Alex Tsakiris, host of Skeptiko, interview by Gayle Kimball

Alex

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from Gayle:
Alex asked me to introduce myself. As I mentioned in my interview with him, my books give a voice for people who are not likely to be heard: global youth (see my "Ageism in Youth Studies), egalitarian couples (50/50 Marriage, 50/50 Parenting), women's culture and activism, and now the creators of the non-materialist paradigm. I'm also a ballroom dancer, as you can see on my YouTube channel, along with the scientists. I'd like your suggestions for who else to include in the new book. Thanks, www.gaylekimball.info
 
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Intro: Alex: "I naively thought everyone had these questions." Amen Brother! and 400 shows... Well done!

Gayle: "What is your % women interviews"...??? That lit off Alex. I do not get that she foisted authority on the idea that we are to peel off Buddhist layers, and then the very next question and it comes directly from THE largest layer one can possess - anger/hatred over their sexual organ (this is not fighting for the underdog, btw). The question itself is a rhetorical attack on the person being asked. There is no right answer and the question is never posed in sincerity. Then after we all collectively explain why this question begets ill - she ASKS IT AGAIN!!!

This really raised a warning flag regarding depth. Alex cannot fix past gender bias inertia with his interview quotient, and if he did manipulate this he would sacrifice his personal and the show's integrity in doing so - and she should have borne the human maturity to know this.

The Critique of Materialism: Barriers to overcoming materialism as a religious doctrine of beliefs
1. "Shut Up and Calculate" mindset is a problem.​
2. Myth of Linear Progress - people fear that if we admit this (consciousness underpins reality) - then we have to shift the entire momentum of science overnight - so, it is better to NOT admit it so that science continues as normal. Sort of like the alien argument - it is a straw man construct and artificially binds us to NOT doing science.​
Materialism is a method of discipline, not a set of beliefs... Beware of those who do not get this. I study rocks, that does not mean I have ruled out the spiritual. Nihilist Agency sells the idea that everyone who studies rocks, believes like they do.

Social Engineering Game

1. Been going on from the beginning...​
2. The agenda:​
"Alone, afraid, isolated, feeling like we don't have any power" this would be what I wanted those I control to be under....​
"Drink your beer and keep quiet, check your iPhone, and don't think or ask"​
Who Was Brilliant and Insightful?

1. Dr. Jeffrey Long - NDE's​
2. A guest which helps me in the goal of 'Questioning himself and his assumptions.... Inquiry to perpetuate doubt...'​
Have you had any Psi experiences yourself? Not of substance...

In the face of climate change.... (LOL!! ...I was chuckling when she mentioned that...) - 'Are humans contributing to climate change?' <-- this is not the question... the question is "What policies should we enact, based upon what we currently know?" - that is the real question.

Great show Alex and Gayle!
 
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Beware of those who do not get this. I study rocks, that does not mean I have ruled out the spiritual. Nihilist Agency sells the idea that everyone who studies rocks, believes like they do.

Yet, stubbornly, the building blocks of biology remain the same as the stuff of rocks and stardust.
 
Yet, stubbornly, the building blocks of biology remain the same as the stuff of rocks and stardust.
You have to imagine any situation (of which there were several in the past) in which science seemed to be complete except that some people purported to show effects that didn't seem to fit that science. For example, the dawn of quantum mechanics:

Before QM the laws of physics were thought to be complete, and people could have argued exactly as you have done (the very same words). To you (I guess) every successful ψ experiment, or NDE account has to represent some blend of fraud, error, and wishful thinking. I mean, yes the same stuff is present in a lifeless body as was present just before death (though I don't think that has been established experimentally - I read of one experiment that seemed to indicate the dead body was a little lighter - I think it was in Rupert Sheldrake's "The Science Delusion"), just as all the talk of quantum mechanical entanglement (a dead rat entangle with a live one) probably seemed like pointless philosophising. However, it is thinking about these things that lets mankind discover extensions to out reality.

BTW I like cats, so I always prefer to talk about the Schrodinger rat experiment!

David
 
Intro: Alex: "I naively thought everyone had these questions." Amen Brother! and 400 shows... Well done!

Gayle: "What is your % women interviews"...??? That lit off Alex. I do not get that she foisted authority on the idea that we are to peel off Buddhist layers, and then the very next question and it comes directly from THE largest layer one can possess - anger/hatred over their sexual organ (this is not fighting for the underdog, btw). The question itself is a rhetorical attack on the person being asked. There is no right answer and the question is never posed in sincerity. Then after we all collectively explain why this question begets ill - she ASKS IT AGAIN!!!

