Hi Olavi,

I think that determined doubters will find and exploit any weakness in
Parapsychology in order to dismiss the totality. It is not much
different from the "creationist" who searches for anything incomplete
or possibly inaccurate in our current scientific understanding of
evolution and cosmology in order to reinforce their preconceived notions.

It is certainly true that there has been much speculation in
Parapsychology. How could that be avoided? Some of the best theories
have started as hunches. If it hadn't been for speculations regarding
a possible relationship between Psi phenomenon and quantum physics
many valuable experimental results might never have been achieved.

Researchers in other fields are generally given more leeway. Radin is
to Parapsychology what Carl Sagan was to space exploration: a
popularizer and occasional ground breaker. I have tremendous respect
for Radin, and I think that many of his experimental findings such as
Weighted Sequential Analysis should be paid more attention. Does he
frequently speculate upon or dramatize the future of Parapsychology?
Certainly. The world needs dreamers to give us goals to aim for.

In my experience it is not true that Parapsychologists often miss the
opportunity for criticism. Quite the contrary, in fact, I find
Parapsychologists to be the most internally critical field scientists
on the planet, which is my they also utilize the most careful and
precise experimental protocol according to institutional surveys by
Rupert Sheldrake. Parapsychologists should be commended for their
thoroughness in self-policing their own field of research.

--- In PSI_research@yahoogroups.com, "Olavi Kiviniemi" <okivi@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> Parapsychological community is so small that peer review process
does not
> function very well in my opinion. At least also Carlos S. Alvarado
has this
> opinion in his paper 'Thoughts on the study of spontaneous cases' (
> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_2_66/ai_90532943/pg_1 ).
> There is needed a skeptic, or a layman and outsider like me who is
> interested in parapsychology, to make critical remarks. Of course
there is a
> danger to be in error in criticizing heavy-weight parapsychologists.
>
> I think I have found too much badly founded speculation in
parapsychological
> literature. One instance is Dean Radin, also in his book 'The Conscious
> Universe' (1997). The book is too optimistic and contains much
speculation.
> Radin has ignored the uncontrollability of psi. I have not seen any
> criticisms by parapsycologists or interested laymen in that respect.
But the
> skeptic Robert Todd Carroll gives enough criticism in his article
'What if
> Dean Radin is right?' ( http://skepdic.com/essays/radin.html ).
>
> Radin is certainly mostly right, but Carroll is able to ridicule the
whole
> book because of the speculations in it. When skeptics read his
article, they
> do not feel any interest to read more texts written by Radin. Case
closed,
> they certainly think.
>
> Speculating future is one type of speculation and speculating
without or
> even against known scientific facts is another type. Such is easy to
find in
> the article by Persinger and Koren, 'Predicting the Characteristics
of Haunt
> Phenomena from Geomagnetic Factors and Brain Sensitivity: Evidence from
> Field and Experimental Studies' in 'Hauntings and Poltergeists -
> Multidisciplinary Perspectives' edited by Houran and Lange (2001).
> Fortunately the parapsychological community has given an answer by
Jason J.
> Braithwaite, 'Putting Magnetism in its Place: A Critical Examination
of the
> Weak-Intensity Magnetic Field Account'.
>
> In my opinion parapsychologists ought to be extra careful not to leave
> without criticism such work that can be easily and effectively
attacked from
> outside. By the way, I have nothing against "magnetic" hauntings if
their
> existence is convincingly established.
>
>
> - Olavi
>