Chapter 16 Chapter Thirteen: Crazy about Reality
On the fringes of science—sometimes as a continuation of the prescient ideas that lead to scientific discoveries—lurk a series of tantalizing or at least somewhat shocking ideas, but these ideas have not yet been tested by dedicated testers of new ideas. Conscious tests have been done, at least by the originator of the idea: the notion that the surface of the earth should be on the inside of a sphere rather than the outside; or the claim that you can float in the air through meditation; the ballet Actors and basketball players can jump so high because of this levitation; or I have something called a soul, which is neither matter nor energy, but a thing without any physical trace, which can exist after I die And can revive a cow or a bug.
Typical pseudosciences and superstitions include—and this is a sampling, not a comprehensive list—astrology; the Bermuda Triangle; "Bigfoot" wild men and the Loch Ness monster; ghosts; the "evil eye"; Surrounded by colorful halos (and the colors vary from person to person); extrasensory perception, such as telepathy, prophets, teleportation and long-distance "remote viewing"; belief that the number "13" represents misfortune (as many hotels and serious people in the United States office building jumps straight from 12 to 14 floors—why risk bad luck?); bloody statues; believe good luck in a rabbit's broken leg; wand prospecting; water sprites; autistic " "Barrier-Free Communication"; the belief that putting a razor blade in a cardboard pyramid can make it sharper, and other "pyramidological" beliefs; calls from dead men (who never paid the bill); Nostradamus's Prophecy; the alleged discovery that untrained flatworms can learn by eating the pulverized carcasses of their own kind; the idea that crime rises when the moon is full; palmistry; numerology; lie detectors; relying on comets, tea, Freaks predicting future events (plus ancient popular divination; divination by looking at animal entrails, the shape of flames, smoke, shadows, residue, etc.; listening to stomach growls; even by looking up logarithmic tables at one time ); "photographs" of past events, such as images of the crucifixion of Jesus; a Russian elephant who can speak fluently; Cass (who predicted the "emergence" of the long-"vanished" Atlantis in the 1960s) and other prophets, including "sleeping" and "waking"; Out-of-the-shell (near-death) experiences as real events in the outside world; faith-healing hoaxes; Ouija boards; geraniums' emotive activity uncovered by daring use of a "lie detector"; water remembering what molecules dissolve in it; Judging human personality traits from facial features and bumps on the skull; the delusion of the "100th monkey"; the claim that whatever a small number of us want to make true will be true; humans spontaneously combust until scorching; the three-ring life cycle; perpetual motion machines that promise an infinite supply of energy (but for one reason or another they are all prevented from perpetual motion by the scrutiny of skeptics); the absurdity of Jean Dixon's system Prophecy (he "predicted" that the USSR would invade Iran in 1953, that the USSR would defeat the United States and put the first man on the moon in 1965) and some other professional "wizards"; Jehovah's Witnesses predicted the end of the world in 1917 The Arrival, and many like heralds; Intellect and Faith Healing; Carlos Castaneda and "Witchcraft"; Claimed Discovery of the Remains of "Noah's Ark"; "The Horror of Amedieville" and Other Hauntings and the like; legends of brontosaurus in the Congo rainforest of our time. (An in-depth discussion of similar claims can be found in the Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, edited by Gordon Sterne, Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1996)
Fundamentalists and Judaizers reject many of the above statements because the Bible forbids them to do so. The Old Testament (18:10,11) says (King James Version):
There should be no such thing among you: the man who can send his son or daughter through the sea of fire, the man who sees the future, the watcher of the times, the man who casts spells.Witches, magicians, and similar spiritual interpreters, shamans, and psychics.
Astrology, spiritism, voodoo boards, divination of the future and other such things are forbidden. The writers of the Old Testament do not prove that what those people actually promised could not be fulfilled, but they are indeed hateful-perhaps suitable for other peoples, but not for God's followers.Even the apostle Paul, credulous about many things, counsels us to "prove all things."
The 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides went further than the Old Testament when he made it clear that pseudoscience was useless:
It is forbidden to practice astrology, the use of magic, spellcasting... all of which are nothing more than those lies and deceptions that were used by the ancient pagans to fool the masses and lead them astray... the wise and wise know it well . (Chapter 11 of "Lost Guide")
Some ideas are hard to test - for example, a failed expedition to find a ghost or a brontosaurus doesn't mean they don't exist.Lack of evidence does not prove that it does not exist.Some evidence is relatively easy to obtain - for example, flatworms gain knowledge by eating their own species, or the claim that bacteria that are otherwise subject to antibiotics can be prayed to multiply in agar medium (as opposed to praying to control bacteria); a small number - such as water motors - can be ruled out using fundamental physics.Apart from them, there are some that cannot be judged until we have the evidence to establish their error; strange things are often connected with science.
The question that often arises is, to what extent is the evidence reliable?The burden of proof falls, of course, on the shoulders of those who make the claims.Instructively, some proponents insist that skepticism is also tendentious, and that true science is inquiry without skepticism.They may be half right, but half of them are of little use.
Parapsychologist Susan Blackmore describes a phase of a shift toward a more skeptical view of "psychic" phenomena:
A mother and her daughter from Scotland claim to be able to extract images from each other's minds.They chose playing poker as a test because they had tried it with it at home.I asked them to choose the room for the test, and made sure there was no normal way between them for the recipient to see the playing cards.It turned out that they failed, and they were disappointed that they could not predict the cards more accurately than chance.But they still insisted on believing that they could do it, and I began to feel how easy it is for people to be deceived by their own wishes.
