LOL
The chart didn't actually seem in the described "lockstep" anyway?
The follow up studies, you would think, all used the same world peace statistics...so, they SHOULD have gotten identical results....but they didn't.
IE: If a study tracks "peace" for a given length of time, say a year....
And, "peace" is defined (By the speaker) as an index of bombs dropped, casualties in war, etc...no matter WHAT you plotted it against, it should say the exact same thing.
IE: Lets say there was a little bit of war in that year, a 100 people died, to simplify the stats.
If I plot ANYTHING against that, I should be getting whatever I did, compared to that 100 deaths.
So, I twiddle my thumbs, and, I get that death rate.
I watch TV, I get that death rate.
I read about lasers, and I get that death rate.
I DON'T read about lasers, and I get that death rate.
No matter what, that's the death rate.
So, as no two wars or times of conflict are the same, there is no control or baseline.
It would be perhaps slightly less ludicrous if the meditation started during a period of peace, to ensure no war or "lack of peace" broke out.
If the peace broke down during the meditation, it would show the meditation didn't stop it.
Or
We could consider that thinking about things doesn't change anything except what you think about those things.
Uri Geller, etc, proved you can't use your mind to effect things outside of your mind. Maybe in the future, we can harness the brain's power in some exterior way, perhaps the way an electric eel can channel ITS energy (electrical in that case).
In the meantime, I Plan to read about lasers to promote world peace.