Whenever there are conspiracy theories, or claims of the paranormal, I usually discredit it because I don’t want to believe it. However, whenever there is new knowledge about science etc by accredited scientists, I am the first to absorb it. I don’t have any problems whenever mainstream science popularisers say something, no matter how crazy it sounds (for example, that we are living in a simulation-proposed by a NASA physicist. I don’t ‘believe’ it but at least I take account of its possibility). Whenever there is something that sounds off key from unknown sources, I am the first one to search on Google: X phenomena (followed by) skeptic. For the past few years this is how I have gone by with unsolved mysteries and academia that I have no knowledge about- for example charlatans making use of quantum theory such as Deepak Chopra and many others promoting new age pseudoscientific new age quantum spirituality claims. It always provided me with comfort since I trusted the skeptics and I had the belief that the skeptics were the smart guys and they had the most rational naturalistic explanations.

However,  I was listening to Joe Rogan Experience Podcast(He thinks along the same lines as me and I’ve only just become a fan of him recently. He is truly an amazing individual). He did a podcast with Stanley Krippner, a supposed parapsychologst and a respected one at that. I listened to him (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s1Wp5ucnYU) and what was so surprising was that he researched into the field of parapsychology for many decades and he came across startling conclusions. I have read some of his work from http://stanleykrippner.weebly.com/—articles.html more specifically, http://stanleykrippner.weebly.com/a-pilot-study-in-dream-telepathy-with-the-grateful-dead.html

Now, I wouldn’t even have been motivated to see his articles if it weren’t for his respect by both skeptics and parapsychologists alike. Do a little research about him and you can see that even James Randi respects him and admits he is a truly honest scientist.
I don’t think he is a charlatan. If you view the whole 3 hour podcast with Stanley Krippner, you’d realize that he is a down to earth, scientist and comes from a very honest non biased point of view, just like any scientist. He does not claim to have any psychic powers nor does he try to prove his point in an aggressive manner. He just states what he finds and he says that he has come to some conclusions that
are statistically significant which implies that he was observing some dream telepathy phenomena beyond chance levels. Of course, it’s not a proof. However, I think that with things like these, it’s hard to always repeat. For example gravity can be tested again and again to be true so it’s replicable. However, with PSI phenomena, it’s always a hit and miss. Scientists don’t even know what causes it nor is there a consensus among parapsychologists about the theories of PSI phenomena. I can understand that. What I can’t comprehend is that there are conclusive results where things like these happen ‘beyond chance levels’.
If PSI were no real phenomena, it should almost always come up short ie no results which are in the ‘beyond chance levels’.

Many of phenomena in this world are unfalsifiable such as the thousands of cases where Dogs are able to find their way home even if lost in an unfamiliar territory. There are even hundreds of reported cases where dogs and cats found their way home navigating hundreds/thousands of miles. Of course, all such evidence is anecdotal. However, it is a significant number of cases that cant be all dismissed as coincidence(that they just happened to go the right way) or as lies or some other rational explanation (such as, it’s not the same dog/cat but it looks remarkably similar to the dog they lost etc and the pet owner and the pet just ‘happen’ to click like they knew each other for years)

Using the scientific method, I think is very useful for things such as creating new drugs and finding it’s efficacy etc. However, for many of life’s elusive phenomena, it cannot always be repeatable.

My question is, being prudent and giving the power to sceptics, I know that many parapsychologists ‘may’ be charlatans. However, out of that large number, there would be some that are honest. There are respectable scientists that continue to try to find it, despite many things such as disproval/loss of respect from mainstream scientific community. Why would honest respectable researchers try and go into and spend decades of their life trying to find these things?

How can anybody account for our pets’ supposedly psychic phenomena?

I know that scientists have tried and tried again using state of the art technology such as MRI scans to experiment if there is any flow of energy that flows out during telepathy. Sure, it’s extremely unlikely that scientists still haven’t been able to measure an ‘unknown’ energy, as we so far we have documented the EM spectrum, gravity and other ‘invisible phenomena’, yet they were all measureable.

