ESP Fake Test Response

Oh my freaking god! Cliff actually responded to that email I sent him. Here's what he said:


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Hi,

How nice of you to write to me about the ESP test! Yes, you were very
perceptive. Here's a letter I send to people who discover the trick or
ask me questions about the test. Browse to this:

  http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/espletter.html
 
You'll learn at the site that this is part of an experiment and that
all the "responses" on the page are real.

Regards, Cliff 


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So here's what the letter in the link says:

Hi,

Thanks for your note. How did you find my web page?

You were perceptive! It's great you discovered the ESP trick. Try it on friends and watch their faces.

What do you like best/worst at my site? Do you have any suggestions on how to make my web site better?

I don't know how many people realize it's a trick, but all the responses are real. I performed this experiment as research for a chapter in my recent book Dreaming the Future.

The book goes into more detail about this "ESP test" and discusses human beliefs in general. In the book, I also discuss an even more interesting study called "The Antinous Prophecies." As I say in my book:

"My goal in conducting this little demonstration was to emphasize how easily we can be fooled and how great our will is to believe in the spiritual, the paranormal, and phenomena beyond science. I hope this simple test reinforces the need for skeptical thinking when evaluating claims of the paranormal."

My guess is that most people see it's a trick after a few tries, but some don't. I don't have statistics that tell me the ratio of the two classes of people. (After all, only a small set in both classes e-mail me.)

I believe the universe has facets we'll never truly understand -- the universe is mysterious -- but at heart I'm skeptical about ESP until we have very conclusive scientific results.

Regards, Cliff




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You know, I actually thought he was a crackpot looking to get money, but he's actually pretty smart. I admire the man. :)

Thanks for responding to my email Cliff!

Peace and truth, from my heart to yours!