I have also tested the function of some people who move objects by thought.Several children claimed that they could move objects by telekinesis, and several said they had telepathic abilities.But they all failed.Even now in my kitchen at home I have a five-digit piece of paper, a message and a small object, places and objects that a young man decides to store and tries to see them with the soul that leaves his body, though They've been there for three years (although the content changes often), and he still hasn't been successful.
"Telepathy" literally means perception at a distance—just as a "telephone" can hear sounds from a distance, and a "television" can see images from a distance.The word means to communicate feelings, emotions, not thoughts.About a quarter of Americans believe they have experienced something similar to telepathy.Two people who know each other well, who live together, who are familiar with each other's ways of feeling, relating, and thinking, can often know in advance what their partner is going to say.This is done only through one's five senses and mindfulness, sensitivity and understanding.It may feel like ESP, but these are not at all what the word "telepathy" defines.If something like this turns out to exist conclusively, then, I suppose, it still has an identifiable physical cause—brain currents, perhaps.Pseudoscience, rightly or wrongly called, in no way refers to the supernatural, which by definition is something outside of nature.
There may be a small chance that a small number of these extrasensory claims will one day be corroborated by solid scientific data, but it would be foolish to accept any of them without good evidence.For claims that have not been falsified or adequately explained, we are best served with the attitude of the dragon in the garage, by being patient, cultivating a tolerance for ambiguity, and waiting for—and preferably looking for—support or disapproval. evidence.
In the South Sea, far from the land, it is said that a wise man, a healer, an incarnate soul, who can speak beyond time, and a master who has ascended to heaven have appeared.He's coming, they say, he's coming...
In 1988, Australian newspapers, magazines and television stations began to receive such a message through the distribution of advertising materials and videotapes.A widely circulated source states:
carlos shows up in australia
Those who saw it never forgot.The extraordinary young artist who was talking to them suddenly shook and trembled, his pulse became dangerously slow, and finally stopped at the point of death.Medical staff monitoring the condition at all times were ready to answer the alarm.
But the pulse came back—faster and stronger than ever—as the flat wavy lines on the cardioscope display jerked.The life force is clearly returning to the body—but instead of Jose Luis Alvarez, a 19-year-old artist whose pottery adorns some of America's richest homes, Carlos, An ancient soul.With shock and revelation, his teachings came to the world.One entity makes way for the other through the form of death: this is the miracle that made Carlos, with José Luis Alvarez as the 'channel', the new form dominant in the consciousness of the New Age.A skeptical New York critic commented: "This is the first and only time the channelists have provided tangible, objective evidence of mysterious changes in human physiology.
Now Jos, whose brief death and transformation spanned more than 170 years, visited Australia on instructions given by Carlos—the "old New World," in the words of the master, would be a source of special revelation.Carlos has predicted that in 1988 a cataclysm would sweep across the planet, two important world leaders would die, and then Australians would be the first to see the rise of a gigantic star that would have profound consequences for life on Earth .Sunday 21st, 15:00, Sydney Opera House
After a motorcycle accident in 1986, Jose Alvarez -- then 17 -- suffered a moderate concussion, the article explained.When he recovered, those who knew him said he had changed.Sometimes a very strange sound came out of his throat.Confused, Alvarez turned to a psychologist who specializes in multiple personality disorder.The psychiatrist "discovered that Jos was a channel controlled by a distant entity called Carlos. When Alvarez's life force relaxed to a certain level, this distant entity took control of his body".Carlos turns out to be a 2,000-year-old unincarnated spirit, a ghost without a body.The last time it invaded the human body was in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, in 1900.Unfortunately, that body fell off a horse and died at the age of 12.The therapist explained that this was why Carlos had entered Alvarez's body when he had a car accident.While unconscious, Carlos's soul was focused into his body through a large rare crystal ball and manifested the wisdom accumulated over time.
The article also includes a list of the major cities in which they appeared in the United States, a tape of Alvarez/Carlos' huge hits in Broadway theaters, live interviews with New York radio station WOOP, and other shows This has become the stuff of New Age wonder in America.Two small corroborating details: One is an article from a South Florida newspaper - "Theatre Announcement: Carlos the Psychic's Three-Day Stay Has Been Extended Following People's Requests for His Reappearance, and the Event Will Be a War Memorial Hall held..."; another excerpt from the TV Program Guide -- "The Carlos Entity: In-Depth Research Reveals the Truth Behind Today's Most Popular and Controversial Personality."
Alvarez and his agent arrived in Sydney in first class, they traveled everywhere in a huge limousine, they lived in the presidential suite of one of the most exclusive hotels in the city, and Alvarez wore the A finely crafted robe with gold lace.At the first press conference, Carlos showed up, powerful, knowledgeable, and commanding.Australian television aired Alvarez immediately.Footage of his agent and his nurse (who checks his pulse for Carlos' presence).
They were interviewed by presenter George Niggs on Australia's Spectacle Today.When Niggs asks a few legitimately skeptical questions, this new-age sage looks thin-skinned.Carlos cursed the host, and his agent poured a glass of water on Niggs before strutting out of the studio.It became an instant sensation in the tabloids.It was edited for significant content when it aired on Australian television. "Big blast on TV: Water splashed on Niggs" headlined the Daily Mirror on 16 February 1988.The calls kept coming into the TV station.One Sydneysider suggested taking the spell on Niggs seriously, adding that with Satan's army taking control of the US, Australia might be next.
The reappearance of Carlos' name was in the Australian edition of Current Events.A skeptic emerges who exposes the magician's deception by pointing out that there is a way to easily stop the pulse in one of your hands: put a rubber ball in your armpit and squeeze hard.When Carlos' authenticity was called into question, Alvarez appeared outraged, even yelling, "Stop the interview!"
