Skeptical Digest 21.2 (Summer 2008)
The Skeptic (UK) Digest
Dubious News - In this Issue - New Website - Little Atoms Podcast -
Events - Administrivia
Retired at twelve years old
The Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was first pledged by James
Randi on 6 March 1998 and during its existence to date, none of the
applicants have passed even the preliminary tests. On 6 March 2010,
however, the challenge is to be retired and the collective sigh of
relief from fraudulent performers might even faintly shift the Earth's
axis of rotation (of course that's probably unlikely given the
inherent difficulty in accurately targeting a single focal point so as
to avoid any cancellation effects from equal and opposing forces, but
you get the idea). In any case, the termination of the challenge
creates a rather notable absence in the sceptics' default defence
against claimants of all things supernatural.
Although it will no longer be possible to follow Sylvia Browne's
'progress' with the challenge or to learn of further perfectly
reasonable excuses for not taking JREF money and scientific acclaim,
there are a number of organisations that still offer prize money for
successful applicants.
In the UK, the Association for Skeptical Enquiry (ASKE) is currently
offering Ł14,000 to anyone successfully demonstrating psychic powers,
and the Indian Skeptics are offering 100,000 Rupees to be awarded by B
Premanand himself, for any psychic, supernatural or paranormal
demonstration. The list of prize funds continues too: $100,000 (AUS)
from Australian Skeptics (including $20,000 for anyone who nominates a
successful applicant), $50,000 (US) from CFI's Independent
Investigations Group and, bizarrely, $2,500 (US) from Scientific
American for a photograph of a spirit or a "visible psychic
manifestation" under test conditions.
On its website, ASKE provides a list of 20 worldwide challenges which,
at the time of publication, collectively offer over $1,500,000 in
prize money in addition to the JREF prize. Randi states that the
reasons for the discontinuation of the JREF challenge are to make
available more funding for future projects and scholarships, and as he
says in the first edition of this year's SWIFT, it will also bring an
end to "hundreds of poorly-constructed applications, and the endless
hours of phone, e-mail, and in-person discussions we've had to suffer
through". So while one challenge that grew from a humble $100 (US)
ends, many more are ready to continue in its place.
Blind guesswork?
The Ganzfeld procedure has its origins in 1930s Gestalt theory but has
been used consistently as an experimental method for testing telepathy
and remote viewing since the 1970s. In brief, the experiment is
typically conducted using two rooms, in one of which the individual
acting as the receiver is placed in effective perceptual isolation.
They sit comfortably in a chair under a red light, with half ping-pong
balls covering their eyes and listen to white noise (which is also
coincidentally often used during military interrogation). Meanwhile, a
set of images (or video clips) is randomly selected from a large pool
of such stimuli and a particular target stimulus is randomly selected
from that set. The 'sender' then concentrates on the chosen target in
an attempt to telepathically transmit stimulus information to the
receiver. The receiver, who typically enters a mildly altered state of
consciousness, is asked to free-associate any images or sensations
they experience during the isolation, and is asked to identify target
images when taken out of the Ganzfeld state afterwards. The technique
provides little information about the physical experiences of the
receiver when in the Ganzfeld state, but a study conducted by Harvard
researchers and published in The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
combined technological and traditional measures to provide exactly
that. This particular study used functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) to observe the haemodynamic response and neural activity of
participants who were presented with two images (two-alternative
forced-choice tasks). Another individual, either biologically or
emotionally associated with the receiver, focused on the target image,
which was randomly selected from the two, and attempted to transmit
this to the receiver.
Whereas the original Ganzfeld tests rely substantially upon
participants' ability to match visualised images to target images,
usually in the presence of distractor images, the imaging technique
was hypothesised to highlight any telepathic effect as participants'
brain activity (as measured by blood-oxygen level changes) would be
distinctly different in response to novel images than in response to
familiar ones. Previous (non-paranormal) research into familiarity
effects had already reliably demonstrated such effects. Perhaps it is
not a great shock to learn that the results were in line with chance
expectation, but despite the counter arguments that ESP involves
fundamentally different neural activity to normal perception, or that
ESP effects are too weak to accurately measure in this manner, the
study retains its methodological merit. If significant neurological
differences are exhibited when studying 'normal' senses, perhaps a
null result when testing ESP will add further weight towards a
critical analysis of the alleged phenomenon. Or perhaps it's about
time 'real' psychics were tested. I'm sure $1,000,000 should cover the
research costs.
Only 64 years to live
Dr Yoshiro Nakamatsu plans to die in 2072, which is no small feat,
since he will be celebrating his 80th birthday this year. Nakamatsu,
or Dr Nakamats as he is more widely known, has no apparent morbid
fascination; this date has simply been borne out of his research and
his theory of devoting equal attention to food, drink, sleep, muscle
training, spirituality, and sex. The Japanese inventor has over 3200
patents registered to his name, earning him a place in the Guinness
Book of World Records and beating Thomas Edison, who registered a mere
1093. Dr Nakamats was the mind behind the digital watch, the floppy
disk, the CD (devised because the popping noise from his vinyl copy of
Beethoven's Fifth was a distraction from inventing), the DVD and the
taxi-meter. He is also the only person to have licensed 16 patents to
IBM. Nakamats eats only one meal per day consisting of no more than
700 kilocalories, and since 1971 has photographed every meal in order
to recall those which might stimulate the best ideas. Dr Nakamats is
not exactly 'normal'.
