The Psychic Staring Effect An Artifact of Pseudo Randomization

Rupert Sheldrake (1994) has written a curious book, Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-ItYourself Guide to Revolutionary Science. Sheldrake proposes an Alice Through the Looking Glass vision of things that possibly could be so but, in all probability, are not. Doing science in a controlled and thoughtful manner is a challenging and tricky operation. This is especially true of research on the paranormal, where the claims are difficult to prove because the effects are small and unreliable. Sheldrake advocates the collective participation of amateurs and nonscientists who have the "freedom to explore new areas of research." It is certainly true that the theories and methods of science change slowly and at times scientists do appear reluctant to accept new paradigms. Anybody capable of switching on a computer and downloading Sheldrake's Web pages can become a member of Sheldrake's army of revolutionary scientific experimenters.