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Hi, I'm Vesalius.
I was a member of the original Skeptiko forum, but my posts dwindled along with my free time (I have an 18 month year old and another on the way). Hello to everyone who I have shared a discussion with before and all those who have joined since!
I am originally from the UK, but have lived in New Zealand for almost 5 years now.
I've been along for most of the Skeptiko journey, having been listening to Alex since around the episode fifties. I originally started listening because I was looking for some science/sceptical podcasts on ITunes, and discovered this 1 star rated podcast among 5 starred productions. While I'm not exactly a contrarian, this sparked my interest. I decided to give it a try and it hooked me, as here was a host who seemed willing to address the issues other podcasts seemed to gloss over, life and death issues that affect every organism on the planet.
I find I fall on the sceptical side of the divide with most issues, but I am willing to listen to and explore possibilities without shutting the conversation down.
I'm posting here because I thought I would just check in the forum, but to my surprise everything has changed. All I can say is, Alex, I like what you have done with the place
!
I was a member of the original Skeptiko forum, but my posts dwindled along with my free time (I have an 18 month year old and another on the way). Hello to everyone who I have shared a discussion with before and all those who have joined since!
I am originally from the UK, but have lived in New Zealand for almost 5 years now.
I've been along for most of the Skeptiko journey, having been listening to Alex since around the episode fifties. I originally started listening because I was looking for some science/sceptical podcasts on ITunes, and discovered this 1 star rated podcast among 5 starred productions. While I'm not exactly a contrarian, this sparked my interest. I decided to give it a try and it hooked me, as here was a host who seemed willing to address the issues other podcasts seemed to gloss over, life and death issues that affect every organism on the planet.
I find I fall on the sceptical side of the divide with most issues, but I am willing to listen to and explore possibilities without shutting the conversation down.
I'm posting here because I thought I would just check in the forum, but to my surprise everything has changed. All I can say is, Alex, I like what you have done with the place
!
I'm Gabriel, a freelance writer and artist, educated to Masters level, though autodidact in the important stuff. In terms of belief I moved from childhood Christianity, to agnosticism, falling short of full-blown atheism by the certain knowledge that the universe was far more complex, and infinitely weirder, than acknowledged by the atheist-materialist model. This certainty was based on inexplicable personal experiences, which related to those I'd read from others. In recent times I have returned to practising Christianity. I split, as far as possible, my personal convictions from the wider debate around psi phenomena, and have formed no easy equivalence between the two. I occasionally resort to apologetics, but only when I feel my belief are being wildly misrepresented or grossly simplified.
My background reading in philosophy, religion, psi, mediumship, etc, is comprehensive though by no means complete, and I continue to learn and evolve my opinions.
My background reading in philosophy, religion, psi, mediumship, etc, is comprehensive though by no means complete, and I continue to learn and evolve my opinions.
I've been catching up on Skeptiko over the past couple of months.
Some observations:
1) The name Skeptiko is unfortunate from a marketing perspective. I understand it's a different spelling, but it does set up an expectation that this is going to be a "certain kind of show". If you look at the iTunes reviews, you'll see what I mean. Most of the negatives (and there are too many) come from skeptics (read: cynics) who feel they've fallen for a bait-and-switch. Others who may be more open to what the show has to offer (like me) might not realize at first the kind of show it is (like me). But that train has left the station...
2) While I tend to sympathize with Alex's views on most of the issues discussed here, there are times when I feel he simply doesn't "get" the scientific mindset. So often, he pushes guests to draw conclusions from extraordinary evidence, but they're just not ready to do that. Scientists are trained to be conservative. They're trained to break things down into components, and only alter paradigms with consensus. It's their job (or should be) to live with ambiguity. We should not be surprised when a skeptical guest is reluctant to draw conclusions after having only brief exposure to evidence. The best anyone should hope for from such a guest is acknowledgement that a subject might be worthy of further research.
3) Ben Radford. I listened with discomfort to these shows, and came to the conclusion that, right or wrong, Ben came to the debate with hostility and a superior attitude. He did seem unable to see the proverbial forest for the trees, content to focus on trivia while disregarding the big picture. At the risk of breaking some unwritten code (or maybe it is written, I don't know...), I'm curious whether anyone has something to say about the recent harassment allegations against Ben. These allegations would be irrelevant, I suppose, except that in reading up on the situation, one thing repeatedly came up: Ben's tendency to obfuscate and distort evidence.
Anyway, my name is Adam. I live in California. I'm a writer, teacher, and software developer.
Some observations:
1) The name Skeptiko is unfortunate from a marketing perspective. I understand it's a different spelling, but it does set up an expectation that this is going to be a "certain kind of show". If you look at the iTunes reviews, you'll see what I mean. Most of the negatives (and there are too many) come from skeptics (read: cynics) who feel they've fallen for a bait-and-switch. Others who may be more open to what the show has to offer (like me) might not realize at first the kind of show it is (like me). But that train has left the station...