During the agreed time on the 21st, the Sydney Opera House was packed with people.Excited crowds, young and old, wandered the corridors in anticipation.Admission is free - which reassures those who vaguely thought it might be a hoax.Alvarez sat comfortably on a low couch, his pulse constantly being monitored.Suddenly, the pulse stopped, and he seemed to be dying, and a low, strange guttural sound came from deep inside his body.The audience held their breath in amazement and awe.Suddenly Alvarez's body was full of strength again, his posture showed a strong self-confidence, a deep and generous, benevolent and holy voice floated from Alvarez's lips, this is Carlos !In interviews after the show, many in the audience described how moved and excited they were.
On the second Sunday, Australia's most popular TV show - with a copy of the American program's title "60 Minutes" - revealed that the Carlos affair was an outright hoax, and the producers took it as a lesson , which reveals how easy it is to create a faith healer or religious leader to deceive the public and the media.So it was only natural that they got in touch with one of the world's most famous experts in deceiving the masses (at least not those in government officials and government propaganda)—the magician James Landy.
“There are so many madmen who practice self-medication, and there is such an instinct in man to deceive himself and others.” —Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1784:
... I have lived so long that I have often had the opportunity to see remedies that claim to cure any disease, but are soon cast aside as useless.I cannot help worrying that expectations of great advances in new ways to treat disease will prove delusional.However, as long as this delusion exists, it will play a role in certain situations.
Here he speaks of hypnotism, but "every age has its peculiar follies."
Unlike Franklin, most scientists don't feel it's their job to debunk pseudoscience's deceptions -- let alone passionately persist in self-deception.They don't try to do more work on this.Scientists are used to fighting nature, and nature is reluctant to hand over its secrets, but its fight back is just.They are often unprepared for unscrupulous practitioners of the "supernatural," as they compete by different rules.On the one hand, magicians are a deceiving trade who practice one of many professions—actors, advertisers, religious believers, politicians, etc.—where a naive observer might mistake Lying about something is forgiven by society as long as it serves a higher good.On the other hand, many magicians pretend that they don't cheat, but suggest that they draw their energy from some mystical source, most recently from alien gifts.Some also use their experience to expose liars inside or outside their circle, which is a bit like a thief shouting catch a thief.
Few rise to this challenge with as much vigor as the "amazing" James Landy.Accurately, he described himself as an angry man.What annoys Randy is not the resurgence of ancient mysticism and superstition in our society, but the ease with which it is accepted that leads to fraud, abuse, and even murder.Like all of us, he's not perfect: at times Randy is intolerant, contemptuous of others, and lacks empathy for the weaknesses that lead people to credulity.He usually pays for his speeches and performances, but if he claims that the skills he performs are of psychic, divine or extraterrestrial origin, then his income will not be comparable to what he is now. Most professional magicians seem to believe in the reality of psychic phenomena—according to a survey of their views).As a magician, he exposed many remote viewers, "telepaths", and faith healers who deceived the masses.He demonstrated that the psychics who, by bending spoons with their minds, had tricked eminent theoretical physicists into trying to deduce new physical phenomena were using simple deception and misdirection.He was recognized by scientists and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (the so-called "genius" award).But one critic once severely criticized him for being "too obsessed with reality", and I hope that this sentence can also be used to judge our country and people.
Randy has exposed more than anyone in recent times the pretense and fraud in the lucrative profession of faith healers.He discriminates and sifts through various claims.He listens to so-called "supernatural" streams received by traveling healers (not from God's inspired powers but from his wife's 39.17 MHz radio waves in the background).He found that those who stood up from their wheelchairs on the spot after receiving Faith Medicine and claimed that they were healed were not actually people who had to use wheelchairs. They were invited and led by ushers to sit in wheelchairs.He challenged faith healers to produce serious medical evidence of the effectiveness of their treatments.He asked local and federal authorities to strengthen laws governing fraud and malpractice in the medical industry.He lashed out at the news media for trying to invalidate the proposals.He exposed the extreme contempt of faith healers for their patients and parishioners.Many are sane liars - preying on people's weaknesses with the language and symbols of the Christian Gospel or New Age.There may be some people whose motivation is not to cheat for money.
Maybe I'm being too harsh?What is the difference between the occasional cheater of faith medicine and the occasional charlatan of science?Is it fair to cast doubt on an entire industry because of a few bad apples?For me there are at least two differences: First, no one doubts that science actually works, despite occasional false or deceptive conclusions.But it is doubtful that there is any miraculous healing that comes from faith healing—other than the body's own ability to heal itself; and second, that debunking and error in science is almost done by the scientific community itself.This discipline governs the scientific community itself—meaning that scientists are aware of the potential for deceit and wrongdoing.But the revelations of deceit and error in the field of faith healers are hardly ever made by other healers.Indeed, the reluctance with which the Christian and Jewish Churches denounced verifiable deceit among themselves is astonishing.
When conventional medicine fails, when we must face pain and death, of course we accept hope from other sources.After all, some diseases are caused by psychological reasons.Many illnesses can at least be alleviated by positive thoughts.A placebo is a fake medicine, usually a sugar pill.Pharmaceutical companies routinely compare the effects of their drugs with placebos, which they give to patients with the same disease, and patients cannot tell the difference between the real drug and the placebo.Placebos can be surprisingly effective, especially for colds, anxiety, hopelessness, pain, and other symptoms that are clearly mentally produced.It is conceivable that a peptide secreted in the brain - small brain proteins with morphine effects - could be secreted by the belief that the drug works.A placebo works only if the patient believes it is an effective drug.Within strictly limited limits, hope appears to be translatable into biochemicals.
As a typical example, we can examine the nausea and vomiting accompanying chemotherapy for cancer or AIDS patients.Nausea and vomiting can also be caused by psychological factors such as fear.Hydrochloric acid markedly alleviated the onset of these symptoms; but was it really a medicine or did it only offer hope of relief?In a double-blind experiment, 96% of patients who took this drug thought the drug was effective; only 10% of patients who took a placebo with the same appearance had the same opinion.
In the observational choice fallacy, unanswered prayers may be easily forgotten or ignored.Sometimes, though, there are exceptional cases where some patients are not healed by faith healing, and they blame themselves—perhaps their own fault, perhaps their faith was not strong enough.Skepticism, as they were told, is an obstacle to both faith and placebo treatments.
Almost half of Americans believe in psychics or spiritual healing.Supernatural healing has been practiced extensively throughout human history by a wide variety of real and supposed healers.Lymphatic tuberculosis, a type of tuberculosis, was once called "the king's devil" in England, and it was said that it could be cured only by the king's touch. People who contracted the disease waited patiently in a long line for the king's touch.The prince had to submit temporarily to the heavy duty of a high-ranking man—though no one seemed to be really cured—and this situation continued for centuries.
In the 17th century there was a famous Irish faith healer named Valentine Greattrak.He's a little surprised to learn that he has the power to heal ailments, including colds, ulcers, "pain" and epilepsy.There were so many people who asked him to treat his illness that he was too busy.He complained that he was forced to become a therapist.His method was to drive away the devil that caused the disease, which he said was the cause of all diseases—many of which he could recognize and name.Mackey quotes a contemporary chronicler:
He boasted that he knew better about the wiles of the devil than about human things... With such faith in him, the blind imagined seeing lights; the deaf imagined hearing voices;Healthy beliefs can make sick people forget their disease; the imagination of people who are driven by mere curiosity is not much worse than that of sick people. beliefs, whose effect is to make the patient credulous to a false cure out of a strong belief that he is cured.
The world literature contains innumerable research and anthropological reports of not only cases of healing by the faith of the healers, but of cases of gradual death by the curses of sorcerers.Álvard Naz Cabeza speaks of a somewhat typical example.In desperation, he and several companions wandered by land and sea, from Florida, Texas to Mexico, for nearly nine years, from 1528 to 1536.He met many different groups of Native Americans eager to believe in the supernatural healing powers of some light-skinned, black-bearded, strange foreigner, and dark-skinned people from Morocco, Istanbul.In one village all the people came out to meet them, and laid all their possessions at the feet of these Spaniards, humbly begging him to cure their diseases.The process of treatment begins with a dignified formality:
They try to make us doctors, and they don't examine or ask us for a license, because they cure diseases by simply blowing air on patients, ... They order us to do the same and think it will have some effect. …by having us sign the sign of the sign of the cross in front of our patients, blow on them, and say Pat Noster and Ivy Maria. …When we first started crossing ourselves, all the patients who were treated told others that they felt better and their health was restored. …
Soon they healed the lame man.Kabeza Devica said he once brought a man back to life.Afterwards, we were surrounded by a large group of people who followed us, unable to get out....They were so eager to come out to touch us, and their requests were so urgent, that after three full hours, we still could not persuade them to leave us.
When a tribe begged the Spaniards not to leave them, Cabeza de Vica and his companions became angry.Then,
A strange thing happened... many of them fell ill, and eight of them died the next day.All the people in this land know it, and they are very afraid of us, as if they would die of fear if they saw us.
They begged us not to be angry, they didn't want any more of them to die; they were all convinced that we could make people die by thought.
In 1858 a vision of the Virgin Mary was reported in Lourdes, France.This Mother of God confirms the doctrinal theory of holy conception proclaimed just four years ago by Pope Pius VI.Since this incident, millions of people have come to Lourdes with the hope of being cured, many of them suffering from diseases beyond the reach of the medical skills of the time.The Roman Catholic Church refuses to admit the veracity of the numerous cases of purported supernatural cures, admitting only 65 cases in nearly a century and a half (tumours, tuberculosis, impetigo, bronchitis, paralysis, and other ailments, but Does not include regeneration of limbs or severed spinal cords).Among the 65 cases, the ratio of women to men was 10:1.There is only a one-in-a-million chance of the miraculous supernatural healing phenomenon in Lourdes; when you go to Lourdes, if your disease is cured, it is like winning the lottery or failing a normal flight (including you) The chances of dying in a crash on a flight to Lourdes are as slim.
The self-healing rate of cancer is estimated to be between one thousandth and one hundred thousandth.If less than 5% of the people who go to Lourdes are for cancer treatment, then 50 to 500 people should be "supernaturally" cured of cancer patients alone.Since only three of the 65 cases proved to be cancer, the cure rate in Ludd appears to be lower than that of those patients who simply stayed at home.Of course, if you're one of those 65 cases, it's going to be hard to argue that your trip to Lourdes wasn't the reason the disease was cured... (Post hoc, ergo propter hoc).It won't be any different for every faith healer.
When a Minnesota doctor named William Nolen heard many of his patients mention what was said to be faith medicine, he resolved to spend a year and a half chasing down the most astonishing cases of the time.Can there be definite medical evidence to prove that the disease does exist before it is "cured"?If so, does the condition actually go away after treatment, or is it just a personal opinion of the therapist or patient?He exposed many hoaxes, including the first exposure of "psychic surgery" in the United States.He found that none of the cured diseases were serious organic (non-psychological) diseases.No case of gallstones or rheumatoid arthritis has ever been cured, let alone cancer or cardiovascular disease.When a child's spleen ruptures, a minor surgical procedure can bring the child back to normal quickly, Nolen said.But when the child was taken to a faith healer, he died within a day.Dr. Noren concluded:
When (faith) healers deal with serious organic ailments, they are responsible for endless anguish and misery. …They became murderers.
