From Abracadabra to Zombies
Book Review
The
Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena
by Dean Radin
(HarperOne 1997)
[note: The reason I did not post this review--actually it's more of a deconstruction--in a more timely fashion is that I did not want my students to read it and parrot my comments. I used Radin's book as a text in my Critical Thinking about the Paranormal course. I am now retired and offer these comments for those who didn't take the course so they can see how exciting the field of parapsychology has become. Actually, I am hoping that this review will discourage some readers from pursuing a career in this barren field.
The review was written up from my notes for the course and has 13 parts. I apologize for its length.
For the particularly devoted reader, I have also written a review of Radin's Entangled Minds.]
part one
Dean Radin has a master’s degree in electrical
engineering and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the
University of Illinois. He is director of the Consciousness
Research Laboratory and Senior Scientist and Laboratory Director
at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. He also does research for
the Boundary Institute. He’s been active in
psi research for several decades and
has published more than 200 papers
related to parapsychology.
The Conscious Universe – The Scientific Truth of Psychic
Phenomena (1997) was awarded Amazon.com’s 1998 Bestseller Award
for parapsychology. Brian Josephson, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and
Professor of Physics at Cambridge University told the British
newspaper the Guardian that he considered the publication of Radin’s book “the most significant scientific event of 1997.”
(Radin published
a follow-up book in 2006, but it is just more of the same
with the addition of a weak attempt to link the paranormal to
entanglement, a concept from quantum physics. I'll add
comments on his latest book at the end of this review.)
On his acknowledgements page, Radin calls his path “the road
less traveled,” yet in a 2005 Gallup poll, 75% of Americans said
they believe in at least one paranormal phenomenon. The same
poll found that 41% believe in ESP; only 25% aren’t sure about
it. Radin plays up the underdog role in his introductory
chapter, identifying psi with scientific ideas dismissed by most
scientists. A 1992 survey of National Academy of Science members
found 77% do not believe in psychic phenomena. Even so, the
public is largely in Radin’s corner when it comes to belief in
the paranormal.
Yet, as Radin makes clear in his preface, most people who
believe in psychic phenomena do so from personal experience or
faith. Most are unaware of the scientific evidence for psi. He
says “what many people think they know about psychic phenomena
‘ain’t necessarily so’.” He claims that “scientists have
essentially proven that psi exists.” They have done this using
“well-accepted experimental methods familiar to scientists in
many disciplines.” What he doesn’t tell the reader in his
preface is that the scientific evidence consists, for the most
part, of statistical anomalies that have been interpreted to be
proof of psi. Perhaps he didn’t want to scare off the general
reader early on in the book, but Radin’s claim that “scientists
have essentially proven that psi exists” hinges on his
interpretation of statistical data. To understand this evidence
the reader is going to have to learn about statistics and
meta-studies. It is to his credit that despite the fact that
most people are innumerate and are put off by complicated
mathematics, Radin has found a niche in the popular media.
The introduction to Radin’s book begins with a quote from
Carl
Jung to the effect that it is imperative to consider the mind
(psyche) as being independent of the brain and the “space-time
limitations” of physical entities. This position is known in
philosophy as dualism. Dualism is opposed to
monistic
materialism and the notion that ‘consciousness’ is a term used
to identify various functions and processes of the physical,
material brain. Materialism, which is the view of most
neuroscientists, denies that consciousness is an independent
entity that can exist without the physical body.
Dualism leaves open the question as to whether psi involves the
ability of consciousness to receive or transfer information
without physical means altogether or whether there are physical
processes occurring that we are as yet unable to detect. As we
will see, Radin tries to have it both ways. On the one hand, he
believes that evidence of psi provides support for the
anti-materialist hypothesis. On the other hand, he thinks that
someday we may be able to explain even miracles without
resorting to supernatural explanations. Someday, he thinks, we
will understand the physical laws and mechanisms that govern
events that are now called paranormal or supernatural.
