Post by venom on Sept 19, 2012 3:39:08 GMT -5
I'm reading right now Paranthropology: Anthropological Approaches to the paranormal (that we all know about) and I thought it could be interesting to share some of my (skeptical) reactions to it.
About " The Anthropology of the Possible: The Ethnographer as Skeptical Inquirer":
Lee Wilson talks about projection at distance ("striking from afar") practiced in Taoist context. A few points:
First of, it was interesting to read his account about that practice in Taoist context (from an anthropological perspective), but it's something that you can find in Belgium nowadays (where I live). So I guess it must be also practiced in the US or in GB...
Secondly, his account of the way people are projected make it sounds very impressive. I practice Aikido (I'm black belt). Throwing myself backward as if I was projected is really not something difficult to do. At all. And with practice of ukemi (falling), you can make it look really impressive to the laymen. I was pondering why Lee Wilson didn't explain that kind of thing in his article. Not everybody practice martial arts (or a fighting sport), and not everybody practice a martial arts with falling. So it may sounds a lot more impressive than it really is for people who are not familiar with that kind of falling.
His account is consistent of what we know about this alleged "power": it works on own students, but not with outsiders, especially with outsiders who are skeptical of it. Like in those YouTube videos:
Here's a demonstration of the "striking from afar" with own students:
And here is when the same master tries that on a young karate man (skeptical martial artist):
For skeptics and martial arts practitioner (like me) the, "striking from afar" falls squarely into the Bullshido category:
www.bullshido.net/
As a psychologist, I would say it's an effect of suggestion. The master is suggesting to students that they should throw themselves backward, and they respond to the suggestion. It's very similar to what stage hypnotist do. I was also puzzled that Lee Wilson managed to write an article about this phenomena without ever mentioning the word "suggestion". But I guess he's not a psychologist - that may explain.
Failing to mention all of that makes this article disappointing. I mean, I get that psi-proponents may be more open-minded than I am about the hypothesis that there is really something paranormal going on here. But that doesn't exempt them for talking about mondane explanations, if at least not to explain why they don't agree with them.
And of course, I don't understand why we can't take position about this claim and state that it's not really paranormal in nature. It's an easily testable claim. I would say, it has been tested on the tatami mat (see the youtube videos above) and didn't pass the test. Why should we adopt a postmodern stance and pretend that we can't have a scientific opinion about it's validity?
Sorry, I just don't get it. At least he should say it's only an emic account of the practice.
About " The Anthropology of the Possible: The Ethnographer as Skeptical Inquirer":
Lee Wilson talks about projection at distance ("striking from afar") practiced in Taoist context. A few points:
First of, it was interesting to read his account about that practice in Taoist context (from an anthropological perspective), but it's something that you can find in Belgium nowadays (where I live). So I guess it must be also practiced in the US or in GB...
Secondly, his account of the way people are projected make it sounds very impressive. I practice Aikido (I'm black belt). Throwing myself backward as if I was projected is really not something difficult to do. At all. And with practice of ukemi (falling), you can make it look really impressive to the laymen. I was pondering why Lee Wilson didn't explain that kind of thing in his article. Not everybody practice martial arts (or a fighting sport), and not everybody practice a martial arts with falling. So it may sounds a lot more impressive than it really is for people who are not familiar with that kind of falling.
His account is consistent of what we know about this alleged "power": it works on own students, but not with outsiders, especially with outsiders who are skeptical of it. Like in those YouTube videos:
Here's a demonstration of the "striking from afar" with own students:
And here is when the same master tries that on a young karate man (skeptical martial artist):
For skeptics and martial arts practitioner (like me) the, "striking from afar" falls squarely into the Bullshido category:
www.bullshido.net/
As a psychologist, I would say it's an effect of suggestion. The master is suggesting to students that they should throw themselves backward, and they respond to the suggestion. It's very similar to what stage hypnotist do. I was also puzzled that Lee Wilson managed to write an article about this phenomena without ever mentioning the word "suggestion". But I guess he's not a psychologist - that may explain.
Failing to mention all of that makes this article disappointing. I mean, I get that psi-proponents may be more open-minded than I am about the hypothesis that there is really something paranormal going on here. But that doesn't exempt them for talking about mondane explanations, if at least not to explain why they don't agree with them.
And of course, I don't understand why we can't take position about this claim and state that it's not really paranormal in nature. It's an easily testable claim. I would say, it has been tested on the tatami mat (see the youtube videos above) and didn't pass the test. Why should we adopt a postmodern stance and pretend that we can't have a scientific opinion about it's validity?
Sorry, I just don't get it. At least he should say it's only an emic account of the practice.
