49 replies to this topic

[Seeker79]

scowl, on 16 January 2013 - 08:37 PM, said:

Sheldrakes has abandoned the world of science for the more profitable arena of writing popular books and making presentations to non-scientific audiences.

It's easy to say that about Somone when you reject their work. Last time I checked Hawkins does research, gives presentations, and does research.

I have also personally sat Down in a workshop with Dr. Sheldrake, and I assure you the room was filled with PHDs some in physics and some in chemistry. One gentleman owns a set of notable labs.

It's funny what happens when you look at the truth about Somone and what they are doing instead of only getting information from magazines and critics

Edited by Seeker79, 17 January 2013 - 03:56 PM.

[Rlyeh]

scowl, on 16 January 2013 - 08:37 PM, said:

Do people read books and magazines any more or do they learn everything from youtube?

Some people (mentioning no names) couldn't read if their life depended on it.

Edited by Rlyeh, 17 January 2013 - 04:02 PM.

[Rlyeh]

NiteMarcher, on 16 January 2013 - 10:23 PM, said:

Cuban-born journalist and author Alex Abella ("Soldiers of Reason") was allowed exclusive access inside the RAND Corporation to view their archives. What he discovered was a plot driven by mad scientists, behaviorists, and generals who were intent on starting world war three and fleecing the American people in the process. Once he was a skeptic on the subject of conspiracy theories and the new world order, but after his work with the RAND Corporation he is now convinced that this top secret think tank has been pulling the strings of American government for at least 60 years.

Does he have a history of schizophrenia?

[scowl]

NiteMarcher, on 16 January 2013 - 09:54 PM, said:

Since mainstream media is heavily controlled and censored concerning content, at least "youtube" offers one an alternative platform in which to communicate to the masses.

Who relies on mainstream media for science? Any idiot can post a video full of garbage on it. I read peer-reviewed science journals in the library and books written by practicing scientists and professors.

[scowl]

Seeker79, on 17 January 2013 - 03:55 PM, said:

It's easy to say that about Somone [sic] when you reject their work.

It's even easier to say that when it's true.

Quote

Last time I checked Hawkins does research, gives presentations, and does research.

We're talking about Sheldrake here.

Quote

I have also personally sat Down in a workshop with Dr. Sheldrake, and I assure you the room was filled with PHDs some in physics and some in chemistry. One gentleman owns a set of notable labs.

I can assure you that people with doctorates enjoy entertainment as much as regular people. You will also find them in movie theaters.

Quote

It's funny what happens when you look at the truth about Somone [sic again!] and what they are doing instead of only getting information from magazines and critics

In science, what a scientist publishes in reputable peer-reviewed journals is what they're doing. Sheldrake has only been able to publish paranormal research in a British publication called the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. This "society" which was once a very skeptical organization is now known for welcoming scientists who no longer wish to perform science and non-scientific members who are celebrities and fans of the paranormal. One was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who declared my avatar to be "proof" of the existence of fairies. In fact it looks like Sheldrake been so busy raking in the cash writing popular books that I can't find any recent studies he's published.

[Crikey]

Scientists have a burning desire to EXPLAIN everything (it's in their DNA), that's why they trash Religion because they can't explain it and it makes them feel uncomfortable.
Dawkins is the prime example of this, he's become a kind of front man for the Atheist movement!

[ozman]

Scientists better get ready for the day when Science finally unites with the Paranormal and begins scientifically explaining paranormal phenomena.  Like they said in the anime movie Dead Space, Convergence is coming people.  Soon it will be discovered that the Paranormal and the spiritual world is real.

[Render]

ozman, on 17 January 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:

Scientists better get ready for the day when Science finally unites with the Paranormal and begins scientifically explaining paranormal phenomena.  Like they said in the anime movie Dead Space, Convergence is coming people.  Soon it will be discovered that the Paranormal and the spiritual world is real.

What? They're already explaining paranormal phenomena, like since the dawn of science. THat is what science is about, thinking about something rationally and finding a logical explanation.

[Ryu]

Considering that every single instance of the so-called "paranormal" and "psychic" experiences has been easily explained by mundane things like imagination, lack of knowledge, hysteria, etc...I see no reason to give these topics any serious considerations.

[Judeaous]

Ryu, on 17 January 2013 - 10:53 PM, said:

Considering that every single instance of the so-called "paranormal" and "psychic" experiences has been easily explained by mundane things like imagination, lack of knowledge, hysteria, etc...I see no reason to give these topics any serious considerations.

