Psychokinesis

{{psychic}}
{{expand}}
{{cquote|All those in here who believe in telekinesis, please raise my right hand.|||Steven Wright}}
'''Psychokinesis''', or '''PK''', is the ability to cause objects to move without any contact (physical, electronic, or electromagnetic), using "the power of the mind". It is also sometimes referred to as '''telekinesis''', or '''TK'''.<ref>Not to be confused with [[TK|the Conservapedia sysop of the same name]].</ref>

Like [[telepathy]], PK has been investigated for many years by various organisations, with no results.<ref name="skepdic">[http://www.skepdic.com/kinesis.html psychokinesis (PK)] The Skeptic's Dictionary</ref>

==Imagined success==
Wouldn't it be simply wonderful if you could change the physical world and achieve whatever you want in life just by the power of your thought and your will?  

You can move your body by the power of your mind alone. Why not try to move outside objects the same way?

There are [[shyster|people]] and organisations out there who promise to teach you how to do psychokinesis.

You just become their acolyte and pay the [[woo|woomeisters]] money or [[sex|whatever]] [[Soul|else]] they want in exchange.

==Blaming the victim==
{{main|Victim blaming}}
[[New Thought]] and related [[Law of attraction]] both try to use the power of the mind to influence events, and people who cannot put right whatever is wrong in their lives are [[blaming the victim|blamed]] for incorrect thinking.

==Publication bias==
{{main|Publication bias}}
{{cquote|Scientists have been investigating PK since the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century, but with little success at demonstrating that anyone can move even a feather without trickery involving something as simple and obvious as blowing on objects to move them.||| ''[[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]''<ref name="skepdic"/>}}
[[Parapsychologist]]s have written that psychokinesis has been proven in experiments with subjects influencing the output of a [[random]] number generator. In an investigation of 380 studies, a group of scientists (Bösch ''et al'', 2006) have written a [[meta-analysis]] on the subject.<ref name=bosch>[http://deanradin.com/evidence/Bosch2006RNGMetaFull.pdf Examining Psychokinesis: The Interaction of Human Intention with Random Number Generators. A Meta-Analysis] by Holger Bösch et al. (2006) ''Psychological Bulletin'' Vol. 132, No. 4, 497–523.</ref> In their paper they wrote "statistical significance of the overall database provides no directive as to whether the phenomenon is genuine or not" and came to the conclusion that "[[publication bias]] appears to be the easiest and most encompassing explanation for the primary findings of the meta-analysis."<ref name=bosch/> So contrary to what you might read in a parapsychology book, psychokinesis has not been [[science|scientifically]] proven.

==Quantum mechanics or vague==
{{main|Quantum woo}}
Sometimes purveyors of telekinesis claim that [[quantum mechanics]] somehow proves that [[consciousness]] affects [[reality]], though there is no proof.

Their idea is based on misunderstanding a rather controversial version of the [[Copenhagen interpretation]], ignoring that there are many competing interpretations of quantum mechanics.

Other times proponents just rely on [[Goddidit|God does it]], [[Magic|Magic does it]], [[Paranormal|the paranormal does it]], etc.

==As the stuff of horror movies==
Most people's knowledge of psychokinesis comes either from stage [[magician]] and woomeister [[Uri Geller]], or from [[Hollywood]]. In particular, horror novels and films like Stephen King's ''Carrie'' and David Cronenberg's ''Scanners'' love this trope; after all, what defense do you have from someone who can pop your skull with his or her mind?<ref group=note>Come on. You knew we were gonna link to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3NoBeNwfk this scene] the moment we mentioned ''Scanners''.</ref> Films like these inadvertently provide some of the best evidence there is on why psychokinesis doesn't exist — if it did, somebody, be it a defense contractor or an angry teenage girl, would have figured out how to use it to kill people. (Or maybe it ''does'' exist and [[Conspiracy theory|they just hushed it up]]. [[JAQing off|Hey, just asking questions is all.]])

Psychokinesis is also common in fiction of other genres, such as in Roald Dahl's ''[[w:Matilda (novel)|Matilda]]'' and its adaptions.  However, this is not evidence for its existence in the real world.  Telekinesis works well in escapist fiction in part because the reader has no real experience with it.

==See also==
*[[Quantum woo]]
*[[Uri Geller]]
*[[Precognition]]
*[[Psychic]]

==External links==
*[http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/331/7531/1498/ The case of the disappearing teaspoons]
*[http://ed5015.tripod.com/PaTelekinesis115.htm TELEKINESIS Psychokinesis investigated]
*[http://www.livescience.com/28119-telekinesis.html Telekinesis: Facts About Mind Over Matter]
*[http://jamesaconrad.com/TK/tklab.html A guy who wants the government to give him "100 BILLION US DOLLARS" to research psychokinesis]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Psychic powers]]

Categories: Pseudoscience, Psychic powers