Dean Radin (/ˈreɪdɪn/; born February 29, 1952) is a parapsychology researcher.
He has been Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), in Petaluma, California, USA, since 2001, served on dissertation committees at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, and former President of the Parapsychological Association.[1][2] He is also co-editor-in-chief of the journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing.[3]
Invariably, as Dean Radin patiently explains in this book, the experiments indicate that the experience of reading someone else’s thoughts, seeing a faraway event, or anticipating the future is real. Ever since science demolished faith as a way of knowing reality, facts are supposedly supreme, and when the same fact is repeatedly shown.
Radin's ideas and work have been criticized by scientists and philosophers skeptical of paranormal claims.[4][5][6][7] The review of Radin's first book, The Conscious Universe, that appeared in Nature charged that Radin ignored the known hoaxes in the field, made statistical errors and ignored plausible non-paranormal explanations for parapsychological data.[8]
Dean Radin Twitter
- 3Books
Early life[edit]
Radin worked as a concert violinist for five years, later switching to engineering after earning an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as both a master's degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[9] After his graduation, Radin worked at Bell Labs, and then conducted research at Princeton University, GTE Laboratories, University of Edinburgh, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and was a faculty member at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Parapsychology[edit]
Radin was elected President of the Parapsychological Association in 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2005 and has published a number of articles and parapsychological papers supporting the existence of paranormal phenomena, as well as two books directed to a popular audience: The Conscious Universe and Entangled Minds.[10] Radin believes that parapsychology is as repeatable as any science but that it is also, as paraphrased by sociologist Erich Goode, 'elusive, subtle and complex', a field of study that is 'difficult to replicate' and for which 'our understanding of it is incomplete'.[11]:157
Radin's paranormal claims have been roundly rejected by those in the skeptical and mainstream scientific communities, some of whom have suggested that he has embraced pseudoscience and that he misunderstands the nature of science.[11]:158[12][13] The physicist Robert L. Park has written 'No proof of psychic phenomena is ever found. In spite of all the tests devised by parapsychologists like Jahn and Radin, and huge amounts of data collected over a period of many years, the results are no more convincing today than when they began their experiments.'[13]
Chris French criticized Radin for his selective historical overview of parapsychology and ignoring evidence of fraud. French recounts that the medium Florence Cook was caught in acts of trickery and two of the Fox sisters confessed to fraud, but that Radin did not mention this fact.[14] Radin has claimed the results from psi research are as consistent by the same standards as any other scientific discipline but Ray Hyman has written many parapsychologists disagree with that opinion and openly admit the evidence for psi is 'inconsistent, irreproducible, and fails to meet acceptable scientific standards'.[15]
Radin and his colleagues have suggested that small-scale studies have produced a 'genuine psychokinetic effect'[16] but critics have asserted that Radin has not shown evidence that the null hypothesis of no such effect can be confidently rejected.[17][18] Further, psychologists David B. Wilson and William R. Shadish writing in Psychological Bulletin criticized claims made by Radin and his associates that human minds can psychically influence random number generators, saying that parapsychologists 'need to go beyond statistics and explain how the mind might influence a computer, then test that prediction'.[18] Radin has appealed to quantum mechanics as a mechanism, claiming that it can explain the non-locality and backward causality associated with psi phenomena, though such ideas are harshly criticized by physicists who study quantum mechanics as being pseudoscientific.[11][a][6][19] Radin has written that not all people experience paranormal phenomena (or see ghosts) because they block such signals due to the process of latent inhibition.[20][21]
Books[edit]
While Radin's books have been reviewed favorably by groups that give general reviews such as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews,[22][23] reviews from scientists and skeptics have been generally negative.
