Book report: Extraordinary Knowing, by Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer
An expensive harp was stolen from Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s daughter in Oakland, California. All usual efforts to find the thieves and the harp failed. A friend suggested that Mayer contact a dowser, one of those guys who find water with a stick, in Arkansas. On a whim, she called him. Over the phone, from two thousand miles away, he described where in Oakland the harp was located. She made inquiries and within two days found the harp where the dowser described.
That incident turned her ideas of human perception upside down. A well-known psychoanalyst and psychological researcher, she set out to try to learn more about what she calls “anomalous cognition.” Her grounding in scientific skepticism is evident in the book. She clearly understands good experimental design and proper statistical analysis of results But she is also willing to listen to anecdotal accounts, and the discrepancy between the two is striking.
Contrary to popular belief, a number of careful studies have demonstrated the real existence of such anomalous abilities – including remote sensing, telepathy, and precognition – in ordinary people. However, it is also clear that ordinary laboratory procedures often lead to no observable results. What is going on here? Is it possible that there are phenomena where the investigation of the phenomena actually suppresses the phenomena? Certainly, this is often true with biological studies, where lab equipment and conditions can drastically affect the living subject of the investigation. But how can you make any headway in studying such phenomena?
Mayer raises the possibility of anomalous cognition being suppressed by the brain functions involved with conscious thought. This helps explain why “trying” to do well in tests of anomalous cognition don’t help.
This book is fascinating for several reasons. Mayer is clearly ambivalent about the subject. She has seen impossible cognition happen: she wants to know how it happens, but doesn’t want to give up her world-view for woo-woo nonsense. She has no patience for people who deceive others and themselves. There is a very interesting section where she discusses debunking fakery with a knowledgeable magician: such professional illusionists, who are experts at fooling people, are more likely to believe in the possibility of anomalous cognition than the general public. She is dedicated about reaching out to researchers whose experiments are impeccably careful and yet show real results. She gets exasperated with alleged scientists who admit that such experiments are valid, but refuse to accept their results.
There’s a great quote about faith: faith is a lack of resistance to what you hope is possible.
Mayer comes to no firm conclusions in this book. Something seems to be going on. People seem capable of “anomalous cognition” under certain circumstances. But any progress in studying this will be slow, due to the difficulty of coaxing the subject onto a microscope slide and the hostility towards those attempting the research.
Unfortunately, Dr. Mayer died in 2005; otherwise, I’m sure she would be continuing her investigation into extraordinary knowing.
Recommended for people interested in the possibility of anomalous cognition and the difficulty of doing scientific research on “fringe” topics.
An expensive harp was stolen from Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s daughter in Oakland, California. All usual efforts to find the thieves and the harp failed. A friend suggested that Mayer contact a dowser, one of those guys who find water with a stick, in Arkansas. On a whim, she called him. Over the phone, from two thousand miles away, he described where in Oakland the harp was located. She made inquiries and within two days found the harp where the dowser described.
That incident turned her ideas of human perception upside down. A well-known psychoanalyst and psychological researcher, she set out to try to learn more about what she calls “anomalous cognition.” Her grounding in scientific skepticism is evident in the book. She clearly understands good experimental design and proper statistical analysis of results But she is also willing to listen to anecdotal accounts, and the discrepancy between the two is striking.
Contrary to popular belief, a number of careful studies have demonstrated the real existence of such anomalous abilities – including remote sensing, telepathy, and precognition – in ordinary people. However, it is also clear that ordinary laboratory procedures often lead to no observable results. What is going on here? Is it possible that there are phenomena where the investigation of the phenomena actually suppresses the phenomena? Certainly, this is often true with biological studies, where lab equipment and conditions can drastically affect the living subject of the investigation. But how can you make any headway in studying such phenomena?
Mayer raises the possibility of anomalous cognition being suppressed by the brain functions involved with conscious thought. This helps explain why “trying” to do well in tests of anomalous cognition don’t help.
This book is fascinating for several reasons. Mayer is clearly ambivalent about the subject. She has seen impossible cognition happen: she wants to know how it happens, but doesn’t want to give up her world-view for woo-woo nonsense. She has no patience for people who deceive others and themselves. There is a very interesting section where she discusses debunking fakery with a knowledgeable magician: such professional illusionists, who are experts at fooling people, are more likely to believe in the possibility of anomalous cognition than the general public. She is dedicated about reaching out to researchers whose experiments are impeccably careful and yet show real results. She gets exasperated with alleged scientists who admit that such experiments are valid, but refuse to accept their results.
There’s a great quote about faith: faith is a lack of resistance to what you hope is possible.
Mayer comes to no firm conclusions in this book. Something seems to be going on. People seem capable of “anomalous cognition” under certain circumstances. But any progress in studying this will be slow, due to the difficulty of coaxing the subject onto a microscope slide and the hostility towards those attempting the research.
Unfortunately, Dr. Mayer died in 2005; otherwise, I’m sure she would be continuing her investigation into extraordinary knowing.
Recommended for people interested in the possibility of anomalous cognition and the difficulty of doing scientific research on “fringe” topics.
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