(October 27, 2017 at 8:58 pm)Tizheruk Wrote: The rice experiment really
https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/s...experiment
Umm no their is no principle specifically of the supernatural that places it beyond testing or proof . Certainly not the supernatural as i or Carrier define it .
http://richardcarrier.blogspot.ca/2007/0...tural.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Ht9Ic_y6A
(can't find it in english - but why would a measuring machine give wrong information)
Since the possibility of the LIE exists at all times, it is alaways possible to find a piece of information to keep up the existing worldview.
It's just basic mathematics.
The problem with scepticism is that its biggest flaw is just being ignored. If a sceptic is supposed to be sceptic, why isn't he sceptic about scepticism itself.
As said, before the only real way to get through the smoke screens is to test empirically, and even then there is still the possibility of error.
All one has to do is do a little bit of travel and meet a person who will demonstrate abilities in such a way that You are convinced. Going into discussion with somebody with a "sceptical" mindset is obviously stupid.
Most people do not even incorporate basic psychological mechanisms into their worldview like normaly bias and such. Since we live in a society where most people are just idiots without the determination to really know something, we tend to accept things like opinions, suspicions, tendencies. Knowledge is something far more complex then just a piece of information, unattainable if certain preliminaries are not met.
There is this quote about history, I do not remember who said it. Take away a person's past and I will be able to tell him who he is.
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Let's start with some simple questions.
How much control over information distribution do goverments have nowadays?
Do You know how many soldiers work in the field of information control in different countries.
Have You checked how efficient those kind of mechanisms are?
As to discussions with idiots there is this rule that has to be kept in mind:
Never talk to an idiot or he will drag You to his level and then beat You because of his experience.
