Twitter study debunks psychic powers

[TZ]

The results of the first ever scientific study to be carried out using the instant messaging service Twitter has cast doubt on the existence of psychic ability, and uncovered why some believe that they possess paranormal powers.


Remote viewing is an alleged psychic ability to “see” distant locations or events.

Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the American government spent millions of dollars examining this apparent phenomenon, with some claiming that the results supported the existence of such abilities.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/twitter%20study%20debunks%20psychic%20powers/3203657
A very creative use of Twitter! Interesting and pretty conclusive study I would say.

[lazarus]

1. fun

I love it when scienticians get creative.

The article's saying this study "casts doubts" on psychic phenomena makes it sound as if there were no doubts before this. :D

[laconicsax]

2. Quirkology FTW! n/t

[laconicsax]

3. And because I forgot to mention it.

I'll bet this comes as a blow to a particular poster in R/T whom I haven't seen in a while who proudly stated that, "Let's keep in mind that there is no disagreement over the actual phenomena labelled[sic] as telepathy occurring" and maintained that it's a real thing.

[onager]

4. Heh! Thanks for the memories.

IIRC, the poster repeated that several times. Just in case we didn't notice teh stupid the first time.

Hey, did anybody watch "America's Psychic Challenge" this week? I think it was on after "Ghost Hunters." Missed it, unfortunately, because I was watching something more interesting. Probably grass growing.

[laconicsax]

5. I wonder if it was like Derren Brown's predicting the lottery after the numbers were drawn?

Talk about master illusionist--getting people to believe that picking the winning numbers after the numbers after the drawing is a prediction.

[charlie]

6. Probably his most amazing feat

was turning his once fundie-knucklehead self into the Derren Brown we know today. It's one of the reasons he's loathe to ridicule believers and woos, though happily he's not averse to making them look ridiculous with his trickery.

[Ian David]

7. Hey, I participated in that! Also participated in one BEFORE it by Brian Dunning.

See prior threads:

Skeptoid: Brian Dunning's Great Twitter Clusterfuck of 2009
Topic started by Ian David on Sep-17-09 10:15 AM (1 replies)
Last modified by TZ on Sep-18-09 09:07 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=247&topic_id=26693

Join Brian Dunning's Twitter Experiment
Topic started by Ian David on Sep-13-09 09:44 PM (4 replies)
Last modified by semillama on Sep-15-09 12:26 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=247&topic_id=26655