Karen Stollznow On Psychic Science and Being a Skeptic

March 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with skeptical writer and blogger Dr. Karen Stollznow. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Stollznow discuss to role of science in skeptical investigations:

Alex Tsakiris: I do feel you, especially as an intellectual… and I know you're a linguist and not trained as a parapsychologist… but you have somewhat of an obligation to build off of the original research or the best research that we have in the field. So, Gary Schwartz does medium research. Then, Julie Beischel picks up the gauntlet and is going forward in publishing work with mediums. So you can like that or you can not like it, but it really to me seems to get to the core issue which is does this kind of anomalous cognition between a "medium" and a deceased person really exist?  So, why aren't you familiar with the research?

Dr. Karen Stollznow:   Well, once again, I think I've worked in so many different areas with so many different themes and topics within the paranormal and pseudo-science and often I'm writing an article that might be 1,000 words. I'm limited; I've got a word limit that I can't go over so I need to condense anything that I write and if I'm going to a psychic fair and writing about my experiences there, I don't need to necessarily reference the research of these people.
If I was writing about the research of these people then that would be a different matter, obviously. I'd need to keep my finger on the pulse of everything that is being done in that industry. But if I'm looking at individuals out there on the street who are practicing this and given again, it's just one small area of what I study and research, then I'm not necessarily obliged to know what these people are doing within that context.

The Skeptiko interview with Dr. Karen Stollznow (audio and transcript) is available at:
http://www.skeptiko.com/karen-stollznow-on-psychic-science/

About Skeptiko: 
Skeptiko.com is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, psychic detectives, medium communication, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.

Contact:
Alex Tsakiris
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Skeptiko is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, reincarnation, and after-life encounters.