---Introduce yourself---

OK I guess I should say a few words. Likely I am the first member from Guyana after all...
Grew up in the UK reading SF like Asimov and science books. Very materialistic view of life. Did physics at university and went on to programming early climate models at the Met Office.
While at university became unsatisfied and started exploring spiritual matters. Read Lord of the Rings. Followed a bit of a winding road until finding answers. No longer see a conflict between science and spirituality.
Moved to Guyana in 1976 and since then have been teaching physics and IT, managing web servers and building web sites. More or less retired now. :)
Oh - good to see one member is from our neighbour, Brazil.
 
OK I guess I should say a few words. Likely I am the first member from Guyana after all...
Grew up in the UK reading SF like Asimov and science books. Very materialistic view of life. Did physics at university and went on to programming early climate models at the Met Office.
While at university became unsatisfied and started exploring spiritual matters. Read Lord of the Rings. Followed a bit of a winding road until finding answers. No longer see a conflict between science and spirituality.
Moved to Guyana in 1976 and since then have been teaching physics and IT, managing web servers and building web sites. More or less retired now. :)
Oh - good to see one member is from our neighbour, Brazil.

Welcome, Andrew9.:) Interesting to hear you once programmed climate models. I'm almost afraid to ask: does this mean you accept CAGW, or are you at all sceptical? I should warn you: there are strong opinions here on both sides!
 
OK I guess I should say a few words. Likely I am the first member from Guyana after all...
Grew up in the UK reading SF like Asimov and science books. Very materialistic view of life. Did physics at university and went on to programming early climate models at the Met Office.
While at university became unsatisfied and started exploring spiritual matters. Read Lord of the Rings. Followed a bit of a winding road until finding answers. No longer see a conflict between science and spirituality.
Moved to Guyana in 1976 and since then have been teaching physics and IT, managing web servers and building web sites. More or less retired now. :)
Oh - good to see one member is from our neighbour, Brazil.
Welcome - it sounds as though you will fit in well here whichever side of the climate debate you stand on!

I think that hard science is a very good way to come to spiritual matters, because it is easier to see the limitations of materialism much more clearly - though it took me rather longer than you before I saw the cracks in the materialistic picture.

I'd love to know your views about CAGW (Michael and I are both sceptics) but I'd rather this discussion didn't come to dominate because I am sure you are here primarily to discuss other matters.

We have a large thread devoted to the integrity of modern science:

http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threads/critiques-of-science-as-currently-praticed.2959/

This seems particularly relevant because many scientists claim they can dismiss a whole range of phenomena on 'scientific' grounds.

David
 
Welcome - it sounds as though you will fit in well here whichever side of the climate debate you stand on!

I think that hard science is a very good way to come to spiritual matters, because it is easier to see the limitations of materialism much more clearly - though it took me rather longer than you before I saw the cracks in the materialistic picture.

I'd love to know your views about CAGW (Michael and I are both sceptics) but I'd rather this discussion didn't come to dominate because I am sure you are here primarily to discuss other matters.

We have a large thread devoted to the integrity of modern science:

http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threads/critiques-of-science-as-currently-praticed.2959/

This seems particularly relevant because many scientists claim they can dismiss a whole range of phenomena on 'scientific' grounds.

David

As you may guess I have followed the global warming issue for years but I am afraid my view will not bring much comfort to Michael and David :)
Furthermore I live below sea level so perhaps my judgement is affected. It does focus the mind in some respects watching the waves coming over the sea wall ...

Generally I place great value on science but it needs balancing by spiritual values. I read 'Life after life' in the '70s and see it as good research. Have never had an NDE myself but they seem to be a real phenomena.
 
As you may guess I have followed the global warming issue for years but I am afraid my view will not bring much comfort to Michael and David :)
Furthermore I live below sea level so perhaps my judgement is affected. It does focus the mind in some respects watching the waves coming over the sea wall ...
I'm tempted to get into a discussion with you about CAGW, but I know from past experience that these discussions seem to suck in people to the forum whose sole purpose is to bang the drum for Climate Change, and then they rapidly get heated. I might open a PM with you and Michael, and Alex if you would like to discuss this subject - but if you would rather focus on the main topic of this forum, that is fine too :)
Generally I place great value on science but it needs balancing by spiritual values. I read 'Life after life' in the '70s and see it as good research. Have never had an NDE myself but they seem to be a real phenomena.
I have had essentially no personal ψ experiences. However, it does seem to me that an enormous amount of interesting research on NDEs, reincarnation, remote viewing etc has been pushed aside over the years.

David
 
As you may guess I have followed the global warming issue for years but I am afraid my view will not bring much comfort to Michael and David :)
Furthermore I live below sea level so perhaps my judgement is affected. It does focus the mind in some respects watching the waves coming over the sea wall ...

Generally I place great value on science but it needs balancing by spiritual values. I read 'Life after life' in the '70s and see it as good research. Have never had an NDE myself but they seem to be a real phenomena.
Rather than a private conversation, there is a healthy thread here, started by Alex, where we could all benefit from your expertise :)

http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threads/global-warming-are-sea-levels-rising.3602/
 
I'm here because it looks like a place where people can ask those questions we know have no definitive answers. Where the lack of answers doesn't deter those from asking the many questions.

You're in a good place, friend - Skeptiko forum is probably the best place on the Web for discussion: it combines the highest torerance for differing and divergent viewpoints that I ever met and politeness in debating them.
 
