Okay... so why won't they release the actual experimental data?
According to the source article that the links posted in this thread summarize (which can be found here), Sako reported his results in a presentation in Vegas in 1997. I poked around and found the abstract for his presentation:
Challenging an Unknown Information System
Yoichiro Sako
ESPER Laboratory, Sony Corporation
As the 21st century draws nearer, we can see that society's materialistic values, fostered in many respects by modern science and technology, have become outdated and unworthy. It is clear that we have come to another turning point in history and science. What we require to meet the challenges of these unpredictable and confusing times is a new paradigm to guide a new age. I believe that the key to this new paradigm lies in the research of biological, mental, and spiritual phenomena such as "Qi" and other psychic powers that have been overlooked by modern scientists. I am going to reexamine the fundamentals of the present science-technology system, and at the same time pursue in earnest these phenomena to verify their existence.
Today, I report the outline of my research and actual experiments into such areas as clairvoyance beyond five senses, where subjects can perceive letters or drawings written on a sheet of paper which was rolled up or folded and placed in their hand or ear. Through the results of these experiments, I prove that this type of clairvoyance does indeed exist, and point out the existence of an unknown information system. I think that the results of my research could help bring about a significant revolution that might force our materialistic society to turn around, and concurrently reform the ways of modern science and technology.
Those are some bold claims, so where's the data to back them up? In short, there is none. At least, if there is, ESPER never bothered to publish it -- which means no peer review, and no discussion outside of that Vegas meeting room. And if you read original article I linked to above, written by a sympathetic journalist who attended the meeting, it's clear to see that the presentation was slightly suspect, to say the least.
"We found out experimentally that ESP exists, but that any practical application of this knowledge is not likely in the foreseeable future."
That's one way to spin it. Another way to spin it is "We found absolutely nothing, but we didn't want to tell our bosses that we wasted 8 years and god-knows-how-much money for no payoff."
No practical application? Please. Even if we're willing to accept this claim (which is dubious), the sheer scientific implications of these results would at least warrant publication, don't you think? Sako says in his presentation, "I think Sony's spirit is making dreams rather than making money." And then he turns around and says that they didn't bother to publish their results because it wasn't marketable? Give me a break.
Another interesting thing to point out is that the lab was closed without hesitation after Masaru Ibuka, "the Sony founding father who blessed the founding of ESPER," passed away. It's not hard to imagine that the only reason the lab came into existence and stayed in operation for 8 years was to satisfy the curiosity of Sony's eccentric founder -- not to actually produce meaningful results.
I challenge Sony and the ex-ESPER scientists to release their experimental data so that other labs across the world may attempt to replicate it. If they can replicate it, there is something to the claim. If not, then it's just another case of people with an agenda fudging the data. We saw this same thing over a decade ago with homeopathy. A lab in France caught the eye of the scientific community by publishing some really interesting studies demonstrating the apparent efficacy of homeopathy -- but there was a problem with replicating the results. Upon closer scrutiny, it was discovered that one of the lab workers had been cherry-picking data to support her belief in homeopathic medicine. And people accuse mainstream scientists of having an agenda
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