I've gone ahead and done your research for your diploid and I think I've come across the critique of my evidence which so heavily rely on. I'm going to post the URL where everyone involved can read "Voodoo Science and the Belief Gene" by Robert Park as well as the rebuttal to that article which was published in "The Skeptical Inquirer." Article: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_24/ai_67691836 Rebuttal: http://www.istpp.org/crime_prevention/voodoo_rebuttal.html
Now I'm going to go over some of the "facts" which I have uncovered in examining the two articles. "Fact" #1 Mr. Park claims that the study was conducted using 5000 people, when according to the people who published it, it only contained 4000. Inaccuracies from the word go. "Fact" #2 Park claims that the study claimed to reduce crime by 18%, and claimed that this was stated at the original press conference in 94. The rebuttal itself, published sometime after the article, and still sticks by the 23% figure. I'm not sure where you got the idea that they changed their figures afterwords, but I'll continue to research for another 10 minutes or so to see if I can uncover anything else. "Fact" #4 Park claims that crime rose during the period in which the study was conducted. His claim is based on and I quote "the Washington Post would tally the gruesome weekend killings in the city." Highly scientific and statistical in nature don't you think? Funny, he doesn't mention anything about obtaining his info from the DC police department, as the publishers of the study do. Oh looking into this further there was a reason why the reported in question did not believe the statistics, that's because the murder average remained at 10 a week, just like the rest of the year, but during a normal summer, the murder rate would have rose drastically. Secondly, there was a 36 hour period during one week end, in which nearly 10 people died, doubling the toll for that week to twenty, he neglected to notice that the next week there were only 4. Also, park fails to mention rape, because it did actually fall that is in comparison with the rest of the year as well 58% to be exact. "Fact" #4 You claim, as Mr. Park did in his 2000 article which is the subject of this post, that a scientific study must be submitted to a peer review board or published in a scientific journal, which this study was not. This claim is completely unbased, and I quote " The results were published in Social Indicators Research, a respected, peer-reviewed, scientific journal (Hagelin 1999)." That's right, 1999, a year before Mr. Park published his article. "Fact" #5 The Park article is completely lacking in statistics, and a bibliography noting his sources. I find any such article that dares to make fiery claims without a hint of evidence highly dubious. Hagelin's study on the other hand has both cited source, and statistical information.
So there are some of the basic flaws in what I'm assuming is your ground to stand on.
Additionally you state that there is no control, technically speaking there isn't. Surely Hagelin could have built himself a John Titoresc time machine and went back in time, after the study was concluded, to a different world line, asked his ulterior self not to do the study, collected the same statistical data from the same time period on that worldline, and then returned with the control. But for some reason, which I cannot discern, he did not do that, and instead, in place of a control he used the strange idea of comparing it to the statistics of other years, and even bothered to check weather patterns(as hot weather is statistically correlated to violent crime.)
Your claim that no studies have ever been produced which reproduce the DC studies findings, is completely under researched follow this link and you shall see: http://www.tmprogram.com.au/research/recent_research.html you're gonna have to scroll down a bit but its all right there: 477. ASSIMAKIS, P. D., and DILLBECK, M. C. Time series analysis of improved quality of life in Canada: Social change, collective consciousness, and the TM-Sidhi program. Psychological Reports 1995 (In press).
Improved Quality of National Life: Improvements on a Weekly Index Including Motor Vehicle Fatalities, Homicide, and Suicide (Canada, 1983-1985); Improvements on a Monthly Index Including Motor Vehicle Fatalities, Homicide, Suicide, Cigarette Consumption, and Worker-Days Lost in Strikes (Canada, 1972-1986).
478. GELDERLOOS, P.; CAVANAUGH, K. L.; and DAVIES, J. L. (1990). The dynamics of US-Soviet relations, 1979-1986: Effects of reducing social stress through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. In Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section, Alexandria, VA.
Improved U.S.A.--Soviet Relations: Improved U.S.A. Statements and Actions Towards the U.S.S.R. and Improved U.S.S.R. Statements and Actions Towards the U.S.A. (U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., 1979-1986).
479. ORME-JOHNSON, D. W.; ALEXANDER, C. N.; and DAVIES, J. L. The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field: Reply to a methodological critique. Journal of Conflict Resolution 34(2): 756-768, 1990.
Strong Replication of Original Research Methodology.
480. REEKS, D. L. Improved quality of life in Iowa through the Maharishi Effect. Abstract of Doctoral Dissertation, Maharishi International University, U.S.A. Dissertation Abstracts International 51(12), 1991.
Reduced Unemployment, Traffic Fatalities, and Crime Rate (Iowa, 1979-1986).
481. HATCHARD, G. D.; DEANS, A. J.; CAVANAUGH, K. L.; and ORME-JOHNSON, D. W. The Maharishi Effect: A model for social improvement: Time series analysis of a phase transition to reduced crime in Merseyside metropolitan area. Psychology, Crime, and Law (1995, in press). Also presented by invitation to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society on Criminal and Legal Psychology, 1-3 March, 1993, Harrogate, England.
Decreased Crime Rate (Merseyside, England, 1988-1991).
482. HAGELIN, J. S.; ORME-JOHNSON, D. W.; RAINFORTH, M.; CAVANAUGH, K.; and ALEXANDER, C. N. Results of the national demonstration project to reduce violent crime and improve governmental effectiveness in Washington, D. C. Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy Technical Report 94:1, 1994.
Decreased Violent Crime Rate (Washington, D.C., June and July, 1993); Increased Popular Support for U.S. President.
Not a direct reproduction, but several studies with similar findings. Now I know what your next accusation is probably going to be, and that is that none of the studies are worth the poop in my pants, because they're all from people with the same ideas, and perhaps even many of them are from the same institution. Ouch, you got me. So that means that none of the stanford studies on physics which produce similar results can be validated because they're all from the same place. Right? hrm.
Well now that I've gone ahead and called your bluff, and done all the "follow up" research for myself, I can find no reason why I would be inclined to give your claims any credit. I dare you to produce something of evidence, which is at least well cited to back up your claims. Other wise you should really just give up the argument over this particular piece of evidence, believe it or not, and move on to something else. If any one else has some piece of evidence which my discredit mine I implore you, help me subscribe to some new idea, because as of yet, my good friend diploid is very unconvincing. -MOR P.S. I also welcome critiques on my debating skills, I'm always looking for tips that might help me to become a master debater. But you must PM me on that note, for I believe that it is off topic.:)
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