Hello there, I'm Mediochre's mystery girlfriend and I've heard and read bits and pieces from the forum. I'm only doing this because he has been incessently nagging me to get on the forum. It's not that I avoided it out of disinterest I simply don't have the time. I don't really know what to say in this introduction or in general. I've had frequent paranormal experiences of all types throughout my life to the point where they're just normal to me now. We don't just expereince things, we actively experiment with them. This is anything from "astral projection" to talking to spirits, influencing our immediate reality such as the weather, actively inducing shared dreams, becoming poltergiests in our own home, and other things that I can't think of right now.

I don't know what to expect from this forum or how active I will be in it.
 
Hello there, I'm Mediochre's mystery girlfriend and I've heard and read bits and pieces from the forum. I'm only doing this because he has been incessently nagging me to get on the forum. It's not that I avoided it out of disinterest I simply don't have the time. I don't really know what to say in this introduction or in general. I've had frequent paranormal experiences of all types throughout my life to the point where they're just normal to me now. We don't just expereince things, we actively experiment with them. This is anything from "astral projection" to talking to spirits, influencing our immediate reality such as the weather, actively inducing shared dreams, becoming poltergiests in our own home, and other things that I can't think of right now.

I don't know what to expect from this forum or how active I will be in it.

Hi Pixiebites! You don't have to jump into debate or anything here right away. You can pick a forum to discuss your paranormal experiences -- I myself enjoy that side of Skeptiko, just reading about members' experiences of the paranormal, the unusual, etc.

Anyway, welcome!
 
Last edited:
Hello there, I'm Mediochre's mystery girlfriend and I've heard and read bits and pieces from the forum. I'm only doing this because he has been incessently nagging me to get on the forum. It's not that I avoided it out of disinterest I simply don't have the time. I don't really know what to say in this introduction or in general. I've had frequent paranormal experiences of all types throughout my life to the point where they're just normal to me now. We don't just expereince things, we actively experiment with them. This is anything from "astral projection" to talking to spirits, influencing our immediate reality such as the weather, actively inducing shared dreams, becoming poltergiests in our own home, and other things that I can't think of right now.

I don't know what to expect from this forum or how active I will be in it.
Hi Pixiebites - welcome to the forum!
If I find a substantial post or thread on here, I often copy it to a txt file on my Kindle and then read it offline, in bed. I think if you don't have much time, that is a great way to use this forum. Of course, Mediochre can also spot discussions that will be of interest to you. Another way to start is to delve into our index - that lets you retrieve all sorts of gems that are otherwise hidden. The third approach is to listen to some of the podcasts.

I rather hope that you two will get round to describing some of your experiments in detail (preferably in a new thread). If you do, remember that a lot of us still need to convince ourselves of all this - so if people suggest extra tests to make sure you aren't fooling yourselves, that should be taken in a positive way.

David
 
Hi Pixiebites - welcome to the forum!
If I find a substantial post or thread on here, I often copy it to a txt file on my Kindle and then read it offline, in bed. I think if you don't have much time, that is a great way to use this forum. Of course, Mediochre can also spot discussions that will be of interest to you. Another way to start is to delve into our index - that lets you retrieve all sorts of gems that are otherwise hidden. The third approach is to listen to some of the podcasts.

I rather hope that you two will get round to describing some of your experiments in detail (preferably in a new thread). If you do, remember that a lot of us still need to convince ourselves of all this - so if people suggest extra tests to make sure you aren't fooling yourselves, that should be taken in a positive way.

David

Don't forget to mention that the index is the fourth sticky (and locked) thread in the Guidelines & Introductions forum!
 
I'm only doing this because he has been incessently nagging me to get on the forum.

So, I guess we could say that Pixiebites bit!

Welcome to the forums. Mediochre has been an interesting poster so far, I'm glad he's managed to bring you along.
 
Hello there, I'm Mediochre's mystery girlfriend and I've heard and read bits and pieces from the forum. I'm only doing this because he has been incessently nagging me to get on the forum. It's not that I avoided it out of disinterest I simply don't have the time. I don't really know what to say in this introduction or in general. I've had frequent paranormal experiences of all types throughout my life to the point where they're just normal to me now. We don't just expereince things, we actively experiment with them. This is anything from "astral projection" to talking to spirits, influencing our immediate reality such as the weather, actively inducing shared dreams, becoming poltergiests in our own home, and other things that I can't think of right now.

I don't know what to expect from this forum or how active I will be in it.
Hi Pixiebites,

As I am sure you have realised, there are a lot of people here who are interested in the paranormal, and yet have made minimal contact with it - that describes me. As a result, we are constantly looking for new ways to test these phenomena. If you have any ideas how best to do this, I'd be really interested.

I am sure you will enjoy the forum!

David
 
...
I don't know what to expect from this forum or how active I will be in it.

I learned a lot by reading posts in the forums then looking stuff up on the web to learn more about the subject. Stuff I didn't know anything about, so I didn't even know I didn't know it. Relating to different psychics, scientific research into paranormal subjects, different types of evidence for paranormal phenomenon, philosophy - of which I was suprised to find there are useful branches such as philosophy of science and epistemology - that help sort through discussions on the evidence for paranormal phenomena.

But it sounds like there is a lot you could contribute to the forum. I think people would be interested if you would describe phenomenon you experience, either notable past experiences or new experiences when they occur.

There is a subforum "Extended Consciousness & Spirituality" for posts like that.

Thanks
 
Back
Top