Nakamats is currently developing many projects, including: an energy
self-sufficient house, bouncing shoes to decrease physical stress
caused by walking, snack foods to improve mental performance, a
revolutionary fluid to make sex more enjoyable (and designed to
rectify Japan's falling birth rate), and paradoxically, a condom again
intended to heighten pleasure, but also to rectify the world from
AIDS. The common factor between all of these concepts, however, is
that Nakamats devised them whilst underwater.
It would seem that the man who sleeps only four hours per day also
finds inspiration whilst becoming slightly hypoxic. Nakamats immerses
himself underwater in a feat of endurance in his own swimming pool
until desperate for air or until ideas are forthcoming. He then
emerges and scribbles the ideas on a Plexiglas tablet before
continuing about the day.
In order to fulfil such a varied lifestyle with so little sleep,
Nakamats naps in a device dubbed the Cerebrex, which is of course his
own invention. It is a chair which, although comfy in appearance, also
allegedly increases the blood circulation to the brain and increases
synaptic activity in the brain through pulsating sound produced from
headrest to footrest. Due to the unique technology contained within
the recliner, Nakamats claims one hour in the chair has the same
effect on the brain as eight hours of sleep.
The theory of power napping, however, is not new. Polyphasic sleep
gives a supposed method to reclaim up to six hours that would
otherwise be spent sleeping. It involves sleeping for a core period of
a few hours and then taking strictly timed naps of 20 minutes or so
throughout the day. In many cases a seemingly polyphasic schedule such
as the one undertaken by Nakamats can simply be biphasic (normal)
sleep with longer periods of sleep deprivation, but why so many
notable individuals, such as Edison, DaVinci, Churchill, Franklin, and
Napoleon, have been rumoured to keep odd sleeping patterns still
remains unanswered.
The Skeptic Vol 21, No 2 Summer 2008
Features:
Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of the Dying Brain
Jason J Braithwaite offers an in-depth analysis and critique of the
survivalist's neuroscience of near-death experiences
Searching for Cressie, the Crescent Lake Monster
Benjamin Radford recounts the story of his search for a monster that never
was
An Evening with James Randi & Friends
Jon Cohen reports on the evening that will be remembered for all
eternity as the greatest night there ever was (probably)
Humour:
Sprite, by Donald Rooum
Cartoons by Tim Pearce
Pictures from Hilary Evans' Paranormal Picture Gallery
Skeptical Stats:
A column based on the observation that sometimes statistics don't lie
- they're just plain crazy...
Hits and Misses:
Retired at twelve years old
Blind guesswork?
Only 64 years to live
Columns:
Editorial (Lindsay Kallis and Chris French)
Skeptic at Large: eHealth (Wendy M. Grossman)
Philosopher's Corner (Julian Baggini)
Sprite (Donald Rooum)
Through a Glass Darkly (Michael Heap)
Reviews:
Who Shot JFK? by Robin Ramsay
The Psychic Handbook by Craig & Jane Hamilton Parker
DVD - Nick Pope: The Man Who Left the MoD - The UFO Phenomenon
Unveiled directed by Philip Gardiner
Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives by Richard Wiseman
The Skeptic Website & Weekly Podcast
We've very secretly been working on a new website - with added podcast
- to bring a bit more content and functionality to The Skeptic and
hope you'll take some time to have a look and send us feedback on the
new site. There are a few bugs and glitches to iron out and we will be
adding more content over the next few months, but we'll attempt to
make the transition to the new site as painless as possible.
We've also teamed up with the team behind Little Atoms at Resonance FM
to bring you a weekly rationalist and sceptical talkshow, with a
sprinkling of other interesting guests. We've already had over 3500
views and almost 2000 downloads since our test run last month and have
73 episodes ready to listen to, featuring; Ben Goldacre, A.C.
Grayling, Simon Singh, Julian Baggini, Johann Hari, David Colquhoun,
Francis Wheen, Christopher Hitchens, Jon Ronson, James Randi, David
Aaronovitch and many notable others.
For a sneak preview, visit http://skeptic.org.uk/joomla
Events:
Skeptics in the Pub
Leicester:
The Real X-Files - Nick Pope
Tuesday, September 16
A Sceptical Look at Spiritualism - Emma-Louise Rhodes
Tuesday, October 21
The Skeptic in the Courtroom - David Allen Green
Tuesday, November 18
Authenticity and its Influence on Behaviour, Attitudes and Beliefs - Mike
Heap
Tuesday, December 16
http://skeptic.org.uk/leicester
Email: simon at skepticsinthepub.org
London:
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
Monday 15th September 2008
Why don't creationists just shut up? - Paul Taylor
Monday 13th October 2008
Beasts on the Loose - Neil Arnold
Monday 17th November 2008
Skeptics versus Believers - Professor Chris French and Nick Pope
Monday 8th December 2008
http://skeptic.org.uk/pub
Email: pub at skeptic.org.uk
APRU @ Goldsmiths, London
Is God a Dangerous Meme? - Dr Susan Blackmore
Tuesday 7th Oct 2008
Conspiracy Beliefs: A Social Psychological Perspective - Dr Karen Douglas
Tuesday 21st Oct 2008
Time to Rewrite Your Autobiography? - Dr Kimberley A. Wade
Tuesday 11th Nov 2008
Psychoactive Plants and Psychic People: Does Psilocybin Really Cause
Psi? - Dr David Luke
Tuesday 18th Nov 2008
Magical Beliefs and the Two Cerebral Hemispheres - Dr Christine Mohr
Tuesday 9th Dec 2008
http://goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru
Email: c.french at gold.ac.uk
Skeptical Digest is written by Mark Williams and e-mailed
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