This really raised a warning flag that the interviewer knew what they were talking about. It sounded very sophomore in Journalism college in depth. Alex cannot fix past gender bias inertia with his interview quotient, and if he did manipulate this he would sacrifice his personal and the show's integrity in doing so - and she should have borne the human maturity to know this.

The Critique of Materialism: Barriers to overcoming materialism as a religious doctrine of beliefs
1. "Shut Up and Calculate" mindset is a problem.​
2. Myth of Linear Progress - people fear that if we admit this (consciousness underpins reality) - then we have to shift the entire momentum of science overnight - so, it is better to NOT admit it so that science continues as normal. Sort of like the alien argument - it is a straw man construct and artificially binds us to NOT doing science.​
Materialism is a method of discipline, not a set of beliefs... Beware of those who do not get this. I study rocks, that does not mean I have ruled out the spiritual. Nihilist Agency sells the idea that everyone who studies rocks, believes like they do.

Social Engineering Game

1. Been going on from the beginning...​
2. The agenda:​
"Alone, afraid, isolated, feeling like we don't have any power" this would be what I wanted those I control to be under....​
"Drink your beer and keep quiet, check your iPhone, and don't think or ask"​
Who Was Brilliant and Insightful?

1. Dr. Jeffrey Long - NDE's​
2. A guest which helps me in the goal of 'Questioning himself and his assumptions.... Inquiry to perpetuate doubt...'​
Have you had any Psi experiences yourself? Not of substance...

In the face of climate change.... (LOL!! ...I was chuckling when she mentioned that...) - 'Are humans contributing to climate change?' <-- this is not the question... the question is "What policies should we enact, based upon what we currently know" - that is the real question.

Great show Alex!!!
thx for kind words and the summary. and thx for Gayle for being the truth seeking warrior that she is (BTW I've invited Gayle to join the conversation and am hoping she'll stop by).

FYI here is a list of the folks she's interviewed for her upcoming book on visionary scientists, consciousness and the overthrow of the materialistic paradigm:

MDs

Robert Alcorn

Eben Alexander

Larry Burk

Larry Dossey

Mitchell Gibson

Diane Hennacy Powell

John Ryan

Richard Moss

Helané Wahbeh, ND



PH.D.s

Imants Barušs

Julie Beischel

William Bengston

James Carpenter

Asha Clinton

Sally Rhine Feather

Joyce Hawkes

JJ & Desiree Hurtak

Shamini Jain

Brian Josephson

Bernardo Kastrup

Jeffrey Mishlove

Garret Moddel

Roger Nelson

Dave Pruett

Dean Radin

Michael Reddy

James Reed

Peter Russell

Marilyn Schlitz

Gary Schwartz

Christine Simmonds-Moore

Paul H. Smith

Barbara Stone

Charles Tart

Jessics Utts

Fred Alan Wolf



Russell Targ

Stephan A. Schwartz
 
Imants Barušs would make a great guest here - he has explored the idea of 2 time axes to explain the concept of timelessness.

David
 
Alex,

I really liked your political stance regarding Gloria Steinem, because as you said, it was so cynical to encourage people to take an anti-Assad view, when Syria was one of the more liberal Arab states, and the US's aim was to replace it with a bunch of extremists.

The one thing I'd say is that you probably need to explain a bit more about the fact that the "pro-democracy" forces in Syria were ISIS in all but name - otherwise a lot of listeners may not understand what you are saying.

I liked your point that if Christianity was something of a politically manufactured religion, that doesn't invalidate people's personal experiences, but they need some sort of interpretation.

I always wonder what you mean by the term "Christ consciousness". Do you think that there are a collection of advanced spirits out there, that map approximately on to the various religions?

I do hope Gayle does join the forum, but maybe warn her that there is a bit of verbal rough and tumble on here. I was sorry that Marisa appeared just once, then left everyone's questions unanswered and was never seen again!

I also agree with you that trying to balance male and female interviewers is daft!

David
 
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Since Alex was asked the question about direct direct psi experiences (and because I have nothing else to add) I’ll relay a couple of experiences in my life which I now believe to be psi related.

