El artículo en cuestión es Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, “Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding,” Nature 251: 602 – 607, 18 October 1974. Presenta los resultados de varios experimentos sobre telepatía en los que intervenía Uri Geller, quien encerrado en una habitación blindada tenía que realizar un clásico truco de magia, dibujar en papel una copia de los dibujos que otras personas habían realizado con anterioridad e introducido dentro de sobres opacos y bien sellados.
Ya que lo tengo a mano, c+p el párrafo relevante de Flim-Flam!. Negritas mías.
When a scientific paper titled "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding" appeared in the British magazine Nature in October 1974, it had already made the rounds. As early as 1972, Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, its authors, had submitted it to U.S. publications as a project of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). All had rejected it. Its acceptance by Nature was indeed interesting, especially since it was held by the editor for an unprecedented eight months while he checked on what he called "a ragbag of a paper."
Nature is among the most prestigious scientific publications in the world. That its staff accepted this unusual paper seemed at first surprising, for their standards are known to be high. What is not generally known among those who have accorded the paper the imprimatur of established science as a result of this acceptance is that it had been through several submissions and revisions before it was accepted, the more harebrained material having been weeded out at the insistence of the editors. More importantly, Nature ran a lengthy editorial in the same issue explaining that the Targ-Puthoff paper was being published so that scientists could see the kind of material that was being turned out in the field of parapsychology. The editorial called the article "weak," "disconcertingly vague," "limited," "flawed," and "naïve." But Nature accepted it, and as a result it was followed by a long stream of respectful publicity. Even the New York Times fell into the trap, treating it as a respectable paper. If the Times had known what is now known about the Targ-Puthoff work, it would have been covered on the entertainment pages.
Tanto método científico y... cagada para Nature, de manos de un simple charlatán.
El programa de Iñigo “Directísimo” hizo mucho daño. Todavía hay mucha gente que da como "bueno" el numerito de Uri #1 Si Flim Flam! te gustó, "Why people believe weird things" (Shermer, 1998) te encantará...
#2 De hecho, me lo leí hace meses aunque Shermer se me hace un poquito cargante, entre las palmaditas en la espalda del somos-más-listos y el rollo libertario.
Paranormality, de Richard Wiseman, por ejemplo, me pareció también bastante interesante.
#4 Publicar en Nature es muy complicado. Pero aún y así se les cuelan troles. Hace algunos años Nature publicó un artículo sobre "memoria del agua" (¿base? de la homeopatía) que también fue de traca.
Comentarios
Ya que lo tengo a mano, c+p el párrafo relevante de Flim-Flam!. Negritas mías.
When a scientific paper titled "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding" appeared in the British magazine Nature in October 1974, it had already made the rounds. As early as 1972, Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, its authors, had submitted it to U.S. publications as a project of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). All had rejected it. Its acceptance by Nature was indeed interesting, especially since it was held by the editor for an unprecedented eight months while he checked on what he called "a ragbag of a paper."
Nature is among the most prestigious scientific publications in the world. That its staff accepted this unusual paper seemed at first surprising, for their standards are known to be high. What is not generally known among those who have accorded the paper the imprimatur of established science as a result of this acceptance is that it had been through several submissions and revisions before it was accepted, the more harebrained material having been weeded out at the insistence of the editors. More importantly, Nature ran a lengthy editorial in the same issue explaining that the Targ-Puthoff paper was being published so that scientists could see the kind of material that was being turned out in the field of parapsychology. The editorial called the article "weak," "disconcertingly vague," "limited," "flawed," and "naïve." But Nature accepted it, and as a result it was followed by a long stream of respectful publicity. Even the New York Times fell into the trap, treating it as a respectable paper. If the Times had known what is now known about the Targ-Puthoff work, it would have been covered on the entertainment pages.
#5 He añadido una traducción de estos párrafos a la entrada en mi blog. Gracias.
Ondia, justamente estaba leyendo "Flim Flam!" de Randi. Targ, Puthoff y Geller tienen un extenso capítulo dedicado a ellos en ese libro
Tanto método científico y... cagada para Nature, de manos de un simple charlatán.
El programa de Iñigo “Directísimo” hizo mucho daño. Todavía hay mucha gente que da como "bueno" el numerito de Uri
#1 Si Flim Flam! te gustó, "Why people believe weird things" (Shermer, 1998) te encantará...
#2 De hecho, me lo leí hace meses aunque Shermer se me hace un poquito cargante, entre las palmaditas en la espalda del somos-más-listos y el rollo libertario.
Paranormality, de Richard Wiseman, por ejemplo, me pareció también bastante interesante.
#3 100% de acuerdo contigo. Tenemos afinidad lectora...
Más ligero y divertido "Sleights of Mind" (Macknik).
Los de Nature ...confundieron lo de la ciencia con lo de la "Cienciología y creencias afines".
#2 El libro que comentas parece muy interesante.
#4 Publicar en Nature es muy complicado. Pero aún y así se les cuelan troles. Hace algunos años Nature publicó un artículo sobre "memoria del agua" (¿base? de la homeopatía) que también fue de traca.