Susan Blackmore, who worked as a parapsychologist for many
years, notes in her book
Consciousness:
An Introduction (2004). that “most of
what we have learned so far [in studying consciousness]….seems
to point away” from the existence of minds that are separate
from brains that can magically affect the world.
“Parapsychology,” she says, “Seems to be growing further away
from the progress and excitement of the rest of consciousness
studies.”
Radin and many other parapsychologists would disagree with
Blackmore’s assessment. In a chapter on “Mind-Matter
Interaction,” Radin notes that believing “the concept that
mind is primary over matter is deeply rooted in Eastern
philosophy and ancient beliefs about magic” (127). However,
instead of saying that it is now time to move forward, away from
magical thinking and toward more scientific thinking, he rebuffs
“Western science” for rejecting as “mere superstition” the
beliefs of ancient Eastern philosophers. He claims that “the
fundamental issues [of consciousness] remain as mysterious today
as they did five thousand years ago.” To which I can only
suggest that he read Blackmore’s book, which provides a survey
of various competing views of consciousness now being argued
about by philosophers and neuroscientists, but also provides
abundant evidence that many fundamental issues are now well
understood. Still, I must agree that despite all the
advancements in the neurosciences, consciousness is still a deep
mystery and a profoundly interesting topic. We certainly have
not arrived at the final answer to the questions “What is mind?”
and “what is its relationship to matter?”. But a lot of the
mystery has evaporated with the progress made in the
neurosciences over the past century. The weight of the current
scientific evidence seems to favor Blackmore’s position, not
Radin’s. Nevertheless, Radin and other notable
parapsychologists, such as Charles Tart, consider their work to
be contributing to consciousness studies. Thus, as we engage Radin’s evidence for psi, it will be worth asking what
parapsychologists have contributed to our understanding of the
mind.
In the introduction to his book, Radin claims that there is a
predictable four-stage sequence in the history of science that
governs the acceptance of new ideas. The first stage involves an
idea being confidently proclaimed by skeptics to be impossible
because it violates the “Laws of Science.” In the second stage,
skeptics concede that the idea is possible, but claim that it is
not very interesting and that “the claimed effects are extremely
weak.” According to Radin, this is the stage psi research is in
now. Stage three witnesses the mainstream coming around and
recognizing that the idea is important and that the “effects are
much stronger and more pervasive that previously imagined.”
Finally, in stage four, the skeptics claim that they thought of
the idea first.
This unique account of the history of science is not supported
by Radin with any examples of a scientific idea that has
followed these four stages. This is understandable because there
probably aren’t any that fit this description. Here are five
scientific ideas that most people should be familiar with:
1. the heliocentric theory
2. the theory of gravity
3. natural selection
4. the double-helix theory of DNA reproduction
5. plate tectonics
At one time each of these was a new idea in
science. Do any of them fit the picture Radin paints? No, nor
does any other scientific idea that I am aware of. It seems that
Radin has expropriated and distorted Schopenhauer’s quip:
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being
self-evident.” Is this true of Euclid’s geometry? Or of the
basic principles of logic, such as the principle of
contradiction? This quote from Schopenhauer has become a common
mantra among those with questionable ideas. It is as if one
thinks that because one’s ideas have been ridiculed and
violently opposed, it is inevitable they are correct and will
one day be accepted. In any case, it seems obvious that this
false model of the history of scientific ideas is convenient for Radin’s view that psi is in the midst of transitioning from
stage one to stage two and that stage three “can already be
glimpsed on the horizon.” Then, of course, it is only a matter
of time until we reach stage four where skeptics claim that they
discovered psi long ago. I don’t think so!
Of course, what really matters is not Radin’s sense of the
history of ideas but whether there is strong scientific evidence
for psi. Heretofore, declares Radin, believers in psi have had
to base their beliefs on faith,
wishful thinking, and
anecdotes.
But now we have scientific evidence and proof that psi exists.
