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From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Correction to my Helmut Schmidt article
Message-ID: <878@ihuxr.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Feb-84 13:36:33 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxr.878
Posted: Wed Feb  1 13:36:33 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 09:18:15 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
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A week or so ago, I posted a comment about the psychokinesis experiment
by Helmut Schmidt which was described on the NOVA ESP show. I noted
that a net displacement of 120 after 6000 random binary steps was not
statistically exceptional. Dean Radin has convinced me that the figure
of 120 is NOT the displacement but the number of steps-to-the-right
above average. This is 1/2 the displacement. A displacement of 240 steps
after 6000 total IS significant. About one trial in 10,000 would be expected
to achieve this.

It seems that the NOVA graph is taken from one in the book, MIND AT LARGE
which shows deviations of +160 and -144 out of 6400 "trials". This adds a new
confusion since (according to Dean) the cumulative deviations are shown
"after each section of 256 trials". Presumably a set of 256 trials means
one session of 256 binary events. Of course, the division into sets of
256 raises the old spectre of selected data.

I have obtained the source article of another graph shown on the NOVA
show. It is by R.G. Jahn (Dean of the Princeton School of Engineering)
and appears in Proceedings of IEEE, Vol 70, no.2, February 1982.
It is a long survey article which includes a description of a REG
(Random Event Generator) experiment conducted by a Princeton undergrad.
This was cited on NOVA as one of the corroborations of Schmidt's results.
I'll post some more comments about this article to net.misc.

	Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew