WTF Stories of the Week

[Alex]

I don't know enough to pick a side since they claim they started looking for evidence of consciousness based on some brain scans, but yeah, if Facilitated Communication is the method being used my default is going to be an assumption of either self-deception (by the facilitator) or simple fraud.

Here's the Randi article.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Alex

I don't know enough to pick a side ....

It is a wasted day here at work so I've been poking around on this and everything I've seen convinces me it is facilitated communication and therefore complete bunk.

They may have found other evidence of consciousness (though the details on that seem to be unknown) but these conversations he's had aren't. First step is to get a faciliator who doesn't speak Flemish and see how good the results are. Then ask him questions while his facilitator is out of the room.

Then fire the doctors who fell for this and feel really bad for the family desperately grasping at straws and taken in by a con.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Alex

It is a wasted day here at work so I've been poking around on this and everything I've seen convinces me it is facilitated communication and therefore complete bunk.

They may have found other evidence of consciousness (though the details on that seem to be unknown) but these conversations he's had aren't. First step is to get a faciliator who doesn't speak Flemish and see how good the results are. Then ask him questions while his facilitator is out of the room.

Then fire the doctors who fell for this and feel really bad for the family desperately grasping at straws and taken in by a con.

Hmmm - the NPR interview with the MD made it sound like they conducted tests to rule out facilitated communication.