http://www.skeptiko.com Explore controversial science with leading researchers and their critics... the leading source for intelligent skeptic-versus-believer debate... Sat, 18 May 2013 17:51:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 2007-2009 alex@skeptiko.com (Alex Tsakiris) alex@skeptiko.com (Alex Tsakiris) Science & Spirituality 1440 http://www.skeptiko.com/gfx/itunes144.jpg http://www.skeptiko.com 144 144 http://www.skeptiko.com/wp-feed.php Explore controversial science with leading researchers and their critics... the leading source for intelligent skeptic-versus-believer debate. Explore controversial science with leading researchers and their critics. Skeptiko.com has become the leading source for intelligent skeptic-versus-believer debate with guests like: Dr. Rupert Sheldrake - Dr. Michael Shermer - Dr. Dean Radin - James Randi - Dr. Peter Fenwick - Dr. Richard Wiseman - Dr. Raymond Moody - Dr. Marilyn Schlitz - Dr. Steven Novella - Dr. Alan Wallace - Stephan A. Schwartz - Dr. Edward Kelly - Dr. Emily Kelly - Dr. Charles Tart - Dr. Julie Beischel - Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris - Dr. Carol Tavris - Dr. Michael Brooks - Dr. Susan Blackmore - Dr. James Alcock - D.J. Grothe - Ben Radford Parapsychology, Psychic, Medium, Near, Death, Experience, Reincarnation, NDE, Skeptic, Spirituality Alex Tsakiris Alex Tsakiris alex@skeptiko.com no no http://www.skeptiko.com/miguel-conner-gnostic-themes/ http://www.skeptiko.com/miguel-conner-gnostic-themes/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 18:23:56 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2719 http://www.skeptiko.com/miguel-conner-gnostic-themes/feed/ 0 0:47:48 Interview with author and Podcast host examines Gnostic themes in our modern culture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Miguel Conner author of, Voices of Gnosticism.  During the interview Conner talks about the limits of Gnosti[...] Interview with author and Podcast host examines Gnostic themes in our modern culture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Miguel Conner author of, Voices of Gnosticism.  During the interview Conner talks about the limits of Gnostic history: Alex Tsakiris:   You do a masterful job exploring how these threads of Gnosticism are woven into our modern culture, but what about the limits of history? Isn’t Gnosticism limited in the same way Christianity’s limited in that it’s always looking in the rearview mirror for the next archaeological dig to tell us who we are? Isn’t that an inherent limitation of this kind of historical-based knowing? Miguel Conner:  There certainly is, but it goes beyond history. I think the scholar, Ioan Couliano, who wrote, The Tree of Gnosis, said that there’s sort of a binary Gnostic code within man and this binary code will always go off.  So, you’re always going to have Orthodoxy on one side believing that the world is going to be fine and that we’re part of this grand history, this providence. But there’s also the other side that’s always there. This side that tells us we are alienated; we are trapped in this world; there’s something wrong with this world. It’s invites us to go on this inner voyage inside and outside of us. That is why there are many writers and thinkers like Carl Jung and others who before the Nag Hammadi library was discovered were getting some of the Gnostic ideas and concepts. They were getting it very well even with the little information out there. So yes, we are limited by history but again I feel that this Orthodoxy and Gnosticism is within each one of us. That’s why it keeps resurfacing in so many different traditions, whether it’s Buddhist or Muslim and so forth. It’s there. Miguel’s Aeon Btye Gnostic Radio Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (48 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Miguel Conner. As host of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio, author of the critically-acclaimed Voices of Gnosticism, Miguel is one of the leading voices of this Gnostic movement that we seem to keep hearing so much about. I should also mention that Miguel is also an accomplished fiction writer, having penned several popular post-apocalyptic vampire novels that have really caught the attention of people. So Miguel, it’s great to welcome you to Skeptiko. Miguel Conner:  I’m glad to be here, Alex. Thank you for having me on. Alex Tsakiris:   You know, I should mention we tried to do this a week ago but we ran into some Skype trouble so we’re going to do it again. In that intervening week I’ve dug into even more of your shows and I just keep wanting to dig more and more. You have such a great insight into this fascinating area of knowledge that is Gnosticism. You weave it into our modern culture and modern contemporary issues in such an imaginative, creative, and entertaining way that I just really wanted to get you on and encourage people to check out Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio. Miguel Conner:   Thank you very much. I don’t know if I can live up to that billing, but I’ll try. Alex Tsakiris:   Oh, I think you can. I’ll tell you what I want to do to tee this thing off. I want to give people a little taste for what you do because it’s really quite unique and it’s a very high-quality production that you put on on your podcast. We used to gather a lot of these elements. So, Miguel, we can step back and talk about what is Gnosticism. What I thought I’d share and get you to comment on as a way of kicking us off here is the Wikipedia definition of Gnosticism. It says, “Gnosticism is the dualistic belief that the material world should be shunned and the spiritual world should be embraced.” It goes on to say, “Gnostic ideas influence many ancient religions,” and it also says that it advocates philanthropy, sexual abstinence maybe even, and it also, of course, tells us that it’s often associated with early Christianity. So in the usual Wiki fashion, they’ve probably left it out or maybe totally lost[...] Christianity, Gnosticism Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/talat-jonathan-phillips-from-activist-to-spiritual-seeker/ http://www.skeptiko.com/talat-jonathan-phillips-from-activist-to-spiritual-seeker/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:06:37 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2710 http://www.skeptiko.com/talat-jonathan-phillips-from-activist-to-spiritual-seeker/feed/ 8 0:46:48 Interview with activist and author explores his personal journey with Ayawaska, ETs, and energy healing. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Talat Jonathan Phillips author of, The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contempor[...] Interview with activist and author explores his personal journey with Ayawaska, ETs, and energy healing. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Talat Jonathan Phillips author of, The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic.  During the interview Phillips talks about finding a balance between the worldly and spiritual pursuits: Alex Tsakiris: If you buy into materialism, if you think you’re a biological robot and that’s all you are — you’re lost. If you buy into our materialistic culture and this idea that we need to get all we can, and we need to bomb other people so they don’t get it — all that stuff — you’re lost. But as soon as you cross that chasm and you say, “Okay, there’s something more”, then I think you run into this problem what we’re talking about. And that is materialism keeps wanting to creep itself back into the equation. So, you’re saying, “I need to take action here. I need to go do this. I need to vote for this candidate. I need to do that.” Isn’t there the risk that we get into this back-door materialism, this “we’re in control” thing? Talat Phillips:   Oh yeah. But I think it’s both. We’ve set up an either/or and I think it’s both/and because if I look at most of my clients, most of them come in and think we’re going to talk about past lives and this and that. But most of them need to get into the material world a little bit. They need to get in their bodies and figure out jobs and live an abundant life. That doesn’t mean buy a mansion but it just means to know how to support themselves and talk with people. I don’t want to deny that aspect because it is important. I denied it for many years of my existence and maybe that was why I was a marginalized activist. On the other hand, I definitely saw this with Occupy. It was very frustrating for me seeing all the projected anger about finances. I do a lot of anger work with clients. It’s good to express anger but when you project it at others it creates more of that fear culture. What I like with Evolver.net is that we’re more like, “How can you create? How can you follow your bliss and your passions and do what you love?” I think Joseph Campbell talks about this. This is a dance we have of integrating.  So I think what you’ve brought up is a great study that we all do. It’s an alchemy of walking as a human and being as a human on this planet. It’s being and doing and creating a right relationship between that. Talat Jonathan Phillips Website Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (47 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Talat Jonathan Phillips to Skeptiko. Talat is the author of The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic. He is also the co-founder of a rather amazing web magazine named Reality Sandwich and an equally amazing social movement at www.evolver.net. Welcome to Skeptiko, Talat. Thanks so much for joining me. Talat Phillips:  It’s great to be here. Thanks, Alex. Alex Tsakiris:   Well, your book, The Electric Jesus, is just a great read. I mean, I was just blown away at how it pulls you in and just makes you want to turn page after page. It’s a spiritual odyssey, as the name suggests, but it reads like a Tom Wolfe novel. Tell us a little bit about this book and how it came about and what people are going to find when they read it. Talat Phillips:   I think I might cite you on that, Alex, that it reads like a Tom Wolfe novel there. I think first I want to say how I feel like it’s a unique book in the sense I feel there are very few books out there like this, that are spiritual and counterculture and a memoir. I grew up reading On the Road and Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which the title is a little bit of a reference to, as well. In small town Colorado I was like, ‘Where’s the bus here?’ Wherever that bus is I want to be on it. I feel like the book talks a little bit about how I feel the buses are arriving for a lot of people in the festival culture, spiritual movement, Ayahuasca,[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/julia-assante-technology-training-talk-with-spirits/ http://www.skeptiko.com/julia-assante-technology-training-talk-with-spirits/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:27:52 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2699 http://www.skeptiko.com/julia-assante-technology-training-talk-with-spirits/feed/ 5 0:45:20 Interview with author, scholar, and psychic medium Dr. Julia Assante challenges our fear of death. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Julia Assante author of, The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fe[...] Interview with author, scholar, and psychic medium Dr. Julia Assante challenges our fear of death. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Julia Assante author of, The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death.  During the interview Assante talks about the effects of technology on spirit communication: Alex Tsakiris:   Let’s face it, we love this materialism we’re wrapped up into. We love our computers—we love our Internet, our Google, our Skype. So whether we wind up merging with the machine as Kurzweil predicts, it’s hard to deny this trajectory of technology. Dr. Julia Assante:   I think we should really enjoy being in physical life. I think our technology is, in fact, the chief art of our era. And technology is also training us to think outside of the box, to think in terms of interdimensionality, and to think in terms of communicating with consciousness in other dimensions. If you think, for instance, of the telephone that was an astounding invention when it was presented in Philadelphia by Alexander Graham Bell. He used Hamlet’s soliloquy, talking to a skull of all things, to demonstrate the phone in public. People were nervous and frightened. They thought he was conjuring ghosts. So that kind of technology alone allows our paradigms to open and include discarnates, invisibles, crossing distances, all that kind of thing. The Internet is even doing more with the idea of cyberspace and collapsed space. I think that our use of electronics and digital systems are causing us to become more sensitive to subtler and subtler electrical impulses so I think technology is not at conflict with the so-called spiritual but is working with it as an analogy and as a training ground. Dr. Julia Assante’s Website Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (46 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Julia Assante to Skeptiko to discuss her new book, The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death. Dr. Assante is an Ivy League scholar in ancient Near East studies and–here’s where things get really interesting–a longtime practicing psychic medium who even while pursuing her Ph.D. at Columbia was talking to the dead. So Dr. Assante, welcome and thanks so much for joining me today on Skeptiko. Dr. Julia Assante:   Oh, thank you for inviting me. It’s a great pleasure. Alex Tsakiris:   Your book has received very high praise from the likes of Dr. Dean Radin, Dr. Larry Dossey, who also wrote the Introduction, and other notables. So first of all, congratulations on this fine book. Dr. Julia Assante:   Well, I’m really honored to have these people, and even Deepak Chopra whose endorsements are very restricted. He’s only allowed to do seven a year so I’m very privileged. Alex Tsakiris:   Fantastic. Let’s jump into the book. From your website, www.juliaassante.com, you write, “Just as trillions are spent fighting aging and death, ten trillion has already been spent making atomic bombs to inflict death on someone else. This seems right to us (and here’s what I love) because we view death as life’s greatest failure. And we view life, no matter how devalued, as superior to death.” Talk a little bit about that. Dr. Julia Assante:   You know, we are in the grip in our society of this fear of death. Partly it’s the fault of the news and entertainment industry, certainly the medical industries, and even government. Anything you can really name. Any institution. Even the way we teach what humanity is supports the fear of death. We have these ideas that that’s the one thing we most want to avoid in life rather than it being a natural cycle, rather than it being something that you could embrace, like other creatures on this planet, that furthers the growth of the psyche. We will fight that growth; we will fight it to the teeth. All the expressions like “He fought cancer” and “A long battle against cancer,” all this kind of stuff, as an enemy or a pathology. Alex Tsakiri[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-censored/ http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-censored/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:53:02 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2690 http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-censored/feed/ 18 0:29:45 Interview with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about censorship of his Science Set Free lecture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake author of, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery.  During the interview Sheldrake[...] Interview with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about censorship of his Science Set Free lecture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake author of, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery.  During the interview Sheldrake talks about the controversy: Alex Tsakiris:   The irony of this is, if not hilarious, certainly inescapable. A reputable Cambridge biologist publishes a book claiming  science is dogmatic.  He’s then censored by an anonymous scientific board.  You can’t script that any better. What does this say about how science can be dogmatic without even realizing it’s dogmatic? Dr. Rupert Sheldrake:   I think this whole controversy and the people who have weighed-in in favor of TED’s actions do indeed confirm what I’m saying. These dogmas are ones that most people within science don’t actually realize are dogmas. They just think they’re the truth. The point about really dogmatic people is that they don’t know that they have dogmas. Dogmas are beliefs and people who have really strong beliefs think of their beliefs as truths. They don’t actually see them as beliefs. So I think this whole controversy has actually highlighted exactly that. The other thing that is highlighted is that there are a lot of people, far more than I imagined actually, who are not taken in by these dogmas, who do want to think about them critically. One of the remarkable things about these discussions is lots of people are really up for the discussion of these dogmas. They really want it to happen, far more than I’d imagined, actually. I’m impressed by that and I think this TED debate has actually helped show that the paradigm is shifting. There’s no longer a kind of automatic agreement by the great majority of people to dogmatic assertions by scientific materialists. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake’s Website Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (31 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Rupert Sheldrake back to Skeptiko. Many of you know the work of Cambridge biologist, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, including his latest book, Science Set Free. But now you may have heard that this book has seemed to have struck quite a nerve because Dr. Sheldrake has found himself in the middle of a controversy surrounding the censorship of a video lecture that he presented and that was then posted on the very popular TEDx YouTube channel. It was then removed after—and get this—an anonymous scientific board deemed it unscientific. Rupert, welcome back to Skeptiko. Thanks for joining us. Tell us what’s happened here. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake:   Well, you summarized it more-or-less. I gave a talk at the TEDx series of talks in London in Whitechapel. The organizers were young women, students at London University, who organized a very lively event. It was called Challenging Existing Paradigms. They asked me to talk about challenging existing paradigms, which seemed just the right theme for my book, Science Set Free. So I did a TEDx talk for it. It was extremely popular; the event was sold out. There was a lot of lively discussion that was really fun. It went up on the TEDx website, as these TEDx talks often do, and all was well until it was denounced by two of America’s leading militant skeptics, PZ Myers and Jerry Coyne, who didn’t like it because it upset their rather dogmatic materialist worldview. So they called for it to be taken down and they said it discredited itself, etc. They put enormous pressure on TED and then they got armies of their supporters to send emails to TED and put comments on websites. So the TED people backed down. They removed it. Then having removed it, they had to justify removing it so they had this report from their so-called “scientific board,” an anonymous board. I don’t know if it includes PZ Myers or people like that. We don’t know who it includes. They wouldn’t reveal it. And they took it down. It’s not exactly censorship, as they insist on pointing out. They put it with a kind of health warning. It was still there but it h[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-archer-buddha-at-the-gas-pump/ http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-archer-buddha-at-the-gas-pump/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:20:00 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2681 http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-archer-buddha-at-the-gas-pump/feed/ 19 1:31:32 Interview with Rick Archer host of the website and Youtube channel, Buddha at the Gas Pump. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Rick Archer of, Buddha at the Gas Pump.  During the interview Archer talks about a thought experiment [...] Interview with Rick Archer host of the website and Youtube channel, Buddha at the Gas Pump. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Rick Archer of, Buddha at the Gas Pump.  During the interview Archer talks about a thought experiment he uses to better understand our place in the universe: Rick Archer: Here’s the game: zoom out to the level of perspective where you can watch the Andromeda galaxy collide with the Milky Way over the next 8 billion years. Realize, of course, that that’s actually a very, very tiny localized event compared to the whole universe but it’s big enough for our purposes here. Then imagine as you watch that over 8 billion years all the trillions and trillions of lives playing themselves out on all the inhabited planets in those galaxies. Each one of those lives seems very real and serious to the person living it, but from that perspective they’re like little fireflies winking in and out, even faster than that. Billions and trillions of little strobe lights going on and off. Now zoom it down, past the human level down to the level of the plank scale and you discover there is no universe. It’s just all a field of pure potentiality in which even a cubic centimeter of empty space at that level has more energy than all the energy in the entire manifest universe. That’s essentially what you are. Now zoom it back to the human level.  Here’s what you are in expressed form, in a manifest, living form. But, this perspective as a human being is no more real than the zoomed out cosmic perspective or the zoomed in plank scale perspective. Those are just different perspectives on reality. We just have a peephole as a human being. Just a little peephole and yet we can actually culture an awareness that is cosmic like that. That does transcend time and space. That’s vast. That’s eternal. That can be our living reality. That can be the sort of substance of our lives. That’s what enlightenment is all about, which is the question you started this interview with. It’s not a pipedream; it’s not a fantasy. It’s something that many people have lived throughout history and something that we would have a very interesting world on our hands if it were commonplace. All the problems and travails that beset us as a civilization today would be just distant memories if that were a common experience.  Buddha at the Gas Pump Website Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (91 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Rick Archer to Skeptiko. Rick is the creator and host of Buddha at the Gas Pump, a website and YouTube channel that features an amazing collection of interviews with all sorts of interesting thinkers, spiritual teachers, and enlightenment-seeking individuals. Rick, I’m a big fan of your show and I’m so happy to welcome you to Skeptiko. Rick Archer:   Well, the feeling is mutual. I started listening to your show for the first time last Tuesday and now it’s Saturday and I think I’ve listened to six or seven of them, which means over an hour a day I’m listening to Alex while I ride my bike and wash the dishes and stuff. I’m thrilled by it. I’m going to continue listening. You and Bill Maher and Bill Moyer are my favorite podcasters now. Alex Tsakiris:   Wow, that’s quite a group to lump me into. I have to say, this is kind of a mutual admiration society but I feel similarly. I really stumbled across your site about a year ago and anyone who searches for any variety of well-known spiritual teachers is liable to bump into Buddha at the Gas Pump. I did. Didn’t really latch onto it too much and then I kept hearing from listeners here. Here was an interview with that person from Rick. Then I really dug into it and was amazed. What you’ll find if you go to Buddha at the Gas Pump are these interviews, over 150 of them at this point, with a lot of morsels and nuggets of little insights that you can take and work. Some you will dismiss and some you’ll dig into more but there’s just so much there. Tell us a little bit about the con[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/205-michael-tymn-explores-the-forgotten-history-of-psychic-mediums/ http://www.skeptiko.com/205-michael-tymn-explores-the-forgotten-history-of-psychic-mediums/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:48:02 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2672 http://www.skeptiko.com/205-michael-tymn-explores-the-forgotten-history-of-psychic-mediums/feed/ 40 0:45:13 Interview with author and parapsychology investigator Michael Tymn examines the work of Leonora Piper. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Michael Tymn author of, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife.  [...] Interview with author and parapsychology investigator Michael Tymn examines the work of Leonora Piper. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Michael Tymn author of, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife.  During the interview Tymn talks about his research: Alex Tsakiris:  There are two ways we can look at this turn of the 20th century history.  We can look at it in terms of forgotten history, which is the angle you take.  If only we could go back.  If an honest person, an open-minded person would look at this data it’s pretty hard not to be extremely aware that there is a significant amount of this history that’s been lost. But, I’ve got to wonder if there isn’t a totally different way of looking at this history.  Isn’t it a textbook game plan for the kind of scientism, for the spirit of denial that we live in today?  If you want to look at how to take overwhelmingly significant evidence and bury it, sweep it under the rug, and embarrass all the people who’ve touched it, here’s the way to do it. Mike Tymn:   I agree. That’s one of the reasons I wrote this book and the four other books that I’ve written. It’s to try and resurrect this stuff because it’s so little-known. I’ve talked to a number of parapsychologists and they don’t know it themselves. I remember one who didn’t even know who Frederic Myers was. You talk about Leonora Piper, Sir Oliver Lodge, or Gladys Osborne Leonard, they’re all names they recognize but they don’t know any of the history. I don’t know what they teach them when they’re pursuing their degrees in parapsychology but they seem to avoid the early stuff. Michael Tymn’s Website Play It  Listen Now: Download MP3 (45 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Michael Tymn to Skeptiko. Mike is the author of several books relating to afterlife communication and mediumship including, The Articulate Dead, The Afterlife Revealed, and his latest that we’re going to talk about today, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife. It’s a book published by White Crow Books which is a place where you’ll also find Mike’s excellent blog. Mike, welcome back to Skeptiko. It’s great to talk to you again. Mike Tymn:   Thank you very much for having me on, Alex. Alex Tsakiris:   So you’ve written this book about Lenora Piper, someone who many people who are interested in mediumship and history in general might know, but I think there are a lot of people who don’t know who Leonora Piper was. I guess that’s the natural place to start. Mike Tymn:  Leonora Piper was an American woman born in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1859. She discovered her mediumistic ability sometime around 1883 when she was 24. Her father-in-law had suggested that she see a psychic healer for some problem that she was having at the time. While she was seeing the psychic healer, she dropped off into a trance and she started giving information to another person in the room at the time, a doctor, about his deceased son. So that’s how she came to realize that she had mediumistic ability. Then she started experimenting with it now and then with friends. Somewhere along the line that first year, William James’ mother—William James being a Professor of Psychology at Harvard—had a sitting with Leonora and found it very evidential and told her husband, William James, all about it. So William James had his own sitting and was very much impressed. As a result, he signed up Leonora to be a research subject for the next 18 years or so. Alex Tsakiris:  It’s Leonora, so I apologize for that. I’ll have to do that correctly from here on out. I do feel we need to lay the backdrop here, right? She goes on to become the white crow that many people who know William James know his famous quote about there only needing to be one white crow to prove not all crows are black. He’s really talking about psychic ability and ability to talk with the dead. But the timeframe that we’re really talking about here and the backdr[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/julie-beischels-does-reading-from-medium-relieve-grief/ http://www.skeptiko.com/julie-beischels-does-reading-from-medium-relieve-grief/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:46:18 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2658 http://www.skeptiko.com/julie-beischels-does-reading-from-medium-relieve-grief/feed/ 14 0:55:00 Interview with psychic medium researcher Dr. Julie Beischel explores the practical applications of a reading from a psychic medium. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Julie Beischel author of, Among Mediums: A Scientist’s Que[...] Interview with psychic medium researcher Dr. Julie Beischel explores the practical applications of a reading from a psychic medium. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Julie Beischel author of, Among Mediums: A Scientist’s Quest For Answers.  During the interview Beischel talks about her research: Alex Tsakiris: We’re taking these very deep, personally meaningful topics  in a very stark, scientific, clinical way, and that ok because it helps us get some distance from it. But on this issue of grief, if we look at it the way you have, it really breaks down pretty nicely as a question we can ask scientifically. There are people who report this condition. We’ll call it grief. We treat this condition. We send them to a talking psychologist or psychiatrist and that person talks—talks—talks—talks. Then we measure afterwards. Sometimes they’re better; sometimes they’re not. Or, we send them in and to get some kind of pharmacological treatment. They get these little pills and they take them, pop–pop–pop. They either get better or they don’t. We measure that. You’re suggested that there are some other people, ones that have a had a  reading with a medium  and they report that this has relieved them of their grief. And in the same way we’re measuring these other treatments, we can measure them. That is how it breaks down, isn’t it? Dr. Julie Beischel:   Yeah. And, that’s my training — drug trials. I used to design these kinds of experiments.  