What can be said about these statistically significant results? I know many parapsycholists are frauds and conduct shitty experiments but from respectable people like Krippner? Really? I don’t think his methods were flawed. What about other ‘credible’/ ‘respected’ parapsychologists? Like that guy endorsing animal psi abilities. You just can’t assume everyone is a fraud or is stupid. By probability alone, we can attest that there are people with legit degrees and intellectually honest and sound.

I was very disappointed by Dr Victor Stenger whom has been the comfort and source for debunking quantum quackery. However, in a Skeptiko interview(I realised Skeptiko is not a skeptic site at all), Victor called Krippner a charlatan. This really was uncalled for because as a respected Skeptic, I would have assumed he’s done some research into Krippner, like Randi. It seems like Stenger just is a pseudoskeptic because he just dismisses and assumes without honest research.

The problem with Randi’s $1m prize is that, it assumes that, if people had these psychic abilities, that they would want to be found. If I had telepathic abilities or any other psi abilities, I would keep it a secret. If I expose myself to the public, I could either be killed or snatched by the government for their own use or saying it’s a threat to national security. I could make a lot more money by using cunning methods vs Randi’s measly $1million which comes at the cost of worldwide attention.

With our current understanding of knowledge about Neruoscience and Quantum Mechanics, my conclusion is that we should be more open minded about things that are plausible, not just dismissing every claim that currently doesn’t hold with our current scientific knowledge and consensus.
I see that the scientific method is too rigorous and harsh for such things such as PSI/supernatural/ufos etc. You can’t have the ghosts seriously conform to science’s standards to say that the ghost come out whenever we call for it. It’s not up to scientists (not saying I believe in ghosts, although a possibility) and since it can’t be falsified, science will call it pseudoscience. There are things like homeopathy which we can call pseudoscience of course. I think science can really study and observe phenomena such as the PSI, however, we would have to really relax the scientific method and not just be so adamant that it belongs to the same observable and testable phenomena as, gravity for example. I am not against science and I believe the majority of the scientific community is open, as can be said for the discovery of the placebo effect. It seems ludicrous when we think about it. Even with the placebo effect, it’s a hit and miss although it has been shown time and time again that statistically significant results prove the existence of the placebo effect. However, for the case of dream telepathy, if it were completely false, we should have absolutely zero conclusive results that have any statistical significance.
What do you guys think?

First of all, as I’ve said elsewhere on this forum, such believers think that if a certain phenomenon is very commonly reported at many different times and in many different places, then there must be some truth to it. So they would argue that there just has to be some truth to things like ghosts, faith healing and communication with the dead, since such beliefs have been so widespread throughout history. The fact that western science hasn’t accepted these things just shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with western science.         

Secondly, believers tend to think that everything happens for a reason, and that everything is going to be for the best in the end. In this, they are quite similar to Christian fundamentalists. They don’t have much time for accidents or coincidences. Everything is part of some big plan, and we all have a destiny or a calling or whatever other word you want to use for it. Also, they don’t like to admit that there are genuine tragedies in life. Rather they will talk about how apparent tragedies can help us grow spiritually and become better and stronger people. 

Finally, believers tend to resort to relativism or subjectivism when they get into a tight spot. So you will often hear them say that their belief or perspective is as good as anyone else’s. However, this does seem to be somewhat in tension with their idea that we should go with what most cultures have believed throughout history rather than with what modern western science says is real. Should we believe what most people have believed, or should we believe what feels good or works for us? It’s not entirely clear. I think they’re just a bit confused on this point. 

Anyway, these are just a few thoughts.

