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_from many laboralore’s stead- > Margulis’s idcas. she began “vindication. receiving plaudits “ading scientists as Lewis evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould. Thomas calls her 1981 book id Cell Evolution “an indisput- - ine Lterature of science a vol- “turn out, one day hence, tobe tem” cell-symbiosis theory seems to ward acceptance. And in 1983, ccled to the National Academy of “he research “establishment.” It's “gulis is tempering her views. It's -- scientific community seems to closer to her notion that in evolu- sis may be as important as ~ She's concerned, because her umetimes misinterpreted. at it gets Pollyannaish,” she says. if. versus Cooperation—these social meaning. But it’s not really either red in tooth and claw or for the good of groups. These nadequate to describe the ge- »olic, and behavioral interactions nisms.” . and son Dorion have written a ed The Expanding Microcosm a0ks). “By survival of the fittest,” “Darwin referred not to large predatory habits but to the pro- leave more offspring. The fat door who pops a new baby every ths ig more ‘fit, more adapted, by ian the childless aunt, no matter otherwise socially powerful the be. Whether each indulges in ls and wins or loses is irrelevant. fecund in evolution, and compe- always the name of the game.” > can lead in strange directions. 1g composed of only 10 billion 5 but 100 billion bacterial cells. wlis regards as “fittest” is per- ~ymals and plants, and the planet -." she says. “But kill off microbes xs the earth will be just as sterile n° OO CREDITS ‘er Cathro, Leigh Kennedy, John Muth, John *§, NASA: page 20, Gottfried Heinwein, page asshoku, page 26, Earth Satellite Corp.: page ‘man R Lightloot/Photo Researchers: page + Riogers/Black Star, page 31 top, The Bettmann age 31 botlom, James Sugar’Black Star, page -"3 Krasemann/Peter Arnold; page 33 top, @Len -» 33 bottom, Dan McCoy/Rainbow, page 34, - Magnum, page 35 bottom, ©David Scharl/ : page 36 top, Ray El:s‘Pholo Researchers: om Jett RotmarvPeter Arnold, page 40, Manfred Arnold: page 49, James Beti’Photo Research- ‘aichael Abbey/Phota Researchers, page 54 -yp page 54 bottom, Cosimo: page 55 top, age 55 middle, Micheal Simpson. page 55 “cleman, page 56 lop. Dan Morrill: page 56 Sick Frank Studios. Inc. Chent The Garrett : page 56 bottom, Dan Mornitt page 57 top, age 39 middle, Pete Turner page 57 bottom, =o! page 58 top, Gene Coleman page 58 2s0n. page 58 bottom, Raber! M Kloepper/ 5 page 58 top, Ron Kimba". page 59 middle, “g page 59 bottom, Charles J QOrnco page courtesy of Roland Wikesson Advertising an Catherine page 86 top, Movie Stl! Ar. -5 bottom, ¢ 1984 hiew' Oavis. page 87 top, page 87 bottom, Larry Palubeck: page 88 Archives. page 88 bottom, The Bettann “12, Chns Newber: page 116, NASA Science “usearchers, pages 116, 117, Sul.van Studios Approve PeVEHIC : ciA-RDP96-00 CONTIN GE OF ADM PASE bb first ime in two weeks | saw these children score several hits But with Mrs Zhu some- times blocking our view of them, these fidg- eting youngsters had ample opportunity to chea! Moreover. one girl given a specially sealed container prepared by us returned tt with the seal undone. As the trip drew to an end, those in our group agreed that we had seen no convinc- ing evidence of EHF When we confronted our Chinese colleagues with these findings, they insisted that we were basing our judg- ment on mere demonstrations as opposed to valid laboratory experiments. Of course, children under pressure could cheal some- times, they claimed. But that did not mean that all children cheated all the time. “Our new research aborts the possibility of trick- ery.” He Chongyan told us. “It concentrates on mechanisms and explanations.” We ‘eplied that unti! we could replicate ihese experiments in the West. we would have to give them low evidential weight. Though much has happened since we left China. that is still where we stand. On February 24. 