More like "explained away". With preposterous
Theories derided from "slothful induction", such
as Periodolia and "Mass Hysteria"....  
It's all in our minds!!!  And when it strikes in numbers,
"Mass Hysteria"!!  How convenient.

[Emma_Acid]

Seeker79, on 16 January 2013 - 07:35 PM, said:

There is repeatable and statistically significant experiments.

Sheldrakes experiments regarding the sense of being stared at are a good example.

There is a dogma in science

Sheldrake's experiments aren't scientific.

NiteMarcher, on 16 January 2013 - 09:54 PM, said:

Since mainstream media is heavily controlled and censored concerning content, at least "youtube" offers one an alternative platform in which to communicate to the masses.

That says it all really.

Crikey, on 17 January 2013 - 05:53 PM, said:

Scientists have a burning desire to EXPLAIN everything (it's in their DNA), that's why they trash Religion because they can't explain it and it makes them feel uncomfortable.
Dawkins is the prime example of this, he's become a kind of front man for the Atheist movement!

Of course science can explain religion. There's a huge body of work about the evolution of religious thought and experience. And when Dawkins becomes a front man for atheism, that is because he cares about the effect organised religion has on society and progress. And rightly so.

ozman, on 17 January 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:

Scientists better get ready for the day when Science finally unites with the Paranormal and begins scientifically explaining paranormal phenomena.  Like they said in the anime movie Dead Space, Convergence is coming people.  Soon it will be discovered that the Paranormal and the spiritual world is real.

There has never, ever, been any evidence for the existence of the paranormal. And anime is fiction by the way.

[Simbi Laveau]

In the 12th century or any time before  ,if someone told the average man,do you know you have little round things in your body ,that keep you alive ? It's in that red stuff that comes out of us when we get cut ...
What would average man have said ?

You're crazy,there is no proof of that,at all .

Man is so arrogant today,that man feels nothing is beyond his oh so sagacious grasp .He has any and all technology ,to be GOD .
When its entirely possible ,the means to measure the paranormal,has yet to be invented on this plane of existance .

If it took centuries to figure out what blood was ,and how it worked ,it can also take centuries to figure out how to talk to a ghost in day to day life .

[Blood_Sacrifice]

Emma_Acid, on 18 January 2013 - 10:52 AM, said:

There has never, ever, been any evidence for the existence of the paranormal. And anime is fiction by the way.

More importantly, if there are some detectable and objectively measurable evidence for what is generally regarded as paranormal events, will those events remain paranormal anymore? With evidence, the supernatural would become natural, no? So...finding scientific evidence for the paranormal/supernatural is a paradox. It's like trying to find a three-sided square or a four-sided triangle. If it's beyond natural, then it's inherently unprovable, non-testable, non-falsifiable and therefore completely outside the field of any objevtive analysis.

If people want to believe in the paranormal/supernatural, then they should realize there can never be any material/objective evidence for their existence (very much by definition). If there are evidences, then sorry to the supernatural-fans, but well...the supernatural won't remain supernatural anymore. It will become part of the natural world.

It is not impossible for things we currently consider supernatural/paranormal to have an objective explanation that we still have not figured out. Just like sleep-paralysis and hallucination have objective explanations today and are no longer at the hand of some supernatural djinns or devils.

In short:

If it is supernatural, then there can never be any objective, testable evidence (by definition).
If there are any objective, testable evidences, then it's not supernatural (by definition).

Why try to find evidence to prove what is by definition unprovable? And if one wants to prove, then why call them unprovable in the first place? It makes less than no sense.

(This isn't directed at you Emma, but at the post you quoted. But your post sparked the thought so I responded by quoting you).

Edited by Blood_Sacrifice, 18 January 2013 - 05:31 PM.

[JesseCuster]

NiteMarcher, on 16 January 2013 - 09:54 PM, said:

Since mainstream media is heavily controlled and censored concerning content, at least "youtube" offers one an alternative platform in which to communicate to the masses.

Yes, the mainstream media is heavily controlled and censored concerning with like promoting mainstream science and denying the paranormal.

That's why when I browse the documentary channels looking for something good to watch, it's awash with crap like Ancient Aliens, Most Haunted, etc. and there's less and less actual mainstream science and history as time goes by.

Sounds like the "mainstream media" is doing a pretty crap job of censoring paranormal content and promoting mainstream science.

[NiteMarcher]

Rlyeh, on 17 January 2013 - 04:05 PM, said:

Does he have a history of schizophrenia?

Do  you honestly believe that a foreign policy "think tank" (RAND) founded by the US military & funded in part by the US government would
have invited a "schizophrenic" to come in and view their archives?