Zhuan Falun (Turning The Law Wheel)

[robvalue]

Welcome to the forums

I appreciate you are passionate about all this. But what you have to understand from a sceptic's point of view is we get hundreds of people all coming up to us saying, "My particular extraordinary beliefs are true. You should believe them."

We can't simply believe everything in this way, no one can. So the filter is evidence. And the evidence needs to be properly scientific. I appreciate everyone thinks they do have evidence for their beliefs, but it generally does not hold up to scrutiny. Imagine the scenario where they all did! Everything that anyone says is true and should be believed. Imagine the tangled mess of contradictory beliefs. The people presenting their extraordinary claims generally discount everyone else's claims due to lack of substance; we go one further, that's all.

So in the case of "healing", it would be proper control groups with double blind testing, or similar. Anything short of this just amounts to anecdotes and wild claims.

[Angrboda]

Hello Starshine!

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know how, but we have got to get you together with 'Little Rik'. He's a tantric yoga practitioner who feels that science is on HIS side. He's currently inhabiting the "Evidence for atheist claims" thread. I think debate between the two of you would be most revealing.

[ignoramus]

[EnergyGem]

[Alex K]

[robvalue]

If it was real, it would be science. No one is suppressing real science.

It's not possible to suppress it without some sort of global big brother conspiracy.

[ignoramus]

Rob, the fact that he doesn't know exactly how the scientific method works by now tells me that he's not interested in objective analysis. Only confirmation bias.
Once you swallow this type of koolaid, then auras, astral projection, nde's, etc all become the logical next scientific miracle.

[LastPoet]

Anyone is interested in a bridge I have for sale? Its in new york and its a bit old, so Ill sell it cheap.

[robvalue]

Anyone is interested in a bridge I have for sale? Its in new york and its a bit old, so Ill sell it cheap.

I'm still waiting on the last one you sold me, so no!

[Pat Mustard]

In his well-known book The Holographic Universe (1991, Harper Collins, publisher), Michael Talbot discusses the work of Valerie Hunt on energy fields. He writes:

Quoting a well known woo artist who knows shit all about the areas in which he talks about isn't strengthening your case you know. In fact quoting such charlatanism approvingly just shows the charlatanism at the heart of your pet "theory".