Abstract

Comments on S. E. Braude's (1979) critique of observational theories (OTs). Braude argues that the OTs involve a causal loop and shows that this involves a logical contradiction. One of Braude's premises turns out to be incompatible with the OTs. Braude posits that the S must observe a hit to be able to cause a hit. This is a subtle but radical error: The necessary condition for psychokinesis (PK) to be possible on the OTs is that the S is able to observe either hit or miss. In terms of diagrams developed by H. Schmidt (1975) this means that PK can happen only if the random event generator is connected to a psi source by means of a feedback channel. Braude confuses the telephone line with the message sent along it. When the faulty premise is corrected, the causal loop disappears.