Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

542 Pages·2002·3.41 MB·English

by  Terence Hines

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1 - THE NATURE OF PSEUDOSCIENCE

THE PARANORMAL
SCIENTIFIC MISTAKES: N RAYS, POLYWATER,AND COLD
FUSION
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
WHY STUDY PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC CLAIMS?

CHAPTER 2 - PSYCHICS AND PSYCHIC PHENOMENA

SPIRITUALISM
PSYCHIC READINGS
PSYCHIC PREDICTIONS
PSYCHIC CRIME DETECTION
TED SERIOS’S THOUGHT PICTURES
PROPHETIC DREAMS AND HUNCHES
DEMONIC POSSESSION AND NEUROPATHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3 - LIFE AFTER DEATH

GHOSTS AND POLTERGEISTS
NEAR-DEATH AND OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES
REINCARNATION

CHAPTER 4 - LABORATORY PARAPSYCHOLOGY

THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE
EARLY RESEARCH:J. B. RHINE AND S.C. SOAL
THE URI GELLER EPISODE
REMOTE VIEWING
GANZFELD STUDIES
RANDOM EVENTS AND REACTION TIME STUDIES
PSI THEORY AND BELIEF

CHAPTER 5 - PSEUDOPSYCHOLOGY

FREUDIAN THEORY
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
NEUROBIOLOGY AND MENTAL DISORDERS
THE FUTURE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JUNG
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 6 - ASTROLOGY THE LUNAR EFFECT, AND BIORHYTHM

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
TESTING ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS
MOON MADNESS
BIORHYTHM THEORY

CHAPTER 7 - UFOS I: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIRST KIND

THE CONSTRUCTIVE NATURE OF HUMAN PERCEPTION
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIRST KIND

CHAPTER 8 - UFOS II: PHOTOGRAPHS, Physical EVIDENCE, AND
ADDUCTIONS

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
THE TUNGUSKA EVENT
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND AND ALIEN
ABDUCTIONS
THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE HOLLOW EARTH
THE GREAT UFO COVER-UP
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

CHAPTER 9 - ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, COSMIC COLLISIONS, AND
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE
ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS
PYRAMID POWER
VON DANIKEN IN PERU
THE CASE OF THE DOGON
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE
IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY AND COSMIC COLLISIONS

CHAPTER 10 - FAITH HEALING

THE NATURE OF DISEASE
FAITH HEALERS’ TECHNIQUES
PSYCHIC SURGERY
THE DANGERS OF FAITH HEALING
THE ROLE OF SHRINES

CHAPTER 11 - “ALTERNATIVE” MEDICINE

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN “ALTERNATIVE” AND SCIENTIFIC
MEDICINE
HOMEOPATHY
THERAPEUTIC TOUCH
HERBAL REMEDIES
OTHER “ALTERNATIVE” TREATMENTS

CHAPTER 12 - COLLECTIVE DELUSION? MASS HYSTERIA? AND
ENVIRONNENTAL HEALTH SCARES

ASBESTOS
MICROWAVES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
PCBs-A CASE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MASS HYSTERIA
SILICONE BREAST IMPLANTS AND CONNECTIVE TISSUE
DISEASE

CHAPTER 13 - SPECIAL TOPICS IN PSEUDOSCIENCE

AUTISM AND FACILITATED COMMUNICATION
CREATIONISM
CRYPTOZOOLOGY
DOWSING AND THE MAGIC PENDULUM
FIREWALKING
GRAPHOLOGY
KIRLIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
POLYGRAPHY
THE SHROUD OF TURIN
APPENDIX - SKEPTICAL WEB SITES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Published 2003 by Prometheus Books
Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Copyright © 2003 by Terence Hines. All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet
or a Web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books
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07 06 05 5 4 3 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hines, Terence.
Pseudoscience and the paranormal / Terence Hines.—2nd ed. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-57392-979-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Parapsychology. 2. Occultism. 3. Unidentified flying objects. I.
Title.

BF1042 .H55 2002
133—dc21
2002068086

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book is dedicated with love to
my daughter
Clare Rose Hines,
who brings me more joy than I could ever have imagined;
her mother,
Mary Ruth Dolson;
and her grandparents,
Jessie Rose Stevens Dolson (1935-1997)
and
Roger J. Dolson Sr. (1932-2003)
PREFACE

The first edition of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal appeared in 1988. Much
has changed in the area of paranormal claims and beliefs since then, but much
has also remained the same. To reflect this, two new chapters have been added to
the present book. One chapter covers “alternative” medicine and replaces that on
health and nutrition quackery from the 1988 book. Chapter 12 covers the actual
science of several of the various hysterical responses that have broken out over
alleged environmental health hazards such as power lines, PCBs and cell phone
radiation. The chapter previously titled “Psychoanalysis” has been renamed
“Pseudopsychology” to reflect the fact that psychoanalysis is far from the only
quack psychotherapy out there. The other chapters have been updated and
expanded as needed. As in the 1988 book, I have heavily referenced the text so
that readers who would like to read more on a particular topic will be able to find
the relevant primary sources with ease.
As with any book, this was not a project I completed alone. I would like to
thank numerous friends and colleagues who helped in many ways, among them
by answering questions and tracking down obscure publications. The Interlibrary
Loan staff at the Mortola Library on Pace University’s Pleasantville, New York,
campus was especially helpful in tracking down often obscure articles. Of
course, any errors are mine alone.

Terence Hines
CHAPTER 1

THE NATURE OF PSEUDOSCIENCE

What is pseudoscience? It’s difficult to come up with a strict definition. In the
real world things are not clearly delineated but surrounded by gray areas that
doom any hard definition. As the term implies, a pseudoscience is a doctrine or
belief system that pretends to be a science. What distinguishes pseudoscience
from real science? Radner and Radner (1982) and MacRobert (1986) have
discussed criteria for separating real science from pseudoscience and for helping
to decide whether a new claim is pseudoscientific.
The most common characteristic of a pseudoscience is the nonfalsifiable or
irrefutable hypothesis. This is a hypothesis against which there can be no
evidence—that is, no evidence can show the hypothesis to be wrong. It might at
first seem that such a hypothesis must be true, but a bit of reflection and several
examples will demonstrate just the opposite. Consider the following hypothesis:
“I, Terence Michael Hines, am God incarnate, and I created the universe thirty
seconds ago.” Now, you probably don’t believe this hypothesis, but how would
you go about disproving it? You could argue, “You say you created the universe
thirty seconds ago, but I have memories from years ago. So, you’re not God.”
But I reply, “When I created the universe, I created everyone complete with
memories.” We could go on like this for some time and you would never be able
to prove that I’m not God. Nonetheless, this hypothesis is clearly absurd!
Creationists, who believe that the biblical story of creation is literal truth,
often adopt a similar irrefutable hypothesis. They claim that the world was
created less than ten thousand years ago. As will be seen in chapter 13, vast
amounts of physical evidence clearly refute this claim. All one has to do is point
to something older than ten thousand years. Backed into a corner by such
evidence, creationists often rephrase the creationist hypothesis in an irrefutable
form. They explain the clear geological and fossil evidence that dates back
millions of years by claiming that God put that evidence there to test our faith.
An alternative version is that the evidence was manufactured by Satan to tempt
us from the true path of redemption. No evidence can refute either of these