About 15 years ago I was involved with a girl and we had a summer fling going on. She was refusing to be be intimate with me for a couple of reasons, and this was a minor point of contention between us.

One day we were hiking and we came across this large bridge at the bottom of a tiny canyon-type structure, the bridge was traversing a small stream. She was walking in front of me, doing nothing else but walking. I suddenly felt very strongly that she was thinking about having sex with me. I didn’t hardly think anything of it, I just considered it a weird thought of some sort.

A few days later, we were having an argument over the intimacy thing. And she got a little emotional and said, “you don’t know how many times I’ve thought of having sex with you, I was thinking about it such and such time, and WHEN WE WERE WALKING ACROSS that bridge a few days ago.”

I was utterly stunned. I thought about it a lot for a few days and determined that I must’ve been good at reading her body language or something. Back then I didn’t think psi was any possibility. But since I’ve studied it, I feel very strongly that what I experienced was a form of telepathy. The “reading body language” idea made no sense. She was just looking ahead walking.

It makes sense that it might be something I would pick up on psychically as she was thinking strong thoughts about me, so it does make sense.
 
The agenda:
"Alone, afraid, isolated, feeling like we don't have any power" this would be what I wanted those I control to be under....​
"Drink your beer and keep quiet, check your iPhone, and don't think or ask"​
In this regard, Alex and I share a common vision. Were materialistic nihilism a matter of mere intellectual pursuit - I would embrace it potentially then also as scientific theory. I don't reject it at face value. It is rather this insistent backdrop of asymmetric agency - which compels me to point out that something more sinister is occurring than we might inure from a simple life's philosophy.

We have to recall that the nihilism surrounding materialism is the null hypothesis - the threshing board against which we evaluate competing alternatives - it is not meant to be a belief. I use a null hypothesis in science - but that does not mean therefore I believe it. Understanding this is a key indicator of scientific literacy.

Once Materialistic Nihilism becomes a prevailing belief - it enslaves us. (see The Ten EnDamnedments)
 
Imants Barušs would make a great guest here - he has explored the idea of 2 time axes to explain the concept of timelessness.

David
I did interview him but he doesn't want the YouTube video made public. I'd appreciate other suggestions for who should be included in my Visionary Scientists book-in-progress.
 
Intro: Alex: "I naively thought everyone had these questions." Amen Brother! and 400 shows... Well done!

Gayle: "What is your % women interviews"...??? That lit off Alex. I do not get that she foisted authority on the idea that we are to peel off Buddhist layers, and then the very next question and it comes directly from THE largest layer one can possess - anger/hatred over their sexual organ (this is not fighting for the underdog, btw). The question itself is a rhetorical attack on the person being asked. There is no right answer and the question is never posed in sincerity. Then after we all collectively explain why this question begets ill - she ASKS IT AGAIN!!!

This really raised a warning flag regarding depth. Alex cannot fix past gender bias inertia with his interview quotient, and if he did manipulate this he would sacrifice his personal and the show's integrity in doing so - and she should have borne the human maturity to know this.

The Critique of Materialism: Barriers to overcoming materialism as a religious doctrine of beliefs
1. "Shut Up and Calculate" mindset is a problem.​
2. Myth of Linear Progress - people fear that if we admit this (consciousness underpins reality) - then we have to shift the entire momentum of science overnight - so, it is better to NOT admit it so that science continues as normal. Sort of like the alien argument - it is a straw man construct and artificially binds us to NOT doing science.​
Materialism is a method of discipline, not a set of beliefs... Beware of those who do not get this. I study rocks, that does not mean I have ruled out the spiritual. Nihilist Agency sells the idea that everyone who studies rocks, believes like they do.

Social Engineering Game

1. Been going on from the beginning...​
2. The agenda:​
"Alone, afraid, isolated, feeling like we don't have any power" this would be what I wanted those I control to be under....​
"Drink your beer and keep quiet, check your iPhone, and don't think or ask"​
Who Was Brilliant and Insightful?

1. Dr. Jeffrey Long - NDE's​
2. A guest which helps me in the goal of 'Questioning himself and his assumptions.... Inquiry to perpetuate doubt...'​
Have you had any Psi experiences yourself? Not of substance...

In the face of climate change.... (LOL!! ...I was chuckling when she mentioned that...) - 'Are humans contributing to climate change?' <-- this is not the question... the question is "What policies should we enact, based upon what we currently know?" - that is the real question.

