"Word salads of scientific terms that sound scientific but are not."

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Just to show that there are plenty of idiotic scientific irrational-rationalists to go along with the biblical apologists, and that they're both fucking hysterical:

-------------------------------------

From: ABCNews.com

Can People Send Signals After They Die?

The first time Denise E. Esposito knew her late husband was watching over her was the night of Sept. 11 — hours after he died in the World Trade Center attacks.

"I was hysterical crying, so I went outside and there must have been a million stars up there... "I said, 'Mike are you there?'

"As I'm saying that, one star fell down. It was a shooting star. And I said 'Thanks, Mike.' I knew then he was all right and he was trying to tell me that so I'd be OK."

Gary Schwartz, a Harvard University-trained psychologist, argues these kinds of incidents are not necessarily coincidence, but could actually be signals from lost ones whose energy and information linger in the universe.

"Human beings are like stars," says Schwartzwho co-founded the Human Energy Systems Lab at the
University of Arizona with his wife, Linda Russek.

"We are constantly emitting invisible and visible photons of light. Those photons go into space and are as consistent as distant stars.

"The probability that our energy and information continues and our consciousness continues is the same probability that stars' light continues."

...Michael Shermer, a psychologist who heads the California-based Skeptics Society, calls Schwartz' theories "word salads of scientific terms that sound scientific but are not."

 

[cybergirly]

Well if it makes them feel better.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The difference between "feeling good" and "getting bilked" is an important one. Though. Elsewhere from that same article:

----------------------------

So-called mediums — people who claim to talk with the dead — have enjoyed increased visibility. In fact Schwartz' latest book, The Afterlife Experiments, published this March, describes studies that he says proves some mediums consistently receive information from the dead.

Vyse, the psychologist, questions the motivations behind such projects. He says people like Schwartz and Russek profit from sales of their books, while psychics like Edwards enjoy success as television personalities.

----------------------------

And that doesn't even take into account all the people swayed by this psuedo-science crap who will now take seriouslythings like "Blackmagic Kit" schemes (where a "psychic" convince you that you hav e aspell on you and that for a thousand dollars she can reverse it). Too many people lose too much money because of bad scientists like this maroon.

 

[lisalove]

Yes it's completely irrational. However, no one can say definitively whether one's perception of events is colored by their grief/intense desire for connection OR if it is factual. Not everything can be measured tangibly & scientifically, and unless it's causing harm to the person or others I don't see a problem.

On that note, I tend to put a lot of emphasis on 'strange coincidences'...it's probably more a dramatic thing as opposed to really believing it though.

ps. Two weeks after my mother died (i was 7), I remember waking up in the middle of the night and I saw her shadowy figure sitting on the edge of my bed. She told me everything will be ok and that she loves me. I cannot say if that really happened or if I dreamt it, but it did bring me comfort when I was so utterly grief-stricken.

 

[Private Vasquez]

I've had one of those. I choked on "astral projection." It's a bitch to get down.

 

[sunstruck]

Why is this news?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Why is JLo's divorce news? People like reading about it.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Not everything can be measured tangibly & scientifically

Why not? Once you give up on the idea that part of the universe spins on Fairy Dust, why not?

unless it's causing harm to the person or others I don't see a problem.

See my above post about alluding to how many people are scammed every year because idiots like this psycholgist give fake scientific credence that mediums can take advantage of.

On that note, I tend to put a lot of emphasis on 'strange coincidences'...it's probably more a dramatic thing as opposed to really believing it though.

ps. Two weeks after my mother died (i was 7), I remember waking up in the middle of the night and I saw her shadowy figure sitting on the edge of my bed. She told me everything will be ok and that she loves me. I cannot say if that really happened or if I dreamt it, but it did bring me comfort when I was so utterly grief-stricken.

That goes right to the heart of everything. People want to believe because they need to believe, which is why astrologists will always make money. You're very bright to keep the experience in its proper perspective.

 

[cybergirly]

Well I think if someone did have the ability to talk to the dead, to help a member of that loved ones family. The decesed family member would be very pissed at the psychic for making money off their family. And thus would haunt the psychic till they drove the said psychic insane. At which point they more than likely write those books and get the tv deals.

Actually I think the problem is that these people pander to the pain of others. It's one thing to be psychic (or claim to be) when the only people your bilking out of money are tv exs, advertisors, people who know better and are emotionally stable enough to make rational decisions on the matter. But when it's someone who has just lost a loved one, or is going through some other crisis in thier life and are not emotionally stable to enough to figure out if this person is "for real" or not that it becomes a problem.

 

[lisalove]

You're very bright.

Thank you.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

That was a typo. I meant to say "White". Sorry. Sorry everyone.

 

[RawHumor]

Okay, did anyone else want to shoot John Edwards for making that special after 9/11 offering to "put victims' loved ones in touch with the victims"?

 

[cybergirly]

Okay, did anyone else want to shoot John Edwards for making that special after 9/11 offering to "put victims' loved ones in touch with the victims"?

Absolutely! That was just tacky.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I wish he had done it. Give a man enough rope...

 

[RawHumor]

I wish he had done it. Give a man enough rope...

I'm pretty sure the special was already made and that they just chose not to air it after the uproar. Or were they going to film it live?

 

[sunstruck]

Okay, did anyone else want to shoot John Edwards for making that special after 9/11 offering to "put victims' loved ones in touch with the victims"?

I actually stopped watching the psifi channel when they carried his show. I thought it was horrible and cruel and he makes me ill.

 

[cybergirly]

I'm pretty sure the special was already made and that they just chose not to air it after the uproar. Or were they going to film it live?

I too think that the special had all ready been filmed. I remember seeing "specials" later with some of the familys saying how much he had helped them. It bothered me enough that I didn't pay much attention to it.

 

[daniella469]

The difference between "feeling good" and "getting bilked" is an important one. Though. Elsewhere from that same article:

---------------------------

And that doesn't even take into account all the people swayed by this psuedo-science crap who will now take seriouslythings like "Blackmagic Kit" schemes (where a "psychic" convince you that you hav e aspell on you and that for a thousand dollars she can reverse it). Too many people lose too much money because of bad scientists like this maroon.

For the most part, I don't feel people are swayed to believe half the crap dished out. I think they look for confirmation for the beliefs they already have. If one is not open to believing the such nonsense, then they never will.
Making money off naive people is not something new. The only time I find myself angry, is when it's done to people who are emotionally unstable. I have no pity for the single income mother who makes the "choice" to squander her money dialing some 900 number to find out about her future beau.
I don't sit around hoping for someone to give me solutions to my problems. I can't tell you how many strapped for cash idiots I see spending $30+ on lottery tickets each week.
We all get suckered at one point in our lives. Some learn their lesson at 5 years old, others, at 55. For some it takes $55,000 to teach them. All I know is, if my dead grandmother wants to come haunting, she's paying for her own travel expenses.

 

[miles]

dani

You have a great ass.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Miles, if you hijack this thread so you can fucking tell people they have nice butts I'm going to tell Yayati you're letting a room over your garage.