From: Damien Broderick (thespike@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Jan 03 2003 - 13:34:46 MST
Samantha Atkins:
>>Dr Gary Schwartz's THE AFTERLIFE EXPERIMENTS
> Without taking the time to read the book myself,
Certainly not worth buying; I found a library copy.
The book is replete with New Age idiocies and All You Need Is Love Love Love
(the good doctor should change his name to Gary Schmaltz). However, the most
interesting `reading' is described in the form of a scientific paper (J.
Soc. Psych. Res., 2001), given as Appendix E, pp. 334-54. Other Appendices
summarize earlier chapters in less icky form.
> are you willing
> to be more specific about what you still find convincing given
> the rather severe methodological errors, nature of cold reading
> and so on?
They finally made the amazing methodological breakthrough [why didn't they
*start* with this? beats me] to trials in which a medium in Arizona
attempted a report (aided by advisors `on the other side') significantly and
uniquely relevant to the sitter in Los Angeles, under 3 conditions: in
advance of normal contact; while a phone link existed but was muted for 10
minutes; finally, in spoken dialogue between sitter and medium, the only
condition in which cold reading could occur. It is claimed that 4 items of
idiosyncratic information was given in that last condition which was unknown
to the sitter, but was later confirmed. Other numerous coincidences are
reported even in the pre-contact period.
I make no claims myself about all this, merely noting that there is some
provocative and perhaps puzzling material reported. It is interesting that
the professional parapsychologists I know are fairly dismissive of Schwartz,
who unreservedly endorses the TV medium John Edward [?!].
Damien Broderick
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