Telekinesis is Fake.

Discussion in 'Pseudoscience Archive' started by BenTheMan, Feb 19, 2008.

  1. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/02/18/telekinesis-and-quantum-field-theory/#more-1609

    Sean Carroll (CalTech) explains why.

     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. draqon Banned Banned

    Messages:
    35,006
    life is not just physics
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    Then I defy you to telekinetically delete this post.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. draqon Banned Banned

    Messages:
    35,006
    you have no such power, you don't have a belief
     
  8. K.FLINT Devil's advocate :D Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    225
    ??

    What about poltergiests? this seems to be somthing that has been shown as a very real possibility and since most poltergiests seem to gather around or be caused by young kids going through puberty it would build a good case for Telekinesis.

    Also there are a few 'real' videos from the government [air force] showing a man opening locks one after the other [let me work on it and i will track down the DARPA link for you] the video was meant as an in house informative video not as a hype film on Telekinesis. So it should be worth at least a look.
     
  9. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    Or the fact that young kids going through puberty might have active imaginations.
     
  10. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    What does having a belief have anything to do with it?
     
  11. K.FLINT Devil's advocate :D Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    225
    lol

    lol, ya it does seem to be a hard to belive occurrence, one I have never seen. I will try and find that Air Force Video for you though.
     
  12. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    Another good point was raised in the comments on the blog. If telekinesis were real, organisms which had telekinetic powers would be at a distinct advantage, and so would make more attractive mates. This means that humanity should evolve telekinetic powers. But I don't have telekinetic powers. And most people I know think the idea is bullshit, so I know THEY don't have telekinetic powers.
     
  13. phlogistician Banned Banned

    Messages:
    10,342

    Life exists purely because of physics.
     
  14. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    10,353
    But how better to hide our abilities than in the throng of skeptics.


    Ooops - was that another spoon I've bent!
    Doh!
     
  15. AlphaNumeric Fully ionized Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,702
    Because if you don't realise it's not the spoon which bends but yourself, how will you ever defeat Agents?

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  16. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,168
    Take a look at human history and you will see that people who even had an interest in such things tended to be burned.
     
  17. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,168
  18. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    this just begs the obvious question, then...
     
  19. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    Well, if you would have read the post, you would have found that Carroll explains the limits on fifth forces---so that any force which could act on the spoon would have to be about a billion times weaker than gravity.

    Duh.
     
  20. funkstar ratsknuf Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,390
    Telekinesis and pretty much every other supernatural "phenomenon" (is something a phenomenon if it has never happened?) ever posited strikes me as roughly analogous to a mathematical theory of what we can infer from falsehood: While one can go about its study in a scientific manner, there's absolutely no reason to do so. It's completely useless, and can be dismissed out of hand. Doing so is not ignorance, arrogance or blindness - it's perfectly reasonable.
     
  21. theaceofthespade Registered Member

    Messages:
    2
    "Would everyone with telekenesis please raise my hand?"
     
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    Telekinesis is a magic trick that many Gypsy's have used to perform there tricks to earn money when it was first introduced. Nowadays it is still a magic trick and only should be thought of as that, a trick.
     
  23. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,168
    Dismission an assertion and not backed up with enough evidence is one thing. Stating a hypothesis about what is really going on is another thing. To dismiss something does not require back up. To assert that this or that is true, that needs back up and evidence. People who think of themselves as having a scientific worldview are not exempt from that worldview when it comes to their own assertions.

    That was what I was reacting to.

    'Rationalists' often assume 'because they are right' they can make up theories about what is really going in relation to anomalous experiences or those who believe in them or interpret them differently.

    That is silly.
     

Share This Page