Thoughts about the popularity of this forum

Vesalius said:
I have watched DMT: The Spirit Molecule and it is fascinating, both in what it might suggest for non-materialism, but also if the mind/brain is a material phenomenon, what may be the cause of these recurring figures.
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This is the part where I started to get less interested in the topic overall.
  • If the visions are unique to a particular person, then obviously its the product of their imagination (not B.)
  • If the visions are uniform across people, then obviously its the product of biology (not A.)
The skeptic is then, summarily shielded from all possibility of being wrong. Rather not unlike how some believers are claimed to be credulous for doing.

"One might be forgiven for feeling that the odds are stacked against theories these days. It seems like if there’s not enough evidence for your claim, people won’t believe it, but if there’s lots of evidence, no-one will believe it either." --
Neuroskeptic. “Do Bilingual People Have a Cognitive Advantage?” Discovery. Neuroskeptic. N.p., 4 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 Dec. 2015.
 
Yanni said:
You had better watch yourself! Alex and Paul are my brothers. We will stand together ALWAYS and FIGHT against our oppressors!! Scumbags like you make me sick.
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Hi Yanni. I hope I don't loose any cool points here by admitting that I was a big fan of yours when I was a kid. I listened to your music (along with the soundtrack to Aladdin) at bedtime and I remember the PBS special showing your performance "Yanni at the Acropolis". Good stuff. My dad didn't like your girly long hair.
 
Reece said:
I saw Skeptiko suggested as a podcast many times, but I naturally assumed it was a typical "sceptic's" podcast. So, I think the tag line should definitely be more descriptive than it is, (science at the tipping point). It's cool if you know what it's really about, but if you don't then you would never guess that psi, reincarnation, NDEs & OBEs, and conspiracies are talked about here.
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I couldn't agree more - the name is a mistake.
The only advantage might be that it pulls in some counter thought from people who come here by mistake thinking it's a typical 'sceptics' podcast.
But that is offset hugely by those who don't come here because they are put off by the word.
But I guess the idea of changing the name is out of the question - although it might be interesting to think of an alternative..
The next best thing as Reece suggests is to change the tag line - I don't know - something like 'Kicking the sceptics where it hurts!'
 
Sciborg_S_Patel said:
I'd love to see the return of full transcripts. I think it made it easier to quote interviewees as well as understand what they are saying.
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Here, here .Seconded. Aye. Etc.

It was after weeks of reading through those transcripts that I joined the forum. And with a few exceptions the really great exchange I've had on here have been with interviewees. Maybe Alex could make it a package deal where all interviewees agree to spend a day or so interacting on the forum.

And - nice to see you back. ;;/?
 
Thanks for the welcome Saiko. :-)

I had another thought about the forum and the show. It seems to me there is an increasing portion of scientists and philosophers who are willing to consider consciousness as "going deep", that's not just arrangements of matter. They, however, are not necessarily willing to accept life after death, psi, UFOs, etc.

Why not have some of these people on the show, to engage the spectrum? (I can't recall if there's a formal procedure for asking about guests on behalf of Alex, but in the past I think some of the people I contacted may have been a bit confused.)

For example I think the interview with Searle was a bit of a wash as this is a guy who is materialist but against both computationalism and materialist eliminativism. Nagel would be another big win if possible.

Another possibility is Marcus Arvan, who studied under Dennet but ended up an immaterialist arguing reality is functionally like a Peer-2-Peer simulation.

Additionally has Sudduth ever been on the show? Maybe have Braude on again? There also various panpsychics, pantheists, panentheists that seem to be making their way into the public dialogue. Beyond Physicalism ends with a discussion on panentheism by Paul Marshall, heck any of the authors in that book might make good guests.
 
Sciborg_S_Patel said:
Thanks for the welcome Saiko. :)

I had another thought about the forum and the show. It seems to me there is an increasing portion of scientists and philosophers who are willing to consider consciousness as "going deep", that's not just arrangements of matter. They, however, are not necessarily willing to accept life after death, psi, UFOs, etc.
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I think anyone who doesn't accept psi (in some form or another) is a waste of time. Other than that there are hundreds of people that would make for valuable interviews. The logistics of making each happen is a whole nutha thing.

I too had another idea - interviews open to the forum. A live chat format.
 
Saiko said:
I think anyone who doesn't accept psi (in some form or another) is a waste of time. Other than that there are hundreds of people that would make for valuable interviews. The logistics of making each happen is a whole nutha thing.

I too had another idea - interviews open to the forum. A live chat format.
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I like the live chat idea. Not sure why you think people who haven't accepted psi are a waste of time? I can understand people actively campaigning against the very possibility - Alex has run the gamut with extremes on both sides IMO.

But there are people who might be open to the possibility but haven't given it thought, or think the evidence isn't that good. It doesn't seem to me Alex has a collection of best evidence as yet anywhere on the site?
 
Yanni said:
What does that mean? Did you mean to write "I can't understand..."?
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Ah sorry that was a confusing statement. I just mean having missionary skeptics on at this point seems like a waste of time, as Alex has interviewed staunch anti-psi, pro-materialist figures as well as people who've accepted the idea reality is far vaster and far weirder than expected.

You have people on the extremes of both skeptic & proponent communities, and a lot of the major figures on either side have been covered. Why not see what's going in the middle?
 
Sciborg_S_Patel said:
Not sure why you think people who haven't accepted psi are a waste of time?
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I don't mean in general. I mean only as Skeptiko interviewees at this point. And I did add "in one form or the other." Perhaps I'm misusing the term. I'll put it another way - I think that anyone who doesn't accept that there is anything not generated by the biological or physical is a waste of time as an interviewee..
 
Sciborg_S_Patel said:
It doesn't seem to me Alex has a collection of best evidence as yet anywhere on the site?
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I think the whole archive of transcripts serves in that fashion. And Dean Radin, who's well-known, offers such a collection as do others. Which reinforces my point. Anyone who IMO is worth interviewing at this point would be aware of the large body of material that's out there and at least come to some degree of realization that "the truth is out there." lol Yes I'm psyched for the X-Files miniseries.

http://www.deanradin.com/evidence/evidence.htm
 
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