I'm terribly skeptical of psychic claims, even though I write a science fiction story with psychic characters. Do you know why? Because there is no credible evidence of psychic phenomena, but it sure makes for interesting stories if you pull it off well. I don't have any hope that mental powers that influence the world around us will be discovered, though I personally think it would be beyond cool if we as a species could manage that feat. That's neither here nor there at this time, however. Take a good gander at this:
The fact they disabled comments should be a warning flag they don't want public criticism, at least on their YouTube video. Other people that follow this kind of censorship are…creationists. I'm not saying they're lying outright, but if you don't want negative feedback you should just keep your mouth shut; and if there's one thing I as an artist and a skeptic despise, it's any attempt to stifle discussion.
If you've got any ounce of critical thinking, you'll notice that the video does not cover the actual experiences, but instead relies on testimonials. Jumping straight from quoted facts and emotional appeals, to eyewitness reports. The lowest form of evidence. Why is this important?
A quick stroll to their website reveals that they are seeking desperately to look scientific.
The purpose of this global grassroots Severe Burn experiment is to prove to the people, for the first time, using mainstream scientific methodology, the existence of a higher reality, that can be accessed, processed and manifested for our benefit in times of crisis. Anyone can be trained to do it. The goal would then be to have emergency response teams in every major city of the world.
They get it impressively wrong from the beginning, though. Science doesn't rely on testimonials; the word of another person could be mistaken, their impressions skewed by a cognitive bias or a false cause and effect. Testimonials are hardly the objective evidence that these people need; instead, it is entirely subjective. Here are a few examples of their testimonies.
Within two minutes of burning himself at Thanksgiving dinner, Dale remembered he had programmed the Fireburndoctor number into his cell phone and called to ask for help. By the time the Fireburndoctor team called back minutes later to confirm his full name, the pain had already gone from an 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 down to almost one. He exclaimed, “How did you guys do that?†About 3 hours later, after a buoyant Thanksgiving fest with 10 people wondering how this happened, he emailed his elated testimony: “Dear Fire burn Doctor, My name is Dale. While visiting my mother on Thanksgiving, my whole family was in the kitchen and we were all getting our food to sit down. While putting boiling hot gravy on my mashed potatoes, I accidentally put too much and it ran over onto the palm of my hand. It was all I could do to keep from dropping my plate because the burn hurt so bad… I then remembered that I had put the Fireburndoctor’s phone number in my cell phone. I immediately called… and gave my birth name, date of birth, birth place, city and state and place where the burn occurred and time which was within 2 minutes after it had happened. Shortly… I received a call back from the Fireburndoctor team who asked me what my pain level was. I said ‘Wow how did you do that, it is like maybe a 1 or 2 at most.’ He asked what it was previously. I said it was an 8 or higher. In fact I commented to my family that it hurt so bad it was making me sick. But everyone else was in total amazement. I then received a second call from the Fireburndoctor, and by that time my level was 0… I am giving everyone I know this phone number to call. Thank you for this wonderful blessing, I was saved from what surely would have been at least a second-degree burn… I am so glad I programmed the number into my phone when the woman on the radio said to do that.â€
"Trailblazer" Dale T., Ohio 11/26/09 1:17 pm EST
“My family and I are freakin out. I burned my hand approx four hours ago and now I am pain free and healing is well on its way. I am a paramedic and my wife is an ER nurse. We are both speechless in my recovery. Don't hesitate, this works."
JLM, Washington, 12/3/09
Based solely on the words of these people, we're supposed to take them at their word, without prior evidence. To make matters worse, they ask that we take the words of a paramedic and trained nurse at face value, simply because that should be enough to give them credibility. That's arguing from authority. It's possible to argue from authority and have a good argument, but in this case, it is simply, "here are some authorities saying our method works, you should believe us".
Here is the scientific method, made easy, just for people like this:
The other thing they do wrong, which is in conjunction with the eyewitness claims, is that they don't provide video evidence that their process works, nor a published, peer-reviewed paper on their methods that proves that they work, and allows for others to test their methods. No, none of this was done. The main promoter of the movement, Alison McDermott, also refused to take the $1M Challenge from the JREF. Her reasoning?
Our own Jeff Wagg tried to track down McDermott for an interview via Twitter, but she was uninterested. She decided instead to write directly to James Randi. Their correspondence was brief and not terribly fruitful; she said Randi was a fool and a liar and that the JREF would never test her claim because the prize money doesn't exist (but it does, Alison, it does); Randi issued a strongly-worded suggestion that she apply for the challenge and find out.
So far, no application.
I'm not terribly surprised. I'm sure the Fireburndoctor people have thoroughly convinced themselves that their methods work. I just wish that one of their own people would publicly stuff their hand into a fire and then heal it using their Instant Burn Recovery. That would at least provide a good foundation for their claims. Instead, they're using other people, possibly easily influenced due to their circumstances and injuries, to be their mouthpieces. People that are already on their way to the hospital to receive treatment.
As the most severe burn cases come in (with very visually dramatic incontrovertible “before and after†proof that will compel press attention) and are scientifically documented by professional and medical personnel, we will organize a way for qualified people to be trained in a group. Hopefully that group will include you.
This is actually quite troublesome, if you think about it. They're advocating, or at least implying, that they can heal severe burns without help from scientific medicine. That could potentially lead to some preventable deaths, deaths of people that sat waiting for the healing to come instead of calling an ambulance; they cover their tracks, though, when they say:
Call medical Doctor Joseph for immediate remote intervention. Call within the first 30 minutes, on your way to the hospital!
Free processing is in addition to normal medical procedures.
So Doctor Joseph. Why don't you go on a talk show, stick both your hands in a handy fire 'til they're crispy, and show the world your method is up to scrutiny.
Note: this was posted over at my blog all the way back in January of 2010, and in August of the same year I got a response to my skeptical inquiry, from the burn heals people themselves; specifically from Allison Dermot, the media face.
Her comment left there is as follows:
You can know for yourself the effectiveness of The Fireburndoctor Team by calling in a burn and seeing for yourself. There are 167 burn cases from 16 countries , 40 states across the US. There is no `coaching`,we have taken care of babies and folk who did NOT KNOW THEY WERE BEING HELPED, A RELATIVE CALLED THEIR DATA THROUGH!! This blogger should be mighty careful who he is calling a liar - There are more than 167 people who can now take his ass to court for slander. We are totally legal,transparent and PROVING the impossible on a daily basis. This blogger has his head up his ass and enjoys the view more than exploring the facts.
From Alison Mcdermott (in PSA above) Fireburndoctor Team press spokesperson
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