Are psychic powers real?

Although Utts and I [...] evaluated the same set of data, we came to very different conclusions. If Utts's conclusion is correct, then the fundamental principles that have so successfully guided the progress of science from the days of Galileo and Newton to the present must be drastically revised. Neither relativity theory nor quantum mechanics in their present versions can cope with a world that harbors the psychic phenomena so boldly proclaimed by Utts and her parapsychological colleagues.

The recent resurgence of funding for parapsychology means there are several new labs and many new researchers at work. If psi does exist then one day one of them will find a way to demonstrate it and a theory to explain it. If that happens I shall be back like a shot, but until then, happily, I have given up.

Psi has been postulated not because normal psychology is incapable of accounting for people’s apparently psychic experiences, nor because of inexplicable findings in physics or chemistry; nor is it the logical outgrowth of some compelling scientific theory. Rather, the search for psi is now, as it has been since the formal beginning of empirical parapsychology over a century ago, the quest to establish the reality of a nonmaterial aspect of human existence — some form of secularized soul.

Religious miracles like paranormal claims postulate a nonnatural transcendental realm that allegedly cannot be evaluated by evidence or reason. The universe is bifurcated into a natural world, which science deals with, and a transcendent spiritual realm, which allegedly lies beyond our ability to comprehend it. Concomitant with these two realms, their proponents insist, are two truths. This dualism is also said to apply to human personality where we confront a "separate soul."

Parapsychology probably doesn’t have to do any harm, but in the end that’s exactly what it appears to do anyway. Parapsychology makes claims about the nature of reality and because of that, it matters a great deal whether any of it is true or not. We need to know what is real and what is not because, in the long run, that’s the best way for us to avoid harm and live better lives.

Parapsychology is the search for evidence of paranormal phenomena, such as ESP and psychokinesis. Most scientists try to explain observed and observable phenomena. Parapsychologists try to observe unexplainable phenomena. All the other sciences have led us away from superstition and magical thinking, while parapsychology has tried to find a scientific basis for such things as divination and mediumship.