2) While I tend to sympathize with Alex's views on most of the issues discussed here, there are times when I feel he simply doesn't "get" the scientific mindset. So often, he pushes guests to draw conclusions from extraordinary evidence, but they're just not ready to do that. Scientists are trained to be conservative. They're trained to break things down into components, and only alter paradigms with consensus. It's their job (or should be) to live with ambiguity. We should not be surprised when a skeptical guest is reluctant to draw conclusions after having only brief exposure to evidence. The best anyone should hope for from such a guest is acknowledgement that a subject might be worthy of further research.
3) Ben Radford. I listened with discomfort to these shows, and came to the conclusion that, right or wrong, Ben came to the debate with hostility and a superior attitude. He did seem unable to see the proverbial forest for the trees, content to focus on trivia while disregarding the big picture. At the risk of breaking some unwritten code (or maybe it is written, I don't know...), I'm curious whether anyone has something to say about the recent harassment allegations against Ben. These allegations would be irrelevant, I suppose, except that in reading up on the situation, one thing repeatedly came up: Ben's tendency to obfuscate and distort evidence.
Anyway, my name is Adam. I live in California. I'm a writer, teacher, and software developer.
Hi Adam, you raise some interesting points. I think many of us here feel the scientific consensus assumes far too much about the nature of reality, and actively avoids (or condemns) evidence that questions those assumptions. Conservative is a generous description for the mindset, reactionary might be more accurate. The 'scientists' that come in for flak on Skeptiko are the ones who go public with their beliefs, not their experimental data.
Greetings
I call myself William.
I come from a relatively poor background, in terms of finance and social functionality.
My mother was religious and my father talked about UFOs and aliens.
I chose to adopt Christianity for a while in my late teens. It provided for me a gateway into the more mysterious but I gave up the ‘Christian’ part as irrelevant and surplus to requirement...stunting my ‘spiritual’ growth.
I have no particular belief systems to speak of. Most recently I came to the conclusion that beliefs were surplus to requirement and the truth for me is that I know something for sure or I don’t know it for sure at all. By far, that which I don’t know for sure almost completely obliterates that which I do.
I have had OBE type experiences, sometimes resulting in encounters with an intelligent being different from any human – thus ‘alien’.
I appreciate the possibility that everything experienced is a product of the human brain but am not convinced enough to believe this to be the truth of the case.
I am male, a divorcee having helped produce 4 Children, none of whom I am consistently connected with and none that I love any more than any other child produced in this world.
Since the demise of that relationship, I have had two reasonably long intimate relationships, one I am presently involved in and the other we are still very close friends.
I work part time as a cleaner. Most of my awake time is focused upon the big questions – what is the universe, how did it come to be, what is consciousness, is their continuation of consciousness upon the death of the body, why does god exist as an idea and if there was a ‘god’, what is the most likely ‘personality’ that could be attributed to it?
My friends love me and I them. I write and perform songs and those who hear them respond positively.
I wrote this recently:
http://wwaterstone.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/us-them-and-me/
In relation to things which have influenced me and are in some way connected to my present position now are:
The Frank Kepple Resource
http://www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html
This document:
http://projectcamelot.org/james_wingmakers_sovereign_integral.html
...and Tom Campbell’s ‘theory of everything’ which is comprehensive and thought provoking.
http://books.google.com/books?id=RYHtBPiZVgsC&lpg=PA1&dq=my big toe&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
I have come to the conclusion (so far) that in relation to individual consciousness, subjectivity rules irrespective of objective reality.
If death was not a reality, objective reality would rule.
Thank you.
William
I call myself William.
I come from a relatively poor background, in terms of finance and social functionality.
My mother was religious and my father talked about UFOs and aliens.
I chose to adopt Christianity for a while in my late teens. It provided for me a gateway into the more mysterious but I gave up the ‘Christian’ part as irrelevant and surplus to requirement...stunting my ‘spiritual’ growth.
I have no particular belief systems to speak of. Most recently I came to the conclusion that beliefs were surplus to requirement and the truth for me is that I know something for sure or I don’t know it for sure at all. By far, that which I don’t know for sure almost completely obliterates that which I do.
I have had OBE type experiences, sometimes resulting in encounters with an intelligent being different from any human – thus ‘alien’.
I appreciate the possibility that everything experienced is a product of the human brain but am not convinced enough to believe this to be the truth of the case.
I am male, a divorcee having helped produce 4 Children, none of whom I am consistently connected with and none that I love any more than any other child produced in this world.
Since the demise of that relationship, I have had two reasonably long intimate relationships, one I am presently involved in and the other we are still very close friends.
I work part time as a cleaner. Most of my awake time is focused upon the big questions – what is the universe, how did it come to be, what is consciousness, is their continuation of consciousness upon the death of the body, why does god exist as an idea and if there was a ‘god’, what is the most likely ‘personality’ that could be attributed to it?
My friends love me and I them. I write and perform songs and those who hear them respond positively.