This strikes me as a desperate attempt to hang on to beliefs in the paranormal in the absence of good evidence. A theory like this is unfalsifiable, because no matter what happens in the world, it can be made to fit with the theory. Also, this kind of position tends to move the paranormal closer to religion/spirituality and further away from science. Still, there will always be a temptation for paranormal believers to move in this direction, especially when they get depressed about the lack of good evidence.

It has happened to me before and I always find it interesting thinking that some people can be tricked into believing that the experience is more than just an illusion. I don’t know what it would feel like to go through a visual hallucination, but I doubt it would fool me either. I know it hasn’t worked on my uncle who went through a NDE and “saw things.” Similarly to my audio hallucinations, he said that what he saw felt real, but the emphasis should be on the “felt” as opposed to the “real.”

Anyway, I am not sure what I am writting or even why I am writing at this point, but I am too tired to be able to do anything else and I need to stake awake for at least another eight hours. Maybe I’ll let the person speaking in my head post the next comment. 

cheers,
Cláudio

Link

But what’s this guy know he’s only a 30 year photography veteran.

Why the Moon Landings Weren’t Faked
by JASON MAJOR on JANUARY 18, 2013
http://www.universetoday.com/99531/why-the-moon-landings-werent-faked-2/

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/99531/why-the-moon-landings-werent-faked-2/#ixzz2INwwtOCF

great stuff

World War 2 was over and everyone in America was looking forward to peace and prosperity. Well, almost everyone.

Powerful officers who headed the United States Army Air Force were scheming behind closed doors. They wanted their independence from the Army after they believed they’d proved their worthiness during 4 years of war. And maybe they did deserve their independence, but did they resort to scare tactics?

Case in point – an esteemed general named George C. Kenney stepped out of the back rooms and up to a microphone long enough to address a group of veterans. Subsequently, The Washington Post reported his comments in the following story on 17 June 1947.

Kenney Sees Only 8 Hours War Warning

Kenney warned that there will be no time to develop and produce planes and other equipment after we are attacked, adding: “Remember that every airplane we used in World War II was already in production on December 7, 1941. Even under the stress and war, we were unable to develop a new airplane into operation nearly four years later before the Japanese finally quit.”

General Kenney declared “delay can be fatal… the bombs are only eight hours away from you.”

This story is military fear-mongering at its finest. Did you notice the second last paragraph? When I first skimmed it, I thought it meant they didn’t build a single new plane after December 7, 1941. But it actually reads that no new airplanes were developed, built, tested, and put into production. That’s not too surprising even by today’s standards, but did Kenney say it to deceive and scare the public?

And, to the best of my knowledge, the first foreign attack on US soil happened February 26, 1993 (nearly 46 years later), when an explosion destroyed the parking basement beneath Trade Tower One in New York. But even that failed to trigger the all-out war Kenney suggested.

Fast-Forward 3 Weeks – The Roswell Incident

Washington politicians must have wondered what the hell the Air Force was doing. If Major Marcel did recover a flying saucer on 08 July 1947, politicians probably wondered what kind of morons would’ve issued a press release that alerted and redirected Russian spies to steal the super advanced technology. Alternately, if Major Marcel retrieved a spent weather balloon and if senior officers at Roswell Army Air Field confused that debris with a flying saucer and then issued a flying saucer press release, the politicians would’ve wondered what kind of morons were running the Air Force.

Either way, issuing the press release was moronic. However, President Truman signed the deal to separate the Air Force from the Army on 26 July 1947, only 18 short days after the Air Force embarrassed themselves.

Was President Truman Involved?

I believe so and I’ve been looking for clues in the Truman Library. Recently I skimmed his 1947 diary entries but there were none between July 6, 1947 and July 21st. I’d hoped this gap was something interesting but long gaps between his diary entries weren’t uncommon.

Then I did find a clue. First, White House archives indicate President Truman met with New Mexico Senator and fellow Democrat Carl Hatch on 09 July 1947 at 10:30 am, a short-notice meeting arranged on 07 July. Coincidence? Knowing Truman’s desire to separate the Air Force, it’s conceivable he collaborated in Roswell’s flying saucer incident and may have apprised Hatch to some degree.