Even the most recent book touting the efficacy of prayer in healing disease (Larry Doss, The Healing and Language) is troubled by the fact that some diseases are easier to cure or lessen than others.If prayer works, why can't God cure cancer or regrow severed limbs?Why is there so much pain in the world that God can easily prevent and avoid?Why do people have to pray to God?Didn't he already know what kind of treatment should be given?Doss also begins by citing Stanley Kripner, M.D., known as one of the world's most authoritative investigators of unorthodox healing methods:
The research data on obscure, prayer-based treatments are informative, but the data are too sparse to draw firm conclusions.
This is a remedy that has been practiced by countless prayers over the millennia.
Kabeza Devica's experience suggests to us that the mind can cause certain diseases, even fatal ones.When blindfolded patients are tricked into believing they have touched poison ivy or oak leaves, they develop an unsightly red contact dermatitis.Essentially what faith healing can help with are mental conditioning or comforting ailments: some back and knee pains, headaches, stuttering, ulcers, nervousness, hay fever, asthma, hallucinatory paralysis and blindness, false pregnancy (along with cessation of periods and bloating).These are all diseases in which the mind plays an important role.Most of the diseases cured by the vision of the Virgin Mary in the late Middle Ages were sudden, short-term, general or partial paralysis, which were mostly caused by psychological disorders.Furthermore, faith healers generally insist that only truly devout believers can be healed.It is not surprising that recourse to one state of mind called belief can alleviate, at least in part, the disease caused by another state of mind, perhaps not very different from each other.
But there's something else: In traditional Chinese communities in the United States, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an important holiday.In the week leading up to the holiday, the survey found a 35% drop in the community death rate, and a 35% jump in the following week.This phenomenon was not found in the non-Chinese community as a control group.You might think that suicide is a cause, but the data here only counts natural deaths.You might think it was stress or overeating, but that hardly explains the drop in death rates before Mid-Autumn Festival.The greatest impact is on people with cardiovascular disease, which is known to be susceptible to psychological stress, and to a lesser extent cancer.A closer look found that