I wrote this recently:
http://wwaterstone.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/us-them-and-me/
In relation to things which have influenced me and are in some way connected to my present position now are:
The Frank Kepple Resource
http://www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html
This document:
http://projectcamelot.org/james_wingmakers_sovereign_integral.html
...and Tom Campbell’s ‘theory of everything’ which is comprehensive and thought provoking.
http://books.google.com/books?id=RYHtBPiZVgsC&lpg=PA1&dq=my big toe&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
I have come to the conclusion (so far) that in relation to individual consciousness, subjectivity rules irrespective of objective reality.
If death was not a reality, objective reality would rule.
Thank you.
William
Hello, I'm known as buz in the meat world. As I wrote in my profile I feel like a midget in a room full of basketball players. However, I'm curious and value the search for truth. After reading many of the threads I have concluded that this is a place where truth is sought also. I came over to have a look from Bernardo Kestrup's site. I think that he is on to something, by the way.
I will be seventy years old in March. I can't believe that I'm even writing that. I am unlettered and uneducated in the formal sense. However, I have been interested in finding 'stuff' out since I could read - and read - and read. I have traveled a meandering road which has taken me from fundamentalist religion to Archeology, geology, Astronomy, history, and on into 'Para'-Psychology, Biology, Physics, and beyond. I know enough about many things to get myself in trouble on myriad subjects. In all of this a fuzzy image of [reality?] has begun to emerge. Whether it is the true image remains to be seen. But it is getting late and I feel a certain desperation forming in my search. I believe that Skeptico can be of some assistance in this endeavor.
I have been told that I have a big mouth and will try to control it and hopefully only open it when I have something of value to contribute. I mean no one any harm and only want to know, if possible, what the hell is going on.
I will be seventy years old in March. I can't believe that I'm even writing that. I am unlettered and uneducated in the formal sense. However, I have been interested in finding 'stuff' out since I could read - and read - and read. I have traveled a meandering road which has taken me from fundamentalist religion to Archeology, geology, Astronomy, history, and on into 'Para'-Psychology, Biology, Physics, and beyond. I know enough about many things to get myself in trouble on myriad subjects. In all of this a fuzzy image of [reality?] has begun to emerge. Whether it is the true image remains to be seen. But it is getting late and I feel a certain desperation forming in my search. I believe that Skeptico can be of some assistance in this endeavor.
I have been told that I have a big mouth and will try to control it and hopefully only open it when I have something of value to contribute. I mean no one any harm and only want to know, if possible, what the hell is going on.
Time to reintroduce myself.
I previously had an account here under the name of Buttercup. Unfortunately after a months worth of posts were lost, my account was completely gone too. Attempts to make a new account weren't successful (maybe because my email was already registered in the system? ) Anyhow I'm happy to be back now and using the name Maragon.
I previously had an account here under the name of Buttercup. Unfortunately after a months worth of posts were lost, my account was completely gone too. Attempts to make a new account weren't successful (maybe because my email was already registered in the system? ) Anyhow I'm happy to be back now and using the name Maragon.
It seems my account was deleted when the forum crashed, so I'll reintroduce myself. On the previous forum I went by the name AnduinX. I was mostly a lurker, but I intend to post more this time around.
I am 29, and have had an interest in survival science for over a decade. I do not believe that the materialist explanation of consciousness is tenable.
I am 29, and have had an interest in survival science for over a decade. I do not believe that the materialist explanation of consciousness is tenable.
I'll add a brief re-introduction. In the old version of the forums I posted an introduction which I won't repeat here. My outlook is having started from a scientific and materialist outlook, traversed many turbulent upheavals as a young adult, which I could not account for by any conventional explanation. I delved into different branches of psychology, psychiatry, self-help, religions of every type, and came away with my own synthesis, which encompasses the more mystical and spiritual areas.
I tend to become impatient sometimes with those who expect the answers to be laid on a plate; in my case the journey was not a smooth one, and I suspect this is true for many though the way in which this journey takes place will of course differ greatly.
I tend to become impatient sometimes with those who expect the answers to be laid on a plate; in my case the journey was not a smooth one, and I suspect this is true for many though the way in which this journey takes place will of course differ greatly.
I've been lurking on this site for a few months and decided to make an account. I'm from Toronto, Canada; I am a relatively adept lucid dreamer, and I have had a few OBEs (or something similar). The topics covered here have always been a great interest of mine and I hope to contribute to the discussions.
Hello peeps! I used to be called "Interesting Ian" on the old site. I've always kinda believed in a "life after death" and certain paranormal phenomena. And I've always felt there is an ultimate purpose to life, the Universe and all things.
I make a living from betting on correct scores in soccer. No other source of income.
Here's my blog.
I make a living from betting on correct scores in soccer. No other source of income.
Here's my blog.
I was anonymous over at the old forum.
My intro is here: http://forum.mind-energy.net/psychic-support-forum/5044-introductions.html#post148520
My intro is here: http://forum.mind-energy.net/psychic-support-forum/5044-introductions.html#post148520