It is this evidence that we must examine. But first we must make
sure we know what we are talking about. Thus, Radin begins by
noting that psychic phenomena fall into three types. “The first
involves perceiving objects or events beyond the range of the
ordinary senses.” To this category, known as ESP [extrasensory
perception], belong clairvoyance,
clairaudience,
precognition,
remote viewing, and
telepathy. The other category, known as PK
(psychokinesis) involves “mentally causing action at a distance”
and includes not only using the mind to affect material objects
outside one’s own body but psychic healing as well. The
prevailing scientific theory, according to Radin, dictates that
the mind should not be able to do these things because they
occur due to “intention, the mind’s will.” He says no more about
this notion of mind that science supposedly precludes but he
does describe what he considers to be the scientific view of the
mind. Most scientists today, he says, think of the mind as
“merely a mechanistic, information-processing bundle of neurons”
or “a computer made of meat.” Clearly, Radin finds the
prevailing view repulsive. The question is: Does he provide a
cogent argument that the mind does things that can be better
explained by positing an additional entity, a non-material
consciousness? We’ll present his arguments in due time.
The third category of psi phenomena is
survival of consciousness (SOC). To this category belong
out-of-body and
near-death experiences, mediumship,
reincarnation,
EVP,
past-life regression,
healing prayer, as well the search for
ghosts or using things like a
Ouija board to contact spirits.
Radin proclaims: “Psi has been shown to exist in thousands of
experiments.” Yet he admits that “there are disagreements over
how to interpret the evidence.” What he seems to mean is that
some people think the evidence shows that psi exists while
others don’t. He says that even “hard-nosed skeptics,” who
aren’t convinced that the evidence demonstrates the existence of
psi, still admit that “something interesting is going on that
merits serious scientific attention.” Maybe, but there is a
mighty chasm between scientific evidence psi exists and
something interesting is going on. The “hard-nosed skeptics” may
have quite different reasons from Radin for thinking that
there is something interesting going on. The skeptics may agree
that there are statistical oddities that have been
experimentally produced. What those statistics signify is
debatable and it is certainly not assumed by skeptics that they
signify the existence of psi.
Radin seems not to have much interest in what skeptics have to
say, however. When he launches into another historical
reconstruction regarding the “gradually changing attitudes of
prominent skeptics,” for example, he seriously distorts the
ideas of Carl Sagan and Ray Hyman by quoting them out of
context. Here is part of a passage from Sagan that Radin quotes:
At the time of writing, there are three claims in the ESP field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study: (1) that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random number generators in computers; (2) that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images “projected” at them; and (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any other way than reincarnation (Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, Random House, 1995, p. 302).
Radin calls this “an astonishing admission” and goes on to crow
about “other signs of shifting opinions regarding the reality of
psi phenomena “cropping up with increasing frequency in the
scientific literature.” However, Radin fails to note that Sagan
went on to write: “I pick these claims not because I think
they’re likely to be valid (I don't), but as examples of
contentions that might be true.” They “have at least some,
although still dubious, experimental support. Of course, I could
be wrong.” He then goes on to relate how in the mid-1970s he
found himself unable to sign a manifesto called “Objections to
Astrology” not because he thought astrology has any validity,
but “because I felt (and still feel) that the tone of the
statement was authoritarian.” Sagan was not admitting anything
about the likely reality of psi phenomena. He was merely being
cautiously skeptical: No claim should be dismissed out-of-hand
or rejected simply because it seems absurd or stupid, or because
of the motivations, lack of scientific qualifications, or moral
character of its proponents. A claim should be accepted or
rejected only if the evidence warrants it. Sagan was simply
defending the view that a good skeptic must be open-minded. He
was not saying that any of these three claims is true, probably
true, or likely to be proven true. He is stating the claims as
those who believe them would state them and he is saying they
deserve “serious study,” that is, they should not be dismissed
out-of-hand. He said the same thing about astrology.