There’s a protocol, and there’s a control group, and a treatment group, just like a drug trial. Instead of a drug it’s a mediumship reading. I designed this very specific protocol using a standardized grief instrument and two different funders have found it to be not what they were looking for. But it needs to get done. We’re now in the process of reaching out to the public to try and get support for that study. It really needs to be done. The same thing like when we just want to look at the validity of the mediumship information. We have to start at the beginning. Are they reporting specific and accurate information? Does it make people feel better? We did a pilot study and people reported anecdotally that it made them feel better. Dr. Julie Beischel’s Website Help Support Dr. Beischel’s Grief Research Also of Interest: Gerald  Gaura, a Psychotherapist treating acute, emergent psychospiritual crises, and anomalous phenomenon. Visit his blog at Parapsychotherapy X Play It (Interview With Dr. Julie Beischel) Listen Now: Download MP3 (55 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Julie Beischel to Skeptiko. As Founder and Head of Research at the Windbridge Institute, Julie is one of the world’s leading researchers studying psychic mediums. Julie holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Arizona. She’s here to talk about her new book, Among Mediums: A Scientist’s Quest for Answers. Dr. Beischel, welcome. I guess for those of us with a long memory I should say welcome back to Skeptiko. Dr. Julie Beischel:   Thank you so much for having me again. Alex Tsakiris:   It’s great. So Julie, you’ve written a wonderful little book here and it’s not just me saying that. You have some great endorsements for the book, as well. You know where I thought we might start is the story in the book about your very first reading. I think it’s not only an introduction into the way you came to research this topic as a scientist, but it also is relatable for a lot of folks because it’s the way that they come into contact with mediums for the first time. Dr. Julie Beischel:   Yeah, the story is in a great amount of detail in the book but the bottom line is when I was in graduate school my mother committed suicide. A couple of years later, John Edwards was very big. The Crossing Over show was very big on TV. In my background, like you said, my degree is hard science and my family’s from the Midwest. I didn’t even know what a medium was until I saw th[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/out-of-body-experience-expert-robert-on-our-daemon-haunted-world/ http://www.skeptiko.com/out-of-body-experience-expert-robert-on-our-daemon-haunted-world/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:19:05 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2624 http://www.skeptiko.com/out-of-body-experience-expert-robert-on-our-daemon-haunted-world/feed/ 31 1:09:19 Interview with author Out of Body expert and author Robert Bruce explores extended consciousness as an open-minded skeptic. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Robert Bruce author of, Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-B[...] Interview with author Out of Body expert and author Robert Bruce explores extended consciousness as an open-minded skeptic. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Robert Bruce author of, Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body.  During the interview Bruce discusses why out of body experience finding don’t generate scientific attention: Alex Tsakiris:   Recently journalist, Matt Baglio, published a book called, The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. What he was go to Rome and went to the school where the Vatican instructs priests in how to perform exorcisms. He sat in on dozens and dozens of exorcisms and what he found was that, despite the modern perception, they weren’t just bringing people in to convert them to Christianity or convert them to Catholicism. They have licensed therapists there. They say 95% of these people are not demon possessed.  But, surprisingly, they claim 5% of them are. And, they have very specific criteria that they use in determining that; and they have unbelievable stories that this journalist has gathered and that these exorcists can attest to. So it seems that this is a phenomenon that is much more prevalent than I think most of us are willing to acknowledge or even look into. I think most people just won’t even examine the evidence for it. Robert Bruce:   You hit the nail on the head there. People don’t want it to be true. They don’t want to know. They avoid the information. Now, to be a true scientist you need to be an open-minded skeptic. I mean, open-minded skepticism is pure science. You’re open-minded and you’re skeptical.  You look at the evidence and you examine the phenomena, or whatever it is, until you start to understand it. Now, I have that same approach and I approach this not just with my own experiences which made it real to me. Anybody who doubts this, and they should doubt it until they see it for themselves or experience it for themselves — Heaven forbid. If you confront one demon or an evil spirit—even a poltergeist, a real one— you become a believer. Robert Bruce’s Website Bonus Material: Interview with Andrew Paquette and Graham Nicholls explores experiences working with extended consciousness. Listen Now: Download MP3 (68 min.)   Play It (Interview With Robert Bruce): Listen Now: Download MP3 (54 min.) Read It: Today we welcome world-renowned out-of-body experience expert, Robert Bruce, to Skeptiko. Robert is the author of several best-selling books including the one he’s probably best-known for, Astral Dynamics, which is also the domain name where you’ll find his excellent website, www.astraldynamics.com. He holds seminars around the world on out-of-body experience travel and spirituality and other related topics. It’s a pleasure to have you on, Robert. Thanks for joining me on Skeptiko. Robert Bruce:   Good day, Alex. It’s nice to be here at last. Alex Tsakiris:   Yes. Robert, you’re known as an expert on primarily out-of-body experience, what some people call astral projection. You also have quite a bit to say about spirituality in general. I read your first book, Astral Dynamics. I didn’t quite make it all the way through. It’s a pretty big, fat book. But I was very impressed. It’s very practical. A lot of step-by-step kinds of instructions. Down to earth but meaty, not like it’s light or anything like that. Packed with a lot of information. Tell folks a little bit about how you got started with all this. I think it’s quite an interesting story and it is an Internet story, as well, isn’t it? Didn’t you really become kind of a forum/Internet sensation, if you will, within a small community and then it expanded out of there? Robert Bruce:   Yeah. Like many people similar to myself, everything I’ve written about, including Astral Dynamics and Practical Psychic Self Defense, Energy Work, all of my books, the things in them, are things I do myself and developed for myself over the years. The books are just my way of sharin[...] OBE Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/scientific-evidence-of-afterlife-overwhelming-chris-carter/ http://www.skeptiko.com/scientific-evidence-of-afterlife-overwhelming-chris-carter/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:42:38 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2612 http://www.skeptiko.com/scientific-evidence-of-afterlife-overwhelming-chris-carter/feed/ 44 0:57:48 Interview with author Chris Carter explores the scientific evidence for the survival of consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris Carter author of, Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality [...] Interview with author Chris Carter explores the scientific evidence for the survival of consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris Carter author of, Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness.  During the interview Carter discusses the consequences of accepting scientific proof of an afterlife: Alex Tsakiris:   Are there unintended consequences for overthrowing materialism? Maybe the game is going to wind up being played one way or another. We’re going to wind up with scientific materialism or Church rule. Someone has made the decision that at the end of the day I choose the phony scientific materialism over the thin, phony Church state. Chris Carter:   I think that’s a false dichotomy. I don’t think that’s the choice. One of the major themes of my book is that there’s a third alternative, one that does not require a leap of faith and one that does not require embracing the pseudo-scientific ideology of materialism. There’s a third alternative and it is to examine the evidence without prejudice, without materialistic prejudice or religious prejudice, and see what the evidence says. I believe that the conclusions that the evidence implies are not dogmatic. They do not ask people to go out and burn those who disagree with us at the stake or to wage war against those who disagree with us. Chris Carter’s Website Cynthia’s Book: Belief Is So Last Century Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (58 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Chris Carter back to Skeptiko. Many of you know Chris for his withering attacks on skeptical nonsense and his books, Science and the Near-Death Experience, Science and Psychic Phenomena, and his latest, Science and the Afterlife Experience. Chris holds undergraduate and Master’s degrees in philosophy from Oxford. He’s a very fine writer, and it’s a pleasure to welcome him back to Skeptiko. Chris, welcome back. Thanks for joining me. Chris Carter:   Thanks, Alex. How are you doing? Alex Tsakiris:   Great. Everything’s good. This latest book is really fascinating. It’s obviously a topic that we love to talk about here. You really dig into so much. I’m hoping we can talk about the book but also talk about a lot of other things surrounding the book. I’m anxious to have you back on. Chris Carter:   All right. That sounds great. Alex Tsakiris:   So, Chris, you begin the book with this: “The manner in which we live our lives, to a large extent, depends on what we believe comes after it.” Fantastic; love it. Tell us more about that quote. Chris Carter:   Well, right above where I say that I mention a quote by George Orwell and it goes, “The major problem of our time is decay in the belief in personal immortality.” So that’s what inspired the first paragraph of my book. Orwell’s grim vision of the future, which is portrayed in his novel, 1984, fortunately did not come to pass. However, many of us believe that mankind now faces a future even worse than anything Orwell imagined. We have population growth, we have global climate change, we have increasing income inequality in various countries, including the United States, increasing environmental devastation, basification of the ocean, growing hostilities around the world. So I think that mankind needs a new message or perhaps an old message by which he can find a more purposeful and less destructive way of living. Alex Tsakiris:   That’s interesting and that’s certainly one way to take it. It’s very interesting, actually, that you take it that way because I took it in a much more positive, personal sense. And that’s that in one way we struggle with these large social and cultural issues that you talk about, but in another way it’s really more of a personal journey for all of us. It’s what decisions we make about the people around us. About how we care for them, about how we think about ourselves and our roles and our lives and what it means in relation to the people that have come[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/201-chaos-theory-pioneer-ralph-abraham-on-a-new-model-of-consciousness/ http://www.skeptiko.com/201-chaos-theory-pioneer-ralph-abraham-on-a-new-model-of-consciousness/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:03:21 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2606 http://www.skeptiko.com/201-chaos-theory-pioneer-ralph-abraham-on-a-new-model-of-consciousness/feed/ 17 0:43:04 Interview with chaos theory pioneer Dr. Ralph Abraham offers new insights into how a chaotic model of consciousness might work. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Ralph Abraham.  During the interview Abraham discusses how cha[...] Interview with chaos theory pioneer Dr. Ralph Abraham offers new insights into how a chaotic model of consciousness might work. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Ralph Abraham.  During the interview Abraham discusses how chaos theory might impact how we think about consciousness: Alex Tsakiris:   Chaos theory presents a lot of problems for science when it comes to measurement, which is really the nuts-and-bolts of science. Ralph Abraham:  Right. In other words, if you know the state of the world exactly, well almost exactly, with a slight error, then you cannot make a long-term predictions. So we don’t know about global climate warming, for example. The basis of these mathematical models are chaotic in this technical sense.  So, conceivably the flap of a butterfly wing could make a huge difference in the prediction of the model long-term. Now as we take this kind of mathematical model for complex systems upstairs into the realm of consciousness, then obviously consciousness has a lot of parts. For one thing, if you think of the individual consciousness of six billion people on the planet being somehow netted together through communication by reading, writing, cell phones, the internet, etc. into a complex system, then obviously, that complex system is going to have very chaotic behavior. Dr. Ralph Abraham’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (43 min.) Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/look-back-at-200-episodes/ http://www.skeptiko.com/look-back-at-200-episodes/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:41:37 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2600 http://www.skeptiko.com/look-back-at-200-episodes/feed/ 29 0:59:01 Interview with Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris examines the origins of the show and lessons learned. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for look back at 200 episodes to Skeptiko.  During the interview Tsakiris discusses what he’s discovered about ot[...] Interview with Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris examines the origins of the show and lessons learned. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for look back at 200 episodes to Skeptiko.  During the interview Tsakiris discusses what he’s discovered about other skeptical podcasts: Tim:   There’s Skeptiko and you’re up against all of the skeptic shows: The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, Skepticality, Skeptoid… Alex Tsakiris:   Not really, Tim. Those are like two different universes. I came into this from the outside and assumed that these two groups would fit together. If The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe and Skepticality and Skeptoid and all the rest of them are talking about parapsychology, although it be in a disparaging way, then naturally they’re going to want to dialogue with the same researchers I wanted to talk to. I was naïve enough to think that they actually did. What I’ve found is that they don’t. What the Skeptics really want is to be left in their little island over there, in their little world, so they can talk about these things among themselves. Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (59 min.) Read It: Today we have a special episode of Skeptiko. I have with me and I’ll soon be turning the mike over to Tim #$%, who is a long-time friend of mine and a long-time friend of Skeptiko. A guy who has literally listened to, I think, every show that I’ve produced. What makes this particularly interesting, other than I have this close personal relationship with Tim, is that Tim is a skeptic and he remains a skeptic. I love the fact that he’s stayed with the show, stayed with the material, has battled it out, and has remained a skeptic. So I think when Tim proposed the idea of doing an interview about Skeptiko, something I’ve been resistant to do, the more I thought about it the more I thought, ‘What more perfect person to conduct that interview than someone who’s deeply engaged in the show and remains opposed to a lot of the ideas. And that true spirit of sorting out the data and skepticism?’ I can now turn the mike over to Tim. Tim:   Thank you, Alex. And thank you very much, honestly, for agreeing to do this. You and I had a bit of a back-and-forth on whether or not you thought this was a good idea but I do want to do this, primarily in my mind as a celebration of the fact that you’ve reached this milestone of 200 shows. So if you’ll look back at Skeptiko, it started January 7, 2007 and you introduced it with how controversial science is debated. So my idea for the next few minutes is to talk about the show. I’m hoping we can stay out of the topics of the show. We may bleed into that but I’m curious to get started with how the show got started. Take us back to 2007. Alex Tsakiris:   Well, I started out as a listener. I’ve always been very interested in not only these topics but in general in the idea that I can learn. I can get better. I can improve by absorbing knowledge from other people. So I was a listener first, and I became quite interested in the whole idea of parapsychology and paranormal phenomena just at a very casual level, like anyone who watches a television program on the topic. That led me to Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, who is guest #1 of Skeptiko. The conversation I had with Rupert was along the lines of, “Hey, this is interesting. Why isn’t anyone talking about this in a serious way, interviewing these researchers and analyzing what they have to say, versus what people who oppose them have to say?” He said, “I don’t know.” I said, “We ought to make that happen and I’m willing to fund this. Let’s hire somebody to go do this show.” That was really how it started, is I was going to fund a show because I’m not a producer of any sort, and I’m not a radio guy or anything like that. Well, we went down that path and I asked Rupert for suggestions of who might be good for the show. That kind of played out and it’s like so many things you hear about, you know? There wasn’t anybody so I stepped in to do it. After a couple[...] skepticism, Skeptiko Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/conservative-christian-chris-white-debunks-ancient-aliens-theories/ http://www.skeptiko.com/conservative-christian-chris-white-debunks-ancient-aliens-theories/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:35:24 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2590 http://www.skeptiko.com/conservative-christian-chris-white-debunks-ancient-aliens-theories/feed/ 49 1:20:52 Interview with Ancient Aliens Debunked filmmaker Chris White who swamps the Ancient Alien theories with science, but relies on Biblical inerrancy for core beliefs. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris White, creator of the po[...] Interview with Ancient Aliens Debunked filmmaker Chris White who swamps the Ancient Alien theories with science, but relies on Biblical inerrancy for core beliefs. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris White, creator of the popular documentary film, Ancient Aliens Debunked.  During the interview White discusses the film as well as his controversial conservative Christian beliefs: Alex Tsakiris: Here’s what Ancient Aliens, the TV show says is one of the most compelling bits of evidence for the Ancient Alien proposition, and that’s the site of Pumapunku and the ruins there.  That’s where you start the film.  So, take us through Pumapunku, and how that’s debunked. Chris White:   The main thing that the Ancient Astronaut theory proponents suggest is that these angles are too perfect and the stone-cutting is too amazing to be anything that any ancient peoples could have done. We could talk about what the site actually was and so on but the main thing is that the stonemasonry there at Pumapunku is not difficult to do. There’s lots of things that they say are true about Pumapunku that are not. For example, they say that these stones are granite and diorite and therefore they’re too hard. Not only is that not true if they were granite or diorite but they’re not granite or diorite. They’re red sandstone and ambercite. They are not as heavy as they say they are and they’re not as in the right-angles as they say they are. Later, Mr. White offers opinions on the limitations of Islam and Buddhism, and the primacy of Christianity: Chris White:  In Islam they have a lot of rules that say, “Give to the poor. Fast. Be nice to people.” Those are rules that they’re following because of threat of whatever. Alex Tsakiris:   You can’t generalize like that, Chris. Chris White:  I think it’s dangerous when we say, “Oh, we know that these people are just as good.” I think you can analyze—not their personality — I’m not talking about whether they’re good or not but you can analyze the very tenants of what they’re trying to do. And I think very few times do people understand Hinduism or Buddhism or Islam or any of these things… Alex Tsakiris:   Chris, how many Buddhist monks have you met? How many Buddhist monks have you encountered and really sat down and experienced, and talked to? Chris White:   It’s really not about the individual; it’s about what they are claiming that any individual would claim… Alex Tsakiris:   How is it not about the individual? It’s only about the individual. Chris White:   Because nobody has reached the very thing that they need which is freedom from Nirvana or getting to Nirvana. Show me a Buddhist that would claim that right now. Everybody’s saying, “Oh well, the suffering is caused by tanha.” Tanha is sin. It’s our desires to do bad things that we don’t want to do. That’s the reason that any Buddhist is trying to do the ascetic practices. They try to eat less rice, go onto a hill, do whatever because they’re trying to defeat the innate desire to sin. Now, that’s their path. If you understand that they’re hoping that one day, if they do all the right meditations and they eat the less food and they give away enough possessions and they’re nice enough to people, it will happen and they will be diminished in their level of desiring to sin. That’s Buddhism. Ancient Aliens Debunked Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (80 min.) Read It: Today we welcome filmmaker, radio host, and podcaster, Chris White to Skeptiko. Chris’ latest documentary, Ancient Aliens Debunked, has caused quite a stir among Ancient Alien believers, as you might expect, as well as skeptics and even Evangelical Christians, as Chris himself is quite public about being a Conservative Christian. There’s a lot here to unpack and Chris, I’m really glad that you’re joining me today on Skeptiko to do just that. Welcome. Chris White:   It’s great to be here, Alex. I’m really excited about this interview. It’s a really unique op[...] Buddhism, Christianity, UFO, Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/mike-clelland-contact-with-alien-consciousness/ http://www.skeptiko.com/mike-clelland-contact-with-alien-consciousness/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:09:04 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2578 http://www.skeptiko.com/mike-clelland-contact-with-alien-consciousness/feed/ 16 1:21:59 Interview with Blogger and UFO researcher Mike Clelland about reports of contact with alien consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Mike Clelland, host of the Hidden Experience Podcast.  During the interview Clelland di[...] Interview with Blogger and UFO researcher Mike Clelland about reports of contact with alien consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Mike Clelland, host of the Hidden Experience Podcast.  During the interview Clelland discusses various account of contact with alien consciousness: Alex Tsakiris:  I look at the UFO phenomena and I am challenged to either fit it into that near-death experience, mystical/spiritual framework, or say that it lies outside of that framework. So are the aliens God?  Mike Clelland:   I’m sure you could cherry-pick the reports and you could come up with that answer that they are God. In these UFO narratives people come back and they tell what they experienced and so one person in one narrative asked the little gray aliens, “Are you Angels?” And the gray aliens reply, “Yes. But not in the way you think of Angels.” Which is an interesting answer.  In another report someone asks the gray aliens, “Did God create the universe?” And the aliens reply, “No. God is creating the universe moment-by-moment.” Alex Tsakiris:   That gets back to the most challenging part of all that which is we don’t understand the nature of that extended consciousness beyond our physical level, so whenever we talk about theatre, then is it theatre to us? Or is it theatre to them? Mike Clelland: I feel like I’m constantly confronted with—and the phrase I will use is “something’s going on behind the curtain.” I’m implying that there’s this other dimensional realm that “they,” these aliens, can access that we can barely access. Maybe we can access it through death; maybe we can access it through psychedelics. Maybe we can access it through intense meditation or through dream realms.  We can access that realm fleetingly. Mike Clelland’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (82 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Mike Clelland to Skeptiko. In addition to being a pretty amazing illustrator, Mike is also a blogger and podcaster at www.hiddenexperience.blogspot.com where he tackles a number of paranormal topics mainly centered around alien contact. Now I know that can be a challenging topic for those who haven’t really studied the phenomena very much, but I’m really hoping that in this Skeptiko interview we can jump past all that first-level skeptical silliness because it’s really not that interesting. If you think all this stuff is swamp gas and ball lightning  then more power to you but that’s not really what we’re going to talk about today. What I’m hoping to get into with Mike is questions about this other form of consciousness that many, many folks he’s been coming in contact with and hopefully trying to tie that back to so many of the topics that we’ve talked about here on Skeptiko, be it remote viewing or out-of-body experience or near-death experience, lucid dreaming, psychedelics, all the rest. So with that rather long introduction, Mike, welcome to Skeptiko. Thanks for coming on. Mike Clelland:   Thanks for having me. Alex Tsakiris:   I’m really excited to talk to you because I’ve been listening to so many of your interviews and not just on a need to be informed for the show but because they’re great. I really like them; you have a great way on the mike. It’s very natural, very personable, and very personal. You come through with a lot of your own personal information that doesn’t get in the way but just enhances the experience. And of course, you have a lot of great guests. It’s really a delight to listen to and it’s a real joy to have you on the show. Mike Clelland:   Great, thanks. The genesis of the whole podcasting series has been—and I’m not exaggerating and I repeat this over and over again—it’s been therapy for me. It’s been a form of self-therapy. I feel like I’m stepping into waters that are pretty murky and pretty deep and in a way venturing into the unknown as far as I try to sort of untangle some of these threads. I’ve had some personal experiences and the podcast series and t[...] UFO Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/diane-powell-psychic-phenomena/ http://www.skeptiko.com/diane-powell-psychic-phenomena/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2567 http://www.skeptiko.com/diane-powell-psychic-phenomena/feed/ 21 0:40:18 Interview with Dr. Diane Powell about her book, The ESP Enigma, and why research into extended human consciousness remains taboo.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neuroscientist, psychiatrist and author Dr. Diane Powell about [...] Interview with Dr. Diane Powell about her book, The ESP Enigma, and why research into extended human consciousness remains taboo.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neuroscientist, psychiatrist and author Dr. Diane Powell about her book, The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena.  During the interview Powell discusses why psychic abilities are not accepted by mainstream science: Alex Tsakiris: My opinion is that if you’re waiting for the paradigm shift, if you’re waiting for science to roll over and say, “Uncle. We admit it. This phenomenon is obvious; it’s self-evident,” it’s not going to happen.  What do you think? Dr. Diane Powell:   I agree and I think that, as I said, it is counterproductive to think that way. I think that people close their minds to considering new possibilities. I mean, like I said, in the early 1900’s when people thought that all of the physics had been discovered there was this whole other world out there. I believe that’s true for consciousness. I think we’re just now starting to have more and more receptivity to studying that. But still, trying to understand—I think human consciousness is just too vast a topic and you’re not going to be able to understand it with conventional materialistic science. I mean, that’s only one tool in trying to obtain knowledge. Dr. Diane Powell’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (40 min.) Read It: SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/alex/Downloads/Skeptiko-Diane-Powell-Interview-edited.rtf Today we welcome Dr. Diane Powell to Skeptiko. Diane has an amazing background, stellar credentials, Johns Hopkins trained neuroscientist, MD in psychiatry from Johns Hopkins, as well. Faculty position at Harvard Medical School.  Salk Institute right here in my backyard in La Jolla. I mean, the credentials go on and on. She’s also written a book titled, The ESP Enigma. Dr. Powell, thank you so much for joining me and welcome to Skeptiko. Dr. Diane Powell:   Thank you. It’s a pleasure. Alex Tsakiris:   Well, I had a chance the other day to take a look at your excellent website at www.dianehennacypowell.com and I was really amazed. So many of the topics you cover are right up our alley here at Skeptiko, so I’m really looking forward to this dialogue. You teed up so many questions, more questions than I can possibly get to, so I hardly know where to begin. Dr. Diane Powell:   I want to get people to think. That’s my mission. Alex Tsakiris:   Great. You know, that I guess was one of my first questions because you do have such a stellar background. I had to wonder while I was reading this, gee, Diane, why can’t you just play nice with the other neuroscientists? Why do you have to go off and do this ESP thing and basically claim that the emperor has no clothes like you do? Hasn’t that been a rather difficult path for you to follow? Dr. Diane Powell:   It has been a difficult path and unfortunately it’s not a path that’s embraced by academia. I’m somebody who grew up with academia in my blood. My father was a professor. He started out as a mathematician and geneticist. He ended up as a cardiovascular physiologist working as the head of the artificial heart program at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. So I grew up in a scientific family. One of my brothers is a theoretical physicist whose expertise is artificial intelligence. Coming from this family, I’m used to talking about challenging questions and searching for the truth, like a detective. That’s how I grew up. When I started to see holes in the model that neuroscientists had, I started to think, ‘Okay, how can we explain those holes? How can we explain those mysteries?’ I found  that there so many things that were not explained and yet people were hanging onto that model and pouring lots of research dollars into continuing to find yet another neurotransmitter and another receptor for those neurotransmitters. I was thinking to myself, ‘This isn’t answering the questions [...] parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-terrance-mckenna-ralph-abraham-dialog-still-matters/ http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-terrance-mckenna-ralph-abraham-dialog-still-matters/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:35:40 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2562 http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-terrance-mckenna-ralph-abraham-dialog-still-matters/feed/ 10 0:54:54 A look back at a series of dialogs between Rupert Sheldrake, Terrance McKenna and Ralph Abraham. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for a rediscovery of the audio recordings of Rupert Sheldrake, Terrance McKenna and Ralph Abraham.  Through a reexamina[...] A look back at a series of dialogs between Rupert Sheldrake, Terrance McKenna and Ralph Abraham. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for a rediscovery of the audio recordings of Rupert Sheldrake, Terrance McKenna and Ralph Abraham.  Through a reexamination of the ideas and expectations of these progressive scientific thinkers we gain perspective on where science is heading.  And, whether a “paradigm shift” is eminent?  These dialogs also provide a deeper appreciation for the challenges facing scientific materialism as explored in Sheldrake latest book, Science Set Free. Rupert Sheldrake’s Website The Complete Trilalogues Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (56 min.)   Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/mario-beauregard-end-to-era-of-biological-robots/ http://www.skeptiko.com/mario-beauregard-end-to-era-of-biological-robots/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:10:24 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2554 http://www.skeptiko.com/mario-beauregard-end-to-era-of-biological-robots/feed/ 22 0:46:28 Interview with Dr. Mario Beauregard about his new book, Brain Wars, and the battle between old brain science and new brain science.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neuroscientist and author Dr. Mario Beauregard about his new [...] Interview with Dr. Mario Beauregard about his new book, Brain Wars, and the battle between old brain science and new brain science.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neuroscientist and author Dr. Mario Beauregard about his new book, Brain Wars: The Scientific Battle Over the Existence of the Mind and the Proof That Will Change the Way We Live Our Lives.  During the interview Beauregard discusses the coming revolution in the way science understands consciousness: Alex Tsakiris: Near the end of your book, Brain Wars, you talk about a shift in consciousness within science. I’d like you to talk about whether you really think that is likely.  I mean, we are so enmeshed — we are so married to this materialism — can we really get beyond it? Dr. Mario Beauregard:   Well, I can say that at least in my own field there’s an increasing number of scientists and also in other disciplines challenging the old materialist worldview, so it’s done not only by scientists but also by philosophers themselves. In the last few years we’ve seen books come out about the waning of materialism and so on.  Now several different scientists are starting to question this. We’re in a transition period, like I said before, and in certain circles scientists are creating a sort of union where they’re getting together and trying to get organized. For instance, there’s a special issue of a mainstream journal in neuroscience called, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and next year there will be a special issue about the possibility of non-local mind. This is a sign of the times because only 10 years ago or 15 or 20 years ago, this would not have been possible at all.  Now it’s becoming possible to discuss these important issues publicly and even to challenge the mainstream view overtly. This was not possible at all before. There’s a progress regarding this evolution in our field.  I think that there eventually will be another big revolution in science and this will be about mind and consciousness. The same kind of revolution that they’ve had about 100 years ago in physics from classical physics to quantum physics. We’ll have probably the same in our own field. At the same time in parallel, like you said at the beginning of the interview, if you talk to laypeople, most people do not believe that they are strictly biological robots and don’t have any influence over their brain activity or what’s happening in their body.  So, if there’s the start of really a transition within science, it will go quickly because the rest of the world is very sympathetic regarding a non-materialist view of consciousness and of human life and the universe. Mario Beauregard’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (46 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Mario Beauregard to Skeptiko. Dr. Beauregard is an Associate Research Professor at the Neuroscience Research Center at the University of Montreal. He has a Ph.D. in neuroscience also from the University of Montreal. He also has two post-Doctorate fellowships in experimental neuropsychology. He’s the author of over 100 publications in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. And he’s here today to talk about his latest book, Brain Wars: The Scientific Battle Over the Existence of the Mind and the Proof That Will Change the Way We Live Our Lives. Mario, thank you very much for joining me today on Skeptiko and welcome. Dr. Mario Beauregard:   Thanks to you. Alex Tsakiris:   So your book, Brain Wars, and this battle over whether we are really just biological robots, as our friend Stephen Hawking likes to say, is a frequent topic on this show. I think you’re going to find an audience who is well aware of a lot of the issues. You really do a great job of presenting it in your book and pulling it all together. Can you tell us a little bit briefly about what your book is about? Dr. Mario Beauregard:   Well, the starting point is what we call the “modern scientific worldview,” so it’s the world[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/paul-kimball-on-the-other-side-of-truth/ http://www.skeptiko.com/paul-kimball-on-the-other-side-of-truth/#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:44:40 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2544 http://www.skeptiko.com/paul-kimball-on-the-other-side-of-truth/feed/ 7 0:32:44 Interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball. During the interview Kimball discusses the hypocrisy of belief in the paranormal: Paul Kimball: ‘Who’[...] Interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with author and UFO filmmaker Paul Kimball. During the interview Kimball discusses the hypocrisy of belief in the paranormal: Paul Kimball: ‘Who’s the Paranormalist-In-Chief in the United States right now?’ I had this dialogue with a friend of mine who’s a liberal Democrat in the United States who was going on and on about how we have to elect Barack Obama. I was going, ‘Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I agree with you.’ But he was also a guy who continually would chide me about my interest in the paranormal. He would occasionally call it “woo” and that sort of stuff. He was very big into the James Randi kind of stuff. So one day we’re sitting there and we’re talking about both of these things and I said, “Well, wait a second now. You’re telling me that you’re going to go vote for a guy who has stated repeatedly that he believes in God, this telepathic being…” Alex Tsakiris:   Hold on, Paul. I love that. It’s in the Introduction of your book and I have the exact quote that you include in the book and it’s really good. This is in a 2008 interview between Christianity Today and Barack Obama: “I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.” Paul Kimball:   Right. So I asked my friend the next time I saw him after the election, ‘Let me get this straight. You just voted in an election for the most powerful office in the world for a man who believes in the supernatural being with whom he communicates by telepathy. This supernatural being also sent his only Son to Earth to be tortured and executed and then brought Him back from the dead a couple of days later. All so a prophesy could be fulfilled. And of course, there’s the whole walking on water thing, not to mention the water to wine trick, the raising of the dead.’ I could have mentioned the virgin birth, but I didn’t. And you think I’m a big goofy for having an interest in UFOs and ghosts?’ And the point to me is in the materialistic world we live in now it has become very de rigueur to just dismiss all of this stuff and I understand why. Religion has gotten—and deservedly so—a bad name over the course of human history. But you should be able to separate organized religion from what’s actually out there. Call it spirituality; call it faith; call it philosophy, if you will. Paul Kimball’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (33 min.) Read It: Today we welcome filmmaker Paul Kimball to Skeptiko. Paul has written a fascinating new book entitled, The Other Side of Truth, in which he takes us on a road trip of sorts through all sorts of questions about ghosts, extraterrestrials, reincarnation, and the afterlife. Quite a fascinating book. Paul, welcome and thanks so much for joining me. Paul Kimball:   Hi, Alex. Good to be here. Long time listener, first-time guest as they say on some other sort of radio show, so great to be here talking to the Skeptiko audience. Alex Tsakiris:   That’s great to hear. As you know, I love the opportunity for the cross-fertilization, if you will, because I think there are so many opportunities when we look beyond the narrow field that we focus on. That narrowness is necessary, right? To really understand something we have to focus on it but then it’s nice to back up and look at the bigger picture, which is certainly something that you’ve done in this book even though you’re probably best known as a documentary filmmaker–films like Best Evidence, film about UFOs and the best UFO cases and a bio pic that I really enjoyed titled, Stanton T. Friedman is Real. I love the way it starts out with him on the pulpit and you have almost like organ church music in the background. I thought that was really well done. Paul Kimball:   Well, thanks. I’ve been criticized actually by a number of people over the ye[...] UFO Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-quantum-theory-secret-psychologists-need-to-know/ http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-quantum-theory-secret-psychologists-need-to-know/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:18:07 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2504 http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-quantum-theory-secret-psychologists-need-to-know/feed/ 28 0:48:10 Interviews from the 2012 Parapsychology Association conference with Dr. Daryl Bem, Dr. George Williams, Dr. Athena Drewes and Dr. Robert Van de Castle. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and Dr. Richard Grego for interviews from the 2012  Parapsycholo[...] Interviews from the 2012 Parapsychology Association conference with Dr. Daryl Bem, Dr. George Williams, Dr. Athena Drewes and Dr. Robert Van de Castle. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and Dr. Richard Grego for interviews from the 2012  Parapsychology Association conference. During one of the interviews Dr. Daryl Bem reveals the secret psychologists need to know about quantum theory: Dr. Daryl Bem:  Quantum theory, quantum mechanics, has never had an empirical failure.  That is, to the degree you can measure, within the error of measurement, every prediction made by quantum mechanics has come true. The thing that so boggles the mind of physicists in the 20th Century was no one knows how it works. So even Richard Feynman, who won a Nobel Prize for all of this said, “Stop beating yourself up by asking ‘But how can this be?’ Nobody knows how this can be.” And psychologists and non-physicists generally don’t know that conundrum exists in physics. They say, “Well, I don’t have the mathematical knowledge to know what quantum mechanics is.” They should give themselves more credit. No one knows. No one has an understanding of the mechanics of how it works. Now some psi researchers actually think quantum mechanics does contain the seeds of an explanation. It has to do with what we call “Quantum Entanglement.” Now, there are technical arguments why that won’t work, but every week in physics there’s usually some new paper that shows entanglement at higher temperatures than we would have expected. Or, at longer distances. Or, at a more macro level.  So some of psi researchers believe that’s this is going to be it. Dr. Richard Grego’s Website (full audio interviews) Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (48 min.) Read It: Today we welcome back Dr. Richard Grego to Skeptiko. Rich, as you may remember, has brought us some kind of feed on the street interviews, most recently a few episodes back from The American Psychology Association Conference. This time, he has a series of interviews that he recently conducted at the Parapsychology Association meeting for 2012 and I believe that was in Durham, North Carolina, is that right, Rich? Dr. Richard Grego:  Yes, it is. Alex Tsakiris:   So Rich is also, as you remember, a Philosophy Professor at Florida State College. He’s an old hand by now on Skeptiko so we don’t need to introduce him very much. We’re going to jump right into these very, very interesting interviews that he’s brought us from The Parapsychology Association Conference. So where I thought we’d start, Rich, why don’t you give us a little bit of a feel for the conference in general? You know, the number of attendees, kind of who were the people that were there, what it was all about. Dr. Richard Grego:   Okay, yeah. The Parapsychological Association, of course, is the primary or one of the primary professional associations for scholars in the field of parapsychology and The Parapsychological Association Conference is the annual, I guess, convocation at which these scholars share their latest research. And this year it was held August 2012. It was in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, right adjacent as a matter of fact, and it was no coincidence to the famous Rhine Research Center that was formerly connected with Duke University. And you know, since parapsychological research obviously concerns cutting-edge controversial explorations and stuff regarding the nature and the substance of consciousness and the cosmos, I wanted to get a chance perhaps to talk to the scholars there and obtain as many abstracts and summaries of the presentations and so forth for Skeptiko. There were about—I would say—a couple hundred scholars there, researchers from various fields like everything from neuroscience to physics to philosophy. My project was to gather abstracts and summaries of these presentations as well as follow-up questions regarding how they felt their findings impacted evidence for a non-material consciousness or dimension of conscious[...] parapsychology, Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-on-parapsychology-the-backwater-of-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-on-parapsychology-the-backwater-of-science/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:40:29 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2498 http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-on-parapsychology-the-backwater-of-science/feed/ 58 0:17:42 Emails from Sam Harris reveal what he really thinks about parapsychology and Psi research. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for a discussion about his recent email correspondence with Dr. Sam Harris. During the discussion Harris’ opinions of Psi res[...] Emails from Sam Harris reveal what he really thinks about parapsychology and Psi research. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for a discussion about his recent email correspondence with Dr. Sam Harris. During the discussion Harris’ opinions of Psi research and near-death experience research are discussed: Alex Tsakiris: …I like when little nuggets of truth, like this, are revealed.  Because if we just listen to Sam Harris’ public stance on Psi, on parapsychology, on Dean Radin, and Rupert Sheldrake, it’s all very open, very collaborative, very, ‘you go boys, let’s see what you got.’ But when you read this you see what he really thinks about Psi research.  It’s in the “backwater” of science.  That’s where is really is for Sam Harris. …here he is equating near-death experience research to Psi research.  Now, the only person who would do something like this is someone who knows very little about each. Even a rudimentary understand of the body of peer-reviewed NDE research should give Harris an appreciation for the larger neurological questions surrounding NDEs ( e.g. how can experiencers who have a wide variety of conditions, and even those who experience no medical trauma,  have similar hyper-lucid transformative experiences?).  Dr. Alexander’s account must be understood within the context of this work. Full email exchange with Sam Harris Email from Dr. Jan Holden Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (18 min.)   atheism, parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/victor-stenger-slams-parapsychology-calls-stanley-krippner-charlatan/ http://www.skeptiko.com/victor-stenger-slams-parapsychology-calls-stanley-krippner-charlatan/#comments Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:22:41 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2486 http://www.skeptiko.com/victor-stenger-slams-parapsychology-calls-stanley-krippner-charlatan/feed/ 54 0:51:40 Interview with Dr. Victor Stenger about his new book, God and the Folly of Faith, and the science of consciousness and near-death experience. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with physicist, Atheist and author Dr. Victor Stenger  ab[...] Interview with Dr. Victor Stenger about his new book, God and the Folly of Faith, and the science of consciousness and near-death experience. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with physicist, Atheist and author Dr. Victor Stenger  about his new book, God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion.  During the interview Stenger explains why he believes many parapsychologists, consciousness researchers and near-death experience researchers are charlatans: Alex Tsakiris: As you mentioned, Stuart Hameroff is an anesthesiologist, so he may be crossing disciplines, but he’s also publishing with a Nobel Prize winner and some of the top people in the field. But let’s move on from that a little bit because what I really wanted to get to with that is what is at stake for Atheism with this idea of consciousness being more than materialism? Mind being just the brain? Dr. Victor Stenger:   All the Atheists I know, that is those who are scientists and really understand the scientific method, will say, “You show me the evidence for something beyond matter, then we’ll believe it.” So we’re open to that. It’s not so much that we have any particular stake other than the stake of determining the truth as best as we can. And that’s the problem. These people are charlatans to be claiming that there’s evidence for a quantum aspect of the mind. That’s just not true. Maybe they’ll find one someday. We’re open to that. But they just do not have the data to support that and they don’t have the theory to support that. And that’s the thing that’s so upsetting about it because they’re able to get away with this because they’re talking to audiences who are not aware of the science, who really don’t know the science. Alex Tsakiris:   You’re not saying Christof Koch is a charlatan? Or Stuart Hameroff is a charlatan? I assume, right? So who are the charlatans? Dr. Victor Stenger:   I know that I know Stanley Krippner, I know some of the other people that are on the list of people you’ve interviewed in the past. I saw your list and I’ll tell you they’re not part of any mainstream that I know of. Alex Tsakiris:   So do you think Stanley Krippner is a charlatan? Dr. Victor Stenger:   Absolutely. Victor Stenger’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (52 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Victor Stenger to Skeptiko. Dr. Stenger is an adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado but that’s really a second academic career for him. He’s also Professor Emeritus in Physics and Astronomy for the University of Hawaii. He’s also a very successful author, having published 11 books including the 2007 New York Times Bestseller, God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, and his latest book, God and the Folly of Faith. Welcome to Skeptiko, Vic. Thanks so much for joining me. Dr. Victor Stenger:   I’m glad to be here. Alex Tsakiris:   Great. I’m looking forward to the discussion. Let’s give folks a little bit of a background on you. Quite an impressive academic career, well-respected in your field. Well published, known. But then you also have this parallel career as one of the founders, really, of this movement that’s come to be known as “New Atheism.” Take us through a little bit of that and in particular this interplay between your academic career and then how you got interested in the Atheist movement. And maybe along the way help people understand what a New Atheist is? Dr. Victor Stenger:   Okay. That’s quite a large order but let me get started and then don’t hesitate to interrupt me and ask for a clarifying point. Now, I spent my career working in the field of elementary particle physics. Was very much involved in many of the activity that led to the eventual acceptance of what is called the standard model. And then went more into astronomy and cosmology in the ‘80s. So my interest has always been basic understanding of the universe, the nature of matter, and what’s[...] atheism Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/eben-alexander-the-medical-mystery-of-near-death-experience/ http://www.skeptiko.com/eben-alexander-the-medical-mystery-of-near-death-experience/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:11:13 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2475 http://www.skeptiko.com/eben-alexander-the-medical-mystery-of-near-death-experience/feed/ 33 0:56:28 Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander about his new book, Proof of Heaven, and the medical mystery of his NDE. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neurosurgeon and author Dr. Eben Alexander about his new book, Proof of Heaven.  During[...] Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander about his new book, Proof of Heaven, and the medical mystery of his NDE. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with neurosurgeon and author Dr. Eben Alexander about his new book, Proof of Heaven.  During the interview Alexander explains why his medical training did not prepare him for understanding his near-death experience: Alex Tsakiris:   One of the really fascinating parts of the book is the professional transformation you go through as a result of this experience.  As you tell it, you weren’t totally unaware of the near-death experience research.  It was out there.  You had heard of, for example, Dr. Raymond Moody, but it was something you looked past because all your training had told you this was impossible.  So, it had created this blind spot in your medical knowledge. Dr. Eben Alexander: …it did require a tremendous amount of re-education. Having been an academic neurosurgeon for over 20 years, I thought I understood brain and how brain generates consciousness and mind and soul, spirit, what-have-you. But my thinking was clearly that when the brain and the body die that’s the end of consciousness. I now know that’s absolutely not true. And to get to that point after my experience I really had to learn a tremendous amount about consciousness I never had to know as a practicing academic neurosurgeon. I knew a few things about consciousness. I knew a few things that seem to turn it off. Every day we use general anesthesia which is effective at turning off consciousness.  Yet having used it for 150 years we still have absolutely no clue how general anesthesia works. I think that should give the listener a little bit of an idea of how little we really understand about consciousness. In fact, my experience showed me this very clearly, and I go into nine neuroscientific hypotheses in my book that I entertained and discussed with others in neuroscience, neurosurgery, trying to explain how my ultra-real experience might have happened in my brain given the severity of my meningitis.  My conclusion is  that none of these explanations work. Eben Alexander’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (56 min.) Also of Interest: Anomalous Experience: share your real anomalous experiences and read about the experiences of others. Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Eben Alexander back to Skeptiko. Dr. Alexander has just published Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Near-Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife. Welcome, Dr. Alexander. Thanks for joining me on Skeptiko. Dr. Eben Alexander:   Well hello, Alex, and thanks very much for having me back. Alex Tsakiris:   Well, you’ve written quite a book here. One part medical thriller—it really is—and one part near-death experience science book. It’s a great read. I didn’t think neurosurgeons were supposed to be writers of this caliber. Dr. Eben Alexander:   Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. I think you can tell it’s really a story from the heart because it’s a very personal story and my experience was absolutely life-changing in every sense of the word. And I mean, to me I think a lot of people are most interested when they hear that I had a profound near-death experience like millions of people have had and witnessed that ultra-reality and the startling nature of that realm. And because I had bacterial meningitis, which really pretty much turned off the human part of my brain, after I was recovering and putting the whole story together it started becoming very clear to me that there was absolutely no way that it had happened in my brain. And that was based on neuroscientific principles. So as stunned as I was by the nature of the experience, the ultra-reality, when I was waking up from coma my original intent was to try and explain that based on neuroscientific principles. T Then over a few months and even before I started reading any near-death experience literature, I realized how sick I was and how it was really impossible to exp[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-wont-debate-eben-alexander-on-near-death-experience-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-wont-debate-eben-alexander-on-near-death-experience-science/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:58:00 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2468 http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-harris-wont-debate-eben-alexander-on-near-death-experience-science/feed/ 158 0:21:36 Review of the recent controversy over the Newsweek magazine cover story, Heaven is Real, and Sam Harris’ response to an invitation to debate Dr. Eben Alexander regarding his near-death experience. Dr. Eben Alexander Responds to Sam Harris’ Blo[...] Review of the recent controversy over the Newsweek magazine cover story, Heaven is Real, and Sam Harris’ response to an invitation to debate Dr. Eben Alexander regarding his near-death experience. Dr. Eben Alexander Responds to Sam Harris’ Blog Post The following is from an exchange between Dr. Sam Harris and Dr. Eben Alexander regarding Sam Harris’ blog post, This Must be Heaven, and the possibility of Dr. Harris debating Dr. Alexander on Skeptiko: Sam Harris: …There’s nothing to debate either. He can’t reasonably claim that the relevant parts of his brain (not just the cortex) were “completely shut down.” It’s just not a factual statement. Eben Alexander: Of course, it was premature for him to speak out based on the  Newsweek article — he needs to at least read the book if he wants to avoid making embarrassing statements that he later regrets. Isolated preservation of cortical regions might have explained some elements of my experience, but certainly not the overall odyssey of rich experiential tapestry. The severity of my meningitis and its refractoriness to therapy for a week should have eliminated all but the most rudimentary of conscious experiences: peripheral white blood cell [WBC] count over 27,000 per mm3, 31 percent bands with toxic granulations, CSF WBC count over 4,300 per mm3, CSF glucose down to 1.0 mg/dl (normally 60-80, may drop down to ~ 20 in severe meningitis), CSF protein 1,340 mg/dl, diffuse meningeal involvement and widespread blurring of the gray-white junction, diffuse edema, with associated brain abnormalities revealed on my enhanced CT scan, and neurological exams showing severe alterations in cortical function (from posturing to no response to noxious stimuli, florid papilledema, and dysfunction of extraocular motility [no doll's eyes, pupils fixed], indicative of brainstem damage).  Going from symptom onset to coma within 3 hours is a very dire prognostic sign, conferring 90% mortality at the very beginning, which only worsened over the week. No physician who knows anything about meningitis will just “blow off” the fact that I was deathly ill in every sense of the word, and that my neocortex was absolutely hammered. Anyone who simply concludes that “since I did so well I could not have been that sick” is begging the question, and knows nothing whatsoever about severe bacterial meningitis. I invite the skeptical doctors to show me a case remotely similar to mine. My physicians, and their consultants at UVA, Bowman Gray-Wake Forest, Duke, Harvard, Stanford and beyond were astonished that I recovered. In an effort to explain the “ultra-reality” of the experience, I examined this hypothesis: Was it possible that networks of inhibitory neurons might have been predominantly affected, allowing for unusually high levels of activity among the excitatory neuronal networks to generate the apparent “ultra-reality” of my experience? One would expect meningitis to preferentially disturb the superficial cortex, possibly leaving deeper layers partially functional. The computing unit of the neocortex is the six-layered “functional column,” each with a lateral diameter of 0.2–0.3 mm. There is significant interwiring laterally to immediately adjacent columns in response to modulatory control signals that originate largely from subcortical regions (the thalamus, basal ganglia, and brainstem). Each functional column has a component at the surface (layers 1–3), so that meningitis effectively disrupts the function of each column just by damaging the surface layers of the cortex. The anatomical distribution of inhibitory and excitatory cells, which have a fairly balanced distribution within the six layers, does not support this hypothesis. Diffuse meningitis over the brain’s surface effectively disables the entire neocortex due to this columnar architecture. Full-thickness destruction is unnecessary for total functional disruption. Given the prol[...] atheism Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/kirby-surprise-synchronicity-is-real/ http://www.skeptiko.com/kirby-surprise-synchronicity-is-real/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:11:16 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2457 http://www.skeptiko.com/kirby-surprise-synchronicity-is-real/feed/ 1 0:42:35 Interviews with psychologist and author and Dr. Kirby Surprise explores whether or not synchronicity is real. