Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Skepticism

I see a blog post in your future

arcticwoman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:37:51 -0800

Do I have the right to transcribe and publish a recording of a psychic reading (I was the client)? Nearly ten years ago I saw a psychic and at the conclusion of the appointment she gave me a cassette tape recording of our conversation over the previous hour. I no longer believe in psychics, and I think a line-by-line analysis of the reading would be interesting to myself and other skeptics - do I have the right to transcribe and publish the recording online? Do I have to get her permission? I have nothing against this psychic in particular, and have no intention of publishing her name or any identifying information. I don't make any money off my blog - no ads or anything.

I am located in Canada.

Waking Lifestyles

Potomac Avenue — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:35:02 -0800

Is lucid dreaming real, or fiction? Are its practitioners and advocates fringe scientists, spiritualists or charlatans? (or all three in mixed proportion) On the one hand, there have been studies that seem to verify it (from wikipedia):

"During the 1980s, further scientific evidence to confirm the existence of lucid dreaming was produced as lucid dreamers were able to demonstrate to researchers that they were consciously aware of being in a dream state (again, primarily using eye movement signals).[9] Additionally, techniques were developed which have been experimentally proven to enhance the likelihood of achieving this state"

On the other hand, all of this research seems to have been conducted by a single psychologist , who now runs a Institute which sells many expensive machines to help you Lucid Dream or Lucid Dream in style. This strikes me as awfully convenient, and similar to other parapsychology branches' suspect techniques, yet even Skeptic's Dictionary can't find anything amiss with his practices.

What is the mainstream opinion of this area of research among psychologists and neurologists? Does Lucid Dreaming prove anything interesting about the nature of dreams or is a meaningless party trick?

(Previous threads on MF and AskMe have focused on LD anecdotes and How-tos, rather than its scientific explanation. It's clear that many many people can Lucid Dream on purpose using the methods described by Lucid Dream Institutes and others--but the anecdotes don't prove that the "experience" of consciousness and will as described by the dreamer aren't added, upon waking, to the random firings of neurons--fabricated memories of lucidity no different from any other dream. As fun as they sound [I've never purposefully induced LDs] I wonder if they are similar to the insights supposedly gained by drug experiences: the hallucinations contain the feeling of meaning, rather than any actual intellectual content, so why couldn't the memory of the dream be infused with the "feeling" that you were in control ex post facto the usual oneironautical process.)

Thanks! Hope this wasn't too long winded. I need a nap.

Cosmic clichés - is that all they are?

forallmankind — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:07:44 -0800

Every time my (Sikh) yoga teacher talks of enlightenment this and infinite wisdom that and cosmic love the other (ie often), I have to turn a mental blind eye because I don't know what these things are and they kinda defy definition and as such I don't think I ever will know. And part of me feels alienated by this - here is this teacher and this class; the teacher claims to know of these mystical things, and the class (I'm guessing) is divided into (a) those who pretend to also know of these things, and (b) those who know they don't but wish they did. From a distance this seems absurd. Am I missing something, (perhaps something awesome)?

am I really asking this question?

tylerfulltilt — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:03:03 -0800

paper due tomorrow filter: I need some ideas about how to discuss Skepticism, G.E. Moore's "Proof of an external world," and Rene Descarte's "Meditations on first philosophy." I'm taking a class on epistemology and I have a paper due tomorrow.

I'm looking for anyone familiar with G.E. Moore's essay "Proof of an external world" and Rene Descartes "Meditiations on first philosophy. I'm also looking for anyone familiar with philosophical skepticism.

Now to be clear, I'm not asking anyone to write it for me. What I'm looking for is some people to discuss these things with, either in here or on a chatroom somewhere. I just need some people to bounce my paper ideas off of and see if they make sense.

So if you're up for some heady "are we really here" type talkins then help me out!

A psychic kid...yeah right.

zouhair — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:19:43 -0800

Here's a little video in Arabic of a kid that is playing a game of Pairs. The only thing is that he finds pairs without seeing them beforehand, he take one and just find the other one just by overlooking the chips and never misses. There must be a trick. I first thought of some same little sign on the backside of each pair.
What pisses me off is that the people on the video are not stopping from blessing God over this and don't even get me started on the comments.
This reminded me of Clever Hans, and I would really now if someone here knows what kind of trick is this. I don't know the origin of the video, seems like some Syrian, Jordanian or Lebanese accent; so it maybe just a pure fabrication for all I know.
Some friends of mine believe this stuff and it just irks me.

