had not read any of the research and "did not have time" to read any in the future. Understand, both of these people have graduate degrees and one teaches about science and technology at one of our prestigious institutions of higher learning. So, I have to ask, why are these people willing to stand up in public, in front of all their Facebook friends and colleagues, and make argument that, in one case, are just plain silly, and the other, to take a huge stand while admitting that he has no idea what he is talking about?

I took me a while to figure that out. My conclusion is the their primary motivation is to distance themselves from their Woo Woo brother-in-law, using whatever means necessary. It didn't matter how stupid they may have sounded, it didn't matter as long as it was clear that they were on a different side of the table from me. And they had to do it as quickly as possible, in their minds anyway.

Another reason the didn't care is that "debunkers" have pretty much a free hand. As long as they come to the right conclusions, no one will question their methodology. For instance, in this paper was published  in 2001: Storm & Ertel (2001). Doman (1999). Does Psi Exist? Lack of Replication of an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer.in this Finding Or Imagining Flawed Research?, conclude that the analysis psychic research done in this paper is invalid: Milton & Wiseman (1999). Does Psi Exist? Lack of Replication of an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer. The paper by Storm & Ertel ignited a firestorm of controversy about flaws in their work. A partial list, easily found with Google:

Radin (2007). Finding Or Imagining Flawed Research?

Ganzfeld Telepathy Research and the Wiseman & Milton controversy

The Milton and Wiseman meta-analysis of Ganzfeld experiments 1999

Abstracts of the Storm & Ertel paper that reverse their conclusions:

Abstract of the Storm & Ertel paper from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Abstract of the Storm & Ertel paper from APA PhycNET, American Psychological Association

It seems that despite the large number of admitted flaws in that paper, it is still used by skeptics to support the none-existance of psi. (Again, numerous references can be found with Google) All this together makes it pretty clear that the debate over psychic phenomena has little to do with science and everything to do with faith. Just ask the creationists and the climate deniers, no matter what the science says, there's always a way to call into question any data and any conclusion.

My feeling is that these people are finding themselves increasingly isolated. So many more people know the way it is, than are fighting against it, that the shift has to come, soon. It is shifting, just some people don't know it, and won't know it, even when it's over. And that's ok, we can live in the light without them, if necessary.