[Rq-rules] Farewell to CON

[Gary Sturgess]

>  Both of you have illustrated my point - that we can't even agree on a
> definition of power, thus we can't even argue the merits. There are those
> folk who feel that prayer has power yet it can't be quantified or measured
> on a meter. However you will find reputable psychologists & doctors with no
> religious bent themselves encourage their cancer patients to actively take
> up prayer & show documentation that survival rates are measurably higher
> amongst those who pray.

Actually the study to which you refer has been roundly blasted as
having no proper controls, and thus invalid. Were it otherwise, it
would most certainly have qualified for the million dollar prize
mentioned earlier.

> Prayer is usually considered a form of magic.

Of course.

> Does it exist or not exist?

People pray, yes. But it doesn't alter the laws of physics in favour
of the prayer - not demonstrably, at any rate, though even an atheist
like myself would be more than willing to be shown otherwise.

> One author said many years ago that technology sufficiently advanced to a more primitive culture is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C Clarke.

> Are ESP, Magic & prayer merely our attempt to grasp a technologies we don't understand yet?

None of those three have any credible evidence. There are generally
the attempts of conmen to capitalise on gullibility, or alternatively
a form of comforting self delusion.

But again, this is NOT really anything to do with RQ; I'm more than
happy to continue any discussion via email to avoid bothering the rest
of the list.
-- 
GAZZA