Radin quotes Hyman accurately as saying that “Parapsychologists
should be rejoicing” because a government committee said their
work should be taken seriously. What Radin fails to note is that
Hyman was very critical of the government study and has remained
adamant in his denial that psi has been proved in thousands of
experiments.
On the other hand, it is true that parapsychologists have come a
long way in responding to the criticisms of skeptics and that
their work has been published in a several mainstream scientific
journals. However, it must be emphasized that these scientific
studies have shown only that their statistical results are not
what would be expected by chance and are “statistically
significant.” Psi researchers have assumed that if you can’t
prove they cheated, erred, or produced statistical flukes, then
the only reasonable explanation of their statistical data is
that psi exists. Again, Radin’s use of a quote from Hyman makes
it appear that Hyman agrees that these statistical data support
the psi hypothesis. Yet, all Hyman has said is that the data are
not likely due to chance.
Tart, Radin, and other parapsychologists know that a single
study here or there is not going to do the job. Replicability,
Radin notes, is essential in science. Of course, replicability
cannot simply mean doing the same experiment in the same way and
getting the same results. If the first experiment had any kind
of error or flaw inherent in it, replicating the results just
replicates the error. Radin makes it clear that there are many
cases of replication of studies that have found evidence for the
existence of psi. In fact, he goes much further and claims that
“most psi researchers today no longer conduct ‘proof-oriented’
experiments.” He claims that instead of trying to find proof of
the existence of psi, researchers are now focusing on questions
like what influences psi performance? And, how does psi work? He
also notes that the evidence for psi includes evidence from
experiments on “mass mind” or “global consciousness effects,”
using psi in casino gambling and lottery games, and other
applications.
If scientists have already proven the existence of psi and are
now working on explaining how psi works and are applying psi to
their gambling practices, why hasn’t’ the rest of the world
heard about this? Indeed, why hasn’t the scientific community
heard about these wonderful developments? Radin claims that most
scientists aren’t aware of the proof for psi because it’s been
“suppressed and ridiculed by a relatively small group of highly
skeptical philosophers and scientists.” These conspirators, he
says, claim that psi scientists are delusional or incompetent.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t provide any examples or evidence for
these assertions. Instead, he notes that many skeptics consider
that “the widespread belief in psi reflects a decline in the
public’s critical thinking ability.” He promises the reader,
however, that in chapter 15 (“Metaphysics”) he will examine the
origins of science. This, he says, will shed some light on why
the public generally accepts psi while the scientific community
doesn’t. We’ll return to this discussion later.
Some skeptics might point out to Radin that psi researchers seem
related to psi in the same way that earlier scientists who
believed in the ether and phlogiston went about their business
explaining how the ether and phlogiston work. He criticizes
science for being prejudiced, for prejudging the unexpected
statistics found by psi researchers. But Radin also is
prejudging things: He assumes that the statistical oddities
found by parapsychologists are proof that all of modern science
is based on a false understanding of the nature of science and
of the universe. For, if the parapsychologists are right then
everything other scientists think they know about the world is
wrong.
Radin, however, has no doubts. He writes that “the eventual
scientific acceptance of psychic phenomena is inevitable.” He
tells us that in chapter 16 he is going to explain how psi
works. He believes psi research will profoundly affect our
notions of space, time, mind, and matter. He even thinks that
miracles will become explicable in terms of psi, thereby
profoundly affecting theology. He laments that science has not
helped us understand such concepts as “hope” and “meaning.” He
wants science to include a dualistic metaphysics and overcome
its materialism. In short, he thinks psi research will provide
scientific evidence that forces us to accept the metaphysical
beliefs of mystics, who think everything is related as one
holistic entity in which the spiritual dimension (imagined as disembodied
consciousness) functions according to will. Like many others in
his field, Radin tries to put forth a return to
vitalism and
some form of philosophical idealism in opposition to mechanistic
materialism. Like many other parapsychologists, he claims this
is a giant leap forward instead of a nostalgic longing for a
magical
past.
end of part 1
Part 1 | 2 |
more book reviews by R. T. Carroll
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