{"id":1916,"date":"2013-03-11T06:14:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T06:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2014-02-05T20:03:06","modified_gmt":"2014-02-05T20:03:06","slug":"tedx-pseudoscience-and-the-rupert-sheldrake-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/2013\/03\/11\/tedx-pseudoscience-and-the-rupert-sheldrake-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"TEDx, Pseudoscience and the Rupert Sheldrake controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the blog HumanistLife states<\/a>:<\/p>\n

TEDx has been on the\u00a0receiving\u00a0end of\u00a0criticism<\/a>, for\u00a0promoting bad science<\/a>\u00a0and pseudoscience, and recently, Rupert Sheldrake\u2019s talk (below) has been on the\u00a0receiving\u00a0end of a\u00a0lot of\u00a0comment<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those of you who are not aware of Rupert Sheldrake, he is a pretty famous investigator and ‘scientist’ looking into parapsychology and supposedly giving the best evidence (or arguing from other research evidence) for the existence of psychic powers and whatnot. His specialist area concerns Ganzfeld experiments<\/a>. I would really suggest reading the excellent article I reposted<\/a> on testing parapsychology. As wiki explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A\u00a0ganzfeld experiment<\/strong>\u00a0(from the\u00a0German<\/a>\u00a0for \u201centire field\u201d) is a technique used in the field of\u00a0parapsychology<\/a>\u00a0to test individuals for\u00a0extrasensory perception<\/a>\u00a0(ESP). It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce the\u00a0ganzfeld effect<\/a>, an effect similar to\u00a0sensory deprivation<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup>The ganzfeld effect has been utilized in many studies of the neuroscience of perception, not only parapsychology. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive to inwardly generated impressions.[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The technique was devised by\u00a0Wolfgang Metzger<\/a>\u00a0in the 1930s as part of his investigation into the\u00a0gestalt<\/a>\u00a0theory.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Parapsychologists such as\u00a0Dean Radin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Daryl Bem<\/a>\u00a0say that ganzfeld experiments have yielded results that deviate from\u00a0randomness<\/a>\u00a0to a\u00a0significant<\/a>degree, and that these results present some of the strongest quantifiable evidence for telepathy to date.[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Critics such as\u00a0Susan Blackmore<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ray Hyman<\/a>\u00a0say that the results are inconclusive and consistently indistinguishable from\u00a0null results<\/a>.[5]<\/a><\/sup>[6]<\/a><\/sup>[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you frequent skeptic forums, you will know these studies have elicited some massive debate between pro-psychics and skeptics which still rage. One criticism is the publication bias or file drawer problem, as explained by wiki<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This is usually a bias towards reporting significant results, despite the fact that studies with significant results do not appear to be superior to studies with a null result with respect to quality of design.[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It has been found that statistically significant results are three times more likely to be published than papers affirming a null result.[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It also has been found that the most common reason for non-publication is\u00a0an investigator’s declining to submit results for publication<\/a>\u00a0(because of the investigator’s loss of interest in the topic, the investigator’s anticipation that others will not be interested in null results, etc.), a finding that underlines researchers\u2019 role in publication bias phenomena.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In an effort to decrease this problem, some prominent\u00a0medical journals<\/a>\u00a0require registration of a trial before it commences so that unfavorable results are not withheld from publication. Several suchregistries<\/a>\u00a0exist, but researchers are often unaware of them. In addition, attempts to identify unpublished studies have proved very difficult and often unsatisfactory. Another strategy suggested by a meta-analysis is caution in the use of small and non-randomised clinical trials because of their demonstrated high susceptibility to error and bias.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this context, Sheldrake has proposed morphic fields and morphic resonance<\/a> to explain psychic phenomena, broadly speaking. His work on telepathy are central to arguments concerning him:<\/p>\n

\n

Telepathy<\/h3>\n

Sheldrake’s research into telepathy between humans and animals, particularly dogs, was the main subject of his 1999 book\u00a0Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home<\/em>\u00a0(see below).<\/p>\n

In 2003 Sheldrake published research on human telepathy in an experiment where subjects guessed which of four people was going to telephone or send an email. Sheldrake reported that the subject guesses the person correctly about 40% of the time instead of the expected 25% (p<\/a>=.05).[25]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Sheldrake’s work was the theme of a plenary session titled “Anomalies of Consciousness” of the 2008\u00a0Toward a Science of Consciousness<\/em>\u00a0conference,[26]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0where he presented his work on telepathy in animals and humans,[27]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0followed by three critiques of his work on the sense of being stared at.[28]<\/a><\/sup>[29]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[wiki<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The scientific community has been very skeptical of Sheldrake’s claims, and this has riled the man and his supporters who claim that there is a scientific conspiracy against them; that Sheldrake and others have produced results which need to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

And so he appeared on TEDx, as you can see here.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/kO4-9l8IWFQ<\/p>\n

[HA! UPDATE – video has been made private…]<\/p>\n

Sheldrake is a Christian, which also potentially informs his work, possibly underlying some of the basis, and certainly title, for his last book, The Science Delusion.<\/p>\n

The HumanistLife blog, in response to the controversial invitation to Sheldrake to speak, posted this very amusing and skeptical take on TED talkers, taken from Vanity Fair<\/a>. I am a big fan of TED, but can well see the humour in this!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the blog HumanistLife states:<\/p>\n

TEDx has been on the receiving end of criticism, for promoting bad science and pseudoscience, and recently, Rupert Sheldrake\u2019s talk (below) has been on the receiving end of a lot of comment.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are not aware of Rupert Sheldrake, he is a pretty famous investigator and ‘scientist’ looking into parapsychology and supposedly giving the best evidence (or arguing from other research evidence) for the existence of psychic powers and whatnot. His specialist area concerns Ganzfeld experiments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[510,466,509,467,507,508],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skepticism","tag-ganzfeld","tag-parapsychology","tag-psychics","tag-rupert-sheldrake","tag-ted","tag-tedx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}