The Conscious Universe[edit]
A critical review of The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena (1997)[24][b] was published by the British mathematician I. J. Good in Nature. Good wrote about flaws in Radin's method for evaluating the file-drawer effect. He stated that the book avoided mentioning the evidence of fraud in parapsychology.[8] Radin replied to Good in a follow-up letter in the correspondence pages of Nature, saying that Good in his review had misinterpreted a reference to a probability value. Good replied, saying that most readers would not arrive at the same interpretation of what Radin had written noting that readers would be surprised to learn that by 'more than a billion trillion', Radin meant more than 10100'. Further, Good noted that the file drawer effect does not account for intentional fraud, as was very probably the case with prominent ESP proponents such as Samuel Soal, nor is there any real means of estimating such 'intellectual, observational or ethical lapses' within ESP.[25] In 2002, Victor J. Stenger gave a criticism of The Conscious Universe that aligned with Good's arguments that Radin did not perform the file-drawer analysis correctly, made fundamental errors in his calculations, and ignored non-paranormal explanations for the data.[5]
The book was reviewed by the philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll in a thirteen-page chapter-by-chapter critique which noted how Radin had not cited the skeptical literature on the subject of parapsychology. Carroll stated that Radin had ignored 'the many hoaxes and frauds that dot the landscape in the history of psi research.'[26]
Supernormal[edit]
Radin's book Supernormal: Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities (2013), published by New-age guru Deepak Chopra, argues support for psychic phenomena, linking them to the siddhis from yoga-related legends.[22][27] Publishers Weekly has reviewed it, saying of the book, that it is 'unfocused and opaque at times' but 'nevertheless an admirable attempt to bridge the gap between the scientific and the spiritual realm'.[22] The anonymous review by Kirkus Reviews gave it a positive review saying 'certainly not for everyone, but a smart reminder that we haven’t got the whole scene covered'.[23]
Dale DeBakcsy, writing for the Skeptical Inquirer, reviewed Supernormal and commented that the work is 'misrepresenting report data, lowering success criteria, and playing a somewhat loose game with how rigorously confidence information is presented'. The first claim in relation to evidence is that Psi effects are present above chance to a probability of 1015 to 1, from a meta-analysis of Forced choice recognition in the parapsychological literature. The study reported that the results varied wildly with an extremely unusual standard deviation, such that they dropped 10% of the most extreme variations which reduced the effect size. Inexplicably, to DeBakcsy, Radin kept the more suspect figure. Further in the book, Radin picks a test made at Princeton which claimed that:
'A rather strange yet persistent image of [the agent] inside a large bowl—a hemispheric indentation in the ground of some smooth man-made materials like concrete or cement. No color. Possibly covered with a glass dome. Unusual sense of inside/outside simultaneity. That’s all. It’s a large bowl. If it was full of soup [the agent] would be the size of a large dumpling!'
matched the location of 'the radio telescope at Kitt Peak'. This is despite there being several radio telescopes at Kitt Peak, such as the Very Long Baseline Array, but that telescope does not match the description as given. DeBakcsy contends that the ARO 12m Radio Telescope perhaps fits the best, but it was also different in several aspects to the described object. DeBakcsy further commented that, considering this is the best example out of 653 possible other tests made at Princeton, it is quite poor. Noting the spread of meta-analyses of the same studies (where the individual studies are weighted differently), have wildly varying odds returned (from trillions to one, to indistinguishable from chance), DeBakcsy argues that this undermines the reliance on meta-analysis in the work since they lack standardization.[28]
Other books[edit]
- Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality (Paraview / Pocket Books, 2006) ISBN9781416516774
- Second edition: Simon & Schuster, 2009. ISBN9781439187937
- The Noetic Universe (Random House, 2011) ISBN9781446438886 (British version of The Conscious Universe)
- Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the UniverseHarmony Books, 2018) ISBN9781524758820
Notes[edit]
- ^See also Quantum mysticism and Quantum mind
- ^In Great Britain this book is entitled The Noetic Universe.
References[edit]
- ^Haraldsson, Erlendur. 'History of the Parapsychological Association Presidents'. Parapsychological Association. Archived from the original on February 19, 2003. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
- ^'Institute Staff'. Institute of Noetic Sciences. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
- ^'Explore Editorial board'. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
- ^Milton, Julie and Richard Wiseman (April 28, 1997). Guidelines for Extrasensory Perception Research (Guidelines for Research in Parapsychology). University Of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN0900458747.
- ^ abStenger, Victor J. (2002). 'Meta-Analysis and the Filedrawer Effect'. Skeptical Inquirer. 12. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
- ^ ab'Entangled Minds by Dean Radin - Book Review'. The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
- ^Krippner, Stanley; Harris L. Friedman eds. (2010). Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. ABC-CLIO. ISBN0313392617.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^ abGood, I. J. (1997). 'Where has the billion trillion gone?'. Nature. 389 (2): 806–807. Bibcode:1997Natur.389..806G. doi:10.1038/39784.
- ^'Author Listings: HarperCollins Publishers'. HarperCollins. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- ^'Dean Radin'. Archived.parapsych.org. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- ^ abcPigliucci, Massimo; Boudry, Maarten (2013). Philosophy of pseudoscience : reconsidering the demarcation problem. Chicago [u.a.]: Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN9780226051796.
- ^Smith, Jonathan (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-1405181228. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
- ^ abPark, Robert (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. Oxford University Press. pp. 196-200. ISBN0-19-860443-2
- ^French, Chris (2010). Missing the Point?. In Stanley Krippner, Harris L. Friedman. Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?. Praeger. ISBN978-0313392610. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
- ^Ray Hyman. 'Anomalous Cognition? A Second Perspective'. csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- ^Radin, Dean; Nelson, Roger; Dobyns, York; Houtkopper, Joop (Jul 2006). 'Reexamining psychokinesis: Comment on Bösch, Steinkamp, and Boller (2006)'. APA PsycNET. 132 (4): 529–532. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^Wilson, David B.; Shadish, William R. (2006). 'On blowing trumpets to the tulips: To prove or not to prove the null hypothesis--Comment on Bösch, Steinkamp, and Boller' (2006). Psychological Bulletin 132: 524-528.