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and guest host Robert Perry for an interview with Dr. Kirby Surprise, author of Synchronicity: The Art of [...] Interviews with psychologist and author and Dr. Kirby Surprise explores whether or not synchronicity is real. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and guest host Robert Perry for an interview with Dr. Kirby Surprise, author of Synchronicity: The Art of Coincidence, Choice, and Unlocking Your Mind. During the interview Surprise discusses how synchronicity relates to other paranormal experiences: Alex Tsakiris: Is there ever a reality to a synchronistic event beyond my personal internal psychodrama interpretation of it? And that also bridges us into the other transformative realities of near-death experience or out-of-body experience or other transformative experiences, is there a parallel? Is there a reality to any of those? Dr. Kirby Surprise: Synchronistic events are objectively real. Absolutely 100% real. But they’re a mirror. So when I say that what you’re seeing is subjective, I’m not saying that these are parlor tricks the brain does on you. I’m saying that both your psychodynamic projections and the mirroring effect are real and they’re external. They are actually out there and you are actually changing the environment that you’re in by 3% to 6%. And the book is about a reasonable explanation, an expository fiction on how that’s possible. Now the easiest way to prove that people are the source of synchronistic events rather than another supernatural source is very simple. You create them yourself. Everybody does this all the time. This is not a specialty skill. Every single living human being is walking around in clouds of synchronistic events they themselves generate. Those events are changing the environment slightly to bring them the patterns they’re seeking. Now the sort of Flat Earth explanation to this is that we’re changing the environment. The reality is we’re moving through probabilities. String theory is telling us we’re sitting in a virtually infinite amount of alternatives right now. I’m saying that instead of people thinking that we’re jumping between universes we already span an infinite amount of these probabilities at once. We’re moving through them and we’re steering through them by what we’re thinking, feeling, and paying attention to. These things like out-of-body experiences and the more paranormal stuff I don’t look at as paranormal. I look at it as extremely normal. And I think that slowly the verifiable part of the science is gradually catching up to what our mystic, Shamanic, ancestors already knew. It’s all science. Metaphysics is physics. It’s an extension of it. The modern part of science is that there are some things we can verify and some things we take a best guess at. The thing about synchronicity being a mirror is it’s easy to verify, you know? You go out and create your own. Kirby Surprise’s Website Robert Perry’s Bolg Post Re This Interview Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (42 min.) Also of Interest: Author Bill Pillow discusses Prenatal Psychology.   parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/graham-nicholls-out-of-body-experiences-not-about-angels-and-demons/ http://www.skeptiko.com/graham-nicholls-out-of-body-experiences-not-about-angels-and-demons/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:55:51 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2449 http://www.skeptiko.com/graham-nicholls-out-of-body-experiences-not-about-angels-and-demons/feed/ 12 0:37:47 Interviews with author and out-of-body experience expert Graham Nicholls explores misconceptions about OBEs. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Graham Nicholls, author of Navigating the Out of Body Experience: Radical New Techniq[...] Interviews with author and out-of-body experience expert Graham Nicholls explores misconceptions about OBEs. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Graham Nicholls, author of Navigating the Out of Body Experience: Radical New Techniques. During the interview Nicholls discusses some misconceptions about out-of-body experiences: Alex Tsakiris: Your answer is very much in line with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake there, so you guys are on the same page, but I just don’t know how we can walk that fine line of –okay, don’t worry, “science” will figure this out eventually. There are a number of well known out-of-body experiencers who talk about a much more rich spiritual landscape that they feel like they’ve traversed and have come back and tell us about. They’ll tell you about lower levels; they’ll tell you about different kinds of beings, including what we would call evil or demonic beings up to beings we would associate with a lot of religious traditions. They’ll tell you directly that they’re related to some religious traditions. So I guess my point is I think we’re obligated to really take that stuff much more seriously once we cross over and say yes, this really is happening. I don’t know how we can really have such a wall and say it’s all going to be explained. Graham Nicholls:   I don’t feel there’s a wall. I feel I’ve explored a lot of those kinds of ideas.  I’ve found that those things just didn’t hold up. Alex Tsakiris:   Didn’t hold up in terms of as you went and tried to explore them yourself and validate them, you couldn’t personally validate them. Is that what you’re saying?  Graham Nicholls:   But not just me personally. Also the people I work with… I’ve tried to really dig beyond the preconceptions and step outside of the box a bit and saying, “What might actually be going on,” rather than just going with the presumption that it’s all spiritual and demons and Angels and that kind of thing. If I saw those things or if I saw a consistency across cultures with everyone I worked with, I would take those things onboard. But the thing is I don’t see that so it doesn’t give me a strong reason to take them onboard. Graham Nicholls’ Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (38 min.)   Read It: Alex Tsakiris:   Hi Graham. It’s so great to have you back on Skeptiko. Graham Nicholls:  Hi Alex. It’s great to be back on. Alex Tsakiris:   So here we are and I was looking over your new book. Fascinating, fascinating. One of the things that really struck me is on one hand it’s a very practical book. It says right in there that the aim of this book is to help you have an out-of-body experience, which is fascinating. We want to talk about that because you really take a rather novel approach to kind of throw in a whole bunch of different techniques at folks. You actually have a really sound scientific basis for why you think that varied approach might work for people. But at the same time, and this is the other part of the book I want to talk about, the book is very much about the science of out-of-body experience and the science-related questions that it raises. So first, am I getting that right? Are there really these two aspects to the book? Graham Nicholls:   Sure, yeah. Very much so. I wanted to move it away from the heavily esoteric angle that’s common in a lot of books. And I also really wanted to base the techniques on something solid and just go out there and see what actually works rather than just repeating what so many books and so many other people have been saying for over 100 years. I wanted to see if this stuff will really actually do what people say and so we really have silver cords and energy bodies and all of these kinds of things that are talked about so commonly. So yeah, that was really the aim. Alex Tsakiris:   Okay, good. So I tell you what. Let’s leave aside for a second the scientific questions about out-of-body experiences, including about whether they really exist, whether ther[...] OBE Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/richard-grego-finds-materialism-waning/ http://www.skeptiko.com/richard-grego-finds-materialism-waning/#comments Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:02:59 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2438 http://www.skeptiko.com/richard-grego-finds-materialism-waning/feed/ 4 0:53:07 Interviews Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Erlendur Haraldsson, Robert Almeder, and Stanley Krippner discuss the relationship between mind and body, and the end of Materialism.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and Dr. Richard Grego for interviews with D[...] Interviews Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Erlendur Haraldsson, Robert Almeder, and Stanley Krippner discuss the relationship between mind and body, and the end of Materialism.  Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and Dr. Richard Grego for interviews with Dr. Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson, Dr. Robert Almeder, and Dr. Stanley Krippner from the American Psychology Association conference. During the interview Grego comments on Almeder’s presentation: Alex Tsakiris:   Okay, where should we go next? Probably because you said we want to keep Krippner to the end we should probably play Robert Almeder, here goes that clip: Robert Almeder: “Aristotle claimed his philosophical that humans were distinct from animals and humans were rational but the animals were non-rational because they didn’t show an understanding and means to end relationship, evidenced in the fact they didn’t use tools. And Jane Goodall conclusively refuted that on the camera where everybody saw the animals using their tools that they created.” Alex Tsakiris:  I love the Jane Goodall reference. I think it really brought home this idea that science can’t really be pinned down the way that scientism often does.  Jane Goodall’s videos changed science, changed the scientific consensus. Not in a way that we normally think of as testable or anything like that but by just making it self-evident. Rich Grego:  Yes, absolutely. And again, this has happened over and over again in science.  It seems like science will make this claim that somehow the status of current science is this all-encompassing total description of the way reality must be, but if you look at the history of science, it’s sort of an obviously unfounded claim. Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (53 min.)   parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bengston-hands-on-healing-research-ignored-by-cancer-industry/ http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bengston-hands-on-healing-research-ignored-by-cancer-industry/#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:30:11 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2431 http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bengston-hands-on-healing-research-ignored-by-cancer-industry/feed/ 9 1:11:42 Interview with St. Josephs College sociology professor Dr. William Bengston examines his extensive scientific research into hands on healing. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. William Bengston about his book, The Energy Cure[...] Interview with St. Josephs College sociology professor Dr. William Bengston examines his extensive scientific research into hands on healing. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. William Bengston about his book, The Energy Cure: Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-on Healing.  During the interview Bengston describes his experiments with hands-on healing: Dr. William Bengston:   …starting from these clinical that, for example, malignant growths respond quickly and benign growths don’t respond so quickly, I thought to myself, ‘How are we going to get a handle on this? How are we going to go from spontaneous clinical experience to very controlled conditions?’ I wanted an absolute air-tight, no question about it, experiment that if it worked you didn’t have a viable counter-hypothesis… So, we looked at treating cancer in mice. At the time we started this, the longest lifespan for a mouse with this particular type of cancer was 27 days. No mouse in literally thousands of experiments had lived longer than 27 days after injection with this particular mammary cancer. And you knew exactly how many mice would die and what particular day after injection because it’s again, very well documented, found in labs all over the world. …So I put my hands around the cages of the mice for about an hour a day. I suspected at the time that healing, if it were to work, would be something analogous to radiation. But instead, the cancer started to grow and I thought it was failing. So the tumors grew and I said, “Let’s call it off. Why put the mice through this?” But I got talked into going a little longer. The tumors kept growing bigger and bigger. Then they developed this ulceration on the tumor and I really thought it wasn’t working. The ulceration grew and the tumor imploded and the mice were completely cured. Alex Tsakiris:   And this was unprecedented medically in this particular experiment with these particular mice, right? Dr. William Bengston:   Never happened before for any reason. So the world’s longest living mouse after being injected with this particular cancer was 27 days.  In our experiment the mice went through this process of growth then ulceration then implosion, and the mice were cured. I used to say they remitted but that’s the wrong word because remitted means a reduction in symptoms or temporary disappearance. These mice are cured for life. So we watched them and we leave them for two years and they live out their normal lifespan hanging out, being completely happy. Alex Tsakiris: Let’s finish this story, Bill. So, the world changes. You received the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Cancer treatments around the world are revolutionized and this has become the most highly researched area of medicine, right? I got all that right? Dr. William Bengston:   Uh, except for the entire scenario. This isn’t something where because we’ve cured a bunch of mice, therefore the cancer industry folds their tent. William Bengston’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (68 min.)   Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today Today we welcome Dr. William Bengston to Skeptiko. Bill is a Professor of Sociology at St. Joseph’s College in New York where he specializes in research methods and statistics and is the author of The Energy Cure: Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-On Healing. Here’s the real interesting part: Dr. Bengston is an amazing healer himself. For the past 30 years he’s compiled a series of carefully controlled scientific experiments that challenge not only our ideas about healing and medicine but about energy, about belief, about science in general, and how we practice it, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I hope we can get to. Bill, welcome to Skeptiko. Thanks so much for joining me. Dr. William Bengston:   Thanks for having me on, Alex. Alex Tsakiris:   So, Bill, your work is really quite amazing. It’s paradigm-busting in a number of ways. Too many ways than we’ll probably get to. Mainly because you’re such a sti[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/184-dr-rupert-sheldrake-sets-science-free-from-dogma/ http://www.skeptiko.com/184-dr-rupert-sheldrake-sets-science-free-from-dogma/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:40:11 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2421 http://www.skeptiko.com/184-dr-rupert-sheldrake-sets-science-free-from-dogma/feed/ 27 0:37:52 Interview examines how scientific assumptions about materialism and consciousness have constrained us. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with biologist and author Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about his new book, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to[...] Interview examines how scientific assumptions about materialism and consciousness have constrained us. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with biologist and author Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about his new book, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery.  During the interview Sheldrake explains his post-materialist worldview: Alex Tsakiris: I think that’s part of the problem. I think all these questions of the spiritual are not buried deep in these scientific questions you pose — they’re right there under the paper-thin surface of them.  Take survival of consciousness, if we just look at the data and we say, “That seems to suggest that consciousness survives death,” well, for any man on the street, as well as any scientist, that proposition immediately launches us into deep questions of the spiritual. I don’t know how you can get around that. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake: I think it’s quite important to decouple these.  Although the science is very relevant to these issues it doesn’t map in such a way that to be an Atheist you’ve got to be a Dawkins-style materialist or to be a religious person you’ve got to be a dualist. I think what we’re heading for is a post-materialist worldview which is what my book is trying to point the way towards. We could have a holistic way of looking at things, a scientific investigation into things, which leaves these bigger questions open. For example, in one chapter of the book where I’m dealing with the dogma that memories are stored as material traces inside the brain that becomes the question, are memories stored as material traces in the brain? I’m not confident memories are stored in brains. I think that brains are more like tuning devices, more like TV receivers than like video recorders. Now that’s really a scientific question, how is memory stored? We can do experiments to try and find out how memory works. So for materialists it’s a simple two-step argument. Memories are stored in brains; the brain decays at death, therefore, memories are wiped out at death. Whereas, if memories are not stored in brains then the memories themselves are not wiped out at death. They’re potentially accessible. That doesn’t prove they are accessed, that there is personal survival. It just means that’s a possibility whereas with materialism it’s an impossibility. So one position leaves the question closed and the other leaves it open. Rupert Sheldrake’s Website Play It: Listen Now: Download MP3 (38 min.)   . Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back to Skeptiko biologist and author, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake. He’s here to talk about his latest book, The Science Delusion. If you’re here in the U.S. you’ll find it at Amazon under the title, Science Set Free. Rupert, welcome back and thanks for joining me. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake:  It’s very good to be with you again. Alex Tsakiris:   Well, as folks who are long-time listeners of this show probably know, you are not only the first guest on Skeptiko but your work was certainly a source of inspiration for the show. Now all these millions of page views and downloads later, I want to again thank you for helping to send me on this journey. It’s been wonderful and I certainly appreciate the guidance that you’ve given along the way. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake:  Well, I’m really impressed with what you’ve done, Alex. I think that you’ve moved this whole debate to a new level because you’ve been able to bring in people from both sides and open up these questions. Before that there were people in warring camps who didn’t talk to each other. I think yours is probably the only platform which gives free, fair hearing to all points of view in this controversial area. Alex Tsakiris:   Speaking of warring sides, that’s probably a great segueway into your latest book. I wanted to, in the introduction there, highlight this title change because I’m quite curious. I understand that as an author you can’t always control the whims of a publisher who looks to sell m[...] telepathy, Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/the-thinking-atheist-backs-down-from-science-debate/ http://www.skeptiko.com/the-thinking-atheist-backs-down-from-science-debate/#comments Tue, 28 Aug 2012 01:12:20 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2400 http://www.skeptiko.com/the-thinking-atheist-backs-down-from-science-debate/feed/ 81 http://www.skeptiko.com/andrew-paquette-brings-statistical-rigor-to-psi-experiences/ http://www.skeptiko.com/andrew-paquette-brings-statistical-rigor-to-psi-experiences/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2012 01:10:37 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2384 http://www.skeptiko.com/andrew-paquette-brings-statistical-rigor-to-psi-experiences/feed/ 3 0:42:45 Interview examines new methodology for estimating probability of psi and paranormal experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with paranormal dream researcher Andrew Paquette. During the interview Paquette explains his new me[...] Interview examines new methodology for estimating probability of psi and paranormal experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with paranormal dream researcher Andrew Paquette. During the interview Paquette explains his new methodology for understanding spontaneous psi experiences: Alex Tsakiris: The underlying assumption that you’re countering and that’s that spontaneous first person accounts can’t be wrestled into some kind of scientific methodology, right? Andrew Paquette: Yes. One of the things I decided to do was take an extremely adverse way of evaluating spontaneous psi. I’m basically looking at out-of-body experiences and precognitive experiences and trying to arrive at a statistical measure for them. I’m letting alone the spiritual material and after death communications and so on, and just dealing with where I have a lot of verified examples. Alex Tsakiris: Are the applications for this methodology in other paranormal research? I immediately think of, for example, medium communication. Andrew Paquette: Absolutely. I’m really hoping other researchers notice this because there are so many studies that completely ignore the spontaneous experiences because of the kinds of complaints I was talking about and I described in the paper. This methodology basically fixes that problem. Alex Tsakiris: So, what are the chances of this making a difference?  I have a problem accepting that the lack of a methodology is what’s really been holding us back here. I’m kind of torn. On one hand I think it’s great and I think it’s important to have these stakes in the ground that can say, hey, here’s something we can anchor to. Here’s something we can go forward with and start adding more data to the pile. Then on the other hand I just wonder if it’s going to make any difference? I think of Ian Stevenson, and his work on reincarnation. I’ve talked to a lot of folks in different fields who say, “Gee, I’ve really looked at that research and I was very persuaded because the methodology is obviously very sound.”  So, that would give us hope that something like what you’ve presented could become that for researchers. And then on the other hand, we have to acknowledge that the vast majority of the Western scientific community doesn’t a care what kind of methodology Ian Stevenson used because they think all that reincarnation stuff is. So what do you think the real chances are that this methodology can give us somewhat of a breakthrough in these areas? Andrew Paquette: Well, I think that anytime we add knowledge to a situation that’s always an improvement, however slight it might be. There are always going to be people, for one reason or another, who just cannot accept the data that they have. As far as I’m concerned, you only go for the ones that you can reach and that’s perfectly fine. Now, I do think that this is going to reach some people because there will be readers of this who will appreciate the value it has for studies of spontaneous experience. So what I’m hoping will happen, and I think is at least quite possible, is that you’ll start seeing other studies that use a method like this in order to validate spontaneous experiences, which will mean you will see more of them in the literature. And it also means that you will probably see a greater level of resistance to arguments that they’re just anecdotes, which I’m sure you’re sick to death of by now. Andrew Paquette’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (42 min.) parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/peter-bannister-sees-hope-for-science-religion-dialog/ http://www.skeptiko.com/peter-bannister-sees-hope-for-science-religion-dialog/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:05:17 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2373 http://www.skeptiko.com/peter-bannister-sees-hope-for-science-religion-dialog/feed/ 5 0:47:35 Interview examines the shortsightedness of the culture war between science and religion. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview composer and lecture series co-director Peter Bannister. During the interview Bannister considers whether C[...] Interview examines the shortsightedness of the culture war between science and religion. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview composer and lecture series co-director Peter Bannister. During the interview Bannister considers whether Christianity has lost it’s mystery: Alex Tsakiris: Modern Christianity is wed to materialism in some fundamental ways that make it hard to pull it out of there. So this is the problem I have with the dialogue with some of my Christian friends. It gets down to doctrine. I keep pushing saying, “This doesn’t make sense. You can’t really have this doctrine. You can’t really have this belief set as rigidly as that,” but their fallback is, “Well, come on, I am a Christian.” And I think there’s a direct parallel with the scientists. I think the scientists, whether they say it explicitly or not, is saying, “well, come on, I am a materialist because at the end of the day if I can’t measure it I’m out of business.” Peter Bannister: I think you’ve made some perceptive points, particularly about the  marriage of convenience, or Faustian pact between Christianity and I would say Rationalism. But what’s curious if you do the history is that that’s a relatively recent phenomenon.  I think that there is a very close tie to the rise of a certain type of science and a religious rationalism which insists that the doctrine really is about questions of proof and questions of discursive knowledge, propositions, dogma in the worst sense. There are a lot of historians who say that really is a very shortsighted view of what the broader tradition really is about which is much more mysterious and a little bit more fluid than that. But the people don’t actually know this tradition very well because nobody’s ever really told them.  The truth that we’re after is much more relational than propositional. A lot of people in Christianity and some other wisdom traditions and faiths are saying, “Hang on. One of the big problems in the world today is that we’ve got hooked up with this notion of dogma. It’s dogma in the sense of an effort to control.” I think control is really the key thing because as soon as you have a doctrine which you say corresponds to reality in a sort of one-to-one way that gives you a method of control. Alex Tsakiris: That’s the bridge we have to cross.  Science is a religion. Atheism is a religion.  And now we’re all on the same playing field. Peter Bannister: Because it’s our ultimate concern. I think, a very good definition of religion. It’s what is your ultimate concern?  If you go back to the idea of who do we want around this table, obviously the entry fee, as you say, is a certain ability to let go or to say, “Okay, we all bring ourselves to this but we bring ourselves to this in an open way.”  My hope—and you might say I’m naïve in this—is that there is a groundswell of people who have this openness and who are genuinely interested in following and examining the data in an open and intelligent way. And I think there is a big need for the construction of a community like that. Peter Bannister’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (48 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Peter Bannister to Skeptiko. Peter holds graduate degrees in music from King’s College, Cambridge, and philosophical theology from the University of Wales. He’s an award-winning composer and performer and is co-directing a very interesting lecture series at the American Church in Paris promoting an increased and enhanced dialogue in the relationship between science and faith. Welcome, Peter, thanks so much for joining me on Skeptiko. Peter Bannister: I’m delighted to be with you, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: Well, I’m very excited to have you on, as well. You have such a diverse background and I love the way you’ve initiated this dialogue, particularly from your position. So you’ll have to tell us a little bit about the American Church in Paris, which sounds like quite an interesting institution with a rich, rich h[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bray-quantum-physics-incompatible-with-atheists/ http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bray-quantum-physics-incompatible-with-atheists/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:19:25 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2362 http://www.skeptiko.com/william-bray-quantum-physics-incompatible-with-atheists/feed/ 65 http://www.skeptiko.com/grant-cameron-ufo-sightings-and-extended-consciousness/ http://www.skeptiko.com/grant-cameron-ufo-sightings-and-extended-consciousness/#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:00:41 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2354 http://www.skeptiko.com/grant-cameron-ufo-sightings-and-extended-consciousness/feed/ 36 1:08:39 Interview examines government knowledge of the connection between extended human consciousness and the UFO Phenomena. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with UFO researcher, and author, Grant Cameron. During the interview Cameron e[...] Interview examines government knowledge of the connection between extended human consciousness and the UFO Phenomena. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with UFO researcher, and author, Grant Cameron. During the interview Cameron explains how his research led him to uncover the connection between ESP, telepathy and the UFO phenomena: Alex Tsakiris: One of the things that we like to do on Skeptiko is to keep pulling on a string and follow it as far as we can. That’s led me to you because when you look at human consciousness and you start looking for explanations for things like telepathy, precognition, out-of-body experiences, and other altered states of consciousness it eventually leads to this UFO thing, and the numerous reports of mind control and telepathy associated with it. So when I heard you say government insiders who really know about the UFO have told you that you can’t really understand this UFO phenomena without having an expanded view of consciousness I was intrigued.  