Lecture #6 was really interesting because as a kid I was really into true crime. Learning about the disappearance of Charles Capel and the Barnum effect opened my eyes into how predatory the psychic industry truly is. They prey on the most vulnerable people: those looking for a missing loved one, those confused about their direction in life, those desperate to finally find answers closure after the loss of someone special. They use vague language that could apply to literally anyone and market it as helping you understand yourself better. They read your nonverbal social cues, make quick inferences about your life and leave you dazzled as to how they could've possibly known these things about you. And it doesn't come cheap, with readings and special services sometimes costing several hundred dollars each (I tried to find an average cost, and it varies greatly, different sources claim anywhere from $40 to $400) depending on where and who you go to. This lecture goes into the differences in though process between true science and pseudoscience. Pseudoscience relies on making vague assumptions, quickly jumping to conclusions, and no way of replicating the results of your experiment. The truth about Charles Capel's disappearance says it all. Noreen Reiner, the psychic who was consulted by the police department looing for Capel, 'predicted' that he was eight miles from his home, and 'saw' a wooded area, a fence, and stones. This is insultingly vague. I pick almost any point in my hometown of Freehold and see all of those things. None of this information is remotely helpful. Her reading wasn't even used by investigators, and the whole '8 miles' thing was grossly incorrect too (he was found half a mile from his home). I'm entering my senior year here at Stockton in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology degree program, and I have the privilege of working in one of the microbiology labs here. The scientific method has been engrained in my life for a long time. The greatest thing about science is that it takes into account what we don't know. It considers all the influencing factors and circumstances of a particular experiment. It's not a disgrace when data comes back statistically insignificant. My current senior research project has had countless trips back to the drawing board, re-dos, and the like. Pseudosciences like psychic mediumship inherently cannot do this. What kind of a psychic could make money off of saying "I don't know"? Comedian John Oliver did a great piece on his show "Last Week Tonight" about psychics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMGcp9xIhY
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I completely agree with your post and enjoyed reading it for I had the exact same questions especially how the psychic said Charles Chapel was 8 miles away from his house but was actually found only a half mile away. More importantly it was odd how the officer said he was in "awe" for how accurate her reading was. The rest of the information given was so vague by the psychic that I really don't understand how the police department found her helpful at all. Great post!
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