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That
NYU experiment really is quite remarkable. It was carried out in 1950, the same year Dianetics came out, and involved the direct cooperation of L Ron Hubbard's own people. The conclusion, needless to say, was not helpful for Dianetics:
Even before those results were published, the one medical doctor L Ron Hubbard had on his side, Dr J A Winter, had become disillusioned with Dianetics and, particularly, Hubbard. In 1951, Dr Winter wrote his "
A Doctor's Report" in which he concluded:
Although L Ron Hubbard immediately set about destroying Dr Winter, perhaps the good doctor's point about the need for scientific evidence spurred Hubbard into again lending his assistance three years later in another scientific evaluation of Dianetics. In 1953, Dianetics auditors were involved in
that scientific experiment, this time looking at whether or not auditing increased a person's intellectual ability, mathematical ability, and ability to handle personality conflicts.
Under the aegis of the New York University and with supervision from Professor John G. Rockwell, Professor Edward L. Kemp, and Associate Professor Milton Schwebel, psychology doctorate student Harvey Jay Fischer found there was no measurable increase in any of the abilities mentioned.
L Ron Hubbard knew he was lying when he said he used Dianetics to cure war injuries - and then, the same year the book comes out, the very premise of his "Modern Science of the Mind" is not substantiated by scientific experimentation. The next year his associate, Dr Winter, writes his report. Then, two years later, another NYU experiment does away with some of the major claims made by Dianetics. It beggars belief that L Ron Hubbard's original intent was anything other than to defraud.
Accordingly, It seems to me a little unfair to describe Dianetics as "a piece of shit". Its certainly true so far as science is concerned, but the description detracts from that fact that that single book has under-pinned a multi-billion dollar scam which has been running for more than 60 years. There must be something about Dianetics which reaches into a person's psyche and delivers them into the clutches of the cult. Simple answers for simple people? Sort of, although that avoids the reality that most of the people sucked into the mind fuck in the first place are not simple. Dunno what it is but, for a lure into the age old bait'n'switch its far from a piece of shit. Perhaps Dianetics speaks to the reader's nascent realisation of the spiritual for the single purpose of corrupting it.
