Re: some remote viewers reviewed
Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Sun, 09 Nov 1997 09:20:27 -0500
Damien Broderick wrote:
>
> At 05:19 PM 11/8/97 +0100, the Guru wrote:
>
> >an experiment done by sociologists in the 50s, in
> >which they got a bunch of stats together which demonstrated that there
> >had been a statistically significantly greater amount of people
> >cancelling their tickets on flights that subsequently crashed than on
> >normal, successful flights. That sounds like an interesting approach.
>
> Trains, as I recall, not planes. The results were provocative but, as
> usual, ambiguous and iffy. (As I recall, the comparison stats were for the
> same trip in the weeks immediately before and after the event, or maybe for
> the equivalent trip the year previously. Weather variations and all manner
> of other stochastic wiggles blur such cfs - and presumably the number of
> passengers will drop off a bit in the week *after* a fatal crash. I even
> found such an effect in Lotto guesses - after a given number has won, it
> becomes slightly more unpopular for the following couple of weeks. It's
> had its turn, after all. Lightning never strikes... If the odds were
> fairer, this would be a useful item of information for rational people
> wishing to place bets with higher-than-strictly-correct returns.)
>
> These days with computerised booking it would be very easy for airlines to
> do such comparisons. They might even be doing so, but the results would
> never be published - PR nightmare! (Admitting that planes crash, I mean.
> Not on *our* airline, sir!)
>
Well, they need to look at it this way: If they developed an autonomous
agent to watch cancellation rates on flights. If the rates went too
high, the flight is cancelled and a phased inspection of the plane is
conducted. THis way the airline could claim that they actively work to
prevent crashes before they happen.... This could be a positive PR
thing. Even if there was absolutely NO scientific basis for it, I could
guarrantee you that that airline would get more business if it claimed
some sort of psychic monitoring like this... morons will beleive
anything...
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
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mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering
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How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?