168. Parapsychology Researcher Dr. Hoyt Edge Explore Cross-Cultural Views of Consciou

[alextsakiris]

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[David Bailey]

This was a very thought provoking interview. I'll edit this to expand it tomorrow, but in the meantime I'd recommend everyone invests the time to listen this podcast.

Here are a few interesting ideas from this talk (paraphrased by me).

1) It is really worth trying to discover other cultures world views to discover where Western ideas narrow our conceptual framework.

2) Other cultures are less focused on precise definitions - they prefer to manipulate ideas with multiple layers of meaning which is interesting when I think of some of the frustrating semantic debates that erupt here!

3) The idea that the distinction mind vs matter was (sort of) invented in the 17th century, and that there may be other ways to view reality that are more useful in some ways.

4) Hoyt's suggestion that some well known skeptics continue to do what they do because that is their living!



David

[Sandy B]

Originally Posted by alextsakiris

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Kudos to Dr Grego for a great interview!

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by alextsakiris

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Hi Alex,

When do you expect the transcript to be available?


Thanks,

[alextsakiris]

Originally Posted by anonymous

Hi Alex,

When do you expect the transcript to be available?


Thanks,

I won't have a transcript for this one.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by alextsakiris

I won't have a transcript for this one.

Hi Alex,

My computer indicates the mp3 file is 81MB. I have dialup internet service it is not practical for me to listen.

Some websites provide a low bandwith version of their podcasts and also break them up into hourly chunks. An hour of audio can be reduced to around 10 MB and that is accessible to listeners with dialup service.

Is there any chance you could do something like that? There are probably a few other potential listeners with dialup internet service besides myself.


Thanks,

[O' Yeah]

Many things interesting here. I like the idea that reductionism was conditioned by monotheism and replaced by a monorealism. Other cultures don't have a problem with ambiguity. They don't need things to be true or untrue. That would explain why science began in the west and why it hits a wall when it wants to explain the "whole picture"...

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by O' Yeah

Many things interesting here. I like the idea that reductionism was conditioned by monotheism and replaced by a monorealism. Other cultures don't have a problem with ambiguity. They don't need things to be true or untrue. That would explain why science began in the west and why it hits a wall when it wants to explain the "whole picture"...

The scientific part of me still has a problem with ambiguity because I still want some definite answers, but possibly ambiguity is necessary because the real picture (something like some people see with hallucinogenic drugs) is somehow too hard to describe. An analogy might be when you use a viewer to view a 4-dimensional object by seeing various projections of it in 3 dimensions!

David

[Hjortron]

Originally Posted by alextsakiris

I won't have a transcript for this one.

Oh, why not?

[alextsakiris]

Originally Posted by anonymous

Hi Alex,

My computer indicates the mp3 file is 81MB. I have dialup internet service it is not practical for me to listen.

Some websites provide a low bandwith version of their podcasts and also break them up into hourly chunks. An hour of audio can be reduced to around 10 MB and that is accessible to listeners with dialup service.

Is there any chance you could do something like that? There are probably a few other potential listeners with dialup internet service besides myself.


Thanks,

ok, I added: http://www.skeptiko.com/upload/skept...-hoyt-edge.mp3