Re: Mind machines, a badly neglected topic?

Dan Clemmensen (Dan@Clemmensen.ShireNet.com)
Sun, 25 Oct 1998 17:19:36 -0500

Dennis Roberts wrote:
> Dan Clemmensen wrote:
> > I just did an Alta Vista search on "Michael Persinger". 196 articles.
> > A great many of them appear to be connected to Paranormal stuff. I
> > can't quickly determine whether Dr. Persinger has become involved with
> > the paranormal or whether his research has been co-opted. This is a
> > shame, because it looks like he started with some solid and reproducible
> > experiments. I'll have to rely on someone like Susan Blackmore to sort
> > this out. For example, look at:
> > http://www.mindspring.com/~txporter/persemf.htm
>
> As someone who routinely subjects various and sundry people to highly
> focused and intense electromagnetic energies during the course of his day
> to day activities, I have to take exception to this thread. [...]

Perhaps I was being too polite. In general, When I see something on the web that is nearly 100% associated with paranormal and for which I can find no obviously credible scientific literature, I assume that it is hogwash. I'm always willing to reassess this assumption if credible evidence comes along, but I feel no need to spend much time looking for it. I'll leave that to people who have the expertise, the time, and the interest. My "research" (5 minutes scanning the Web) leads me to believe Persinger saw the type of effects you describe as easily reporducible with MRI equipment. Then he, or perhaps others, extrapolated wildly beyond his data and off into fantasy land.