Wikipedia and "Remote Viewing"

[RSLancastr]

Here's the Wikipedia entry on "Remote Viewing" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing).

If anyone has the time and inclination, it is in desperate need of NPOV, as it is written almost totally from the viewpoint of RV being real.

All I did to it this morning was add the word "alleged" to the definition. All the other edits I wanted to make were... less than neutral.

I love how a "2% success rate" was deemed "statistically significant."

Yes, it is significant in that it indicates almost total failure. :rolleyes:

[Ladewig]

The procedure was developed by parapsychologists at the Stanford Research Institute.

[snip]

The process of remote viewing was first developed by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff at the Stanford Research Institute at the behest of the CIA in 1972. The program, initially codenamed Scanate, apparently came as a response to Soviet research into psychic phenomena, on which the USSR was believed to have spent 60 million rubles in 1970.

Doesn't seem strange to claim that no one ever remote viewed before 1972? Not that I believe in clairvoyance, but haven't the claims for it been around for more than 30-odd years? The way the article is written implies that the Soviets had zero success with their program, yet all believer literature that I have seen said that it was Soviet successes that led the U.S. military to experiment with it.

[Loss Leader]

Yeah, that's a terrible article. Let's get someone in there to correct it. And maybe even do an article on PSY TECH and their phenominal zero percent success rate.

[RSLancastr]

Yes, a section with links to PsyTech's well-documented failures would be nice.

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Do any of you frequently edit wikipedia?

[Phrost]

I've been known to. But as far as a medium for fact, it's severly lacking.

[RSLancastr]

Do any of you frequently edit wikipedia?Frequently? No. Occasionally.

[Ersby]

The article isn't that bad, imo. It just needs the "Skepticism" part expanded, and perhaps retitled "criticism". If you'll excuse the self-advertising:

http://www.skepticwiki.org/wiki/index.php/Remote_Viewing

Oh, and does anyone know where the 2% figure came from?

[SusanB-M1]

Even though I am definitely a sceptic, I enjoyed reading 'The Field' by Lynne McTaggart! However, I suppose the remote viewing reports there have no chance of being scientifically upheld? Is there a reference to her on the Wikipedia link?

(I have not read all the links on Wikipedia as using a screen reader this takes rather a long time!)

[RSLancastr]

Even though I am definitely a sceptic, I enjoyed reading 'The Field' by Lynne McTaggart! However, I suppose the remote viewing reports there have no chance of being scientifically upheld? Is there a reference to her on the Wikipedia link?There is no reference to her in the link. However, Wikipedia does have a (very brief) article on her.

[CurtC]

Doesn't seem strange to claim that no one ever remote viewed before 1972?
From what I gather, the technique that they call "Remote Viewing" has associated with it all these procedures which must be followed. The faithful think these procedures grant it some kind of scientific or technical verifiability, while we can plainly see that the complex procedures serve only to obfuscate the underlying stupidity of it all.

And these procedures were developed in 1972, so no, RV didn't exist before then.

[kitakaze]

Do any of you frequently edit wikipedia?How 'bout wookiepedia?:jedi: (Intentionally not linked as to avoid shameless plug accusations.)

[SusanB-M1]

There is no reference to her in the link. However, Wikipedia does have a (very brief) article on her.

Thank you.

[maatorc]

Doesn't seem strange to claim that no one ever remote viewed before 1972?

Remote viewing is a synonym for what religious and mystical tradition and literature have variously termed psychic projection, bi-location, astral travel, and others, for several thousand years. It is only the modern laboratory based attempts to verify it that is new.
maatorc.