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Re: Theos-World Amazing Randi claims Blavatsky faked appearance of Koot Hoomi

Jul 04, 2004 04:48 PM
by Bart Lidofsky


samblo@cs.com wrote:
Commentary on the Role of Stage Magicians in Biological Research
http://www.anomalist.com/commentaries/magician.html
Stage magicians are experts on how people might be fooled by frauds. As long as scientists are on the up and up, and don't try to fake research, then there is no role for stage magicians in science. But when they try to defraud the rest of the scientific community, experts in fraud must be called in. When it turned out that Dr. Benveniste's experiments, when replication was attempted according to his own specifications with his approval, were not replicable (as has proven true with several more attempts at replication), Nature Magazine rejected the results.

There is an old story about a man who had robbed a bank. He told the judge, "If you send me to jail, you will leave my children without a father."

The judge replied, "No, YOU have left your children without a father."

Dr. Benveniste has blamed the scientific system that requires replication of experiments. He offers no alternative, other than an attitude of "I'm better than you! Take my word for it!"

Of course, he's a Frenchman, so that attitude is understandable, as it is part of the cultural tradition.

Bart


Bart




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