- ^ ab'From Mind to Matter: Data analysis challenges psychokinesis'. Science News. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- ^Barbara Bradley Hagerty (2009-05-21). 'Can Positive Thoughts Help Heal Another Person?'. The Science of Spirituality. National Public Radio.
The 'Quantum Entanglement' Of Love: So how do you explain this? No one really knows. But Radin and a few others think that a theory known as 'quantum entanglement' may offer some clues.
- ^Blum, Deborah (2006). 'Team won't give up the ghost'[dead link]. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Monday October 30. p. 26
- ^Radin, Dean. Entangled Minds, Paraview Pocket Books, New York, 2006
- ^ abc'Nonfiction Book Review: Supernormal: Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities by Dean Radin'. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
- ^ abLove, Robert (2013-07-16). 'SUPERNORMAL by Dean Radin'. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
- ^Radin, Dean I. (2009). The conscious universe : the scientific truth of psychic phenomena (1st HarperCollins pbk. ed.). New York: HarperOne. ISBN0061778990.
- ^Radin, D.; Good, I. J. (1998). 'Extrasensory statistics'. Nature. 394 (6692): 413. Bibcode:1998Natur.394..413R. doi:10.1038/28721.
- ^* Carroll, Robert T.'The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin - Book Review'. The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
- ^Miller, David Ian (2008-02-25). 'Parapsychology researcher Dean Radin on ESP, spirituality, and how the consciousness of individuals is connected'. SF Gate. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
- ^* Dale DeBakcsy. 'When Big Evidence Isn't: The Statistical Pitfalls of Dean Radin's Supernormal'. csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
External links[edit]
- Dean Radin on IMDb
- Pedersen, Morten Monrad (January 1, 2004). 'Book Review: Dean Radin, 'The Conscious Universe''. SkepticReport. Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- Carroll, Robert T.'Entangled Minds by Dean Radin - Book Review'. The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
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Preview — Real Magic by Dean Radin
According to noted scientist and bestselling author of The Conscious Universe, Dean Radin, magic is a natural aspect of reality, and each of us can tap into th...more
The book details a variety of studies that show quantifiable evidences of esp, clairvoyance, etc. Coming from a background of scientific method, most are sound as a beginning experiment and the experiments continue to grow to removing some of the complaints from the earlier experiments. These experiments show the merit of these phenomeons and...more
I did not fully understand parapsychology. I felt like it was a broad study of understanding the 'things that are unseen,' such as spirits, conscience, clairvoyance, telepathy, forces of this universe, etc. I apologize if I did not explain psi accurately. ^^
Pros:
I found it interesting how the author explained about...more
A well written overview and history of magic. There were times were the author felt less than objective, but all in all he seemed to approach his study in a scientific way.
Radin is a PSI scientist. He runs experiments testing whether different aspects of PSI are legit.
This book mostly answers the question of 'How Much of Magic is Real', both using his research and that of his peers. Although the title promises otherwise, their is...more
Deep, thoughtful, and provocative, I really enjoyed Radin’s style and approach. One of my favorite passages: “Many scientific and scholarly disciplines are slowly coming around to the idea that consciousness is far more important than previously imagined. This shift of opinion, combined with the idea that reality is a form of information, provides a renewed appreciation of ancient esoteric legends about magic.”
Highest recommendation to read for anyone interested in psi and/or magic.
Great book. I couldn't put it down.
Dean Radin, PhD, weaves in the science of Magic, spirituality, psi as we learn more and more, overcoming old restrictive paradigms of “science” that turn out to be a form of dogma. Some in science are now opening up more to continuing to learn vs being stuck in a worn out paradigm.
The worldview I have developed over the years has been supported and strengthened by reading Real Magic by Dean Radin. However, I have also needed to modify it. In clear and often humorous language, Dean presents the case for the reality of “paranormal” abilities. The experiments, observations and examination of hi...more
Except without the wands and cool spell words you would find in Harry Potter which I knew wasn't going to happen.
Real Magic was a fascinating and the first scientific based book about the paranormal that I have ever read.
Author Mr. Radin is a scientist and his prose is easy to read and not quite objective, since he is a believer in psi. But I don't need any more convincing arguments that psi abilities and most of the episodes I saw in The X-Files is real.
I've always been a belie...more
Real Sorcery Book
Does a solid job thing together multiple fields of thought and begins to make the case for idealism instead of scientific materialism.
To my mind Radin makes a compelling case that there are things we might commonly call magic that a) happen regularly and b) can't be explained by science. He describes how these things have been observed repeatedly in lab experiments, albeit at low levels.
These things are
- ability to communicate across space and time (virtually certain)
- ability of the mind to manipulate the physical world
- gain informati...more
As one who has experienced altered-states of awareness thru various means, I fully believe in this para...more
Dean Radin wants to take the 'woo woo' away from discussions of magic. He does this very handily in Real Magic. Using the language of science and mathematics, he shows how the principles of magic are being legitimately studied.
His overview of esoteric ideas and famous practitioners was very helpful for putting his ideas into context. The wide variety of sources he drew from, particularly in the sections reg...more