Great show Alex and Gayle!
Are you suggesting that it's juvenile to include underrepresented groups? Affirmative Action is official policy because we don't have a level playing field, i.e., why so few women in STEM fields?
 
Alex,

I really liked your political stance regarding Gloria Steinem, because as you said, it was so cynical to encourage people to take an anti-Assad view, when Syria was one of the more liberal Arab states, and the US's aim was to replace it with a bunch of extremists.

The one thing I'd say is that you probably need to explain a bit more about the fact that the "pro-democracy" forces in Syria were ISIS in all but name - otherwise a lot of listeners may not understand what you are saying.

I liked your point that if Christianity was something of a politically manufactured religion, that doesn't invalidate people's personal experiences, but they need some sort of interpretation.

I always wonder what you mean by the term "Christ consciousness". Do you think that there are a collection of advanced spirits out there, that map approximately on to the various religions?

I do hope Gayle does join the forum, but maybe warn her that there is a bit of verbal rough and tumble on here. I was sorry that Marisa appeared just once, then left everyone's questions unanswered and was never seen again!

I also agree with you that trying to balance male and female interviewers is daft!

David
As long as we stick to logic, no problem. Here's an article on Steinem and CIA: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-gloria-steinem-cia-20151025-story.html
 
I always wonder what you mean by the term "Christ consciousness". Do you think that there are a collection of advanced spirits out there, that map approximately on to the various religions?
I'm not quite sure I know what I mean, David :) The evidence seems pretty clear to me that people have profound experiences with the spirit form of Jesus, but I don't think any of us really know what that means. all indications are that these experiences are the most profound we can possibly have... the descriptions dont do them justice.

I do hope Gayle does join the forum, but maybe warn her that there is a bit of verbal rough and tumble on here.
or maybe we ( myself included) could work on being a little bit less Rough and Tumble :)

I was sorry that Marisa appeared just once, then left everyone's questions unanswered and was never seen again!
probably more of a function of her being a medium and being constantly pulled on by people wanting questions answered.
 
I did interview him but he doesn't want the YouTube video made public. I'd appreciate other suggestions for who should be included in my Visionary Scientists book-in-progress.

Do you have the transcript of this interview online? Indeed can you give us a link to the podcasts that you have done?

Rupert Sheldrake would be an obvious choice - he is also a Christian. He began as an orthodox biologist at Cambridge University (UK), and changed his mind while in India, and more recently he has performed a number of experiments that demonstrate psychic effects - notably one that showed telepathy between dogs and their owners (with the dog as the recipient). As you would expect, his experiments are well designed, but obviously the critics try to pull them down. He has been interviewed a number of times here on Skeptiko. From various email contacts with him, and his books, I would say that he is exceptionally knowledgeable about science

As it happens I mentioned one of his books above. He is about 80 now, so maybe you should act quickly!

David
 
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or maybe we ( myself included) could work on being a little bit less Rough and Tumble :)
Things used to be much worse, but by definition, we do allow people to be sceptical - indeed we all are to some extent - but we do put our foot down if people just become rude and pushy!
I really like discussions to become interested in details - not just arguments.

Got confused there - I thought I was replying to Gayle!

David
 
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Are you suggesting that it's juvenile to include underrepresented groups? Affirmative Action is official policy because we don't have a level playing field, i.e., why so few women in STEM fields?

Straw man. You did not ask Alex "Have you included underrepresented groups in your interviews?' You asked what his percentage breakout was female to male.

It is illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to refuse a client or customer (Alex's business structure and relationship under contract law) based upon their gender. You are asking him as a baker - to refuse to make cakes for men who walk in the door needing them, and favor women in his clientele. This is illegal as a business practice and it is unethical to ask him to pursue such activity.

However, let's assume the context here is one of 'employees'. I am suggesting it is wrong to demand that a single person managing a capacity constrained enterprise, seeking highly specialized expertise (Alex's case), select employees based upon the sole and facile criteria of their gender. Affirmative Action Executive Order 11246 explicitly exempts such situations. It does so for a moral and ethical reason - not because it is simply 'too small to bother'.

The question, especially given this lack of soundness, bore an implicit attack (whether unintended or subconscious) on Alex's integrity and his gender. Would you have asked this of Alex if he were a female?

Seperately, yes I agree on the need to improve STEM statistics. I fund and chair the board of a trust which issues scholarships and aid to situation-disadvanteged STEM major college students. Changing the nature of STEM statistics requires turning the ship at its beginning/foundation. STEM careers demand certain personality traits, determination and durability - or one will not succeed, regardless of whether they are male or female.

