I have been posting here for almost a month now, so maybe I should go ahead and introduce myself.
You can probably determine solely from the fact that I post under a pseudonym that I don't want to give out a lot of personal information. Still, I think it's proper that I give a little bit, so people here can have some idea where I am coming from.
When I was younger, I developed something of an interest in psi. I remember being very excited when I learned about ESP. I read a couple books I found in the school library and watched a couple videos. The idea of sharing thoughts with other people seemed so cool. I read a few novels about some kids with various psychic abilities (I don't remember what the book series was, but it has "PSI" in the title). I remember watching baseball games (like little league and high school games) and trying to effect where the ball went. Especially, I would try to make the next pitch be a strike, or make it be a ball. Sometimes I would have a good run where I would get several right in a row, but then it would fall apart and I would be wrong for the next few pitches. Eventually, I decided I wasn't really having any effect. I just got lucky sometimes. I don't remember how it happened - it was nothing dramatic - but I ended up losing interest in ESP and psychic powers.
Many years later, I remember hearing a rumor about some experiment showing that dogs would go wait by the door when their owner was on the way home. At this time, I was in college, working towards a career in veterinary medicine. I volunteered at the local animal shelter, interned at a small animal hospital in town, and worked a part-time job at the after-hours emergency animal clinic. I was almost constantly surrounded by dogs. The idea that dogs were routinely underestimated by most people seemed obvious to me. I spent a lot of time with dogs and found that they had unique personalities and were capable of understanding a lot more than people give them credit for. The idea that they could somehow know when their owner was coming home made sense. I wasn't sure if this meant some kind of ESP, but I didn't think it was a stretch that they would have some way of knowing this.
I ended up not staying with veterinary medicine. By a path I won't bother to completely detail, I ended up in a field related to evolutionary biology. The specifics aren't important to this story, just the fact that it is related to evolutionary biology. I came into contact with creationists. I knew there were such people, as I had been raised in a moderately religious household, but I somehow had assumed that as I outgrew those ideas and learned about reality, the rest of the world had done likewise. That wasn't true, and the fact that there was this entire creationist subculture was an eye-opener for me.
I began looking into their arguments. At every turn there was some new, seemingly bizarre, interpretation of reality. The one point that kept occurring to me was that these people had no understanding of what the theory of evolution actually is. They seemed uninterested in what the theory said and what the evidence was. Almost all of their criticisms could be seen as simple misunderstandings of the theory.
For years, I maintained a curious, but low-key, interest in creationism. I became more interested when I discovered that polls consistently show that approximately half of the US population rejects evolution in favor of some form of creationism. This renewed my interest in creationist claims. (I suppose at this point I should say I live in the US.) I thought that I should be prepared, if the subject arises, to explain to people I meet why the various criticisms of evolution and arguments in support of creationism are not valid.
A few years ago, I got an iPod. I discovered podcasts. One of the topics I searched for in podcast directories was evolution/creation. I found a few christian apologetics programs, some of which I still listen to regularly. I also found a podcast called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. I almost gave up on them after a couple of listens, because the audio quality was so poor. Fortunately, their quality began to improve and I continued to listen. I found the show informative and entertaining. They cover a wide array of topics, only occasionally touching on evolution/creation. In one show they mentioned another podcast, called Skeptiko. They were critical of it, if I recall correctly, but it sounded interesting (I think they may have even recommended people check it out, despite their opinion of it's contents). So, I started listening to Skeptiko. By this time, I had basically accepted the idea that most of the topics discussed on Skeptiko were not true, but here was this guy (Alex) claiming a large body of evidence actually supported some of these things. One of them was the psychic dog thing. This was very exciting for me, because I remembered this story from years before. However, I was pretty sure it wasn't true, as I didn't think any kind of ESP was likely to be true. I also remembered hearing something about a follow-up experiment showing that it wasn't actually true.
Then Alex appeared as a guest on the Skeptics Guide. One of the topics that came up was the psychic dogs. I remember a comment by one of the SGU panel, I think it was Jay Novella. I don't have a transcript here, and it was a while ago, so I may get this a bit wrong, but he said something along the lines of:
"But Alex, we're talking about psychic dogs here. Isn't it more likely that Sheldrake is just full of ****?"
This comment really rubbed me the wrong way. Was that really his argument? I considered my own view of the question, and I wondered if I was doing the same thing the creationists do. Was I dismissing ideas without even looking at the evidence? The uncomfortable answer was "yes".
I kept listening to both programs, trying to be more understanding of Alex's perspective (and the perspective of many of his pro-psi guests). I still didn't get around to looking up the research until Alex and SGU got together again and Alex had a program with Julie Bieschel. From her presentation, it sounded like she was doing some careful research on the question of mediums. I finally decided to start digging into the research. Part of this decision included registering at this forum and starting to participate in discussions. My purpose being to leverage the knowledge of people in this forum, helping guide my investigations into the most fruitful areas. I don't have much time to devote to this, so I want to make the most effective use of my time. Another purpose is having a community of interested people with whom to discuss the research.
I've now read a few research papers, and posted informal reviews of them on the forum. I've had some good discussions, and I hope this continues. I try to be upfront about my perspective. I am not convinced that there is such a thing as telepathy. I am not convinced that there is a consciousness that survives our physical death. However, I would not consider myself a "committed materialist". I currently tilt (pretty strongly) towards materialism, but I don't think it's a sure thing. I am a committed scientist. By that I mean, I think every natural phenomenon is knowable in principle. I think the methods of science are our best way of gaining such knowledge. I am encouraged that there are people engaged in the scientific pursuit of knowledge of psi. I agree with Rupert Sheldrake when he says that if telepathy exists, it is natural - not supernatural. (I would go so far as to say that I find the term "supernatural" to be meaningless). As such, these are scientific questions.
Unfortunately, it seems I have already made a couple enemies here, despite my best efforts to be polite and respectful. I attempt to be polite and respectful, but I may fail sometimes. I sincerely hope that we have only had temporary misunderstandings, and that we will not remain enemies. The good news is, there seems to be at least a few regular participants on the forum that seem willing, even eager, for productive interactions with someone who is skeptical of psi, but willing to evaluate the evidence and go where it leads. I look forward to learning more about the research, and to many productive discussions with the other commenters here.
I am a Hedge  |