a thought on 'skeptics'

[gabe911]

i was thinking earlier about why there is so much desire to deny things that are studied in parapsychology. there are theories in physics that people are not skeptical about, that seem to go against common sense (such as relativity of time). i was thinking that possibly the reasons why there is so much denial in things such as PSI phenomena, is maybe its because it has implications for our daily lives (that at times we can have spontaneous telepathic communications and such). what do you all think?

[Open Minded Atheist]

Hi gabe, there are many reasons why Atheists/Materialists deny the evidence from Parasychology. Many of them take pride in the fact that they are comfortable with their complete acceptance of anhilation after death, they think that compared to the rest of us they are highly intelligent, strong, and completely comfortable with reality. Parasychology threatens their world view. They have created a limit around reality, everything is alright as long as it satisfies their prior beliefs, if something challenges their believes they get highly hostile.

[Roms]

Originally Posted by Open Minded Atheist

They have created a limit around reality, everything is alright as long as it satisfies their prior beliefs, if something challenges their believes they get highly hostile.

Hmm... excellent description. They do sound like the Church back in the old days indeed
People are afraid that dark ages will come back. Well dont be thanks to that crooked crew we are already in the dark ages.
I would love to see a guy like Dawkins facing an opponent, a guy who works in the same field and who disagrees with him. I bet there are some.

[Open Mind]

I suspect ... but cannot know for sure ... the appeal of the 'skeptic movement' is thinking one is in a superior club that feels smarter than the rest of society... they are building up each others ego and sense of importance.

Much like a religion or a cult they are on a mission to change the world from any idea that contradicts their beliefs which they define as silly, irrational or dangerous.

Their motive is partly good, it is just their ignorance of the dubious history of past organized skepticism and lack of awareness of the otherside of the debate that is the emerging problem.

[Open Mind]

Wikipedia is under attack from groups like Rational Skepticism who are distorting all the paranormal topics with incomplete, selective, baised editing....

I read on the James Randi education forum years ago, people arranging for each other to write on parapsychological, paranormal topics.... the motive is not any sincere interest in the topic, it is an attempt to discredit anyone who claims evidence contrary to their viewpoints.

.

The goals of this WikiProject are as follows:

1. To create new articles relating to science and reason.
2. To create new Wikipedia articles regarding those topics not yet covered by Wikipedia, but which are covered by The Skeptic's Dictionary.
3. To place {{Rational Skepticism}} tags on articles related to Rational Skepticism, fraudster tags on articles concerning convicted fraudsters, and add to criticisms sections where criticism is due.
4. To identify cases of fraud and other unethical/illegal activities undertaken by religious and quasi-religious organizations, as they often go unreported.
5. To improve and clean up those articles which need help.
6. To serve as a nexus and discussion area for editors interested in doing such work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...nal_Skepticism

They do not properly know the history ... they are copying one sided accounts in the 'Skeptics Dictionary' (a very misleading source) to wikipedia .... much like copying opinions from the bible.

The (ir)rational skeptics may be winning the media battle.. they are rewriting the history of claims .... their blanket denial is against the evidence, they think they are protecting science but they are just slowing it down.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by gabe911

i was thinking earlier about why there is so much desire to deny things that are studied in parapsychology. there are theories in physics that people are not skeptical about, that seem to go against common sense (such as relativity of time). i was thinking that possibly the reasons why there is so much denial in things such as PSI phenomena, is maybe its because it has implications for our daily lives (that at times we can have spontaneous telepathic communications and such). what do you all think?

I think the opposite. Relativity has implications for our daily lives that have been verified by experiment. Psi appears to have no implications for my life, nor does it appear to have any affect on the world at all. Where are the people reading my mind, or wiping out casinos, or cleaning my house without touching the objects, or saving lives by predicting disasters?

~~ Paul

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by Open Minded Atheist

They have created a limit around reality, everything is alright as long as it satisfies their prior beliefs, if something challenges their believes they get highly hostile.

But believers never do?

Originally Posted by Open Mind

I suspect ... but cannot know for sure ... the appeal of the 'skeptic movement' is thinking one is in a superior club that feels smarter than the rest of society... they are building up each others ego and sense of importance.

Yes, that is what smug believers do when they think they have special knowledge.

I think y'all may be confusing skepticism/belief with personality traits.

~~ Paul

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

I think the opposite. Relativity has implications for our daily lives that have been verified by experiment. Psi appears to have no implications for my life, nor does it appear to have any affect on the world at all. Where are the people reading my mind, or wiping out casinos, or cleaning my house without touching the objects, or saving lives by predicting disasters?

~~ Paul

Yes, but essentially all science started out small, simple, and not very reliable. It took a lot of effort to produce pure chemicals, reliable static electricity, reliable flowing electricity, diffraction fringes that didn't look on the edge of believability....

Genuine psi would obviously impinge on the nature of consciousness, and so have great significance for everyone - weather it meant life extension or not.

David

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by David Bailey

Yes, but essentially all science started out small, simple, and not very reliable. It took a lot of effort to produce pure chemicals, reliable static electricity, reliable flowing electricity, diffraction fringes that didn't look on the edge of believability...

That's true. If and when psi becomes part of my life, then both relativity and psi will be relevant.

~~ Paul

[Arouet]

"skeptics" aren't any more hostile than anyone else. As with any group there are some who are hostile, and others who are more diplomatic. It's the same with proponents. Look at the constant digs against "materialists" here, the making fun of skeptics, the belittling that goes on. Not from everyone, but from some, generally the most vocal.

As a skeptic, I am looking for reliable evidence - that's it. I don't consider the current state of parapsychology to be reliable. Too many flawed experiments, and the tighter experiments have very small effect sizes. To many difficulties in replication. Too much playing around with ambiguous stats.

Relativity has been demonstrated to a very high confidence level. Psi has not. I don't feel bad withholding my belief until the evidence is more reliable.

As for the skeptic groups: it can be nice to hang around like minded people. Persoanlly, I get more kicks out of mixing it up with non-like-minded people. Bigger question is; why is the vast majority group (those who believe that our conciousness survives death) so theatened by the minority skeptic population?