Recent content by shapethrower

  1. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    I've been in the Stanford ICU for 8 days straight with crappy sleep and nothing but time on my hands with my son. I apologise - I'm probably just hyper sensitive at the moment. He is getting better every day BTW, not fishing for sympathy posts, rather giving context.
  2. shapethrower

    Mark Vernon, Christianity and the Evolution of Consciousness |415|

    I think this is a reflection of how, outside monastic settings, the west is unmoored from it's spiritual traditions. The move toward simulated spiritual experience (eg. Modern Catholic mass post-vatican II) in traditional Christian orthodoxies, at the expense of direct connection to source, and...
  3. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    We vote on paper slips in private booths (at least we did before I left for the U.S. 10 years ago). Pencil, slip of paper, mark your sheet in private for the preferred candidate(s), and then drop in a box. The Crocodial Dundee reference wasn't needed. Your intention was to diminish Australians...
  4. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    I don't think the two need be mutually exclusive. You can entertain a position without the need to scrutinize it through scientific analysis. This is, after all, a forum for the interplay of ideas and not the Lancet. This is not to say ideas shouldn't be held accountable for their intrinsic...
  5. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    Perhaps this is the wrong way to look at it. Perhaps the purpose of the experience is not predicated on past deeds, or a person's character, but rather the experience they need to grow/evolve/move out of a rut. To what end this experience is needed or why is a bigger question. Is it a self...
  6. shapethrower

    Just a thought.

    Fair enough. As a side tangent, it's interesting to note that many people who have a concept of the one or a god figure in the judaeo-christian sense seem to accept at face value representative government as the best or only form of government worth considering on the mortal plain, yet believe...
  7. shapethrower

    Just a thought.

    I get what you mean, but I think the term hierarchial comes with religious and even judicial baggage. Hierarchy implies the universe is a judicial system of sorts with a "boss" at the top. This is western cultural baggage from our Byzantine friends. Rather than a hierarchy, which implies...
  8. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    Alan Watts take on this subject has always made me chuckle.
  9. shapethrower

    Alex Tsakiris, Four Questions About the Future of Skeptiko |414|

    As a college admissions professional in California I can confirm, although with one caveat; the driven students I see are rare, but it's almost always because of a strong family influence paired with natural aptitude. I have watched campus culture change in the last 15 years. Many factors...
  10. shapethrower

    Rey Hernandez, Scientific Study of ET Contact and the Paranormal |412|

    Doing a quick search to jog my memory, it's to do with the hale-bopp comet and heaven's gate fiasco back in the late 90s. If you search for commentary on all three terms you get hits on allegations about whether the Farsight institute is culpable in part for their role in hyping the now debunked...
  11. shapethrower

    Rey Hernandez, Scientific Study of ET Contact and the Paranormal |412|

    I've read some things about Mr. Brown that I found troubling, but must confess that I have not had the time or inclination to explore their veracity, other than to give me some pause about his projects in the RV field. I'll be looking at the forum posts for his interview with interest to see if...
  12. shapethrower

    Rey Hernandez, Scientific Study of ET Contact and the Paranormal |412|

    Ahh, but can we take the 'you' part out of it? If you remove the battery from your smartphone it reduces it to a useless but complex interplay of metal, glass, and silicone. Add the battery and you have a device that facilitates something more than the sum of its parts. To give this take some...
  13. shapethrower

    Sarah Westall, Trafficking/Blackmail Cycle of Evil |410|

    I attended a Catholic boarding boarding school in the early 90s with the sons of diplomats and various important captains of industry from australasia, and saw no signs of the boarders being mistreated or any hint of inappropriate sexual activities from the priests and lay staff....and yet, 3...
  14. shapethrower

    Sarah Westall, Trafficking/Blackmail Cycle of Evil |410|

    Thank you for mentioning this. It was grating on me a little in the episode when the terms were used interchangeably.
  15. shapethrower

    Sarah Westall, Trafficking/Blackmail Cycle of Evil |410|

    This episode reminded me of the podcast Sword & Scale and their coverage of the Franklin scandal and alleged activities at Bohemian Grove. It's a two part series and fair warning that you'll need your salt shaker when considering the allegations put forward on the BG story. Very disturbing if...
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