This early life training (removing onerous cliques, false praise, social bullying and demanding equal hard work) is where we have proven that we can change the STEM statistics to reflect a better level of fairness - not by forcing Alex to sacrifice his integrity inside a symbolic gesture.
 
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As long as we stick to logic, no problem. Here's an article on Steinem and CIA: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-gloria-steinem-cia-20151025-story.html
hi Gayle thanks so much for joining us. and super glad you're jumping into the Gloria Steinem thing... I'm glad you started with the Chicago Tribune article... although, if you remember from our interview, this is exactly the kind of misinfo/disinfo/bullshit we have to deconstruct:

Strange as it may seem, Steinem’s personal views and CIA political goals aligned. Her brand of social revolution, promoted by American tax dollars, was meant to counter Soviet-sponsored revolutionary messaging. Public funds were intended to slow the Soviet scourge while showing America’s alternative democratic face.

Drone-launched bombs carry a less subtle American message to today’s targets. Given global challenges and threats, the CIA is put into a more difficult and militarized role than in the past. The agency’s own overreach and mistakes have created a new vulnerability, further exacerbated by the publishing of Edward Snowden’s stolen files.


consider:
https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.co...ria-steinem-to-subvert-the-feminist-movement/
Did the CIA Use Gloria Steinem to Subvert the Feminist Movement?
...Fearing unflattering publicity, Steinem gave interviews to both the New York Times and the Washington Post defending her CIA work (see video below). In both articles, she claims to have taken the initiative in contacting Cord Meyers, who headed the CIA’s International Organization Division and their top secret Operation Mockingbird.* Her goal, allegedly, was to seek CIA financing to encourage American participation in the seventh postwar (Soviet-sponsored) World Youth Festival in Vienna in 1959...

Steinem served as director of the CIA-funded Independent Research Service from 1958-62. It was her responsibility to organize US students, scholars and writers to attend the yearly World Youth Festival, to observe and takes notes on foreign participants, to distribute pamphlets, flyers and books and to edit a daily propaganda newspaper.

Steinem Threatens to Sue Random House
Steinem’s CIA links came to mainstream media attention a second time in 1979, when the Village Voice ran an article about a chapter Random House had censored from Redstockings Collective’s 1979 book Feminist Revolution. Random House spiked the chapter, which describes Steinem’s earlier CIA work, after Steinem threatened to sue them... This deleted chapter (which you can get free by ordering an out-of-print copy of Feminist Revolution from Redstockings Collective) also suggests her CIA involvement may not have ended in 1969 when she left the International Research Associates...

Operation Mockingbird in Action
In 1960 Clay Felker, a CIA-linked Independent Research Service staffer who accompanied Steinem to the Helsinki World Youth Festival in 1962, became the editor of Esquire magazine, where he published many of Steinem’s early feminist articles...

The Turmoil At NOW
In 1966, Steinem was still on the board of directors of International Research Service, when she co-founded National Organization for Women (NOW) with Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique. A 2001 article in The American Prospect describes (quoting from The World Split Open by Ruth Rosen) how in 1975 prominent NOW members Carol Hanisch and Kathie Sarachild openly accused Steinem of working for the CIA and “directing the movement toward moderation and capitulation.”

The Use of Black Feminists to Sabotage Civil Rights Organizing
In the late seventies and early seventies, African American organizers became concerned about a pattern in which agents posing as black feminists infiltrated their community groups in an effort to split off women members into separate organizations. They traced this phenomenon back to 1978 when Steinem put a book called Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman on the cover of Ms Magazine.
... Gloria Steinem maintained that Wallace’s book would “define the future of Black relationships” and she pushed hard to make sure the book received massive publicity. Gloria Steinem’s efforts triggered a flood of “Hate Black Men” books and films that continues to this day.

---

and it doesn't end there... she's a lifetime player:
Faux-Feminist's Ridiculous "Women Under Siege" Syria Map
 
Are you suggesting that it's juvenile to include underrepresented groups? Affirmative Action is official policy because we don't have a level playing field, i.e., why so few women in STEM fields?
Also, does imperfection negate the message? For example, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. were womanizers, which probably made the liars, but we should dismiss the good they did? Steinem has contributed greatly to gender equality.
 
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