Princeton ESP Lab to Close

Nico M writes " The New York Times reports on the imminent closure of one of the most controversial research units at an ivy league School. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory is due to close, but not because of pressure from the outside. Lab founder Robert G. Jahn has declared, in the article, that they've essentially collected all the data they're going to. The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in the basement of the university's engineering building since 1979. Its equipment is aging, its finances dwindling. Jahn points the finger at detractors as well: 'If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will.'"

Comments

Re:Also

[Anomolous Cowturd]

1. There's no way they could possibly be unaware of the million dollar challenge, given their field of study.

2. Winning the challenge would not only get them a million dollars in funding, but *incredible* publicity leading to millions more.

3. They'd be crazy not to take the challenge if they knew they could win it.

4. They haven't taken the challenge.

Conclusion: They never discovered any repeatable paranormal phenomenon. Why am I not surprised?

Re:Evolution and ESP

[I don't want to spen]

... Unless, of course, demonstrating such a 'gift' resulted them in, oh, being burned at the stake as a witch, treated as the weird person up the street, or merely made it uncomfortable to be around people. Imagine if someone could read your every thought - do you think they'd stay in a relationship with you for long? What if mind reading makes people want to live alone - for the peace and quiet? What if foreseeing the future means that you don't want to hang around with people when you know how they're going to die? What if your subconscious also has telekenesis, so that dream of falling from the 13th floor can actually come true?

I don't believe in these phenomena without evidence, but I can foresee ways in which revealing them could be detrimental to someone's chance at off-spring!