1982. China's Academy of Sciences sponsored a public hearing on EHF. Reported cases were analyzed, and in an extensive review. experts concluded that the great majority of them were unfounded. The following day. People’s Daily summa- rized the criticisms and reviewed the past several years of reports. It too concluded that there was no evidence for the claims. Though the attempt to discredit EHF has been partially successful. matters remain far from resolved. As China's official English- language publication. China Reconstructs, putit, “The debate goes on. and experimen- tation continues regarding what has be- come a highly emotional issue.” Soon alter the Chinese Academy of Sci- ences issued its decree, for instance, Chen Hsin, vice-director of the Institute of Aero- space Medico-Engineering, and Mei Lei, vice-director of the Space Life-Science Commission, attended a joint meeting of the Parapsychological Association and the So- ciety for Psychical Research, in Cambridge, England. There they described their interest in using EHF for communication in space and told us that qigong was now part of their as- tronauts’ training program. They also out- lined the current state of Chinese parapsy- chological experimentation, claiming ex- traordinary controls against fraud. “Under strictly controlled experimental conditions,” they said, “the authenticity of recognizing characters with the ears was verified. The rate of absolutely correct iden- tifications was greater than eighty percent.” These claims so far exceed those of most Western parapsychologists that even those who have little doubt about the existence of ESP and psychokinesis say the reports seem too good to be true. Psychologist John Be- loff, a past president of the Parapsycholog- £92 BQQO8Q0AZ0O# Entdren to the West for testing. Thus far, that has not happened. Accord- ing to Paul Dong. author of The Four Major Mysteries of Mainland China, the Commu- nist party. angered by the constant wran- gles, ordered parapsychologisis to conduct their research quietly. They wanted no pa- pers, no TV shows, and no more fights. Still, the rurnors persist. Dong’s sources say that thousands of psychic children have recently come out of the woadwark. And these newly discovered children, no longer content just to read messages with their armpits, now congregate in groups, where leaders help them use qi to break boards. According to a newspaper report from late 1984, Dr. Lin Hosheng, of Shanghai's Insti- tute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, can al- legedly use qi energy to move a ball and make a man whirl back and forth. Whether EHF is real or whether we are wit- nessing an extraordinary episode in collec- tive error, sociologists of science have much to learn from these remarkable events. If EHF turns out to be a reality, the obvious question will be why it took so long for sci- entists to become convinced. One answer might come from my colleague Ron Wes- trum, a sociologist of science at Eastern Michigan University. Westrum has spent years studying what he calls hidden events-— phenomena once denied by orthodox sci- ence but today accepted as real. As late as the nineteenth century, for instance, scien- tists vehemently declared that meteorites could not have originated in space. Today we know that they do. It is possible that EHF falls into a similar category. It is, of course, far more likely that EHF will be rejected, forcing us to ask why so many scientists currently accept it as valid. One reason may be that Chinese science is a rel- atively closed system, isolated from the rest of the world by a language barrier and ide- ological pressures. As psychologist Irving Janis points out in Victims of Groupthink: The Psychological Study of Foreign Policy De- cisions and Fiascoes, closed systems and strong ties between peopie tend to produce and to maintain conformity. Given China's in- sulation from the West, its ancient intellec- tual traditions, and its dependence on key scientific leaders like Qian, the EHF phe- nomenon seems understandable. But as in- teraction between China and the West in- creases, more Critical appraisal may be given to the EHF studies now available. Most philosophers of science would agree that there is no sharp line separating sci- ence from pseudoscience. The reality of EHF may be highly improbable, but science can- not tell us that it is absolutely impossible. As Carl Sagan says, the best antidote for pseu- doscience is more and better science. Only further controlled demonstrations will dem- onstrate whether EHF is real or nonsense. If EHF is valid after all, the payoff would be immense. As professor Dong Taihe, of Zhe- _jiang University, observes, "A whole new branch of science could just be waiting to PORE MSY DOORTdS/T °C lA-RDR96-00787R000300420017-1 1 ce pee ereay an a senapes eRe aa teageyenn hae be eget = =. 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