From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Dec 18 2001 - 23:54:36 MST
> "Smigrodzki, Rafal" wrote:
>
> Michael Wiik wrote:
>
> past anomalies out of individual human histories. Hence my
> understanding
> that a) almost everyone has had some sort of unexplainable
> psychic
> experience, and b) these have failed to be reproduced in
> laboratory
> settings.
>
It depends on which scientists you talk to whether anything out
of the ordinary has or has not been produced in the lab. But to
be honest, I don't remember anything above some effects that
seemed significantly higher than chance. And I do consider this
one of the stronger arguments that there isn't anything to this
stuff. After all, no one has stepped forth to claim the Randi
prize. And I see no could reason that some highly psychic or
advanced yogi somewhere would not at least consider it a service
to humanity to prove to everyone that there was more than just
what materialism/science has a handle on. But it hasn't
happened. Odd. Does everyone with such abilities get persuaded
that it wouldn't be a good idea? A gang of black magicians
keeps them from performing? It does get real suspicious after a
while to be sure. Of course, I could simply hold that this Mind
doesn't allow such mucking about with the local laws of
physics. Except of course that would contradict a lot of the
literature about all of this line of stuff. So, I will
certainly grant that the case for doubt is quite strong.
> Working as a neurologist teaches you to be a skeptic. Even if
> your Bayesian priors are skewed towards serious belief in
> supernaturalism, the daily repetition of experiments giving
> results compatible with the opposite attitude should lead you
> to snap out of it.
>
Well, those are the to-be-expected within this sim after all.
> In the absence of a verifiable and unequivocal physical
> manifestation of a God/ancestor spirit/time-travelling Mind,
> etc. I feel entirely justified in interpreting reports of
> supernaturality as evidence of electrical malfunctions.
>
I don't know what such a manifestation would look like but
someone beating the Randi challenge would at least establish
more firmly that there is something "out there" we don't have
covered.
I can thoroughly understand your position, even if I don't share
it.
- samantha
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