Michael Shermer Remote Viewing Experiment Part 1

Michael Shermer takes a seminar on remote viewing, a form of ESP in which one attempts to psychically view a remote object, person, or place through intuition or a sixth sense. Shermer reveals the normal explanation for this apparently paranormal phenomenon.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Shermer
• Remote
• Viewing
• ESP
• Psi

[Megaritz]

@matt605 I read your first several comparisons between RV and the lightbulb, you don't need to keep beating that horse. No disrespect intended. I'm currently watching my old Exploring the Unknown VHS tapes (that's the show this clip is from) and when I'm done, I'll look into that astrology clip. Thanks for the reference.

[matt605]

@Megaritz Shermer actually did prove the effectiveness of astrology. Search YouTube for "Shermer astrology" and you'll see. Of nine people, 7 said the readings were accurate. On the last two, when the group pressure was on to go along, he switched the readings. The accuracy dropped even with the pressure to go along. The Las Vegas strip occured less than a century after Edison's first light bulb, but we can all be thankful Shermer wasn't there at the electric light's first glow. Regards.

[Megaritz]

@matt605 I'll agree that Shermer should have pointed out from the beginning that the class was not a controlled experiment, and that therefore he could not take anything occurring in it as good evidence that RV was bonafide. That was his mistake--failing to point it out at the start, so as to avoid accusations of moving the goalposts. He should have known better. I also would have liked to hear more about the session time, since Shermer failed to account for where "field" and "London" came from.

[matt605]

@Megaritz And Shermer makes money from his skeptics scams. Shermer did not object to the test construct until the one dude nailed Stonehenge. That's a sleazy thing to do. RV is very new. No one could imagine the Las Vegas strip when Edison's first light bulb glowed. We can be thankful Shermer was not around for that or we would be reading this web page by candle light... or something.

[Megaritz]

@matt605 Dr. Carr is the head of the "Western Institute for Remote Viewing." Google it and check out the website; he sells lots of "how-to" remote viewing CDs. The CDs and his workshops are pretty expensive. He is obviously making a fair amount of money. Did you know con artists, such as "Three Card Monte" hucksters, frequently do indeed use audience plants? Carr has every reason to keep his students fooled. He also presumably knew Shermer was coming and might have wanted to put on a show.

[NewWaysMusic]

How the fuck did the guy wrote stonehenge?

[Smithpolly]

@matt605 He has a PhD from a real university. Great. Then he'll be well aware that the workshop demonstration isn't valid as proof. And he'll know that if he is making extraordinary claims that his methods will be open to being questioned and tested thoroughly.

[matt605]

@Smithpolly Because they aren't stealing from people outright, or over-charging for the seminars, there is little incentive to defraud the public with plants and scams. It looks like a community center class, but the instructor has a PhD from a real university, and he is qualified to lecture at most universities. If RVers in the Pentagon were perfect, would you expect them to admit it?

[Smithpolly]

@matt605 The second test results were pathetic. And so what if "Remote Viewers" aren't stalking people at funerals? They are giving classes which presumably they charge for. And even if they don't charge for the classes, if they are saying in public that they have this extraordinary skill, they should take it as a given that people are going to put them to a test and not just take their word for it.

[matt605]

@Smithpolly The 2nd test wasn't completely wrong, but he's not consistent. There's also nothing at stake. It's not like spiritualists who Houdini exposed. Spiritualists were doing terrible things to grieving loved ones of the dead, and not just that they were stealing but the way they were stealing. The drawings do require interpretation, but not so much as to conclude they are only random. He's not showman, he's just doing multi-purpose room seminars.