[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by Open Mind

Blackmore makes flawed arguments such as .... psi in experiments is often unconscious/subconscious therefore, she reasons, psi has nothing to do with consciousness. Her reasoning is flawed, if the brain evolved to filtered psi out (and there are strong arguments why that would occur) ... psi will leak from an unconscious (i.e. filtered consciousness) level into the consciousness.

First of all, you really ought to explain how this psi filter theory is falsifiable. In particular, why do we never seen brain damage that suddenly allows the victim to be a mind reader? After all, you say the brain evolved to filter psi, so there must be mechanisms in the brain that do it.

In any event, Blackmore says:

But note that by consciousness I am referring to the really interesting aspects of consciousness, that is subjectivity, or the "what it is like" to be something.

She is talking about qualia. I have never read a psi experiment in which the subjects knew when they were making hits and when misses, let alone described their hits in terms of qualia. If anything is going on, it's almost always nonconscious.

Sure, some therapeutic touch practitioner might describe how it feels to read the qi energy lines or whatever it is she claims to be doing, but is therapeutic touch one of psi's poster children? I don't think so.

~~ Paul