the fluctuations in mortality were all in women aged 75 or older.Mid-autumn festivals are presided over by the oldest women in the family, who are able to defer death for a week or two in order to fulfill their festive responsibilities.A similar pattern exists in the weeks leading up to and following the Jewish Passover, a holiday celebrated by male elders.And this kind of thing is happening all over the world in birthday celebrations, graduation ceremonies and other ceremonies or festivals.
In a more controversial study, psychiatrists at Stanford University divided 86 women with metastatic breast cancer into two groups -- one group was constantly motivated to examine their fear of death and take responsibility for their own lives. The other group received no special psychological support.让研究人员吃惊的是，前一组患者不仅经历的痛苦要少，而且她们能活的更长一些——生命平均延长了18个月。
斯坦福研究组的领导人戴维·斯皮格推测可的松和其它的“压力激素”能够损害人体自我保护的免疫系统。严重抑郁的人，如考试期间的学生和丧失亲人者白血球数量会减少。好的情绪也许不能对晚期的癌细胞产生较大的作用，但能够帮助已经被疾病和治疗折磨得很虚弱的患者减少二次感染的机会。
在他写的一本几乎被遗忘的书《基督教科学》(1903年)中，马克·吐温写到：
人的想象力量是一种可以治疗自己，同时也可以伤害自己的与生俱来力量。第一个人具有，最后一个人也将同样具有。
偶尔有些更严重的疾病带来的痛苦和焦虑或其它的症状能够通过信仰治疗师减轻——然而，并不能抑制疾病的发展进程。但这就已经不是小的效果了。信仰和祈祷能够减轻疾病及其治疗带来的某些症状，减轻痛苦的折磨，甚至可以稍稍地延长一些生命。在评价被称为基督教科学的宗教信仰时，甚至马克·吐温——那个时代最严厉的批评家——也承认心理暗示的力量引起人身体和生命的全身心的体验比在祈祷中忍受医疗的痛苦而死去更有价值。
在约翰·肯尼迪死后，各式各样的美国人宣称与他的鬼魂接触过。在他的照片被摆在许多人家里的神龛以前，超自然的治愈事件就已经开始报道了。“他为了他的人民献出了自己的生命”，一个相信灵魂不死的宗教信徒曾解释道。按照《美国宗教大百科全书》上说：“对于那些信徒们来说，肯尼迪是他们的上帝。”类似的情形在猫王(艾尔维斯·普莱斯利)现象和其信徒由衷的呐喊“猫王还活着”中也能发现。如果这样的狂热信仰运动都能够自发地产生，那么很难想象那些有组织的，尤其是那些肆无忌惮的宗教运动会做些什么。
为了回答他们的疑问，兰蒂对澳大利亚电视台的“60分钟”节目组说，他们要的只不过是一个无名小卒的把戏——利用的是一个没有经过魔术训练或公众演讲，并且干脆没上过宗教讲坛的人。当他仔细考虑这一骗局时，他的目光落在阿尔瓦雷斯身上，这个年轻的雕塑家，他是兰蒂的房客。阿尔瓦雷斯回答道，为什么不干呢？当我遇见他时，就发现他似乎是一个聪明、有幽默感、有思想的人。他经过强化训练，包括模仿在电视上露面和参加记者招待会。然而他没有必要思考答案，因为耳朵里有一个几乎看不见的无线电接收机，通过它对兰蒂进行提示。“60分钟”派人悄悄检查了阿尔瓦雷斯的表演，证明卡洛斯这个角色是阿尔瓦雷斯编造的。
当阿尔瓦雷斯和他的经纪人——同样是被召来从事这一工作，而且毫无经验——抵达悉尼时，懒散的毫不引人注意的詹姆斯·兰蒂在活动的周围用他的对讲机发出指令。证明文件都是伪造的。诅咒、泼水以及所有的情节都被认真排练以吸引媒体的注意，他们做到了。由于引起了电视和出版界的注意，于是许多的群众出现在歌剧厅里。一家澳大利亚报纸连锁店甚至全文印刷了“卡洛斯基金会”的传单。
当“60分钟”节目播出后，其他的澳大利亚媒体都被极大地激怒了。他们抱怨说他们被利用了，别人向他们说了谎。并说这“就像法律中对警察使用眼线有所规定一样”，彼得·罗宾逊在《澳大利亚金融观察报》上大发脾气：
对传播媒体一定要有一个限制以保证它们不会在设计一个误导性的场面时走得太远……。就我个人而言，只是不能接受这一点，即以撒谎的方法来报道事实是一个可以接受的手段……。每次公众的问卷调查显示普通公众中存在一种怀疑，认为媒体的报道不会讲出全部真相，对于事实他们或是扭曲、或是夸大、或是抱有偏见。
罗宾逊先生是害怕卡洛斯也许已经给广泛流传的错误提供了一点佐证。报上的标题从“卡格斯如何愚弄了他们所有人”到“愚蠢的骗局”，未曾大肆宣扬卡洛斯的报纸开始对自己当时的克制感到宽慰。尼格斯对“60分钟”说“即使正直诚实的人也会犯错误”，否认自己被欺骗。他说，任何称自己为精通通灵术的人，都是确定无疑的骗子。
“60分钟”和兰蒂都强调澳大利亚新闻媒体对确认“卡洛斯”的真实性未做任何严肃的证实。实际上，“卡洛斯”在那些列出名单的城市中从未出现过。他在纽约剧院舞台上出现的录像带要感谢魔术师培恩和泰勒的帮助，是他们在那儿请求观众给予一阵阵热烈的喝彩；穿着金饰边长袍的阿尔瓦雷斯走上去，观众们按计划鼓掌欢呼，于是兰蒂得到了录像带，阿尔瓦雷斯挥手说再见，节目继续进行。另外，在纽约从来没有过那么一家叫做WOOP的广播电台。
怀疑的其它理由很容易在卡洛斯写的文章中找出来。但因为理智的价值是如此跌落，因为轻信的弱点——无论是新时代还是旧时代——如此的泛滥，因为怀疑的意识如此的淡薄，以至于没有什么拙劣的模仿是完全不可信的。“卡洛斯基金会”提供的拍卖品(实际上他们极其小心地不卖出任何实质性的东西)是一个“大西洲水晶球”：
迄今五个世间仅有的水晶球是升天的神在途中发现的。科学上还没有办法解释每个水晶球所利用的几乎纯粹的能量……，具有强大的治疗力量。它实际上是灵魂力量的化石和给予地球对新时代的来临做准备的厚礼……。五个大西洲水晶球中有一个是升天的主时刻随身携带的，作为自我保护和增长灵魂力量之用。其中有两个被美国的衷心的服从者获得，作为他们服从升天的主的要求所做出的重大贡献的回报。
另外，在以“卡洛斯的水”为标题的文章中有如下描述：
升天的主偶然发现了如此纯净的水，以至他开始对大量的水施以能量以使其他人受益，这是个必须精心的过程。为了制出数量总是极少的神水，升天的主净化自己和许多制成烧瓶形状的纯石英晶体；然后使他自己和水晶球放入一个抛光的、能时刻保持温暖的大铜碗中；经过24小时后，主管者把能量注入水的灵魂储藏在库中……。这样，水的灵魂在用时无需从瓶子中取出，而只要握紧瓶子并集中注意于伤口或疾病即可进行治疗，最后产生惊人的效果。无论怎么严重的不幸降临到你或你的亲人头上时，涂极少这种能量之水立即会帮助你复原。
而在“卡洛斯的眼泪”一文中又有这样一段话：
那个升天的主所设计的细颈瓶子呈现出红色，因为眼泪充分证明了它们的强大力量，但它们在冥想中的影响力(原文如此)被那些体验过的人描述成“光荣的唯一”。
还有一本小册子，名为《卡洛斯的训导》，它是这样开头的：我是卡洛斯，我从过去无数的化身走向你，
我有一段伟大的教义要告诉你，
仔细听，
认真读，
审慎思考，
真理就在这儿。
书中第一课问道：
“我们为什么来到这里……？”回答是：“谁能作出唯一的答案？对任何问题都有许多的答案，并且所有答案都是正确的。就是这样，你明白了吗？
这本书告诫我们在读懂本页之前不要翻到下一页。这是使我们很难读完它的几个因素之一。
对于怀疑者，它在后面启示道：“我只能这样说：让他们按他们所希望的去做吧，他们最终将什么都得不到——也许是两手空空。但信徒们有什么呢？什么都有！既然所有的和任何的回答都正确，那所有问题自然就都得到了解答。你的回答是对的！反驳他们吧，怀疑者。”
还有：“不要对任何事情都要求解释。尤其是西方人，总是对为什么这样或为什么那样要求做冗长的解释。许多问题是显而易见的，为何非要深入探讨这些问题呢？……简洁地说，所有事情都会变成真的。”
这本书的最后一页只印有一个大写的词：告诫我们，去“思考！”
《卡洛斯的训导》一书的整个内容都是由兰蒂写的。是兰蒂和阿尔瓦雷斯用了几个小时用膝上型计算机匆忙写成的。
澳大利亚新闻媒体感觉被他们中的一员出卖了。这个国家中起领导作用的电视节目背离了原来的常规，而去揭露那些致力于新闻和公共事务的机构中以假乱真的广泛的不严肃行为。一些媒体分析家辩解道，这显然不重要，如果重要的话，他们早就把它检查出来了。很少有人承认“是我的过失”。但当第二个周日的“60分钟”对“卡洛斯事件”进行回顾时，所有上当者却没有一个愿意出现在节目中。
当然，这样的事不独澳大利亚能够发生。阿尔瓦雷斯、兰蒂和他们的共谋者们如果选择地球上任何一个国家，都会产生类似的效果。即使那些向卡洛斯提供全国的电视观众的人也清楚地知道应该问一些怀疑性的问题——但他们无法拒绝第一个邀请他露面的诱惑。当卡洛斯离去后，媒体之间的内讧占据了报纸头条新闻。对于这次揭露骗局写出了大量的令人迷惑的文章。什么是问题的关键？这件事情证明了些什么？
阿尔瓦雷斯和兰蒂证明了我们的信仰是多么容易被左右，我们是多么容易被诱导，当人们感到孤单和信仰饥渴时又是多么容易被愚弄。如果卡洛斯在澳大利亚停留的时间再长一些，更多地集中于信仰治疗活动——通过祈祷、对他的信仰、对装在瓶子中的眼泪寄予希望、抚摩他的水晶球——毫无疑问会产生许多关于人们的疾病如何被治愈的报道，尤其是那些心理病例。甚至不需要更具欺骗性的东西，仅仅通过他的出现、讲话和其它辅助物，也会有部分人会因为卡洛斯的存在而感到身体精神都好多了。
这里我们再次看到了伴随几乎每个信仰治疗师的安慰剂的作用。当我们相信我们已服用了一种很有效的药品后，痛苦消失了——至少是在一段时间内；同样，当我们相信我们得到了有效的精神疗法后，疾病有时会悄悄溜走——至少是在一段时间内。有些人自发地宣称他的病好了，而实际并没有好。在诺伦和兰蒂以及其他人对那些被告知已被治愈，而且自己承认——例如，美国信仰医疗师的电视转播治疗服务——被治愈的人的详细追踪研究中发现，甚至找不到一个有严重器质性疾病的病人实际上是被治愈的。即使他们的病情有了令人惊异的好转也是可疑的。就如卢德事件告诉我们的，在你发现一例令人吃惊的康复之前，你可能必须调查1万到100万病例。
一个信仰治疗师也许想，也许不想通过精神欺骗来开始工作。但令他吃惊的是，他的病人看起来好转了。由于他们的感情是真诚的，感激是由衷的，所以当医疗师受到了批评，他的病人会站出来维护他。几个年老的参加过悉尼歌剧院表演的人被“60分钟”的对骗局的揭露激怒了，他们对阿尔瓦雷斯说：“不要管他们怎么说，我们相信你。”
这些成功足以使许多骗子确信——不管他们开始是多么的玩世不恭——他们真的拥有神秘的力量。也许他们不能每次都成功。他们安慰自己说，这种力量时有时无。他们必须把不成功的例子掩藏起来。如果他们必须间或搞些欺骗，他们总会告诉自己，这是为了更高尚的目标服务，他们的饶舌经过了检验，它有效。
这些人中的大多数只是想赚你的钱，这是个好消息。但令我担心的是卡洛斯再出现时将会带来更大的诱惑——一个有吸引力的、有权威的、爱国的和具有领导魅力的人。我们都渴望有一个具有竞争力的、正直的、具有超凡魅力的领袖，如果有这样的机会我们将立即行动起来，去支持他、信任他，我们自己也会感觉好一些。大多数记者、编辑和出版商——连同我们中的其他人——将会对真正怀疑性的调查感到羞愧。他不想再给你兜售祈祷、水晶球或是眼泪。也许他会向你兜售战争、替罪羊或是比卡洛斯更加无所不包的一大捆信仰。无论它是什么，它都将伴随着对怀疑主义危险的警告。
