GUERRILLA FUNDING
Paul H Smith
President International Remote Viewers Associati=
on
(It’s easier to Read if you should print i=
t out.
Click File and then, or Control-P)
Outside of philosophy=
of
science circles, few people have ever heard of Imre Lakatos. Lakatos, who died in 1974 at the a=
ge of
51, was a peer of Thomas Kuhn, now famous for bringing the word “para=
digm”
into popular use. LakatosR=
17;s
ideas about scientific progress are subtler than Kuhn’s notion of sud=
den
paradigm shifts, but in other ways they harmonize. I won’t go into detail now, =
but
one of Lakatos’s points is important to what I have to announce
here.
Kuhn’s revoluti=
onary
ideas exposed the role of the “Old Guard” in slowing scientific
progress. The Old Guard is the
gatekeeper of social and scientific orthodoxy. Its ranks are filled with
scientists, academics, scholars, professors, and theorists. Defenders of the status quo, they =
have
committed their careers to a certain way of approaching the world. They are so invested in the old wa=
y of
doing things that they are obliged to allow only small, acceptable changes =
to
the old paradigm and fight against the new.
Thomas Kuhn told us w=
hy they
do it. Imre Lakatos told us <=
i>how
they do it.
Members of the Old Gu=
ard
don’t just argue against new ideas that conflict or contradict the
paradigm they zealously defend. And
they don’t just ignore or reject new perspectives, new tools, or new
findings that don’t square with the world view they are committed to
protecting. They actively res=
ist
change by denying to any researcher who fails to win their approval the mea=
ns to
make progress in the field. T=
he Old
Guard owns the resources that make research possible.
What are these
resources? First there are the
official publications, the refereed journals, the textbook publishers. If your experiment fits inside the
borders of the old paradigm, your findings stand a good chance of being
published in journals or books where others can see them and build upon
them. What you discover becom=
es
part of the world’s knowledge base.&=
nbsp;
If, however, you rese=
arch a
phenomenon that is deemed inappropriate – that is, for example in the
case of ESP or remote viewing, considered ‘pseudoscience’ – it does not matter how carefully y=
ou
work, nor how profound your discoveries.&n=
bsp;
The Old Guard will spurn you.
You will not get published, no one will notice your work, and no one
will build on your findings. =
But that is not the o=
nly way
the Old Guard keeps the new paradigm at bay. The most powerful means to enforce
orthodoxy in science is by controlling the money. Nearly all research requires some =
level
of funding. Whether it is for
specialized instruments, data processing, analysis, test tubes, meters, off=
ice
materials, compensation, or travel – without funding it is difficult =
to
do much worthwhile research.
Super-colliders, quantum computing, genetic modification, stem cell
research, or even grizzly bear reproduction receives billions, millions, or
even scores of thousands of dollars in grants and research funds. There was a time when ESP and other
kinds of parapsychology research received not millions, but at least thousa=
nds
of dollars a year. But as the
skeptic movement gained strength, the funds for ESP research dried up. And the skeptical community, along=
with
mainstream science that the skeptics have managed to co-opt, wants to keep =
it
that way.
It is time, however, =
for a
change. Thomas Kuhn knew that=
the
Old Guard doesn’t last forever.
(One saying has it that “Science progresses one death at a
time.”) And Imre
Lakatos told us that old “scientific programmes” eventually give
way under pressure from the new.
Ironically, the Obama
presidential campaign has shown us the way. Whether you intend to vote for Sen=
ator
Obama or against him, you have to admire the genius in how he funded his
campaign. He mostly by-passed=
the
fat wallets of the political establishment – the political Old Guard – and
appealed directly to the common man (and woman). Though I’m sure Obama apprec=
iates
big checks he receives from people with lots of money, his real strength co=
mes
from those who are only able to contribute in denominations of 20, or 50 or=
100.
Opinion polls regular=
ly show
that a large majority of the populace continues to recognize the reality of=
ESP
and other of what we have come to call ‘paranormal’ phenomena.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The smaller minority who don=
217;t
believe in these things include many in the intellectual elite – the
scientists and skeptics who make up today’s Old Guard. They are the ones who hold the pur=
se
strings. As long as we must r=
ely on
them to open up those purses before we can do more real research into non-l=
ocal
consciousness, that research will never be done!
But we can learn from=
Barack
Obama’s example how to make an end-run around the Old Guard to help b=
ring
new life to the scientific exploration of ESP. The International Remote Viewing
Association (IRVA) wants to lead the way.&=
nbsp;
To accomplish this IRVA is doing three things:
IRVA
is in the beginning stages of building an online resource of information to
help those interested in scientifically investigating remote viewing create
good quality research projects and experiments, while avoiding mistakes that
have been made in the past. W=
hy
reinvent the wheel, when so much is already known about what can go wrong a=
nd
how to avoid it?
IRVA
has activated the Gabrielle Pettingell Memorial Research Fund. You can make your tax-deductible
contribution by mail or online at http://www.irva.org. (Click on=
the
“Contribute to IRVA” link at the top.) We encourage you to be generous, b=
ut
welcome any amount from $10 to $10,000 or more. You can be sure that your contribu=
tions
will used only for worthy research projects (IRVA retains 5% of contributed
funds to offset processing and banking expenses).
IRVA
is in the process of sponsoring its first-ever remote viewing research
project. In November a group =
of six
experienced remote viewers will gather and, assisted by four additional
research personnel, will to do four sets of double-blind remote viewing tar=
gets
while being monitored by an operating random event generator (more details =
are
available at http://www.irva.org/REGproposal.html ). This experiment is being coordinat=
ed by
consciousness researcher Melvin Morse, MD, IRVA’s secretary John P.
Stahler, and IRVA’s president, Paul H. Smith. Expenses will run about $2,000.
You may have heard of= guerrilla marketing. Now we open a new = era of Guerilla Funding. You have a = chance to join a movement that aims to overwhelm the Old Guard. Become a part of future history by joining with us today.