HOTES 309
(inventor of the Crookes tube used in electronics), Charles Richet (Nobel laureate), American psychologist William James, and Prime Minister Arthur
Balfour. Its supporters have included such luminaries as Mark Twain, Arthur
Conan Doyle, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, and Carl Jung.
Page 73: One researcher connected with the society... Rhine originally
planned to become a minister, but then switched to botany while attending
the University of Chicago. After attending a talk in 1922 given by Sir Arthur
Conan Coyle, who was giving lectures around the country about communicating with the dead, Rhine became fascinated with psychic phenomena.
Later he read the book The Survival of Man, by Sir Oliver Lodge, about purported communications with the deceased during séances, which further cemented Rhine's interest. He was, however, dissatisfied with the current state
of spiritualism; its reputation was often tarred with unsavory tales of frauds
and trickery. In fact, Rhine's own investigations exposed a certain spiritualist, Margery Crandon, as a fraud, earning him the scorn of many spiritualists, including Conan Doyle.
Page 74: "There is left then, only the telepathic explanation..." Randi,
p. 51
Page 74: Further tests showed that the mice possessed no telepathic
power... Randi, p. 143.
Page 79: In particular, he noticed unusual activity... San Francisco
Chronicle, November 26, 2001.
Page 80: Some critics also claim... Lastly, there are also legal and moral
questions if limited forms of telepathy become commonplace in the future. In
many states it is illegal to tape-record a person's phone conversation without
his or her permission, so in the future it might be illegal to record one's
thought patterns without his or her permission as well. Also civil libertarians
may object to reading a person's thought patterns without his or her permission, in any context. Given the slippery nature of a person's thoughts, it may
never be legal to enter thought patterns in a court of law. In Minority Report,
starring Tom Cruise, there was the ethical question of whether you can arrest
someone for a crime that the person hasn't committed yet. In the future there
might be the question of whether a person's intention to commit a crime, as
evidenced by thought patterns, constitutes incriminating evidence against
that person. If a person makes threats verbally, would that count as heavily as
if a person made these threats mentally?
There will also be the question of governments and security agencies
that do not care about any laws whatsoever and subject people involuntarily
to brain scans. Would this constitute proper legal behavior? Would it be legal to read the mind of a terrorist to find out his or her plans? Would it be legal to implant false memories in order to deceive individuals? In Total
Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the question arose continually
whether a person's memories were real, or implanted, which affects the very
nature of who we are.
These questions are likely to remain purely hypothetical for decades to
(inventor of the Crookes tube used in electronics), Charles Richet (Nobel laureate), American psychologist William James, and Prime Minister Arthur
Balfour. Its supporters have included such luminaries as Mark Twain, Arthur
Conan Doyle, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, and Carl Jung.
Page 73: One researcher connected with the society... Rhine originally
planned to become a minister, but then switched to botany while attending
the University of Chicago. After attending a talk in 1922 given by Sir Arthur
Conan Coyle, who was giving lectures around the country about communicating with the dead, Rhine became fascinated with psychic phenomena.
Later he read the book The Survival of Man, by Sir Oliver Lodge, about purported communications with the deceased during séances, which further cemented Rhine's interest. He was, however, dissatisfied with the current state
of spiritualism; its reputation was often tarred with unsavory tales of frauds
and trickery. In fact, Rhine's own investigations exposed a certain spiritualist, Margery Crandon, as a fraud, earning him the scorn of many spiritualists, including Conan Doyle.
Page 74: "There is left then, only the telepathic explanation..." Randi,
p. 51
Page 74: Further tests showed that the mice possessed no telepathic
power... Randi, p. 143.
Page 79: In particular, he noticed unusual activity... San Francisco
Chronicle, November 26, 2001.
Page 80: Some critics also claim... Lastly, there are also legal and moral
questions if limited forms of telepathy become commonplace in the future. In
many states it is illegal to tape-record a person's phone conversation without
his or her permission, so in the future it might be illegal to record one's
thought patterns without his or her permission as well. Also civil libertarians
may object to reading a person's thought patterns without his or her permission, in any context. Given the slippery nature of a person's thoughts, it may
never be legal to enter thought patterns in a court of law. In Minority Report,
starring Tom Cruise, there was the ethical question of whether you can arrest
someone for a crime that the person hasn't committed yet. In the future there
might be the question of whether a person's intention to commit a crime, as
evidenced by thought patterns, constitutes incriminating evidence against
that person. If a person makes threats verbally, would that count as heavily as
if a person made these threats mentally?
There will also be the question of governments and security agencies
that do not care about any laws whatsoever and subject people involuntarily
to brain scans. Would this constitute proper legal behavior? Would it be legal to read the mind of a terrorist to find out his or her plans? Would it be legal to implant false memories in order to deceive individuals? In Total
Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the question arose continually
whether a person's memories were real, or implanted, which affects the very
nature of who we are.
These questions are likely to remain purely hypothetical for decades to