- Britain's psychic power is being put
to the test by a strange-looking steel kiosk called the Mind Machine.
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- It is travelling the UK gathering data
to see if people really can put mind over matter.
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- The Mind Machine works by asking people
to try and influence the toss of a coin, seen on a computer screen. In
a logical world, people would correctly predict the result of the toss
50% of the time.
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- But if mind power can influence the computer
into giving the result a person wants, then they would be right more than
50% of the time. Some small scale experiments suggest that people who claim
to be psychic can do this.
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- But the Mind Machine's inventor, psychologist
Dr Richard Wiseman from Hertfordshire University, says: "Some people
argue that if this sort of ability does actually exist, it will be very
small.
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- "So the only way to find out if
it is there is to get lots and lots of people guessing. We hope to have
250,000 people by the end of the year."
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- The Mind Machine programme works through
a touch-sensitive screen. It first asks people to answer four quick questions,
including whether they are male or female and a sceptic or believer.
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- Everyone is then given four attempts
to psychically influence a computerised coin toss. For each attempt, people
are first asked to call either heads or tails. The computer then uses a
pseudo-random number generator to decide the outcome of the toss.
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- Over 4,000 people have already taken
part, but Dr Wiseman wants as many as possible to try and settle the psychic
argument.
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- Confirmed dates for the Mind Machine
are;
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- 3 to18 April, Edinburgh International
Science Festival 24 to 25 April, Fortean Times Unconvention, London 1 June
to 31 July, Inspire Science Centre, Norwich
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- Check the Mind Machine website for latest
details and results.
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