I had an interesting email exchange with Frank Wilson, author of the book, The Hand, about my "Stowe hypothesis". He reminded me that people have been trying to work on investigation of similar hypotheses for at least 25 years, and what I propose actually has many authors. In addition, the science involved in coming up with the clear proof required just isn't available yet.

The question I have, is how much proof is required? And to what standards? We have a clear problem in America with experts, expertise, and credentials. Those things are required because people as a whole are lacking in the training to be clear observers of reality. We learn only from the recorded expertise of others and are left unwilling to trust our own judgment. We are taught to regard our own experience as suspect due to our own lack of credentials.

Frank tells of a time in the last 25 years when music teachers were marching in the streets in response to an earlier round of funding cuts with posters that read: "Save the right side of the brain!" The fact that we don't see any movement now tells that we have been fully acculturated to passivity and complaisance.

In the meantime, we can see from Virginia Tech what happens when people are immobilized by passivity and complaisance. If the hands are truly connected to mental and emotional well-being and health, then we should do something about it.

My conclusion: We aren't ready to prove anything from a "scientific" perspective, but still, if we can incite people to gain a greater awareness of the relationship between their own hands and brains, and lead them to have greater confidence in what they observe, we will be better prepared for round 3 in what may be a 10 rounder.