PS: didn't know in which category to put this one, so I just put it in Education as it is happening in some kindergarten.

"Brain Training" via videogames: breakthrough or big lie?

phylum sinter — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:29:25 -0800

Brain Training Games like Brain Age are a big hit lately -- Do you think they actually improve cognition? [Note: already aware of this thread about sharpening the mind in general. Good advice over there.]

Being both a gamer and a fan of brains puts me right at the intersection of this demographic.

Brain Age 1 & 2 (for Nintendo DS), Brain Challenge (for PC, and Lumosity (browser/online) all have similar claims - improve memory, focus, cognition and reaction time through simple puzzles.

Certainly sounds great, and i'd like to believe that this type of training actually increases my mental capacity outside the game. That said, i am not alone in my skepticism of a game's ability to do this on its' own. There are lots of studies that seem to show both positive and null effects of these games. The biggest problem seems to be that the bulk of the positive results seem focused on showing how well peoples scores within the framework of the game after practice, and not much else.

Does anyone have any evidence, anecdotal or academic in nature that shows more concretely how much these games can actually improve cognitive function?

Why did M Lamar Keene really come clean?

Lentrohamsanin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:02:20 -0800

I just finished The Psychic Mafia by M Lamar Keene. Though poorly written, it has some great material on the tricks employed by mediums and some enjoyable lurid anecdotes. However, I was really annoyed by the last two chapters where Keene gives his supposed reasons for coming clean. They're incredibly self-serving and read like the script for a fifth rate B movie about a huckster who finds redemption. Does anybody know if the real story of why he fessed up has ever been told?

What's love got to do with it?

hadjiboy — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:20:46 -0800

Is there someplace that a hopeless romantic can go to find true love? Are there places on the net, in the real world, where people still believe that someday, someplace, when the right time comes--you're going to meet that someone who you've been waiting for your entire life. Not someone who you have a life size cut-out of, but just a general idea of how he or she should be--kind, generous, loving, you know--the usual. Or is this asking for too much?

What I'm specifically looking for are instances of such experiences happening to people out there, who'd be willing to share it with me, to give me hope that it might not be the impossible dream that so many people say it is. (If you could recount the memory of how it all started, what your feelings were initially, and the way you feel now--I'd be very very grateful to you. Many many thanks in advance!)

Oh the places we'll go.

oddman — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:19:37 -0800

I need help putting together reading material for a philosophy course. I will be teaching an Intro to Philosophy course at my university this fall. I've decided to introduce philosophy to my students by way of some of the fields more interesting and famous problems.

More specifically I want to cover:
The problem of evil and arguments for the existence of God.
The mind-body problem.
Identity.
Skepticism and responses.
Basic ontology.
The problem of knowledge (i.e. what does it mean to know X).

I've also decided to eschew requiring the purchase of particular books in favor of having them read articles and excerpts provided by me in PDF form.

So here is my question: Can you suggest any specific articles or passages (I don't mind difficult material) that you feel do a good job of addressing any of the topics mentioned above?

I'll give you two examples.
For the skepticism section I think I'll have them read Descartes's first meditation, "A Defence of Common Sense" by Moore, and perhaps a passage by Hume.

For the problem of knowledge section I think I'll have them read Plato's "Meno," Gettier's "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge," and Searle's "Minds, Brains and Programs."

Philosophy Journal Request

takeyourmedicine — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 02:55:31 -0800

Does anyone have access to a subscription to the British Journal for the History of Philosophy (1996 article) that I could borrow / Request a PDF from? The particular article is Rozemond, M. 'The First Meditations and the Senses' British Journal for the History of Philosophy 4 (1996) pp 21-52.

My tutor failed to alert us that our university doesn't have the archives back that far, this is after putting in a number of hours researching and taking notes from the other other suggested source for a particular question.

If anyone could aid me in any way, or give any insight into Descartes real intentions in raising skeptical doubt, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Is Brain Respiration a hoax?

mono blanco — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 01:00:04 -0800

Is Brain Respiration yet another New Age-y hoax, or what? (+) The enthusiasm and anecdotal quality of this article from the Guardian weirded me out. It's not the usual disinterested report you expect in a major publication. I've never heard of Brain Respiration before. And the thought of actually plowing through all the google links makes my brain cry out for oxygen.

Yet, still...I expect the Guardian to vet these things before opening up the gusher. So, dear Mefi community, is there anything to it? Anybody have anything good, bad or indifferent to report about (I cringe at the locution) "Brain Respiration"?