ESP Test Site Fails To Impress: Forces Me To Enter My Address Instead of Already Knowing It
Posted on 11 May 2008, at 9:00 am, by Wayne Schulz
Web site The Anima Project promises to finally end the debate of whether certain paranormal phenomena exist. To be honest as soon as I visited their site and it asked me to enter in my full name, address, city, state and zip – my mind was made up. If paranormal/ESP/clairvoyance existed shouldn’t they have sensed my name and address instead of asking me?
Sorry but it’s a little creepy that this site asks me to enter in all of my personal information – just to run some seemingly random (and hopefully anonymous) tests of my clairvoyance.
The site claims they are collecting data to test paranormal occurences.
From their press release:
The Anima Project is unique in that it “plies the scientific method to a field commonly derided as pseudo-science, establishing a protocol for legitimate and reproducible analysis of the occult”, says project administrator and creator Keith Comito. Unlike previous parapsychology studies, the Anima Project eliminates human error and bias during data acquisition and employs sophisticated statistical techniques such as goodness-of-fit testing and runs analysis to interpret that data in a meaningful and significant manner.
So how did it work?
Once I completed the registration, I started the tests which consist of guessing which of 5 patterns is a match to a hidden card.
It doesn’t look like I’m very clairvoyant or ESP-capable. Out of 7 tries, I only matched twice – which seems to be about what you might predict someone would guess given average mathematic odds.
When you’re done with the tests, the site also sells Anima T-Shirts. And yeah, you have to give them your shirt size – I guess they’re not mind readers.
Link: The Anima Project
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May 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Genius! I swear, Wayne, you’re the Mythbuster of the GearDiary team. And I loves me some Mythbusters!
May 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Priceless!
May 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
okay, whoever wrote this is completley insane. The system doesn’t claim to be physic, thw whole point is to find out, based on the USERS results, if there is such thing as physic ability. Its not that difficult to comprehend, mayeb if you read the introduction on the website your article wouldnt be as off as it is.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hello Wayne,
I am Keith, the one who created the Anima Project. First off I’d like to note that much of the personal information is optional and that it is an automated computer system receiving the information. Hence, it would be impossible for it to already know your information, unless of course I can build a psychic computer (upgrade from Terminator anyone?).
As far as the cards, the project is boiling down the clairvoyance issue to the simplest case possible with as few variables as possible (no red-lit rooms with sensory deprivation goggles or anything ultra strange and complicated like has been done in the past). The success ratio you see at the end of your testing is not statistically significant in itself, its just there for user reference. Once the amount of tests a person takes surpasses a threshold value their results become a single data-point in an overarching statistical analysis.
As far as merch, I need a ton of people to participate in order to have statistically significant results and all the free publicity I can get helps.
For reference the reason why I ask for the (optional) personal information is that it will make it easier to selectively contact a subset of users for later phases of the analysis. Of course I wouldn’t need this if I had a psychic computer system but I haven’t perfected that one yet, but I’ll keep you posted!
–Keith
May 11th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The press release:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/.....932174.htm
Refers to:
Seaford, NY (PRWEB) May 10, 2008 — The Anima Project promises to finally end the debate of whether certain paranormal phenomena exist. The site, launched April 10, 2008, is currently gathering data from the internet community in preparation for a definitive mathematical analysis of clairvoyance and precognition, bringing such realms under the lens of rigorous science for the first time in history.
While Wikipedia defines Paranormal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe unusual phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation.[1] In parapsychology, it is used to describe the ostensibly psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings.
I enjoyed the guitar/music on the site though.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
In that very same wikipedia article under the “Experimental approach” heading it refers to “Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing…” so I think my use of the term “paranormal” is fair. I also said “certain paranormal phenomena” so I wasn’t referring to the entire scope of the subject (or the umbrella, as it were). Glad you enjoyed the guitar music though, I created it largely by accident one day when I was just experimenting.