01 03 09 Why we listen to skeptics
Fri Jan 02 17:43:09 2009
Although we haven't gotten any response on this blog I wanted to make a post for the New Year. I wanted to make clear that we here at the Outlands Community Home (in Clifton NJ USA) are aware what skeptics like Michael Schermer, Dr. Susan Blackmore and John Horgan think of us. I also want to make clear that we respect all of them and that their writings help us to keep it real.
To make a broad generalization, skeptics like those authors whom I've just mentioned (and a good number of others) do not believe that there is any supernatural element in the world, or among we mortal human-type folks. Usually they do not see the world through what may be loosely termed mystical eyeballs. This means: no ghosts, no angels, no UFOs, no aliens, no channeling and channelers, no divinatory methods such as tarot cards, astrology, palm reading, and no telepathy or similar "psi phenomena." This may sound grim to those of us who live a life which may include any or all of the above, but the reasons these folks give have a lot of validity.
First and foremost is the matter of proof. For those who have encountered UFOs or aliens, you might think that I am unfairly selecting you, but the request for proof is pretty basic and reasonable. Why don't the saucers land in New York, Tokyo, the Vatican? Why are so many tales told by people who were alone and far from other people? This applies to those who perceive angels and those who have died. If we can perceive these invisible entities, why is it that others don't?
We have our own reasons for doubting the claims of some people who have had these experiences. Many have written books about their experiences. It's okay to write a book, perhaps make some good money from it - witness Whitely Striber - but too often people who claim to have some corner of the supernatural realm make it into a thriving and deceitful business. Sylvia Brown is one such person; the Church of Scientology is another. In our three years online we have contacted (via e-mail) dozens of authors who have written what are usually called "New Age" books - Dr. Gary Schwartz, Arjuna Ardagh come to mind - and never received so much as a one-word reply. By contrast we have e-mailed an impressive number of people in the sciences, physicists, biologists, psychologists and science writers, all of whom were gracious enough to reply. Please bear two things in mind here: all of those who have replied are extremely busy people; many have enormous teaching loads and research programs with which they are involved. None of them are making the money that so many "New Age" people are. And none are deceptive, either. [1] Most have shown more than a sense of humor as well.
Another reason that skeptics doubt what we and other do is that there is no scientific theory in back of what we do. Perhaps for some, who have had no scientific training whatsoever, this is an unfair demand. Perhaps I'm different in that when I was a little kid I was heavy into science. I learned very early that if there is a scientific theory, it should be testable. Up until the rise of string theory [2], physics made some amazing advances - mathematicians and physicists came up with astounding theories and saw them demonstrated in laboratories, in astronomical observations and data analysis, sometimes in the aftermath of nuclear tests and also in particle accelerator tests. By contrast, there is little scientific theory promoted by the very New Age people I skewered a few lines back. When it comes to "where" angels and dead people "live" you'll usually hear something about "other planes" or "other dimensions." This has some scientific validity, but the science is something like 2300 years old. It's a variation of a Graeco-Roman philosophy called NeoPythagoreanism. Without going into a short dissertation about this school of thought, it drew upon the teachings of the much-earlier Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Plato and postulated that there was an invisible world of worlds, each "sub-world" occupying a particular vibrational "plane." There is no evidence whatsoever for these invisible vibrational worlds. You might think about this in another way. Would you want to be treated by a doctor who practiced the medical ideals of 2300 years ago? Or cross the ocean in a ship manned by mariners from that period?
We here at Outlands Community Home have some ideas about why and how we experience the supernatural things in our lives. None are all that scientific; they are theories that cannot really be proved or disproved. We think, for example, that human consciousness does not reside within the brain, rather, it uses the brain but resides outside of the body. We have no real theories for the successes we have garnered for our Learn Telepathy Quickly program - it may be that the Instant Messenger window, sitting on the computer screen, is a type of one-dimensional object, about which there is some wild and speculative writing [3] At the same time, those skeptical writers who say that there is absolutely no proof whatsoever for claims of telepathic contact seem (from here) to be broadly ignoring the accumulated research of long-established scientific societies such as the Society for Psychical Research (UK) and the American Society for Psychical Research (USA).
notes:
[1] We do communicate with a number of people in the sciences but we have made it plain to them that we will not be saying who they are in public. Our ability to maintain communications with them depends upon this promise to protect their privacy.
[2] Two great books debunking string theory are "Not Even Wrong" by mathematician Peter Woit and "The Problem With Physics" by physicist Lee Smolin.
[3] visit this page for an idea of one dimensional object theory:
http://www.programmablematter.com
Roy Waidler
mortal steward, Outlands
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