Tell me how you came to this conclusion. Grant Cameron: …We tracked this guy down and he turns out to be Dr. Eric Walker, who was former President of Penn State University. For 15 years he was the Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Defense Analysis, which is the top military think tank for the United States military. He was the co-developer of the homing torpedo. He was friends with Vannevar Bush. He had this incredible, unbelievable background of military and connections with Presidents and stuff like this. So when we go to him, we’re interviewing him as UFO researchers. We’re not thinking about the mind and consciousness; we couldn’t care less about that, no connection whatsoever. We’re talking to him and we’re trying to find out about this supposed UFO group that runs the whole thing, the MJ-12. We’re asking him questions about MJ-12. “Did you have contact with the aliens? How did the thing operate? How did you cover-up the UFO thing?” And suddenly in the middle of one of these interviews in 1990 he suddenly cuts off the conversation talking about hardware, about bodies and all this, and he suddenly says, “How good is your sixth sense? How much do you know about ESP?” And Walker says, “Unless you know about it and how to use it, you will not be taken in.” …Then in 1993 there’s a related story about a conversation that takes place with Ben Rich. Ben Rich was the guy who ran “Skunk Works”, where the U2, the SR-71, the Stealth fighter, the Stealth bomber, they were all developed by what was called Skunk Works. Ben Rich ran it and he would get a number of questions about was this UFO technology? He’s giving a lecture in 1993. He’s dying of cancer. He gives a lecture at UCLA to a bunch of engineers and he’s talking and he says, “We’ve got the technology to take ET home.” He gives his lecture, he finishes the lecture, he’s walking out, and one of the engineers who was interested in UFOs runs after him. He asks, “How are these things propelled? How are UFOs propelled?” And Ben Rich turns around and says to him, “Let me ask you a question. How does ESP work?” Grant Cameron’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (68 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Grant Cameron to Skeptiko. Grant is a highly-regarded UFO researcher who’s made some fascinating connections between what we know about the UFO phenomena and the kind of extended human consciousness we talk so much about here on Skeptiko. Grant is in the process of publishing two new books and regularly blogs at www.presidentialufo.com. Welcome, Grant, thanks for joining us. Grant Cameron: Thanks, Alex, for having me on. Alex Tsakiris: So Grant, one of the things that we like to do on Skeptiko is to keep pulling on a string and follow it as far as we can. That’s what I think led me to you because when you look at human consciousness and you start looking for explanations for things like telepathy, precognition, out-of-body experiences, and all the altered states of c[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/robert-perry-on-the-science-of-synchronicity/ http://www.skeptiko.com/robert-perry-on-the-science-of-synchronicity/#comments Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:16:16 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2348 http://www.skeptiko.com/robert-perry-on-the-science-of-synchronicity/feed/ 41 0:44:09 Interview examines research into synchronicity, coincidence, spirituality and the paranormal. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Robert Perry, author of, Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpos[...] Interview examines research into synchronicity, coincidence, spirituality and the paranormal. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Robert Perry, author of, Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God’s Plan. During the interview Perry explains his research: Robert Perry: CMPE which stands for a Conjunction of Meaningfully Parallel Events. It’s basically an extreme form of synchronicity. Most of our paranormal events that we’re studying now, they’re inner experiences with hopefully a veridical component but in the end they seem to say something about our abilities or our ultimate nature being perhaps immaterial. But with CMPEs their statement seems to be more about something other than us that seems to giving us messages. Alex Tsakiris: I’m just not quite sure that we can make that last leap because there’s this whole idea of time and that maybe time is not linear. But also in terms of you and I being co-creators of our reality. So we get back to this idea of what’s reality and how is reality being created and experienced and again, what’s our relationship to time? Robert Perry: We shouldn’t act like anything is substantive yet however I think that there is a contemporary bias, even among those of us who are into the paranormal; a bias against sort of agents that are beyond the human. Maybe, if we take NDEs seriously for instance, it looks like that experience involves a certain amount of initiative from the Other Side. Maybe something coming to the human level from the Other Side is part of how life works. Robert Perry’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (44 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back to Skeptiko Robert Perry. Robert’s here to talk about his book, Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God’s Plan. He’s also here to tell us about a pilot study he’s done about this work along with Dr. Bruce Greyson that is suggestive that he really is onto something here. So Robert, thank you for joining me. Welcome back. Robert Perry: Oh, it’s a great pleasure and I’m very honored to be here. I love the show and listen every week. Alex Tsakiris: Super. And I really appreciate you’ve made some great contributions on the forum and on the comment section of the website. I always look forward to reading your posts. It’s great to have you back on. So I have to say, this book you’ve written, it’s amazing. It’s kind of startling when you get into it because you claim to have uncovered a rather remarkable new paranormal phenomenon that you’ve coined, “CMPE.” So there’s a lot here to wrap our arms around. Why don’t you start by telling us what you think you’ve uncovered here? Robert Perry: Okay. Basically, a CMPE stands for a Conjunction of Meaningfully Parallel Events. I call it “a sign” for short because I use that word in a very nonstandard way. Hardly anybody else calls it those. CMPE seems to be the handle of choice. It’s basically an extreme form of synchronicity. Now, synchronicity tends to be an extremely subjective thing. There’s almost no rules for what constitutes a synchronicity, but the pattern that we typically associate with synchronicity is two events coming together and sharing some striking similarity. The classic case is Carl Jung’s scarab story where a patient is telling him about a dream in which she’s given a gold scarab. As she does, a gold scarab beetle is tapping at the window of Jung’s office. So there you have two events, foretelling the dream, the appearance of the scarab, and they both share one striking parallel which is a golden scarab. Alex Tsakiris: Right. And more on the day-to-day synchronicities that we’re all familiar with, you’re going to take it way beyond that. Robert Perry: Right. It’s a much more extreme version of that basic pattern. You still have two events that just happen to come together in time. They aren’t brought together intentionally because of their similarit[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/nancy-evans-bush-encountering-near-death-experience-hell/ http://www.skeptiko.com/nancy-evans-bush-encountering-near-death-experience-hell/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:47:37 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2330 http://www.skeptiko.com/nancy-evans-bush-encountering-near-death-experience-hell/feed/ 141 0:38:42 Interview with author and past president of the International Association of Near Death Studies examines research into negative near death experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Nancy Evans Bush, author of, Dancing Past[...] Interview with author and past president of the International Association of Near Death Studies examines research into negative near death experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Nancy Evans Bush, author of, Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences. During the interview Bush discusses how negative near death experiences are researched: Alex Tsakiris: On one hand I understand the need to talk about these negative near death experiences, the need to put it on the table and process it. But I don’t think that’s the only thing that you’re objecting to because I think you’re also objecting to the way researchers approach “near death experience hell.” Nancy Bush: There is so much on every side of this issue — we are surrounded by people whose knees are jerking. There are automatic responses that people make. The convicted Atheists say, “Oh, it’s just these people are deluding themselves with the supernatural,” and the convinced metaphysicians say, “Oh, if only they’d believe then it would be different.” And the doctrinally religious say, “Well, if they’d just believe my stuff then that would take care of this.” I think the most frustrating aspect of this whole study is simply trying to get people to sit quietly and just listen to the experiences. Let go of their preconceptions for a few minutes, and just sit quietly and think, “Huh. What could this mean?” Alex Tsakiris: There’s a fine line here because I think we all appreciate that we’re embedded in this materialistic culture that constantly tells us that this is impossible, this is ridiculous, you’re crazy. So I think when people break through that, then there’s a certain need to go just as far as they can with this. But to an extent it leaves us with the question of what can we really say? We can say that materialism is clearly a failed proposition but I’m not really sure what else we can say beyond that. How do we venture forth into this great territory of what lies beyond? Nancy Bush: I think for me one of the frustrations is the numbers  of people who given a little bit of information will jump in and say, “Oh, I get it. I had one of these experiences. I can tell you what it means.” But I think we are still following breadcrumbs through the woods. Nancy Evans Bush’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (39 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Nancy Evans Bush to Skeptiko. Nancy is the former President of IANDS, the International Association for Near-Death Studies and she’s also the author of Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences. Nancy, welcome and thanks for joining me today on Skeptiko. Nancy Bush: Thanks, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: So Nancy, this is quite an interesting, fascinating book that you’ve written. I know that it’s caused a little bit of a stir inside the near-death experience community and the scientific community. In broader terms I’ve heard about this book. It’s kind of popped up and a number of people brought it to my attention. First of all, you have to congratulate someone on that. You’ve obviously struck a nerve with this book. Tell us a little bit about why you sought to write it and what you were hoping to do with the book. Nancy Bush: When I was in my late 20s I had an experience during the birth of my second baby and it was an experience I could not account for;  I could not explain; I could not understand, because essentially it was—this was years before near-death experiences were known about. I had no context for understanding what it was or how to make sense of it. It did not fit with my theological life. It did not fit with anything. And because it was an experience essentially of being annihilated there was no place to put it. So I buried it. Alex Tsakiris: If I can just interject, when you say you were annihilated, there were these little beings you encountered in this deep, dark void as part of your near-death experience. As I understand it your near-death experien[...] Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/jeffrey-kripal-science-fiction-trojan-horse-for-paranormal/ http://www.skeptiko.com/jeffrey-kripal-science-fiction-trojan-horse-for-paranormal/#comments Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:06:48 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2305 http://www.skeptiko.com/jeffrey-kripal-science-fiction-trojan-horse-for-paranormal/feed/ 19 0:00:01 Interview with author and Professor of Religious Studies examines how paranormal experiences have fueled the work of famous science fiction and comic book authors. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Rice University Profess[...] Interview with author and Professor of Religious Studies examines how paranormal experiences have fueled the work of famous science fiction and comic book authors. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Rice University Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought, and author of, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, Dr. Jeffrey Kripal. During the interview Kripal discusses how science and culture affect our worldview: Alex Tsakiris: It’s also interesting how you used the term “Trojan Horse” because one of the themes of the book is this indictment against science as we know it.  Science that insists not only that the paranormal doesn’t exist, but that it’s impossible. Dr. Jeff Kripal: Basically what I’m trying to get out there is that the thoughts we think and the worldviews we inhabit are determined by our cultures. The reigning culture is this scientific materialism that essentially argues that we’re only matter and that we can never get outside of our bodies and the particular historical context in which we find ourselves. What happens to human beings all the time is that they have these sorts of extraordinary experiences that do seem to take them outside of their context, outside their bodies, even outside of space and time which is how my artists and authors talk about it today. So I’m simply pointing out that those sorts of experiences are dismissed or ignored because there’s no way to fit them into the reigning paradigm. But once we just open up the paradigm, then they make actually a good deal of sense. They actually become really interesting and powerful experiences to take into consideration. You can’t think yourself out of a box with the terms of the box. You have to find some other way to get out of the box. Alex Tsakiris: Right, but the paradox is that that’s what we’re required to do. I mean, we’re reading this book in this here-and-now-reality and yet we’re exploring this very different reality. Maybe you want to expound on this idea of “human as two” that recurs in your writing. Dr. Jeff Kripal: The book came out of a series of interviews and readings of artists and authors who create these forms of popular culture. A lot of them are very clear that when they have these paranormal experiences they were not in their normal sense of self or their normal psyches. The experience is essentially one of being split in two where part of the human being is outside of space and time and part of the human being is in space and time. Dr. Jeffrey Kripal’s Website Play It: Download MP3 (62 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back Dr. Jeff Kripal to Skeptiko. Jeff holds a chair in Philosophy and Comparative Religion at Rice University in Houston. He was a very popular guest when he joined me last year to talk about his excellent book, Authors of the Impossible. He’s back today to talk about his latest, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. Jeff, thanks for joining me. Welcome back. Dr. Jeff Kripal: Thanks for having me back again. Alex Tsakiris: Well, it’s just my pleasure. The first thing I just had to mention about this book and get it out there in hopes that other people will experience it, is that it’s just an absolutely beautiful book. I mean, the book itself. Of course it’s well-written and beautifully written but the artwork, the graphics, the illustrations—even the page layout. It all works together. To paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, you don’t read this book; you get into it like a warm bath. It’s great. Dr. Jeff Kripal: Well, we thought long and hard about all those issues and the press responded with a lot of resources and a wonderful artist named Michael Brehm who did all that. He happened to be a comic book fan from his youth onward. So it all kind of came together. Alex Tsakiris: That’s great. You know, it’s interesting that you mention your involvement of a comic book fan. I’ve heard several in[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/steve-volk-skeptical-arguments-designed-to-mislead/ http://www.skeptiko.com/steve-volk-skeptical-arguments-designed-to-mislead/#comments Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:27:52 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2300 http://www.skeptiko.com/steve-volk-skeptical-arguments-designed-to-mislead/feed/ 130 http://www.skeptiko.com/raymond-moody-understanding-near-death-experiences-as-nonsense/ http://www.skeptiko.com/raymond-moody-understanding-near-death-experiences-as-nonsense/#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:34:53 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2294 http://www.skeptiko.com/raymond-moody-understanding-near-death-experiences-as-nonsense/feed/ 46 http://www.skeptiko.com/erlendur-haraldsson-studies-childrens-memories-of-past-lives/ http://www.skeptiko.com/erlendur-haraldsson-studies-childrens-memories-of-past-lives/#comments Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:15:09 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2287 http://www.skeptiko.com/erlendur-haraldsson-studies-childrens-memories-of-past-lives/feed/ 13 http://www.skeptiko.com/anthony-peake-near-death-experiences-versus-actual-death/ http://www.skeptiko.com/anthony-peake-near-death-experiences-versus-actual-death/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 15:58:04 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2271 http://www.skeptiko.com/anthony-peake-near-death-experiences-versus-actual-death/feed/ 45 http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-responds-to-parapsychology-debunkers/ http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-responds-to-parapsychology-debunkers/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 15:36:40 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2265 http://www.skeptiko.com/daryl-bem-responds-to-parapsychology-debunkers/feed/ 19 http://www.skeptiko.com/169-michael-heiser-why-christians-are-skeptical-of-supernatural/ http://www.skeptiko.com/169-michael-heiser-why-christians-are-skeptical-of-supernatural/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 16:18:34 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2255 http://www.skeptiko.com/169-michael-heiser-why-christians-are-skeptical-of-supernatural/feed/ 14 http://www.skeptiko.com/hoyt-edge-explore-cross-cultural-views-of-consciousness/ http://www.skeptiko.com/hoyt-edge-explore-cross-cultural-views-of-consciousness/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:00:16 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2247 http://www.skeptiko.com/hoyt-edge-explore-cross-cultural-views-of-consciousness/feed/ 12 http://www.skeptiko.com/167-investigative-journalist-james-corbett/ http://www.skeptiko.com/167-investigative-journalist-james-corbett/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:23:53 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2242 http://www.skeptiko.com/167-investigative-journalist-james-corbett/feed/ 24 http://www.skeptiko.com/psychic-spy-joe-mcmoneagle-near-death-experience-led-to-remote-viewing/ http://www.skeptiko.com/psychic-spy-joe-mcmoneagle-near-death-experience-led-to-remote-viewing/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:59:59 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2232 http://www.skeptiko.com/psychic-spy-joe-mcmoneagle-near-death-experience-led-to-remote-viewing/feed/ 52 http://www.skeptiko.com/165-dr-caroline-watt-defends-there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences/ http://www.skeptiko.com/165-dr-caroline-watt-defends-there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:02:09 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2223 http://www.skeptiko.com/165-dr-caroline-watt-defends-there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences/feed/ 260 http://www.skeptiko.com/there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences-jan-holden-disagrees/ http://www.skeptiko.com/there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences-jan-holden-disagrees/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:41:10 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2211 http://www.skeptiko.com/there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences-jan-holden-disagrees/feed/ 182 http://www.skeptiko.com/physician-ian-rubenstein-encounters-spirit-communication/ http://www.skeptiko.com/physician-ian-rubenstein-encounters-spirit-communication/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:50:45 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2189 http://www.skeptiko.com/physician-ian-rubenstein-encounters-spirit-communication/feed/ 47 http://www.skeptiko.com/162-university-of-chicago-biology-professor-jerry-coyne-fails-history/ http://www.skeptiko.com/162-university-of-chicago-biology-professor-jerry-coyne-fails-history/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:18:28 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2175 http://www.skeptiko.com/162-university-of-chicago-biology-professor-jerry-coyne-fails-history/feed/ 198 http://www.skeptiko.com/161-outspoken-atheist-jerry-coyne/ http://www.skeptiko.com/161-outspoken-atheist-jerry-coyne/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:40:33 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2163 http://www.skeptiko.com/161-outspoken-atheist-jerry-coyne/feed/ 100 http://www.skeptiko.com/160-christof-koch-consciousness-and-near-death-experience-research/ http://www.skeptiko.com/160-christof-koch-consciousness-and-near-death-experience-research/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:45:46 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2156 http://www.skeptiko.com/160-christof-koch-consciousness-and-near-death-experience-research/feed/ 94 http://www.skeptiko.com/stanton-friedman-on-extended-human-consciousness-and-mind-control/ http://www.skeptiko.com/stanton-friedman-on-extended-human-consciousness-and-mind-control/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:48:51 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2149 http://www.skeptiko.com/stanton-friedman-on-extended-human-consciousness-and-mind-control/feed/ 12 http://www.skeptiko.com/bernardo-kastrup-consciousness-research/ http://www.skeptiko.com/bernardo-kastrup-consciousness-research/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:04:21 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2108 http://www.skeptiko.com/bernardo-kastrup-consciousness-research/feed/ 41 http://www.skeptiko.com/spirit-medium-skeptical-of-reincarnation/ http://www.skeptiko.com/spirit-medium-skeptical-of-reincarnation/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:22:39 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2102 http://www.skeptiko.com/spirit-medium-skeptical-of-reincarnation/feed/ 51 http://www.skeptiko.com/156-robert-kuhn-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/156-robert-kuhn-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-science/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:20:04 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2095 http://www.skeptiko.com/156-robert-kuhn-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-science/feed/ 46 http://www.skeptiko.com/buddhist-meditation-teacher-shinzen-young-on-god/ http://www.skeptiko.com/buddhist-meditation-teacher-shinzen-young-on-god/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:59:22 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2088 http://www.skeptiko.com/buddhist-meditation-teacher-shinzen-young-on-god/feed/ 20 http://www.skeptiko.com/154-neurosurgeon-dr-eben-alexander-near-death-experience/ http://www.skeptiko.com/154-neurosurgeon-dr-eben-alexander-near-death-experience/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:57:16 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2062 http://www.skeptiko.com/154-neurosurgeon-dr-eben-alexander-near-death-experience/feed/ 221 http://www.skeptiko.com/skepticality-hosts-skeptiko-blake-smith-ben-radford-karen-stolznow/ http://www.skeptiko.com/skepticality-hosts-skeptiko-blake-smith-ben-radford-karen-stolznow/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:38:25 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2039 http://www.skeptiko.com/skepticality-hosts-skeptiko-blake-smith-ben-radford-karen-stolznow/feed/ 56 http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-after-effects-atwater/ http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-after-effects-atwater/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:32:28 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2030 http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-after-effects-atwater/feed/ 19 http://www.skeptiko.com/151-science-journalist-ben-radford-believes-psychic-detective/ http://www.skeptiko.com/151-science-journalist-ben-radford-believes-psychic-detective/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:30:27 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2025 http://www.skeptiko.com/151-science-journalist-ben-radford-believes-psychic-detective/feed/ 21 http://www.skeptiko.com/150-dream-interpretation-a-spiritual-journey-says-lucid-dream-expert-robert-waggoner/ http://www.skeptiko.com/150-dream-interpretation-a-spiritual-journey-says-lucid-dream-expert-robert-waggoner/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:08:04 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=2017 http://www.skeptiko.com/150-dream-interpretation-a-spiritual-journey-says-lucid-dream-expert-robert-waggoner/feed/ 16 http://www.skeptiko.com/how-many-dinosaurs-fit-on-noah-ark/ http://www.skeptiko.com/how-many-dinosaurs-fit-on-noah-ark/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:13:27 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1967 http://www.skeptiko.com/how-many-dinosaurs-fit-on-noah-ark/feed/ 46 http://www.skeptiko.com/satanist-winter-laake-honest-about-facing-death/ http://www.skeptiko.com/satanist-winter-laake-honest-about-facing-death/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:07:08 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1959 http://www.skeptiko.com/satanist-winter-laake-honest-about-facing-death/feed/ 31 http://www.skeptiko.com/can-out-of-body-experiences-explain-god/ http://www.skeptiko.com/can-out-of-body-experiences-explain-god/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:10:44 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1916 http://www.skeptiko.com/can-out-of-body-experiences-explain-god/feed/ 25 http://www.skeptiko.com/146-paranormal-podcast-host-jim-harold/ http://www.skeptiko.com/146-paranormal-podcast-host-jim-harold/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:12:35 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1908 http://www.skeptiko.com/146-paranormal-podcast-host-jim-harold/feed/ 8 http://www.skeptiko.com/stanley-krippner-lends-scientific-weight-to-paranormal-dreams/ http://www.skeptiko.com/stanley-krippner-lends-scientific-weight-to-paranormal-dreams/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:32:45 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1754 http://www.skeptiko.com/stanley-krippner-lends-scientific-weight-to-paranormal-dreams/feed/ 31 http://www.skeptiko.com/144-lynne-mctaggart-reports-on-science-at-the-brink-of-the-spiritual/ http://www.skeptiko.com/144-lynne-mctaggart-reports-on-science-at-the-brink-of-the-spiritual/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:26:15 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1732 http://www.skeptiko.com/144-lynne-mctaggart-reports-on-science-at-the-brink-of-the-spiritual/feed/ 21 http://www.skeptiko.com/lisa-miller-heaven-book-uncommitted-to-afterlife/ http://www.skeptiko.com/lisa-miller-heaven-book-uncommitted-to-afterlife/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:08:11 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1725 http://www.skeptiko.com/lisa-miller-heaven-book-uncommitted-to-afterlife/feed/ 48 http://www.skeptiko.com/142-jim-marrs-on-donald-rumsfeld-what-is-building-7/ http://www.skeptiko.com/142-jim-marrs-on-donald-rumsfeld-what-is-building-7/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:02:05 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1677 http://www.skeptiko.com/142-jim-marrs-on-donald-rumsfeld-what-is-building-7/feed/ 46 http://www.skeptiko.com/141-steve-volk-investigates-ufos-ghosts-telepathy-and-near-death-experience-in-fringe-ology/ http://www.skeptiko.com/141-steve-volk-investigates-ufos-ghosts-telepathy-and-near-death-experience-in-fringe-ology/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:09:18 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1640 http://www.skeptiko.com/141-steve-volk-investigates-ufos-ghosts-telepathy-and-near-death-experience-in-fringe-ology/feed/ 8 0:43:09 Investigative journalist and author Steve Volk seeks a middle-ground between mainstream science skepticism and researchers on the paranormal fringe. Investigative journalist and author Steve Volk seeks a middle-ground between mainstream science skepticism and researchers on the paranormal fringe. Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/lakhmir-chawla-frustrates-near-death-experience-researchers/ http://www.skeptiko.com/lakhmir-chawla-frustrates-near-death-experience-researchers/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:18:14 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1307 http://www.skeptiko.com/lakhmir-chawla-frustrates-near-death-experience-researchers/feed/ 26 0:40:13 George Washington University Medical Center Professor, Dr. Lakamir Chawla, answers critics of his near-death experience research. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Lakamir Chawla. During the interview Dr. Chawla discussed whether his discovery of a surge in the brain’s electrical activity seconds before death might, or might not, be related to near-death experience: Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/139-are-ghosts-real-guy-lyon-playfair/ http://www.skeptiko.com/139-are-ghosts-real-guy-lyon-playfair/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 16:05:24 +0000 Alex Tsakiris http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1224 http://www.skeptiko.com/139-are-ghosts-real-guy-lyon-playfair/feed/ 7 0:33:39 Noted parapsychology investigator and author Guy Lyon Playfair discusses poltergeists, after-death communication and the telepathy of twins. Noted parapsychology investigator and author Guy Lyon Playfair discusses poltergeists, after-death communication and the telepathy of twins. parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/healing-prayer-expert-mark-sheehan/ http://www.skeptiko.com/healing-prayer-expert-mark-sheehan/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 16:46:16 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1218 http://www.skeptiko.com/healing-prayer-expert-mark-sheehan/feed/ 10 0:29:04 Dr. Mark Sheehan discusses his book, Healing Prayer on Holy Ground and the impact of prayer on his patients. Dr. Mark Sheehan discusses his book, Healing Prayer on Holy Ground and the impact of prayer on his patients. Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/religious-cults-expert-on-spiritual-experiences/ http://www.skeptiko.com/religious-cults-expert-on-spiritual-experiences/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 15:57:41 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1215 http://www.skeptiko.com/religious-cults-expert-on-spiritual-experiences/feed/ 17 0:41:01 Cult expert Joe Szimhart discusses how genuine spiritual experiences can be exploited by religious cults. Cult expert Joe Szimhart discusses how genuine spiritual experiences can be exploited by religious cults. atheism, Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/hazel-courteney-understanding-spiritual-awakening/ http://www.skeptiko.com/hazel-courteney-understanding-spiritual-awakening/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 16:12:04 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1209 http://www.skeptiko.com/hazel-courteney-understanding-spiritual-awakening/feed/ 21 0:40:19 Journalist and author Hazel Courteney describes her spiritual awakening and the science it led her to. Journalist and author Hazel Courteney describes her spiritual awakening and the science it led her to. Kundalini, parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/135-dr-andrew-newburg-on-god-of-the-fundamentalist-atheist/ http://www.skeptiko.com/135-dr-andrew-newburg-on-god-of-the-fundamentalist-atheist/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:53:15 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1202 http://www.skeptiko.com/135-dr-andrew-newburg-on-god-of-the-fundamentalist-atheist/feed/ 4 0:50:55 Neurotheology researcher, physician and author, Andy Newberg explains how fundamentalists Christians and Atheists share a minority view of God. Neurotheology researcher, physician and author, Andy Newberg explains how fundamentalists Christians and Atheists share a minority view of God. atheism Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/134-rupert-sheldrake-on-richard-wiseman-deception/ http://www.skeptiko.com/134-rupert-sheldrake-on-richard-wiseman-deception/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:18:35 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1169 http://www.skeptiko.com/134-rupert-sheldrake-on-richard-wiseman-deception/feed/ 64 0:36:31 Biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake expresses dismay at latest claims made by Skeptic Richard Wiseman in his recent book, Paranormality. Biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake expresses dismay at latest claims made by Skeptic Richard Wiseman in his recent book, Paranormality. parapsychology, telepathy, Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/stuart-hameroff-on-quantum-consciousness-and-singularity/ http://www.skeptiko.com/stuart-hameroff-on-quantum-consciousness-and-singularity/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:59:29 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1162 http://www.skeptiko.com/stuart-hameroff-on-quantum-consciousness-and-singularity/feed/ 10 0:33:38 Human consciousness researcher Dr. Stuart Hameroff describes how discoveries are revealing more brain complexity than artificial intelligence (AI) experts suspected. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Stuart Hameroff. Dr. Ha[...] Human consciousness researcher Dr. Stuart Hameroff describes how discoveries are revealing more brain complexity than artificial intelligence (AI) experts suspected. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Stuart Hameroff. Dr. Hameroff is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology at the University of Arizona, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Hameroff discuss whether DMT-based psychedelic experiences provide evidence that our consciousness exists outside of the brain: Alex Tsakiris: Your understanding of the quantum mechanics of the neuron really stirs up a lot of angst among the AI singularity crowd. Tell us a little bit about that controversy. Dr. Stuart Hameroff: To look at our brain as 100 billion simple switches — to look at a neuron as a switch or gate — it’s an insult to neurons. It’s just not that simple. If you study biology you realize this.  But a lot of biologists get bogged down with the details and lose the big picture. They see the information processing in the cell as a minestrone soup of chemicals when they’re ignoring the solid state system in the microtubules. The bit with the AI and the singularity, there’s actually a couple of points of friction here. As I said, I spent 20 years studying microtubule information processing. The AI approach would be, roughly speaking, that a neuron fires or it doesn’t. It’s roughly comparable to a bit, 1 or 0. It’s more complicated than that but roughly speaking.  I was saying no, each neuron has roughly 10-8 tubulins switching at roughly 10-7 per second, getting 10-15 operations per second per neuron. If you multiply that by the number of neurons you get 10 to the 26th operations per second per brain. AI is looking at neurons firing or not firing, 1,000 per second, 1,000 synapses. Something like the 10 to the 15th operations per second per brain… and that’s without even bringing in the quantum business. So that alone was pushing the goalpost way, way downstream into the future. Dr. Stuart Hameroff’s website Play it: Download MP3 (34:00 min.) Read it: Today we welcome Dr. Stuart Hameroff to Skeptiko. Dr. Hameroff is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology at the University of Arizona, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies. Dr. Hameroff, thank you so much for joining me today on Skeptiko. Dr. Stuart Hameroff: You’re welcome, Alex. It’s nice to be here. Alex Tsakiris: You know, there are so many interesting topics I want to talk to you about, but I thought we might start with your credentials. As I was looking through some of your research in preparation for this interview, I ran across a comment from a blogger along the lines of Isn’t this guy just an anesthesiologist who’s playing around with quantum mechanics and consciousness stuff as a strange sort of hobby? So I just laughed that off because you have a distinguished academic career, a list of publications as long as my arm with some of the world’s leading physicists. But then I ran across a similar comment again, and it got me thinking about the deeper issue of consciousness studies and the problem that I think a lot of folks have in figuring out who’s really qualified to talk about this stuff. We see philosophers throwing in their opinions, neurologists, physicists, so do you want to talk a little bit about this field in terms of who’s really qualified to venture into this area and say what consciousness is all about? Dr. Stuart Hameroff: Well, I don’t presume to judge anybody. I think a ditch-digger might figure it out just out of luck or because he or she is motivated, so that’s not the point. I think if you have a good approach you should use it. Now, my approach has been two-fold.  I go[...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/132-deborah-blum-on-the-taboo-of-paranormal-science-reporting/ http://www.skeptiko.com/132-deborah-blum-on-the-taboo-of-paranormal-science-reporting/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:19:58 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1150 http://www.skeptiko.com/132-deborah-blum-on-the-taboo-of-paranormal-science-reporting/feed/ 8 0:58:15 Pulitzer Prize winning author Deborah Blum discusses the challenges of science reporting and the paranormal taboo. Skeptiko guest host Steve Volk welcomes Deborah Blum author of, Ghost Hunters – William James and the Hunt for Scientific Proof [...] Pulitzer Prize winning author Deborah Blum discusses the challenges of science reporting and the paranormal taboo. Skeptiko guest host Steve Volk welcomes Deborah Blum author of, Ghost Hunters – William James and the Hunt for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. During the interview Ms. Blum discusses her approach to covering the paranormal: Steve Volk: This is one of the hardest things. Who do we believe? Who do we trust? I want to see somehow people in the middle pick this stuff up and look at it, but that’s a very, very rare occurrence. Deborah Blum: I agree. Like I said, I’m a mainstream science journalist and daughter of a chemist. But what was fascinating to me when I started working on Ghost Hunters is that I’d go and give talks at different universities. I mean literally, I was at the University of Florida and they said, ‘Oh, let us tell you about our haunted laboratory.’ Or I was at a meeting with a bunch of animal researchers and I was sitting next to a very respected scientist from Stanford who immediately started telling me about the telepathic experiences she’d had with a friend of hers who is a scientist at Southwestern University. I thought to myself, ‘This whole world exists that really those of us in the skeptic/science community never see because people just don’t tell you about it. Steve Volks’s website Fringe-ology Trailer Deborah Blum – Ghost Hunters Play it: Download MP3 (58:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. On this episode, as you just heard, there’s a new voice behind the interview so before we get started I thought we’d take a minute and introduce that voice, that being the voice of journalist and author, Steve Volk, who’s joining me right now. Steve, hi and welcome to Skeptiko. Steve Volk: Alex, thanks for having me. Alex Tsakiris: I love this interview that you have for us today. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background and why you wanted to talk to today’s guest, Deborah Blum? Steve Volk: Well, she had gone down a path before me that I’d wanted to go down myself and ultimately did with my book, Fringe-ology, which doesn’t come out until June. But the issue for me is that I’ve always covered traditional topics in journalism. I’ve started off covering music. I was a music critic and I ultimately veered into writing lots of narrative non-fiction about politics and crime and courts. You know, just traditional journalistic subjects. But what was always sort of at the back of my mind-it would be raised from time to time when something would bubble up in pop culture that would make me think of it-is this family ghost story that I had grown up with. There was supposedly a ghost that haunted my house when I was a kid. I have some memories of it myself. I just felt like as a reporter, though, that that subject was taboo-that I couldn’t cover it for the obvious reasons that you always get into on this show. It would undermine my own credibility to even entertain the idea that such things as ghosts exist. Over time, though, I started realizing that when we talk about paranormal subjects, we’re really talking about the big existential questions that people find themselves asking at 3 a.m., right? What does it mean to be human? Who are we? Is there life after death? Is there a God? All these kinds of issues–are we alone in the universe?-come up through paranormal topics whether it be UFOs or telepathy or ghosts. So I really admired Deborah Blum because here she is, a Pulitzer Prize winning science reporter where the taboo against covering these sorts of topics would be even stronger, and yet she went for it. She covered William James and the scientific search for the afterlife in her book, Ghost Hunters. So I felt like I [...] Uncategorized Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-strassman-psychedelic-drugs-prove-we-are-more-than-our-brain/ http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-strassman-psychedelic-drugs-prove-we-are-more-than-our-brain/#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:39:50 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1142 http://www.skeptiko.com/rick-strassman-psychedelic-drugs-prove-we-are-more-than-our-brain/feed/ 11 0:42:59 Noted DMT researcher Dr. Richard Strassman describes how DMT allows consciousness to enter an out-of-body, freestanding, independent realm of existence. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Rick Strassman, author of, DMT [...] Noted DMT researcher Dr. Richard Strassman describes how DMT allows consciousness to enter an out-of-body, freestanding, independent realm of existence. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Rick Strassman, author of, DMT – The Spirit Molecule.  As a researcher at the University of New Mexico Dr. Strassman received approval to inject volunteers with a psychedelic drug called DMT and  evaluate the effects. According to Strassman, “the most interesting results were that high doses of DMT seemed to allow the consciousness of our volunteers to enter an out-of-body, freestanding, independent realm of existence, inhabited by beings of light who oftentimes were expecting the volunteers and with whom the volunteers interacted.” During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Strassman discuss whether DMT-based psychedelic experiences provide evidence that our consciousness exists outside of the brain: Alex Tsakiris: Virtually all of the near-death experience researchers, come to the conclusion sooner or later that consciousness must exist outside of the brain. How do we process that? Dr. Richard Strassman: Well, it isn’t a new idea. Obviously spiritual traditions have believed it and taught it and have practiced it. It is a new idea within the Western scientific model, so one of the analogies that I make in the DMT book is the brain is a receiver as opposed to a generator of a particular channel of consciousness, Channel Normal, as it were. Under extreme situations then the channel switches and as a result of being given DMT is the brain is now able to perceive channels of information that it couldn’t before. If you change your perspective on the relationship between the brain and consciousness then things start to become a bit clearer, but at the same time have been more mind-boggling, too. Dr. Richard Strassman’s website Play it: Download MP3 (43:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. Today we welcome Dr. Rick Strassman, author of DMT – The Spirit Molecule, a fascinating book about his research with a psychedelic drug that causes some amazing out-of-body spiritual experiences. Here’s my interview with Rick: Alex Tsakiris: All the folks, virtually all of the near-death experience researchers, come to the conclusion sooner or later that consciousness must exist outside of the brain. How do we process that? Dr. Richard Strassman: Well, it isn’t a new idea. Obviously spiritual traditions have believed it and taught it and have practiced it. It is a new idea within the Western scientific model, so one of the analogies that I make in the DMT book is the brain is a receiver as opposed to a generator of a particular channel of consciousness, Channel Normal, as it were. Under extreme situations then the channel switches and as a result of being given DMT is the brain is now able to perceive channels of information that it couldn’t before. If you change your perspective on the relationship between the brain and consciousness then things start to become a bit clearer, but at the same time have been more mind-boggling, too. Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr. Richard Strassman, author of DMT – The Spirit Molecule. Rick is also a distinguished academic and researcher, having received an MD in psychiatry, a Postgraduate Fellowship in Pharmacology and having a distinguished teaching and research career at the University of New Mexico.  Rick, welcome to Skeptiko. Dr. Richard Strassman: Thanks for having me. Alex Tsakiris: I want to jump right into the middle of this. I was just saying in the little bit of time we had before this interview, I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with your work and particularly this book about DMT. If they’re not, then they’re going to have to kind of brush up on it on their own becaus[...] OBE Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/gary-renard-and-robert-perry-on-channeling/ http://www.skeptiko.com/gary-renard-and-robert-perry-on-channeling/#comments Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:29:06 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1137 http://www.skeptiko.com/gary-renard-and-robert-perry-on-channeling/feed/ 16 0:40:45 Two teachers of A Course in Miracles have differing views on the validity of channeled wisdom. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Gary Renard, author of, The Disappearance of the Universe, and Robert Perry, author of Signs: A New[...] Two teachers of A Course in Miracles have differing views on the validity of channeled wisdom. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Gary Renard, author of, The Disappearance of the Universe, and Robert Perry, author of Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God’s Plan.  During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Gary Renard discuss verification of his work: Alex Tsakiris: One of the points in your book where I really had to stop and go — wait a minute — is when you say that you had these two beings, “ascended masters” show up in your living room. Amazing, amazing. But not unique in that other people have claimed similar kinds of things. So I’m not willing to dismiss that out-of-hand, but Gary, they showed up 17 times… you don’t have a photograph?  You don’t have videotape? You don’t have any kind of record of this? Gary Renard: Well actually, they’re still showing up today. We’re going to do a fourth book together. They do show up and they said that for me to try to prove that they existed would be entirely missing the point. Yes, I could take pictures of them but what would prove, Alex, that those weren’t two actors in the pictures? If I recorded them, what would prove that those weren’t two actors speaking on the tape? Gary Renard’s website Robert Perry’s website Play it: Download MP3 (41:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. On this episode, I’m going to tell you why I’m a skeptic. You know, this show’s been pretty critical of the skeptical community and the skeptical position on a lot of topics, but lost in all of that sometimes can be the fact that I really am a skeptic in a lot of ways. From that position I do understand, I think, why folks are skeptical. This show is going to give you all the reasons you need to understand why people become skeptical and why people even cross over a little bit and become dogmatically skeptical. I hope to also get at a larger, deeper question that’s really been rattling around in my head for a while and that’s that if we accept the science that’s been presented on this show, psi science, near-death experience science, parapsychology science-the best of it-that really leads us to understand that our world is quite a bit different than we normally experience it. That consciousness does seem to survive death. That things like telepathy and interconnectedness are real. Well, if we accept all that then how do we deal with all these very strange accounts we have and how do we adjust our filter to let some of it in but keep some of it out? And that’s going to lead us to Gary Renard, my first interview today, who’s the author of several best-selling books based upon A Course in Miracles. Then we’re going to have a follow-up interview and even more interesting interview with Robert Perry, who’s quite an interesting guy, and who has written some very interesting books but is also approaching things from this A Course in Miracles perspective. I think you’re going to find it very interesting to see how all of this plays out. Here’s my interview with Gary Renard: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Gary Renard, whose best-selling books document his spiritual experiences with two ascended masters who, as we discover, appear to him in physical form to tell him the true meaning of Jesus’s teachings and that you, Gary, in a previous life, walked with Jesus as the Apostle Thomas.  Gary, thanks so much for joining me today on Skeptiko. Gary Renard: Thank you, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: I want to go back and say I wasn’t quite sure how to handle that introduction. You know, of course, that’s going to be jarring to a lot of folks, especially my li[...] Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/karen-stollznow-on-psychic-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/karen-stollznow-on-psychic-science/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:23:36 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1134 http://www.skeptiko.com/karen-stollznow-on-psychic-science/feed/ 21 0:34:38 Co-host of Point of Inquiry, discusses how Skeptics approach psychic science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with skeptical writer and blogger Dr. Karen Stollznow. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Stollznow discuss to rol[...] Co-host of Point of Inquiry, discusses how Skeptics approach psychic science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with skeptical writer and blogger Dr. Karen Stollznow. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Stollznow discuss to role of science in skeptical investigations: Alex Tsakiris: I do feel you, especially as an intellectual… and I know you’re a linguist and not trained as a parapsychologist… but you have somewhat of an obligation to build off of the original research or the best research that we have in the field. So, Gary Schwartz does medium research. Then, Julie Beischel picks up the gauntlet and is going forward in publishing work with mediums. So you can like that or you can not like it, but it really to me seems to get to the core issue which is does this kind of anomalous cognition between a “medium” and a deceased person really exist?  So, why aren’t you familiar with the research? Dr. Karen Stollznow: Well, once again, I think I’ve worked in so many different areas with so many different themes and topics within the paranormal and pseudo-science and often I’m writing an article that might be 1,000 words. I’m limited; I’ve got a word limit that I can’t go over so I need to condense anything that I write and if I’m going to a psychic fair and writing about my experiences there, I don’t need to necessarily reference the research of these people. If I was writing about the research of these people then that would be a different matter, obviously. I’d need to keep my finger on the pulse of everything that is being done in that industry. But if I’m looking at individuals out there on the street who are practicing this and given again, it’s just one small area of what I study and research, then I’m not necessarily obliged to know what these people are doing within that context. Dr. Karen Stollznow’s website Play it: Download MP3 (34:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. As you know, one of the things we like to do on Skeptiko is engage the skeptical community. If you go back through the past shows you’ll see that we’ve had on many, many of the leading skeptical figures, skeptical writers, publishers of skeptical magazines, hosts of skeptical shows, and certainly people who have viewpoints that are different from the guests that we normally have on-the proponents, the researchers, the thinkers about psi and parapsychology. It always surprises me that that willingness to look at both sides isn’t reciprocated by skeptics very much. You just won’t see that on skeptical shows. You’ll never see Dean Radin or Rupert Sheldrake or Jeff Long-I could go on and on-Roger Nelson, or any of the people that we’ve interviewed here that are scholarly, publishing in peer-reviewed papers, writing books, you’ll never see them on those skeptical shows. That’s one of the topics I touch on in my interview today with Dr. Karen Stollznow, who is the host of one such show, Point of Inquiry. She’s very open about a certain need to preach to the choir, and while I applaud Karen’s openness, it really got me thinking, I guess. And it got me riled up about a couple other things that seem to keep cropping up in this journey that is Skeptiko. One example of that came up when she referenced a couple of interviews and a joint investigation I did with skeptical science writer, Ben Radford. Now, if you’ve been around the show long enough to remember the psychic detective work that I did with Ben Radford then I really want to thank you. You’re a long-time, loyal listener. But that investigation with Ben was really somewhat of a turning point for me because I went into it thinking that if I could just get skeptics to look at the[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-survival-of-consciousness-nde/ http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-survival-of-consciousness-nde/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:20:43 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1128 http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-survival-of-consciousness-nde/feed/ 83 0:27:26 The author of, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, discusses why NDE evidence doesn’t measure up. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with philosophy of science and human consciousness scholar, Dr. James Fetzer. During the interview[...] The author of, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, discusses why NDE evidence doesn’t measure up. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with philosophy of science and human consciousness scholar, Dr. James Fetzer. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Dr. Fetzer discuss evidence for the survival of consciousness, and whether this evidence undermines our current model of mind=brain consciousness: Alex Tsakiris: So let’s take a big step back and say that when someone has a flat EEG they are not supposed to have any conscious experience, let alone the kind of conscious experience near-death experiencers are reporting. What you say might be definitionally true and all that, but we just have to deal with the fact that people are having a conscious experience when they shouldn’t be having it. And that’s highly suggestive that consciousness doesn’t operate the way that we thought. It isn’t a product of the brain but is somehow separate from the brain and continues after the brain is severely compromised, if you want me to say it isn’t dead. Dr. James Fetzer: Well, as soon as you begin talking about an ordinary concept of consciousness you have to acknowledge that consciousness involves responses to stimuli in the environment that we access through our different senses, taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Therefore, if we’re going to talk seriously about a form of consciousness that persists after death, we’re going to have to account for how it’s possible to have sensory experiences for an entity that is no longer embodied. In other words, if you no longer have your senses, if you no longer have a capacity for taste, touch, sight, smell, or hearing, how can you possibly have any conscious experiences after you’re dead? What we do know, Alex, is that when the brain is deprived of oxygen, the kinds of experiences that are typified by the reports of those who have these near-death experiences occur. Alex Tsakiris: That’s absolutely not true, Jim. You just haven’t delved into the. Dr. James Fetzer: Alex, that’s all just fine and dandy and I did not previously express any concerns about it. You have been pressing me on this point and I’m explaining to you that based on classic criteria from the philosophy of science, your proposition of the survival of consciousness after death is a paradigm case of an empirically untestable claim. Dr. James Fetzer’s website Play it: Download MP3 (28:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. On this episode of Skeptiko we return to a topic that I’ve addressed many times before, and that is near-death experience science and how it squares with the mainstream science model of consciousness. That is, of course, that consciousness is solely and completely a product of the brain. Now I’ve wrestled this issue to the ground before, but it was really fun to dialogue with someone who I greatly respect and admire for his ability to courageously follow the data wherever it goes on a whole variety of topics that are certainly very, very controversial. Here’s my interview with Dr. Jim Fetzer: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back to Skeptiko Dr. James Fetzer, who is best known as one of the world’s leading authorities on the JFK assassination and the events of 9/11. But he’s also a scholar and author in the area of human consciousness. He’s written several books and many scholarly papers on the topic. So, Jim, thanks so much for joining me again today on Skeptiko. Dr. James Fetzer: Oh, Alex, it’s a real pleasure. I like the way you operate at a very high level of professionalism and I think your site is beautifully managed. Alex Tsakiris: Thanks a lot for saying that. It’s quite an honor coming from you. One of the reasons I’m s[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/david-eagleman-explores-afterlife/ http://www.skeptiko.com/david-eagleman-explores-afterlife/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:21:50 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1111 http://www.skeptiko.com/david-eagleman-explores-afterlife/feed/ 8 0:18:13 The author of, Sum: 40 Tales From the Afterlife, discusses his work as a neuroscientist and author. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Baylor College of Medicine Neuroscientist and author, Dr. David Eagleman. During the interview[...] The author of, Sum: 40 Tales From the Afterlife, discusses his work as a neuroscientist and author. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Baylor College of Medicine Neuroscientist and author, Dr. David Eagleman. During the interview Dr. Eagleman  discusses why survival of consciousness and near death experience (NDE) research isn’t a prominent topic among neuroscientists, “I think it should be front and center. I mean, my impression is that scientists have different personalities and some are quite conservative and they like to stick with the party line. Now, I should specify that what the party line is at this moment in history is reductionism or materialism, which means you are just built out of your pieces and parts and that’s it. When those pieces and parts break and go away, then you go away. That’s a perfectly reasonable hypothesis and may well be right. I’m not criticizing that hypothesis, but I am saying that there are other possibilities, as well.” Eagleman continues, “I go all around and give talks to my colleagues at universities all around, and what I see in some universities in some places is you’re not even allowed to talk outside of that paradigm. Anything that gets said is really pooh-poohed. So I really admire these guys who are looking for the paradigm-busters.” Dr. David Eagleman’s website Play it: Download MP3 (18:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. On this episode of Skeptiko, I have an interview with someone I’ve been trying to get on Skeptiko for a couple of years. Dr. David Eagleman, as you’ll learn, is a neuroscientist from the Baylor College of Medicine who wrote a book a couple of years ago all about the afterlife, but the book was a novel. The book got quite a bit of publicity. I actually heard about him first on NPR, the National Public Radio here in the U.S. The book became a best-seller and he went on to do all sorts of amazing stuff. But what always got me about his book is as a neuroscientist, how can you write a book about the afterlife and never mention afterlife science, near-death experience science, reincarnation science, any of that stuff? It’s like the only way we can approach this topic is fictional because there isn’t anything really here. I mean, that’s the kind of implication. So I really wanted to talk to this guy. It took a little bit of pounding and persisting, but eventually he was able to give me a short interview. I wish the interview was longer but it was all the time he had and I’m grateful for it. In the process of doing the interview and doing the research for the interview, I guess my frustration or anger kind of diminished a little bit, especially when I read his book. It’s really well-written. It’s poetic. It’s just a beautiful book in many ways. But when I got to the core issue in terms of how science can approach this topic, I ran head into The Big Lie. When it comes to psi research in general and near-death experience science in particular, the Big Lie goes something like this-it was first articulated on this show on one of the very early episodes by Dr. James Alcock who’s a psychologist and a well-known skeptic, a public guy, who’s recently been in the news, by the way, as somebody they trotted out to give some outrageously exaggerated counter-argument to Daryl Bem’s article, just an interesting little side note there. But anyway, very early on in Skeptiko, I had Dr. Alcock on and here’s his version of The Big Lie: “If we could come up with good data that showed there’s something to the paranormal, parapsychologists would be trampled by psychologists and physicists and so on rushing to the study of it.” Now, it was actually kind of fun digging up that quote fro[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/andy-paquette-precognitive-dreams/ http://www.skeptiko.com/andy-paquette-precognitive-dreams/#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:28:44 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1103 http://www.skeptiko.com/andy-paquette-precognitive-dreams/feed/ 2 0:31:25 The author of, Dreamer: 20 Years of Psychic Dreams and How They Changed My Life, discusses his psychic and precognitive experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing precognition and the psychic dreams of author Andy Paqu[...] The author of, Dreamer: 20 Years of Psychic Dreams and How They Changed My Life, discusses his psychic and precognitive experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing precognition and the psychic dreams of author Andy Paquette. During the interview Mr. Paquette discusses the differences between real life precognition expereinces and labratorty experiments on ESP like those of Dr. Daryl Bem, “Well, the funny thing about asking me a question like that is that while I am aware of some of those things, I became aware of them after I already knew that precognition happens because it happened to me in much more dramatic ways than was ever recorded in the lab. On the other hand, the reason he is studying it in the first place is because there are people like me who’ve had more dramatic examples of precognition. We’ve recorded them or passed them on to other people and this eventually makes researchers curious.” Paquette continues, “Now the problem with testing in the lab as I see it, is that you’re trying to duplicate an effect that has a very specific reason for coming into being without knowing what that reason is and without having any way to recreate those conditions because you don’t understand the reason to begin with. This, in my mind, is the reason why laboratory results tend to be very weak. It’s because they’re not really duplicating the right circumstances that cause these kinds of things to happen. So what happens is they kind of nick the edge of this thing that they’re researching, and even that little tiny slice they get is enough to support a hypothesis of precognition. However, it’s not as dramatic as the kind of real-life, spontaneous examples such as the ones that occurred with me.” Visit Andy’s website Help pilot Dr. Rupert Sheldrake’s telepathyexperiment.com Play it: Download MP3 (31:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. Before we get started with today’s interview I just want to make a quick little announcement here. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, whom many of you know through his work, his many books, his very interesting website, and his appearance on the Skeptiko show, is launching a telephone telepathy experiment here, available in the U.S. and Canada. He’s looking for some folks to help him pilot this study. So if you’re interested in doing some telephone telepathy experiments and helping out in getting this project off the ground, please visit telepathyexperiment.com, or you can visit the link on our website and hear more about that. It’s actually a slight bit of a lead-in to today’s interview because today we welcome Andy Paquette, whose book Dreamer is a fascinating account of his experience with precognitive dreams and all the associated strangeness that goes with them. Andy is a frequent contributor to the Skeptiko forum and if any of you visit there I’m sure you’ve read some of his posts. But this book of this I thought really deserves the only kind of attention we can give it in a full episode. So here’s my interview with Andy Paquette. Alex Tsakiris: Well, this book of yours is really quite amazing. I found it very, very interesting but also challenging. It reminded me of reading the autobiography of a Yogi many years ago. I walked away thinking that either this guy, Yogananda, is a complete liar and that seemed quite unlikely, or that this personal account was going to radically shift how I thought about the world. So I kind of felt the same way with this book, in a way. The way I want to try and pull it apart in this interview is to go down two paths. They’re the two paths that we’ve been exploring on this show and one is the “Is it real?” path. Does precognition really occur and maybe more sp[...] psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/atheist-debates-existence-of-soul-with-near-death-experience-believer/ http://www.skeptiko.com/atheist-debates-existence-of-soul-with-near-death-experience-believer/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:23:03 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1091 http://www.skeptiko.com/atheist-debates-existence-of-soul-with-near-death-experience-believer/feed/ 55 0:43:25 Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and atheist blogger Greta Christina square-off for a debate on near Death Experience (NDE) science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing the existence of the soul and the science of Near Death Expe[...] Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris and atheist blogger Greta Christina square-off for a debate on near Death Experience (NDE) science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing the existence of the soul and the science of Near Death Experience. During the interview Tsakiris points out the lack of research among NDE skeptics, “And really, if we’re going to play the kind of credential game, you really wouldn’t want to stack Dr. Bruce Greyson, Dr. Jeff Long, Dr. Pim Van Lommel, one of the most highly regarded cardiologists in the world who’s been studying near-death experience for 30 years-you wouldn’t want to stack them against Keith Augustine, who really doesn’t have any kind of medical credentials. So I’m talking to you about published research in these cases.” Ms. Christina responds, “There is what seems to me to be extremely shaky research and there’s no consensus about it in any sense-in fact, the overwhelming consensus among neurologists is that no, these people are, I’m not going to say crackpots, that’s too strong a word. But these people are mistaken. They’re being led down the garden path by their wishful thinking. And again, when you look at the history of thousands and thousands and thousands of years of human knowledge, where supernatural explanations consistently get replaced with natural ones and it’s ultimately when the research has been really done and it’s been really examined, it’s never been the case that it’s happened the other way around.” Near the end of the debate, Ms. Christina sums up her argument “…even if I conceded everything that you’ve said in this whole conversation, all that it proves is that consciousness is weird and that we don’t understand it. That’s all that it proves. It doesn’t prove anything about there being an immaterial soul that animates consciousness. It doesn’t prove anything about immaterial soul surviving death.” Tsakiris responds, “I don’t mind hearing your opinion, but you’ve got to back it up. You’re saying that every time somebody gives you research you go and look at it and it’s debunked. Well, tell me. Tell me what’s been debunked. You haven’t cited any real NDE research. You cited Keith Augustine and then you want to say Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptical Magazine?” Greata’s Blog Post: Why Near Death Experiences Are a Terrible Argument for the Soul Play it: Download MP3 (43:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. For a while on this show I’ve maintained that there really isn’t a good, solid, scientific argument against near-death experience science. If you’ve followed this show  and you’ve listened to the guests that we’ve had on, people like Dr. Jeffrey Long, Dr. Pim Van Lommel, Dr. Peter Fenwick, Dr. Bruce Greyson (who we haven’t actually interviewed but who has contributed by email), if you stack them up against the skeptics we’ve talked to, Dr. G. M. Woerlee, Dr. Kevin Nelson, Dr. Susan Blackmore, Dr. Steven Novella, or even Dr. Sam Parnia (who’s kind of in the middle of this issue but we really have to put on the side of the skeptic) if you stack up the two arguments there’s really no comparison. The skeptical arguments against near-death experience science really amount to nothing more than Apologetics. Folks are starting with an end conclusion that this is the way it has to be and then working backwards to try and fit the data and winding up in a position that just says, “Don’t give up hope. We can still hold out that someday we’ll be proven true.” This is most evident by the fact that there just isn’t any NDE research that these skepti[...] atheism, OBE, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-science-in-bereavement-rescue/ http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-science-in-bereavement-rescue/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:16:00 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1084 http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-science-in-bereavement-rescue/feed/ 7 0:18:19 Father Rod Walton author of, Bereavement Rescue with Near Death Experience, discusses the evidence for and uses of NDE science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing the use of near death experience science in dealing with the[...] Father Rod Walton author of, Bereavement Rescue with Near Death Experience, discusses the evidence for and uses of NDE science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview discussing the use of near death experience science in dealing with the loss of a loved one. During the interview Father Rod Walton explains why science is important to his work, “I think people really want evidence. Most people, once you give them evidence, it changes them. I often use Ken Ring’s book, Mindsight, about people who have been born blind.  They don’t even see in there dreams… they only can smell, taste and touch… but when these people have a near death experience they do see for the first time.  When the bereaved realize that this doesn’t add up, it affects them. It makes them willing to listen. They’re getting hope based on facts rather than just perhaps and ifs and pie in the sky.” Father Walton also discusses the Christian churches unwillingness to accept this new science, “Many Christian communities have great tunnel vision. They’re only looking in a straight line. They don’t look left; they don’t look right. I don’t think they’re searching. I don’t think they’re seeking. I think they’re just following tradition and dogma.” Father Rod Walton’s Bereavement Rescue Play it: Download MP3 (18:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. This show, Skeptiko, has always been about following the data. That’s kind of been our tagline. Just follow the data and you’ll find your way through these controversial, unsettling, breakthroughs in science and you’ll come to a new understanding about who you really are. That’s the theme of this show, if you will. But today’s interview with Rod Walton got me thinking about what it really means to follow the data. In particular, the data behind near-death experience science, a topic we’ve covered a lot on this show. As you know, we’ve spoken with some of the world’s leading researchers and we’ve spoken with some of the leading critics, as well. I guess when I follow that data, at the end of the day I don’t see how a reasonable person can look at that body of data and just say, “Gee, it’s all delusion. It’s all fraud. It’s all misreporting.” I mean, blind people seeing, patients reporting with crystal clear consciousness what happened to them while they were clinically dead and doctors and nurses confirming that. There are hundreds and hundreds of cases like that, and I think if you take the position that “Hey, that isn’t really happening,” or it’s somehow fraud or delusion, well then you’re not even following the data and the rest of this probably won’t mean much to you. What’s interesting to me is what if you do follow the data to that point? What if you’ve read some of the research? Read some of the books, the accounts, and you’ve gotten to the point where you say, “Wow, you know it sure does seem like there’s something there. There is something to this near-death experience. It is happening. It is medically unexplainable. It does seem to suggest that consciousness survives death.” What about then? Are you following the data? Or does following the data in this case, in the case of talking about consciousness surviving death, you not really dying when you think you die, does that kind of data and following of that kind of data require something more? Well, it did and it does for today’s guest, Father Rod Walton. As you’ll hear in this interview, Rod was familiar with the near-death experience research, but it wasn’t until he hit a bump in the road in his life-in this case, the loss of a lov[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/randi-prize-exposed-in-new-book/ http://www.skeptiko.com/randi-prize-exposed-in-new-book/#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:25:28 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1070 http://www.skeptiko.com/randi-prize-exposed-in-new-book/feed/ 18 0:47:40 Author Robert McLuhan examines the psychology and hidden purpose behind the modern skeptical movement pioneered by James Randi. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the author of, Randi’s Prize: What Sceptics Say About the Pa[...] Author Robert McLuhan examines the psychology and hidden purpose behind the modern skeptical movement pioneered by James Randi. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the author of, Randi’s Prize: What Sceptics Say About the Paranormal, Why They Are Wrong, and Why It Matters, Robert McLuhan. During the interview Mr. McLuhan discusses the possible motivation of skeptics, “…we complain an awful lot about people like James Randi who apparently subvert what seems to be a perfectly good data and rather deceptively distort perceptions… but I think we have to start thinking beyond that and start thinking about what it is exactly that these guys are trying to protect? Is it a rational thing they’re doing? Perhaps I can make the point more succinctly in terms of psychokinesis, just imagine the effects of science declaring psychokinesis is real. If you really think this through you see we are in a very changed environment if we say human minds can interact with matter. That raises all sorts of very difficult implications.” McLuhan continues, “If we think some people can hex other people, or interfere with the brakes when they’re driving — it doesn’t even have to be true — but if science says something like that is feasible and possible, it might happen, then what sort of situation are we in? I suspect, and I’m not sure if this is a conscious idea skeptics have… but I think what I’m trying to say in a nutshell is we have to think about the wider implications of psi endorsed and accepted by a central authority like science.” Rob McLuhan Blogs at Paranormalia Play it: Download MP3 (47:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Robert McLuhan is an Oxford-trained freelance journalist who’s authored Randy’s Prize: What Skeptics Say About the Paranormal, Why They’re Wrong, and Why it Matters. Robert, welcome to Skeptiko. Robert McLuhan: Thanks, Alex; I’m glad to be here. Alex Tsakiris: I’m glad you’re here, too. Thanks for joining me. You’ve written an interesting book here that really goes way beyond James Randi and sets out the whole argument for paranormal effects like psi and near-death experience and so many of the things we’ve talked so much about here on Skeptiko. So let’s start by talking about the argument that supports the claim for the paranormal and why the gravitational pull of orthodoxy, as you say, means that all those those claims might not matter anyway. What is the argument for the paranormal? Robert McLuhan: What I was trying to say about the-I came up with this term, “rational gravity” and by that I meant the sort of pull of orthodoxy. It’s a psychological process. We’re used to the world working in certain ways. That’s our everyday reality. When something comes along that doesn’t fit with that reality, then I suspect there’s a psychological process that kicks in in many cases, not in all. Some people will unconsciously find some way of resolving the dilemma posed by this apparent anomaly and in the process of doing that they will come up with all sorts of explanations. Having arrived at explanations of what’s happened or what somebody has claimed, no matter how speculative it may be, they will feel that the whole matter has been resolved successfully and they don’t have to think about it anymore. I think that’s a process that one sees going on quite a lot in the skeptical community. Alex Tsakiris: Right, because you think the evidence that you lay out in the book is actually quite strong, at least in some areas, right? Robert McLuhan: I do, yes. But I think how one responds to it is very much a question of temperament. I mean, take something like telepathy, and personally I’m not particularly phased by the idea. It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t frighten me. I’m intrigued about it, curio[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/122-reincarnation-of-apostle-paul-nick-bunick-scrutinized/ http://www.skeptiko.com/122-reincarnation-of-apostle-paul-nick-bunick-scrutinized/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:26:07 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1062 http://www.skeptiko.com/122-reincarnation-of-apostle-paul-nick-bunick-scrutinized/feed/ 15 0:46:27 Popular author Nick Bunick claims past-life regression provided remembrances of Jesus, but biblical scholars have doubts. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with bestselling author of, Time For Truth, Nick Bunick. During the interview[...] Popular author Nick Bunick claims past-life regression provided remembrances of Jesus, but biblical scholars have doubts. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with bestselling author of, Time For Truth, Nick Bunick. During the interview Mr. Bunick discusses how a chance visit to a psychic revealed his past,  ”Alex, I had no idea what he was talking about. Two thousand years ago I walked with the Master? I didn’t even have a religion. I’d never read the Gospels. I did have a relationship with God; it was a spiritual relationship. But what happened to me then over the next six or seven years, I had affirmation after affirmation from other sources that indeed, my spirit and soul had manifested itself 2,000 years ago in the person we know as the Apostle Paul.” But, as Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris explains during the interview, biblical scholars take exception with some of Mr. Bunick’s claims, “I’ve tried to get a sense for biblical scholarship in general and it surprised how much we do know about the Bible. It is the most studied document in history.  Millions of man-hours have been spent scouring the earth, finding every copy we can get our hands on. Scholars have gone through and scrutinized every word and every letter.  I don’t think these scholars would agree with your account. Secular scholars like Bart Ehrman and Robert Price, as well as Christian Biblical scholars don’t find any support for your claim that the Bible used to support reincarnation.” According to Bunick transcripts of past-life regression sessions, “gave information about the life of Paul never before known before, as well as the life of Jesus never before known. And also, it conflicted in many places with what is written in the New Testament.” Nick Bunick Play it: Download MP3 (49:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris, and I have to tell you that in preparing for this episode, in particular the introduction to this episode, I was really challenged. I was trying to figure out how to wrap my arms around what I wanted to say. And then I was going through the forum and I came across a video that one of our listeners had posted. The video was from philosopher/writer, Alan Watts, who in the 1950′s was one of the first people in the West to really popularize Zen Buddhism. Now since then his message has become very popular with Atheists and secular folks for a variety of reasons I can’t totally understand. But nevertheless, I want to play you about a minute of audio here and then talk about this for a minute. Here’s Alan Watts: “I am not a Zen Buddhist. I am not advocating Zen Buddhism. I’m not trying to convert anyone to it. I have nothing to sell. I am an entertainer. [audience laughter] That is to say in the same sense that when you go to a concert and you listen to someone play Mozart, he has nothing to sell except the sound of the music. He doesn’t want to convert you to anything; he doesn’t want you to join an organization in favor of Mozart’s music as opposed to, say, Beethoven’s. And I approach you in the same spirit as a musician with his piano or violinist with his violin. I just want you to enjoy a point of view which I enjoy.” So what struck me about this, of course, is the “I’m an entertainer.” Here’s a guy who became somewhat of a cultural lightning rod. He has these ideas that at the time were very controversial, this Zen Buddhist kind of “we are nothing, there is nothing,” at least the Western interpretation of that kind of thing going on. He’s in the middle of all this controversy, in the middle of all this debate and people want him to go back and forth. He steps back and says, “I’m an entertainer. I’m just playing [...] Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/chris-carter-tackles-near-death-experience-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/chris-carter-tackles-near-death-experience-science/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:29:22 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1057 http://www.skeptiko.com/chris-carter-tackles-near-death-experience-science/feed/ 54 0:39:09 Author Chris Carter discuses how Near Death Experience Science is misunderstood and misrepresented by mainstream science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris Carter, author of, Science and the Near Death Experience. During t[...] Author Chris Carter discuses how Near Death Experience Science is misunderstood and misrepresented by mainstream science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Chris Carter, author of, Science and the Near Death Experience. During the interview Carter explains how the acceptance of paradigm changing science like near death experience and telepathy wouldn’t change science as we know it, “…I do not agree with you that the acceptance-say of telepathy, or the acceptance of the near-death experience as a genuine separation of mind from body, I do not think that would challenge any aspect of science. I don’t think it would change the way that neuroscientists come in and do their jobs. I think that everything would be exactly the same. They’d continue looking for the same chemicals, the same neurotransmitters, the same areas of the brain that light up. They’d still be trying to work with split brain patients and patents who have damaged brains. I don’t think that anything would change. Except, yes, their conversations down at the pub on weekends would change. Absolutely. The philosophical conversations would change. But I really don’t think that it would impact anything in science simply because modern neuroscience is completely neutral as to whether the brain produces the mind or whether the brain acts as a receiver/transmitter for the mind.” According to Chris Carter the real dividing  point between mainstream science and the breakthroughs of near death experience science lie in conventional view that everything we experience can be reduced to just brain activity, “Materialists like to claim successes in modern science have been due to a Materialistic outlook. You’ve probably heard that before. But this is nonsense. The three men most responsible for the scientific revolution, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, were not Materialists. One of the reasons Galileo recanted his views is because he feared the Church would excommunicate him. Newton spent the last half of his life writing on theology. I mean, Materialism is an ancient philosophy that basically asserts that everything has a material cause. Therefore, the brain produces the mind. This dates back at least to Democritus in ancient Greece. It was thought to gain support from the physics of Isaac Newton, although Newton himself did not agree. Newton himself instead followed the Dualism of Renee Descartes. It was really the 18th century philosophers such as Diderot and Voltaire who spread the doctrines of Materialism and Mechanism. They did this in order to combat the religious fundamentalism and superstition, and the persecution that were common in their time.” Chris Carter Play it: Download MP3 (39:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. Before we get to today’s interview with Chris Carter, I want to take a minute and tell you about something that happened to me this week. One of the benefits of doing Skeptiko and having it achieve the little bit of success that it has is that I now get books sent to me on a regular basis. Little surprises in the mail. A new book. A new movie to review. Last week I received a request like that from a guy who had heard my interview with progressive Christian and self-proclaimed heretic, Spencer Burke. This guy had heard my interview with Spencer and he’d written a book on reimagining the Gospel in a new way, in a scientific way. He wanted to see if maybe we would do a Skeptiko show on it. So the first thing I did was email him back and say, “Hey, have you listened to some of my other shows? You might not really like my take on the “Gospel narrative.” Well, this launched about a two day email exchange back and forth between this author and myself about essentially what boils down to the t[...] parapsychology Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-jfk-assassination-science/ http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-jfk-assassination-science/#comments Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:48:44 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=1000 http://www.skeptiko.com/james-fetzer-jfk-assassination-science/feed/ 65 1:04:32 Scholar and author Dr. James Fetzer discuses how his research into the JFK assassination and 9/11 attacks has allowed him to sort out the real evidence. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with one of the world’s leading authorit[...] Scholar and author Dr. James Fetzer discuses how his research into the JFK assassination and 9/11 attacks has allowed him to sort out the real evidence. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with one of the world’s leading authorities on the JFK assassination, Jim Fetzer. During the interview Dr. Fetzer explains why it’s still hard for many Americans to accept the mountains of research contradicting the official story about the JFK assassination, “we place so much confidence in the government that we want to believe it’s there to nurture and protect us from our enemies, that any indication, even if it turns out to the powerful evidence, that this core belief might be false is too threatening to acknowledge. So a lot of Americans find it easier to adopt an ostrich policy and just bury their heads in the sand and ignore discussions and demonstrations such as the books that I publish that prove to the contrary.” While the show is a departure from topics usually covered on Skeptiko, according to host Alex Tsakiris it has many similarities, “Skeptiko has focused on the science of human consciousness… Psi, near-death experience, parapsychology. But Dr. Fetzer’s work is relevant to Skeptiko because the process he’s gone through in terms of sorting through a lot of scientific evidence on very controversial topics is exactly what we’ve been talking about on the last 100+ episodes of Skeptiko.” Dr. Fetzer, who has authored three books and dozens of papers on JFK assassination science, also discusses how his career teaching philosophy of science and critical thinking courses at the University of Minnesota provides him a unique perspective on competing theories regarding the JFK case, “I recognize that in science the convergence of opinion only obtains when you’re looking at the same range of hypotheses, using the same body of evidence, and using the same rules of reasoning. I know a great deal about these cases because I’ve investigated the full range of hypotheses, looked at all of the evidence, as much as is available, and sorted it out in terms of the authentic and the falsified and fabricated. I know the rules of reasoning because that’s been my professional obligation as a philosopher of science. So I’m in a position to analyze these things in a way that most others simply are not.” Dr. James Fetzer Assassination Science Website Play it: Download MP3 (65:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Welcome to Skeptiko where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. Well, this show is going to be quite a departure-or at least it’s going to seem like quite a departure-from the topics we normally cover on Skeptiko. Today we’re going to talk about the JFK assassination. Yeah, we’re going to talk about the JFK assassination with one of the leading scholar/researchers on the topic, who also happens to be someone who’s taught critical thinking and scientific analysis for 35 years and is a very highly regarded philosopher/scholar on a number of topics. But the reason I wanted to cover the JFK assassination really does have to do with what Skeptiko is all about, because the JFK assassination, at the end of the day, is about two competing narratives. One narrative says that there was this lone, nut assassin who killed the President back in the 1960′s; and another narrative says that the government has lied and covered up its involvement in essentially a coup d’état. And the reason I think this is particularly relevant to Skeptiko is that I think the process you have to go through to sort through all the evidence and try and come to your own understanding, your own belief about what really happened, is very similar to the kind of process we’ve been talking about on the last 100+ shows of Skeptiko. Now while our gue[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/pim-van-lommel-transformed-by-near-death-experience-research/ http://www.skeptiko.com/pim-van-lommel-transformed-by-near-death-experience-research/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:18:07 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=982 http://www.skeptiko.com/pim-van-lommel-transformed-by-near-death-experience-research/feed/ 26 0:39:50 Cardiologist and NDE Researcher Dr. Pim van Lommel discuses how his research with near-death experiencers has changed his beliefs about life and consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with cardiologist and author of Conscio[...] Cardiologist and NDE Researcher Dr. Pim van Lommel discuses how his research with near-death experiencers has changed his beliefs about life and consciousness. