Subject: Re: energy fields
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 97 21:14:27 -0400
From: Wade "T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
To: memetics <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
I seem to remember an otherwise cogent post severely marred with the
quasi-science of 'human energy fields' and even, gasp, 'vibes'....
This is an offer....
1. THE HUMAN BIOFIELD: $1,100,000 PRIZE IF YOU HAVE THE TOUCH. Major
hospitals throughout the US offer a procedure variously known as
"biofield therapeutics" or "touch therapy." The James Randi
Educational Foundation announced this week that its $1.1M prize would
be awarded to the first "touch therapist" who can demonstrate under
simple test conditions the ability to detect a human energy field.
According to touch therapists, the energy field or "qi" sticks out
some 20 cm and can be tactilely sensed -- at least by trained
professionals, of which there are some 30,000 in the US alone. It
might more properly be termed "no-touch therapy," since practitioners
do not actually touch the patient; they use their hands to "balance"
the patient's qi. Although it may not be dangerous to have your qi
manipulated, it is of scientific interest to ask if a palpable
biofield actually exists. In the six years since its creation, the
NIH Office of Alternative Medicine has never thought to ask that
question.
*****************
Wade T. Smith
morbius@us1.channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
morbius@cyberwarped.com |
********* http://www.channel1.com/users/morbius/ ********
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