5-11-08 Derek Bartholomaus, IIG Interview

[derekcbart]

Howdy.

I wish that we had discussed the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" issue. I don't agree with that statement. I simply believe that "extraordinary claims require evidence".

-Derek

[valiens]

And Brandon, don't you find it curious that by calling a precognitive experience a brain fart or saying "we know where OBEs come from" it's as if that label and that knowledge somehow invalidates the events?

Taken to its logical conclusion, shouldn't he really be saying, "Psychic abilities, such as precognition and OBEs are not a mystery. They're real. We even know where they come from now."

Not, "We know where they come from now, therefore they aren't real."

Huh?

It's by no means clear whether the biological correlates to such events are just that or if they are the producers of the experiences.

[valiens]

Derek, do you believe that finding a biological correlate for psychic-related phenomena means that the answer is purely biological (in that the brain produces these events as a type of hallucinatory experience?)

[UBERDOINK]

Good show, I love skeptics. They are all very uneven in their beliefs. They believe science to the point of a religion, as if all scientific data is un-subjective and un-changing truth.

Science has contradicted itself over and over again, and will continue to do so.

Why is science given this amazing place of ultimate, authority on everything?

And when they talk about the ID/evolution debate, you can hear the bias loud and clear.

Great interview though.

[banning]

One other thing i could have sworn that religion thought that earth was round not flat? I maybe wrong but i could have sworn that was how it went down, that religion ended up being right about the whole round flat issue.

[UBERDOINK]

your right, if you do a historical study, most people throughout history thought the world was round, including religion.

The flat theory is mostly a European thing that came later in history, but hey, that's the only history that matters right ;-)

[banning]

exactly, whats the point in speaking facts when fast talking people is much more fun and entertaining LOL...

[ward]

Originally Posted by Chuckleberryfinn

Pretty dull interview, a fault of a failure of curiosity on the guest's part. He made many an asinine claim, such as that "we now know what causes out of body experiences." Absolute poppycock.

Good then i stopped listening at the right part. When i heard this i fell off my seat that no one challenged him on this. I think he was referring to Michael Persinger's experiments and others of it's ilk and is its an incredible tenuous relation ship to inducing OBE's on demand. Hate when they have so called experts make these outrageous claims, and no body calls them on it. Oh well can't hit a home run every time, never sent an episode of the Paracast faster to the recycle bin then this one.

[CapnG]

Originally Posted by UBERDOINK

Why is science given this amazing place of ultimate, authority on everything?

Because science, while imperfect is never-the-less a slow, steady march from ignorance to knowledge, whereas religion and faith are assumptions of absolute knowledge that then challenge to be disproven. If both are to be considered "belief systems", science is the superior.

I had some serious issues with David's "paradox box" comments. C'mon David... you can't have a non-provable object. If I can see it, touch it, feel it then I can record it. If it just doesn't show up on camera, I can sprinkle dust on it, drape it with cloth, pour water on it, whatever. The very shape of my hand as I hold it will show SOMETHING is there. There are ways around every argument you could muster.

As a whole, I found the interview rather dull and mildly repetitive. A C+, maybe B- show.

[Aaron LeClair]

Why is science given this amazing place of ultimate, authority on everything?

If you can think of a better methodology please share. It isn't perfect, but worth using in my view.