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with cardiologist and author of Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience, Dr. Pim van Lommel.  During the interview Dr. van Lommel explains how he began his research, and how what he learned from his patients led him to a personal transformation, “I started to ask my patients who survived cardiac arrest if they could remember something of the period of unconsciousness. To my big surprise, out of 50 patients asked, 12 of them told me about their NDEs. This was the start of my scientific curiosity, how could people have an enhanced consciousness when they are unconscious, when the heart doesn’t work, and there is no breathing, and their brain has stopped functioning?”  Van Lommel continues, “When you have spoken to patients who have had a near-death experience, their emotions, their reluctance to share their experience with you… it’s so honest. You just believe them because they’re so honest. You get convinced that there is more than what we can see, what we can measure.” Dr. van Lommel also discusses how his controversial findings have been accepted by the medical community, “The gap is not as big as you presume.  It just looks that way because the Skeptics are very active. The Skeptics have their own truth and they don’t listen to somebody else who has a different opinion. So there’s a gap and there will always be a gap. There is no discussion possible with Skeptics because they have the truth.  But a lot of physicians are a little bit more open, but they won’t write articles. They won’t write or tell about it in public. I know some physicians who have had a near-death experience. They said to me and wrote to me that, ‘what happened to me now I’ve always said this is impossible, and now it happened to me.’” Play it: Download MP3 (40:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Welcome to Skeptiko where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. Before we get started with today’s interview with Dr. Pim Van Lommel, I want to take a couple of minutes and talk about skepticism and a couple of things that have come up in the Skeptiko forums. Before Skeptiko I don’t think I ever had more than a couple of forum posts in my whole life and since I’ve already passed the 1,000 mark in forum posts on Skeptiko, you can see that I’ve changed quite a bit. This dialogue that I’ve been able to have with Skeptiko listeners has been very informative for me. It’s also shaped a lot of the shows and a lot of the directions we’ve taken with many of our guests. The other thing I feel like I’ve gotten from the Skeptiko forums is a deeper appreciation for the skeptical position, if you will. Not that I agree with all the skeptics I dialogue with there because in general I don’t, but it gives me an appreciation for what I’ve dubbed as the “two skeptical questions.” They both relate to this interview we have coming up with Pim Van Lommel, but they’re also broader in scope, as well. So the first skeptical question that seems to always crop up is the rebuttal question-the “but” question, and it’s obvious. It’s what’s the other side have to say? And while all of us who are scientifically and reason/logic based ask those questions all the time, there’s something unique in the way that the question gets framed within this skeptic versus believer context. The difference is the depth of rebuttal. Let me give you an example of how this has played out in the Skeptiko forum and then you’ll understand what I mean. Recently in the Skeptiko [...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/118-jeffrey-long-responds-to-parnia/ http://www.skeptiko.com/118-jeffrey-long-responds-to-parnia/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:44:55 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=969 http://www.skeptiko.com/118-jeffrey-long-responds-to-parnia/feed/ 65 0:30:58 NDE Researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long responds to recent comments by Dr. Sam Parnia regarding near-death experiences being a “trick of the mind”. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with physician and New York Bestselling author,[...] NDE Researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long responds to recent comments by Dr. Sam Parnia regarding near-death experiences being a “trick of the mind”. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with physician and New York Bestselling author, Dr. Jeffrey Long. During the interview Dr. Long is asked to respond to recent comments by fellow NDE researcher Dr. Sam Parnia suggesting that the near-death experience phenomena may be an illusion, Dr. Long said, “… I strongly support any researcher that has a reasonable opinion about near-death experiences. I think the one opinion that I think is not reasonable at this point in time is the absolute blanket statement that NDEs are illusions. There’s just too strong evidence forthcoming from my research as well as the research of others. I mean, by the time you have near-death experiencers with crystal-clear consciousness, the out-of-body observation seemed to be overwhelmingly correct in both prospective and retrospective studies, near-death experiences in those totally blind from birth, near atypical near-death experiences even while under general anesthesia, and it goes on and on. I think that’s pretty thoroughly refuted… when I read the interview it sounded to me more like Dr. Sam Parnia considered NDEs to be a research question. In other words, that’s why he’s doing this prospective study. The comment that stuck out more to me is ‘I don’t know’ in terms of what the cause of near-death experiences are.” But when asked what evidence would suggest that Dr. Parnia’s suspicion is correct, Dr. Long presented a highly unlikely set of circumstances, “for NDEs to be accepted as an illusion then each and every one of all of the following must be true for all NDEs: 1) The predominately crystal-clear consciousness during NDEs would always have to be an illusion. 2) Accurate OOB observations (out-of-body observations) during NDEs must all be false. 3) NDEs reported under general anesthesia, they all must be false.  4) The consistency of NDE reports, both from very young children who are not socialized, and older children, and adults — the consistency of all those groups must be explainable by some yet unknown means. 5) We also have to explain the consistency of the content from NDEs around the world, including cultures very different from Western cultures. All that must be explainable.” In conclusion, Long states, “therefore, the belief that NDEs are only illusions would require both: 1) the lack of acceptance of established and corroborated, extensive NDE evidence and 2) faith that science will someday have explanations for what we’ve already observed and find unexplainable.” Dr. Jeffrrey Long: What Must Be True If NDEs Are an Illusion VIDEO: Stanford Research Institute (SRI)  investigations into ESP and psychic phenomena featuring Uri Geller. Play it: Download MP3 (31:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Welcome to Skeptiko where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris, and on this episode of Skeptiko, well, I have a couple of different things I want to try and mish-mash together and create a show for you. But before I do any of that, I want to take a minute, because I really don’t talk about this too much. I want to just thank you all, listeners. You know, it’s kind of amazing. You sit down here in front of a microphone and you’re all by yourself after the kids have gone to school and it’s nice and quiet and you talk and maybe you call some people up and you talk to them. It’s just amazing that that can reach out and connect with so many people like this show has. That interaction, that talking to you and you talking back to me has really been a tremendous gift, at the risk of being trite. But it really has. It’s been a tremendous experience for me and I jus[...] OBE Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/spencer-burke-s-long-term-view-of-christianity/ http://www.skeptiko.com/spencer-burke-s-long-term-view-of-christianity/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:03:38 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=960 http://www.skeptiko.com/spencer-burke-s-long-term-view-of-christianity/feed/ 4 0:40:31 Interview with author and influential thinker in the Emergent Church movement looks at Christianity 10,000 years from now. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the author of, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity, Spencer Burke.  Dur[...] Interview with author and influential thinker in the Emergent Church movement looks at Christianity 10,000 years from now. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the author of, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity, Spencer Burke.  During the interview Mr. Burke is asked about the future of Christianity in light of discoveries regarding the nature of consciousness, “I take a long view of history. So let’s say 10,000 years from now the Christians look back at us in the early, nostalgic age of early Christianity in the year 2000. Think about all the understanding and knowledge they will have. This perspective gives us a little bit of freedom to hold things a bit loosely.  If I say, ‘what I have right now, if I lose it I lose who I am’… that’s a difficult place to be. But if I say, ‘here’s who I am today’, now I have the freedom and strength to continue to move forward without the fear or worry of discovering, learning, growing, evolving… whatever words you want to use… maturing in ‘the way’… why are we so afraid of that?” Mr. Burke also examines the future direction of the Emergent Church movement he helped found, “…you know the pendulum swung so hard in some ways with the Emerging Church, and I love that, but it’s also got to find some reality and that’s my quest. Like in my book, Making Sense of the Church, I was struggling with the idea of saying all evangelism is just evil. And I’m like, no, just evil evangelism is evil. Leadership’s bad. No, bad leadership is bad. Isn’t there good leadership? Good evangelism? And I think what Skeptiko is doing with this in a beautiful way is maybe creating that hybrid. I think that’s what this next thing is.” Learn more about Spencer Burke Play it: Download MP3 (41:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Welcome to Skeptiko where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris, and for those of you who have been following this show for a while, you might realize that we’ve kind of been going down two tracks. One track, of course, is exploring the science of consciousness. This has more-or-less been the mainstay of the show. We’ve primarily focused on evidence that this here-now mind model of consciousness, if you will, that is that everything that makes you you is generated by your brain right here and right now. That’s obviously the prevailing model in science. What we’ve been focusing on is that that model, that paradigm, is more-or-less being swamped by data that suggests otherwise. So on this show we’ve interviewed Rupert Sheldrake and Morphic Residence and Dean Radin and Presentience and Remote Viewing and Global Consciousness Project and on and on and on. Lately we’ve been looking at near-death experience. All of these phenomena and the data that the research into them has generated contradicts this model that our mind is generated by what our brain is doing right here, right now, that chemistry. Overturning that model has such a profound effect for just about every area of science that you look at that it really deserves a lot of attention that we’ve given it on this show to really understand what that research is telling us. At the same time, of course, we’ve had to look at the opinions of the hold-outs, the skeptics, and the folks that are saying, “Not so fast.” And this point of view is probably best expressed by Dr. Richard Wiseman, who’s been a guest on the show a couple times and who takes the position that sure, all that data is great, but it’s not enough to convince me. It may be enough for any other field of science, but for such a revolutionary idea it’s not enough. It falls under this “extraordinary claims, extraordinary proof” thing that you’ve heard[...] Christianity Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-parnia-claims-near-death-experience-probably-an-illusion/ http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-parnia-claims-near-death-experience-probably-an-illusion/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:55:58 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=938 http://www.skeptiko.com/sam-parnia-claims-near-death-experience-probably-an-illusion/feed/ 54 0:38:22 Interview with NDE researcher and AWARE Project leader explores limits of experiments on near-death experience. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the NDE expert and author of, What Happens When We Die?, Dr. Sam Parnia.  During t[...] Interview with NDE researcher and AWARE Project leader explores limits of experiments on near-death experience. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with the NDE expert and author of, What Happens When We Die?, Dr. Sam Parnia.  During the interview Dr. Parnia is asked why he suspects NDE is an “illusion”, and a “trick of the mind”.  When pressed, Dr Parnia stated, “…It may well be. You’re pushing and I’m giving you honest answers. I don’t know. If I knew the answers then I don’t think I would have engaged and spent 12 years of my life and so much of my medical reputation to try to do this. Because to appreciate people like me, I risk a lot by doing this sort of experiment. So I’m interested in the answers and I don’t know. Like I said, if I was to base everything on the knowledge that I have currently of neuroscience, then the easiest explanation is that this is probably an illusion.” While Dr. Parnia’s position regarding the validity of the NDE phenomena stands in contrast to most other near death experience researchers he continues to push forward.  His AWARE Project asks cardiac arrest patients who experience a NDE to recall hidden pictures placed above their bed.  This methodology has been criticized by NDE experts who give it little chance of yielding positive results. Dr. Parnia responds, “I don’t know if [the tests will] be successful or not. That’s an important point to make. As I said, I don’t have a particular stance. It’s possible that these experiences are simply illusionary and it’s possible that they’re real. Science hasn’t got the answers yet. So we have to go fair-minded. Right now what we have is a setup that can at least, we hope, objectively determine an answer to the question.” Dr. Sam Parnia Bio Video lecture at Goldsmiths in London Is Dr. Sam Parnia’s AWARE Study of Near Death Experience Doomed to Fail? Play it: Download MP3 (38:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: We’re joined today by the author of What Happens When We Die? He’s a leading expert on NDE research. He’s best known as the lead investigator of the AWARE Project. Dr. Sam Parnia is a Fellow in pulmonary care at Cornell University and he’s a doctor. I mean, in addition to being a researcher, he’s also there in the ICU saving lives. Dr. Parnia, thanks so much for joining me today on Skeptiko. Dr. Sam Parnia: My pleasure. Alex Tsakiris: Well, it’s really my pleasure to have you on. Your work has generated a lot of interest and the little bit of exchange we’ve had has generated a lot of interest. A couple of months ago I did publish a post suggesting that the AWARE study of consciousness during clinical death–I suggested that maybe that was doomed to fail. You are nice enough to join me on this show today and discuss that a little bit. So let me start with this: in replying to my post, you suggested that maybe I had misrepresented the AWARE Project when I said it seeks to verify out-of-body experience after clinical death. Perhaps you’d like to clarify what the AWARE Project is and maybe what that misrepresentation was. Dr. Sam Parnia: One of the things that’s really interesting to me is trying to understand what happens to-as you pointed out, I work in an Intensive Care Unit-and one of the things I find most interesting is trying to understand what happens to patients when they’re critically ill. And then particularly when they have died, which is basically a cardiac arrest. So cardiac arrest and death are synonymous. Most people don’t realize that. We deal with a number of patients who have cardiac arrest in hospitals and what we’ve come to understand is that in order for us to improve the medical care of these patients, I’m not sure that we can bring them back to life again and improve their neurological outcome[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/115-jeff-kripal-nature-of-consciousness/ http://www.skeptiko.com/115-jeff-kripal-nature-of-consciousness/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:37:04 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=921 http://www.skeptiko.com/115-jeff-kripal-nature-of-consciousness/feed/ 14 1:01:25 Comparative Religions scholar and author of, Authors of the Impossible explores the link between consciousness and culture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for and interview with Rice University Religious Studies professor and author of, Authors of[...] Comparative Religions scholar and author of, Authors of the Impossible explores the link between consciousness and culture. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for and interview with Rice University Religious Studies professor and author of, Authors of the Impossible, Dr. Jeff Kripal.  During the interview Dr. Kripal discusses how a broad view of comparative religions might inform scientific debate on the nature of consciousness, “I have  developed this model of consciousness and culture… I’m sure some people will read that it’s always just culture. Other people will read it as saying I believe in some kind of absolute consciousness beyond our culture… but actually it’s both. I’m trying to maintain this both/and thinking and not keep falling into this either/or.” Dr. Kripal also discusses how this model might change our view of near-death experience science, “I’m not suggesting that near-death experiences are simply culture or nothing but local context. Not at all. I think consciousness is self-existent and does survive bodily death, but I also think it always, always, always expresses itself… through language and culture and context. So you’re never outside of that. But you may be outside of it when you die. I mean, I don’t know. If I’ve died before I don’t remember it.” Dr. Kripal also share his thoughts on how a new model of consciousness might impact religion, “I’m thinking more of creating a new religious worldview. Not me, personally, mind you, but as a culture. That’s where the historian can speak here, too. When religious systems start out, nobody knows where they’re going. They never, ever, ever come out of nowhere. They’re always syntheses or fusions of the scientific knowledge of the time and the different cultures that are interacting. So where I place my hope isn’t on Church A or Synagogue B or Scientist X. It’s the future generations who can put this stuff together in a completely new way, which I think is almost inevitable.” Check out Dr. Jeff Kripal’s website Authors of The Impossible Podcast: Dean Radin Interview Play it: Download MP3 (61:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Today we’re joined by the author of Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred, a book that he’s also developing into a documentary film, as well as a podcast titled, Impossible Talk. As an aside, I have to mention what a fine podcast it is. The interviews are just fantastic and Jeff brings this dialogue-between-colleagues style that’s really enjoyable and quite insightful. He’s also the head of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University and is the author of several other interesting books I hope we have a chance to talk about. Dr. Jeff Kripal, thanks for joining me today on Skeptiko. Dr. Jeff Kripal: Thanks for having me, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: You bet. You know, Jeff, it’s interesting digging into your background. I mean, Department of Religious Studies at Rice University. That doesn’t sound all that exciting on the surface, but what a story. I mean, you grow up Roman Catholic; you go to the seminary for four years because you think you want to be a priest. You leave, get this Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Comparative Religions and then wind up writing a book, Kali’s Child, about the homoerotic interpretations of this Hindu saint and you find yourself in this intellectual firestorm and your book is being debated on the floor of the Indian Parliament. And now here you are 15 years later, you’re tacking psi and the paranormal. I mean, what a ride for an academic. Dr. Jeff Kripal: Yeah, it’s been a ride. It’s all related in my mind. It’s all really the same set of questions, but from the outside it might look pretty wild. Alex Tsakiris: Tell us a little bit about that path and what are those questions? Dr. Jeff K[...] parapsychology, psi Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-skeptic-dr-susan-blackmore-responds-to-critics/ http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-skeptic-dr-susan-blackmore-responds-to-critics/#comments Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:49:30 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=911 http://www.skeptiko.com/near-death-experience-skeptic-dr-susan-blackmore-responds-to-critics/feed/ 34 0:53:28 Interview with author and consciousness expert Dr. Susan Blackmore explains why Skeptics and atheists cling to her opinions on NDE science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for and interview with oft quoted near-death experience skeptic, Dr. Susan B[...] Interview with author and consciousness expert Dr. Susan Blackmore explains why Skeptics and atheists cling to her opinions on NDE science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for and interview with oft quoted near-death experience skeptic, Dr. Susan Blackmore. During the interview Dr. Blackmore acknowledges that dispute her reputation among near-death experience doubters, she has not remained current in the field, “It’s absolutely true; I haven’t written about this subject for a long time and I haven’t kept up with all the literature, either.” Blackmore continues, “… I gave up all of this stuff so many years ago…if you are a researcher in the field it behooves you to read as much as you can of the best work because otherwise you can’t be a researcher in the field. I’m not a researcher in the field. I have not been for a long time.” Dr. Blackmore also responds to criticisms of her interpretation of Buddhist teachings. In her book, Dying to Live, Blackmore stated, “… in Buddhism these [near-death and after-life] experiences are not meant to be taken literally”. This statement has been criticized by Buddhists scholars. During the Skeptiko interview Blackmore responds to those criticism, “Well, I’m not a Buddhist scholar. I don’t read Sanskrit or original language. I’m not a scholar of Buddhism in that sense. But I have been training in Zen for 30 years now. I’ve also trained to some extent, much and much less in Tibetan practices. Most of what I wrote there is based on that long practice.” Check out Dr. Susan Blackmore’s Website A Critique of Susan Blackmore’s Dying Brain Hypothesis by Greg Stone Play it: Download MP3 (53:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back Dr. Susan Blackmore. She’s a writer, lecturer; in fact, you may have seen her excellent presentation at the TED conference a couple years ago, which is quite an honor itself. She’s also a visiting professor in psychology at the University of Plymouth. Dr. Blackmore, welcome back to Skeptiko. Dr. Susan Blackmore: Thank you very much. Alex Tsakiris: Well, as I explained in my email, the main reason I wanted to have you back on is because as we’ve dug in this show into near-death experience science and we tried to explore what skeptics have to say about this, and whether this is really evidence for consciousness existing outside of the brain, well, the more we dig into that your name seems to keep popping up. I have always said, “Hey, Susan Blackmore hasn’t published on this in 15 years.” I don’t know where you’re going but nonetheless, I keep getting a lot of “You need to read Susan Blackmore’s book.” So I thought it would be nice to have you back on and clear up some of these questions. Dr. Susan Blackmore: Well, thank you very much. It’s absolutely true; I haven’t written about this subject for a long time and I haven’t kept up with all the literature, either. I hear about some of the things that are happening. I talk to people involved. I know Peter Fenwick for example, very well. So I kind of know what’s going on to some extent but I got to the point many, many years ago when I just thought, ‘I have done all I feel I can do for the moment, and I just need to get out of the endless round of arguments and do something else.’ So I have. I’m now spending my time investigating other aspects of consciousness and these particular experiences in meditation and meanings and evolution and all sorts of other things. I’m glad to have gotten out of that. Why people go on with that I suppose, I provided some sort of position for the people to argue about it and people who persist in thinking that near-death experiences are evidence for life after death or evidence of a soul or a spirit or something. We hate any proposal[...] Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/113-atheist-ophelia-benson-admires-the-pre-deathbed-denouncement-of-christopher-hitchens/ http://www.skeptiko.com/113-atheist-ophelia-benson-admires-the-pre-deathbed-denouncement-of-christopher-hitchens/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:13:37 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=903 http://www.skeptiko.com/113-atheist-ophelia-benson-admires-the-pre-deathbed-denouncement-of-christopher-hitchens/feed/ 48 0:29:55 Interview with author Ophelia Benson explores how a scientific understanding of life after death might impact an atheistic worldview. Explore controversial science with leading researchers and their critics. Skeptiko.com has become the leading source for intelligent skeptic-versus-believer debate with guests like: Dr. Rupert Sheldrake - Dr. Michael Shermer - Dr. Dean Radin - James Randi - Dr. Peter Fenwick - Dr. Richard Wiseman - Dr. Raymond Moody - Dr. Marilyn Schlitz - Dr. Steven Novella - Dr. Alan Wallace - Stephan A. Schwartz - Dr. Edward Kelly - Dr. Emily Kelly - Dr. Charles Tart - Dr. Julie Beischel - Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris - Dr. Carol Tavris - Dr. Michael Brooks - Dr. Susan Blackmore - Dr. James Alcock - D.J. Grothe - Ben Radford Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/112-gary-habermas-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-spirituality/ http://www.skeptiko.com/112-gary-habermas-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-spirituality/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:38:57 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=890 http://www.skeptiko.com/112-gary-habermas-skeptical-of-near-death-experience-spirituality/feed/ 10 1:14:42 Interview with resurrection of Jesus expert Dr. Gary Habermas reveals challenges facing Christians encountering near death experience science. Interview with resurrection of Jesus expert Dr. Gary Habermas reveals challenges facing Christians encountering near death experience science. Parapsychology, Psychic, Medium, Near, Death, Experience, Reincarnation, NDE, Skeptic, Spirituality Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/parapsychology-researcher-stephen-braude/ http://www.skeptiko.com/parapsychology-researcher-stephen-braude/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:32:54 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=882 http://www.skeptiko.com/parapsychology-researcher-stephen-braude/feed/ 45 0:30:46 Interview with Dr. Stephen Braude reveals challenges and opportunities of controversial psi research into mediumship and psychokinesis. Explore controversial science with leading researchers and their critics. Skeptiko.com has become the leading source for intelligent skeptic-versus-believer debate with guests like: Dr. Rupert Sheldrake - Dr. Michael Shermer - Dr. Dean Radin - James Randi - Dr. Peter Fenwick - Dr. Richard Wiseman - Dr. Raymond Moody - Dr. Marilyn Schlitz - Dr. Steven Novella - Dr. Alan Wallace - Stephan A. Schwartz - Dr. Edward Kelly - Dr. Emily Kelly - Dr. Charles Tart - Dr. Julie Beischel - Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris - Dr. Carol Tavris - Dr. Michael Brooks - Dr. Susan Blackmore - Dr. James Alcock - D.J. Grothe - Ben Radford Alex Tsakiris no no http://www.skeptiko.com/christian-atheist-dr-robert-price/ http://www.skeptiko.com/christian-atheist-dr-robert-price/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:26:13 +0000 alex http://www.skeptiko.com/?p=873 http://www.skeptiko.com/christian-atheist-dr-robert-price/feed/ 23 1:30:32 Interview with Dr. Robert Price reveals why biblical scholar, and former Baptist minister, turned  away from Christianity Interview with Dr. Robert Price reveals why biblical scholar, and former Baptist minister, turned  away from Christianity Parapsychology, Psychic, Medium, Near, Death, Experience, Reincarnation, NDE, Skeptic, Spirituality Alex Tsakiris no no