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RE: Psi: How Open Minded are You Really?
March 17, 2015 at 4:38 am
I haven't watched the video (nor do I intend to), but I've read one book and several articles by Dean Radin.
I find him to be a remarkably uncritical thinker. His biggest problem with analyzing reports of psychic phenomena seems to be that he is either unaware of or rejected that possibility that some people are deliberate frauds. Additionally, he seems to discount any chance that purported psychic occurrences may have other explanations; honestly mistaken witnesses, faulty reporting or second or third-hand accounts, etc.
By way of example, Radin is fond of the story about Mark Twain having a precognitive dream about his brother Henry's death in a steamboat explosion. According to Twain himself, he dreamt that the boat on which Henry worked exploded, Henry suffered fatal burns and died in great pain. The dream also included details of the funeral - his brother's coffin placed between two chairs and decked with red and white flowers. Dean simply and unjustifiably ignores the following points:
1. Twain knew steamboats were dangerous.
2. He had already (by the time of Henry's death) lost his father and three of his siblings.
3. Twain had gotten his brother the job on the steamboat.
4. The funeral in Twain's dream was a typical one.
In other words, Twain was worried about his favourite brother working in a dangerous profession, but that's not enough for Radin - nothing will do but the explanation that the author had a precognitive experience (to be fair, Twain believed the same thing).
Of course there's a possibility that psychic phenomena are real - as real a possibility as unicorns, leprechauns, and salesmen that don't lie. But the truth or falsity of psi won't be established by boobs like Radin.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: Psi: How Open Minded are You Really?
March 17, 2015 at 4:50 am
If (big if) psychic phenomena is real clowns like that aren't helping us discover anything about by being as critical as a head of lettuce.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal
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RE: Psi: How Open Minded are You Really?
March 17, 2015 at 9:34 am
My name is ChadWooters and I'm pretty much so fucking open-minded that I filter all claims to truth in the name of Christ.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
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RE: Psi: How Open Minded are You Really?
March 17, 2015 at 6:10 pm
It's like he hates having dialogues with other people.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal