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Originally Posted by scomsjw  Yes and I think that part of the work is great. But there were references to ruddy-faced Swiss farmers and rooms full of "unsophisticated" people who couldn't see the point in controlled experiments to test something that they already know to be true. I thought there was a suggestion that this also counted as evidence. I'm not sure it does. |
I think it is important to realise that outside of scientific circles, these things are seen somewhat differently. I got something similar when our neighbour told us about how our cat knew when we were returning - to her it was just a commonplace, to me (as the skeptic that I then was) it was a scientific impossibility!
Normal people react even more strongly to some of the issues related to consciousness that get debated. For example, there was a time when Nicholas Humphrey would argue that most if not all animals had no consciousness and merely operated as robots! Most people (especially pet owners) would be just amazed by such a suggestion. Likewise concepts like epiphenomenalism would draw blank stares!
David