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when the infamous fictional character
Kari white left her high school prom
hall ablaze and brought terror upon her
town she relied on her powers of
telekinesis the ability to manipulate
physical objects using the power of the
mind alone but while Kari is just a
fictional film based upon a fictional
book belief in telekinesis isn't
fictional at all for centuries humans
have claimed they really do have the
power to control the motion of objects
using only their minds
levitation opening doors at will and
spoon bending are all intriguing
examples it happens in the matrix when
neo freezes bullets midair and it's a
skill that Yoda has honed to a tee but
is telekinesis real or just as fictional
as Carrie Yoda and neo combined to
investigate we need to evaluate
telekinetic claims through a scientific
lens using the scientific method
telekinesis is part of the discipline
called parapsychology in which
researchers study psychic phenomena
parapsychologists regard what they do as
a science but other scientists disagree
let's start with a few basic
observations observation number one
while there are loads of anecdotes out
there about telekinesis there's no
scientific proof that it exists no
studies conducted according to the
scientific method and repeated under lab
conditions can show that it's real in
the 1930s the so-called father of
parapsychology Joseph Banks Rhine tested
in the lab whether people could use
telekinesis to make a dice roll the way
they wanted it to but afterwards
scientists couldn't replicate his
results
and since replication is key to proving
an idea that was a problem
aside from scientists there are also
countless self-proclaimed telekinetics
but all have been exposed as tricksters
or can't perform under conditions where
they're not totally in control
suggesting that they manipulate the
situation to get the results they want
today there's even a huge stash of prize
money available
from lots of organizations for anyone
who can prove that psychic abilities
like telekinesis are real but these
riches remain unclaimed observation
number two when we investigate
telekinesis there's no consensus about
what exactly is being measured our
powerful yoda-like brain waves at work
perhaps since nobody agrees it's
difficult to apply a research standard
something required in all other types of
science to test the validity of ideas
observation number three the point of
science is to discover the unknown and
in the history of scientific
investigation it's definitely happened
that new discoveries have gone against
established science and even overturned
whole branches of science such
discoveries must be proven extra
carefully to withstand skepticism in the
case of telekinesis the idea goes
against established science but lacks
the powerful evidence in favor of it our
universe is controlled and explained by
the laws of physics and one of these
laws tells us that brain waves can't
control objects because they're neither
strong nor far-reaching enough to
influence anything outside of our skulls
physics also tells us that the only
forces that can influence objects from
afar are magnetic and gravitational
probably the closest thing to
telekinesis that science can explain is
the use of thoughts to control a robotic
arm in the brains of stroke patients who
can't move researchers can implant tiny
wires into the region that controls
movement and then train the patient to
concentrate on moving a robotic arm
which acts like an extension of their
minds and it works it's amazing but it
isn't telekinesis the patient's thoughts
aren't just vague undetectable things
they're measurable brain signals
translated through wires into a robot
science can measure tests and explain
the motion and that's how we've shown
that this kind of mind control is real
science is a slow process of
accumulating the evidence that either
stands for or against an idea when we
stack up evidence we can see which tower
grows tallest and in the case of
telekinesis it's not the tower showing
that it exists
some say this mystical phenomenon can't
fit within the confines of science and
that's okay but then telekinesis becomes
purely a matter of personal conviction
if something can't be assessed
scientifically then it can't be
described as scientific either so the
results of our investigation reveal that
however much we may want to believe that
the force really is within us the case
for telekinesis remains weak sorry neo
Kari and Yoda your skills are
mind-blowing but for now they belong in
the movies
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