I’ve always thought extrasensory perception or ESP was a cool idea. Shows like Stranger Things or movies about psychics made it seem like a mysterious power that science just hadn’t figured out yet. But after reviewing the lecture and reading a summary of the Ganzfeld experiments from Alcock’s 2003 article, it turns out that the evidence just isn’t there. The early studies seemed promising, but later replications failed when better controls were added. For example, once experimenters blocked out sensory cues and used proper randomization, the results dropped to chance levels. This showed me that even exciting ideas like telepathy need strong scientific proof to be taken seriously. It made me think about how easily we can be fooled by poor methods or small sample sizes. I still think ESP stories are fun, but I now know the difference between entertainment and evidence.
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Really enjoyed reading your post. I think you mentioned something really important which is how people are fooled by small sample sizes and poor methods. After seeing your post it made me really start to think twice. Nice job !
ReplyDeleteI agree! ESP stories are fun to listen to. It is important for us to know the difference and question those methods when it comes to actual powers vs just entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI used to think ESP was such an intriguing mystery, but learning about the flaws in those early studies really changed my perspective. It’s interesting how something can seem convincing until better testing shows it’s just chance.
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