Introduce yourself

[Sandy B]

Hello!

My name is Sandy (I added the 'B' since I am not the only Sandy in the forum). I'm 45 years old, and currently working on my PhD in Earth Sciences. My interest in parapsychology is the result of a number of personal anomalous experiences that I believe may have been facilitated by the fact that I had a NDE at age 29.

Before the NDE, I made my living as an artist and musician. After the NDE everything seemed to change in me. My then husband accused me of not being his real wife anymore. He was convinced she had died. On some level I would have to agree with him. I went back to school and completed a BSc and MSc. Now I'm working on my doctorate.

I would so love to be a skeptic! It would be so much simpler and easier to ignore all the weird stuff in life and just be a normal scientist. Unfortunately, once you get disconnected and then reconnected to life, there are things you just can't ignore. No matter how hard you try.

The Internet has been my safe haven for discussing topics that I would never bring up at university, or even at home for that matter. I'm hoping this site will add to my list of interesting places to discuss such topics. I look forward to future discussions!

Sandy

[Rod McKenzie]

Hi Everybody (sounds Simpsonesque, Dr. Nick Riviera ? )
Thought I should introduce myself.
I am a retired professional Engineer ( I’m not a scientist but have a reasonable grasp of science. )

I’m an Australian, living in Melbourne.
Australian society is markedly different than the U.S.A. We don’t have a “Bible Belt” or many creationists. Happy clappers ( Jesus freaks ) are tolerated, but proselytizing is generally frowned upon. Beliefs are considered a private thing.

I’ve always been fascinated by psi etc.

I’m really impressed with Rupert Sheldrake
1. His ideas
2. The simplicity of his experiments
But most importantly
3. The way he has “risen above”, in the Buddhist sense, his detractors.( I would have knocked a few of Randi’s teeth out by now, but I’m an engineer and we’re trained to look for practicable solutions. ;-) )

I first came across him via New Scientist’s competition to come up with a test of his theories, then later I read his “Seven experiments that could change the World “ which I thought was fascinating.

Now that I’ve got thru’ raising a family etc. I can spend a bit of time indulging my interests ( the paranormal )
I wouldn’t say I’m a 100% believer, but rather would rate pro/con as follows ( The paranormal is such a “broad church” that I’ve selected a few topics ) :-

1. PSI 95/5
2. Life after Death 75/25 - main doubt is that “it seems a bit too good to be true”
3. U.F.O. s 95/5
4. Aliens in U.F.Os 20/80
5. Crypto-terrestrials in U.F.Os 10/90
6. U.S. Military in U.F.Os 40/60
7. U.F.Os are some sought of paranormal phenomena 30/70
8. Bigfoot 10/90
9. Loch Ness Monster 0.1/99.9

Note all ratings are subject to change with evidence.

I really enjoy Alex’s show and this forum and will hopefully contribute occasionally.

Rod McKenzie

[British Sceptic]

British sceptic here,

hope to enjoy some pleasant discussion,

BTW I am here to learn so hope my pseudonym does not get any ones hackles up
regards,

Den

[CKava]

Allo,

I'm Chris (hence the cunning C in my username) I'm from Belfast but am presently living in London. I'm a Study of Religions/Social Anthropology graduate and am just currently trying to sort out my PhD application in the same fields. My specialty or main focus has throughout my studies has been on East Asian religions particularly in Japan... so yeah I'm interested in all that kind of stuff.

To be up front I have to say that generally I disagree with most of Alex's positions and arguments. Still thought I'd pop in and offer my thoughts rather and maybe have some interesting discussions.

Nice to meet you all,
Chris

[British Sceptic]

Hi Chris,

be good to see your posts, I particularly enjoyed letter to a christian nation and End of Faith, although you may not deal in Christianity,

Best wishes,

Den.

[BobSaget]

Hello I'm Andrew. I was an atheist for quite some time, but changed my views to a spiritual universalist because of one quick and random spiritual experience, and now I'm trying to see if it could be explained under materialistic means. I've been looking into this stuff for about half a year now, and I cannot say that the arguments for materialism have impressed me.

I can't impress you with any good credentials. I'm an undergraduate music major, and I've never cared for science until just recently. It's nice to see a lot of people with strong backgrounds discussing this stuff on here, and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with all of you!

[Limbo]

Hello there. I'm Limbo. I have a great deal of interest in parapsychology, mysticism, religion. I've had many anomalous experiences in my life, I guess I'm just trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

[Dogmatic]

Hello, I'm Dogmatic . I'm a 24 year old college graduate of Kansas State University. I was formerly an atheist and for the most part I accepted the materialist viewpoint. However, a death in the family and numerous psi-like experiences convinced me to delve further into parapsychology research.

After a year of bouncing around from consciousness research, to psi, to mediumship, to near death experiences... I like what I see. Couple all of that with very convincing personal experiences and the evidence is certainly compelling enough to change my own view of life and death as well as the intrinsic nature of what we are.

I'm not particularly optimistic about a paradigm change though. The opposition is organized and numerous, the data is good but not perfect (and can't be), and my own general impression of science is that while it hasn't lost the ability of self-correction its certainly only hanging onto that ability by a thin thread. Its too easy to dismiss data as 'fringe', to attack research and researchers publicly with little to no recourse if the topic is outside the mainstream, and to muddy waters with only half-truth statements. With creationist agendas and other perceived attacks on science, I see parapsychology as being caught in the cross fire until the dust settles.

[LeoM]

Welcome to the board dogmatic

[sententiousness]

I'm really excited about this forum! and I would like share discussions with you. Pleased to meet you all !

See you!