Mod+ The Science of Parapsychology video thread [Resources]

Do you actually have anything useful to contribute to his forum - I am seriously starting to wonder.
David

 

I think people who believe in any religion exclusively are almost certainly misguided. I mean humanity has existed a long time, and a whole set of religions have sprung up - somehow that needs consideration - in effect spirituality can descend into a form of dangerous tribalism.

I would like everyone to make relevant comments - not comments about someone's appearance? Would you like it if the priest made totally irrelevant comments of that sort in the middle of a service?

David

 

Well at least I have managed to get you talking a bit more seriously!

I suppose that most of what we talk about here is, in a sense, sacred, and if people are totally flippant about that (in their various ways) that gets my back up!

I used to be a Christian until age 20, and at the time I gave that up because I didn't believe all the supernatural stuff, and heck, I was doing a science degree - but even so, I felt Christianity meant well. Slowly I have come to almost the opposite position. First, I was staggered that the two versions of Christianity in Northern Ireland at the time of "The Troubles", didn't join forces and utterly condemn all the militias. In reality they sort of half did, but half didn't!

Then I came to appreciate that some of science was bluff and make-believe. For example, scientists came to believe in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and back in the 1980's, they persuaded governments to spend a lot of money on AI. Gradually it became obvious that AI was not going to succeed, and after a 10-year spend it all came to an end. Obviously the idea of AI is bouncing back at present, and I suspect it is as vacuous as before and will end up in a crash. AI is the materialistic view of the mind par excelance - it is nothing but a computation.

That started me on a quest to try to understand what consciousness is really about. This forum is about as close as I have got - because it isn't dogmatic, and it explores ideas. I suppose Alex is on roughly the same quest. I realised that a lot of ψ ideas have more in them than is normally appreciated, because conventional science doesn't play fair. you only need to look at the dispute between Rupert Sheldrake and Richard Wiseman to see that. ψ ideas are something of a complicated muddle right now, but I feel they may contain some fundamental truths.

Hence I moderate this forum - trying to keep discussions focussed on the truth!

David