Truman understood the growing communist crisis in post-war Berlin, and he understood the need for military air supremacy (it was the only practical means of bombing long-distance targets) in the new atomic era. Nuclear armed ICBM’s and submarine-launched Polaris missiles were still 12 and 13 years away respectively.

And Truman’s administration had proposed and lobbied vigorously for their ‘Unification Bill’ which outlined legislation for a separate Air Force. Truman believed he could make the Air Force stronger for less money if he could separate it from the Army.

From there, I contend Truman and very senior Air Force officers in Washington manipulated or worked with powerful Democrats who agreed with their long sought goal of independence from Army control to better protect the USA.

Would the Air Force Deliberately Scare People?

Powerful nations are built on warfare against other nations. And the various power structures within dominant nations, a military force for instance, win public support by promoting the fact or perhaps the illusion that hostile forces lie in wait. Between armed conflicts, the military and groups with military interests struggle to prove their worth, struggle to justify their continued existence or growth. They often release, perhaps even anonymously leak, information of a threat only they can handle.

Enemies for the Military are Like Sins for Evangelists

They’re notoriously Machiavellian… claim we’re under constant threat from enemies only they have the vision or the wisdom or the ‘gift’ to identify. They’re careful not to lie more than necessary, and they’ll speak half-truths to justify their existence.

If the Roswell flying saucer press release was an Air Force lie, then I suggest they intended to create an alien threat because they had no direct Earthly enemy in 1947. And if the flying saucer trick worked once, why not twice? To keep fear running high, the Air Force devised a clever way to keep flying saucers on people’s minds.

Project Sign (1948), Project Grudge (1949), and Project Bluebook (1952)

The Air Force undertook these projects to collect, collate, evaluate and distribute data to interested government agencies and contractors of sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere that threatened national security.

The Air Force said the projects were intended to explain UFO’s—ufologists claim the Air Force used these projects to cover-up actual UFO’s and flying saucers. But are either of these purposes true?

Dog and Pony Show

‘Sign’ stated UFO’s were likely of extraterrestrial origin, but apparently someone important rejected this opinion and terminated ‘Sign’. In contrast, Project Grudge operated under stringent intelligence procedures to arrive at the desired opinion. In other words, it seemed they wouldn’t be doing everything they could to identify UFO’s.

‘Blue Book’ came full-circle and reverted back to the liberal concepts of ‘Sign’. Generally regarded as having offered the most ufologist-friendly-unexplained (or lame) sightings of the 3, ‘Blue Book’ ended in January 1970.

To Summarize…

I believe Air Force Command kept the UFO illusion going with unexplained-conclusions and lame excuses or denials designed to create skepticism, to make it look like the military had no answers for an overwhelming number of flying saucers invading our airspace. One way to make people believe something is to tell them they shouldn’t believe it, and give flawed reasons.

NOTE: Brigadier Roger Ramey, the man who held the press conference in Texas in 1947 and publicly humiliated Major Marcel, later became an Air Force UFO spokesman. I guess he was qualified, having been part of Blanchard’s phony flying saucer.

What’s that Blip?

I know zilch about radar, but I’ve always wondered if an expert or experts could somehow rig radar equipment to create artificial signals that might mimic our perceptions of a flying saucer. If so, that could make a control room full of radar people believe they’d encountered a flying saucer—and they’d be credible witnesses for the press and the public afterward.

Scare Tactics

The more afraid we are, the more we want a strong military. And the fear of Russians and flying saucers in the late 1940’s was good news for the new United States Air Force determined to make itself bigger and more important than the Army and the Navy.

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Thank you alien overlords.  Thank you!

(Read some of the comments.  Priceless. “Bitch, please. That’s obviously Super-Putin flying towards the meteorite to apply his super-comrade-punch” )