On The Lack of Evidence for the Evolution of Psi as an Argument Against the Reality of the Paranormal

There seem to be three major lines of argument against the reality of the paranormal (psi): the a priori improbability argument, the lack of evidence argument, and the evolutionary argument. The evolutionary argument states that if the various paranormal powers or faculties were real ways of acquiring information and affecting the outside world, such abilities would have been vastly improved by evolution and would be in widespread use by the biosphere today. The argument proceeds to note that given the very brittle, confusing, and sporadic nature of psychic phenomena that have been reported, as compared to the robust and immediately useful ways that biosystems manipulate other energetic modalities (such as sound, light, etc.), it is improbable that psi represents a real feature of the world. This is a serious argument, and it requires a response. In this paper I discuss several possible replies to such an objection. I take the most likely explanation to be that psi is a feature of the mind, not of the brain. Thus, it is only indirectly affected by biological phenotype, and thus potentially uncoupled from improvement by biophysical evolution. Arguments Against Psi In considering principled arguments (i.e., scientific or philosophical, as opposed to those motivated by emotion, an unwillingness to consider pertinent data, personal gain, etc.) against the reality of paranormal phenomena (psi1), three major lines are evident: the a priori improbability argument, the lack of evidence argument, and the lack of evolution of psi argument. Although none of these argu-