在著名的电影《奥茨的巫师》中，多萝茜、稻草人、廷·乌兹曼和胆小的狮子受到的威胁来自——真正可怕的——巨大的代神发布神谕的'伟大的奥茨'。但多尊茜的小狗陶陶向一个用来隐蔽的帘子猛咬，从而揭露出伟大的奥茨实际上是一台机器，而操纵者是一个被吓坏的矮胖男子，他也是被流放到这个偏远而陌生的地方来的。
我想我们是幸运的，因为詹姆斯·兰蒂正在努力地拉开帘子，但光靠他一人去揭露世界上所有的庸医、骗子就如同相信那些江湖骗子一样危险。如果我们不想再上当受骗，我们需要自己来做这件事。
最惨痛的历史教训之一就是：如果我们已被欺骗了足够长的时间，我们就会倾向于拒绝任何证明我们受骗的证据，我们对发现真实情况不再感兴趣。欺骗控制了我们。即使是让我们自己承认被欺骗的事实，也是很痛苦的事情。一旦你给予了骗子控制你的力量，就几乎不可能再摆脱了。所以当新的欺骗产生时，过去的欺骗依旧顽强地存在。
降神会只有在黑暗的屋子里举行，最好的情况也只能朦胧地看见幽灵的影子。如果我们把灯光开大一点，我们就有机会看看正在发生什么，幽灵就会瞬间消失。我们被告知他们是很害羞的，我们中的一些人就相信了。在20世纪的灵学实验室里，有一个“观察者效应”：那些被描述为天才的通灵者们发现只要怀疑者一来，他们的力量就显著减弱，而一旦有像詹姆斯·兰蒂那样精通魔术的人出现则力量就会完全消失。由此可见，他们所需要的只是黑暗和轻信。
一个小女孩曾是一起19世纪著名的诈骗案——与灵魂交谈(幽灵用振耳欲聋的声音回答问题)——的同谋。她长大以后承认那是个骗局；她使大脚趾的关节劈啪作响，她演示了这是如何做到的。但她的公开道歉在很大程度上被忽略了，而且她在被了解后，遭到谴责。灵魂交谈已如此被人确信，仅仅是一个认罪的交谈者信口说的话是无法使人否认它的，尽管最早是她开始整个欺骗活动的。一个故事开始流传，说她的认罪是在狂热的理性主义者强迫下做出的。
像我前面提到的，英国的一些骗子承认他们制造了“农田圆圈”——在田地里的几何图形。那并非什么外星艺术家用小麦做的艺术品，而只不过是两个家伙用木板、绳子和一点古怪的想法做成的。甚至当他们演示是怎么做的时候，信仰者还是不为所动。他们争辩道，也许有些农田圆圈是骗人的，但圆圈太多了，其中有些图形太复杂了，只有来自地球之外的力量才能制作出来。英国其他的骗子们也承认了。但有人反驳说，农田圆圈在英国之外的地方也存在，比如匈牙利，这又做何解释呢？不久匈牙利一群盲目效仿的青少年也承认了。但是，还有……
为了检验一个精神病医生对外星人劫持的轻信程度，让一个妇女假装说受到了劫持，治疗师对于她编造的幻想很感兴趣。但当她宣布这是个骗局时，治疗师的反应如何？重新检查他的会谈记录或自己对这样的病例意味着什么的理解吗？No.在另一天里他说：(1)即使她没有意识到，但她已经被劫持了；或(2)她有些疯狂——毕竟她去看了精神病医生，不是吗？或(3)他从一开始就知道是个骗局，只不过是为了让她自作自受。
有时我们更容易抛弃有力的证据而拒绝承认我们已犯的错误，这是值得我们了解的关于我们自身的信息。
一个科学家在巴黎的报纸上登了条广告说，他可以提供一张免费的占星天宫图。他收到了约159份的回应，每一个都按要求详细地写了地址和出生时间。每个回应者都收到了同样的一份天宫图，并附有一张询问天宫图准确度如何的问卷。94%的人(和90%的他们的家人和朋友)回答说在天宫图里至少辨认出了自己。然而，这张天宫图是给一个法国杀人犯绘制的。如果占星家不用看到对象就可轻松地做到这些，可以想象那些能够极其灵敏地感觉到他人的细微变化而没有过分顾虑的家伙能够做得多么好。
为什么我们如此容易就被预言家、心灵感应者、看手相者和茶叶、芋头、欧薯草的判读者或类似的人所欺骗？当然，他们注意到了我们的姿势、面部表倩、衣饰和关于一些无关痛痒问题的回答。他们中有些人对此非常擅长，在这些方面许多科学家几乎从未意识到。有一个计算机网络，“职业”通灵学家向它提供自己顾客的生活细节，使他的同事马上就能得到这些情况。一个关键的工具就是所谓的“不偏不倚的描述”，一种将对立的偏好非常巧妙地平衡起来的陈述，以至于任何人都会意识到其中有一点是说对了。这里有个例子：
有时你是一个性格外向的、和蔼可亲的、好交际的人，但有时却内向、谨慎、沉默寡言。你发现把自己过于坦白地暴露给别人不是明智的。你情愿有较多的改变余地，而不愿受到约束和限制的包围。外表是有节制的和守戒律的，但内心却是焦虑和不安的。当你有些个人的弱点时，你总是对它们进行补偿。你有很多没有用过的能力，你从未把他们转化为你的优点。你有一种总对自己不满的倾向。你有一种强烈的愿望想让别人喜欢你、崇拜你。
几乎每个人都能意识到这些性格的存在，许多人感觉它们精确地描述了自己。这不足为奇：我们都属于人类。
一些治疗专家家认为，可以证明存在受抑制的童年性虐待记忆(例如，《治疗的勇气》，艾伦·芭丝和劳拉·戴维)的“证据”清单很长而且很单调：包括睡眠紊乱、嗜食、厌食和易饿、性机能失调、无故的急躁，以及不能记起儿时受到的性虐待。另一本由社会工作者苏·布鲁姆写的书中，列举了其他泄露已被忘记的乱伦的症状：头痛、猜疑或缺乏怀疑，过度的性欲或缺少性欲和热爱父母。查尔斯·怀特菲尔德博士列出了检查“机能失调”家庭的诊断清单：“疼痛”，在危急时刻感到“特别有活力”，渴望“权利地位”，尝试过接受心理咨询或“心理治疗”，然而仍感到“有些不对头或若有所失”。像“不偏不倚的描述”一样。但如果这个清单太长或涉及过广，则我们每个人都或多或少有些“症状”。
怀疑性的调查不仅仅是根除施加在那些最不能保护自己和最需要我们同情的人身上的骗局和虐待的有力工具(而人们几乎没有提供其它的希望)，它也是一种及时的提醒物：由于得益于对在一个充满没有被充分有效治疗的政治病的社会中那些失望者、轻信者、无抵抗力者的欺诈，其它的各种谎言通过群众集会、广播、电视、印刷媒介、电子交易市场、邮购等各种形式注入到政体之中。
那些伪装成事实的胡说八道、骗局、不着边际的胡思乱想、欺诈和个人的愿望不仅限于对我们心中所想象的事物所进行的神秘的和模棱两可的诱导，不幸的是，它们已渗透到每个国家的政治、社会、宗教、经济主流之中。(1656年托马斯·阿迪在《预言家和巫师》一书中抨击了这些人：“对于疑惑的事情，他们给出令人疑惑的回答……可能性越确定，他们给的回答也越确定”。)