The Paranormal, Supernatural, and strangeness alike.

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All the strict scientific attempts to validate the paranormal have been failures. I find the subject interesting for speculation but until the supposed effects can be evoked at will under strict laboratory conditions they don't seem to have much utility.

Who here believes in it, and please tell me, the best way you can, why?
Also, who here believes as I do that it is absolute bull?

If it happens in nature than it is measurable and therefore subject to science. There is nothing "paranormal", "supernatural" etc. pp. There is only one reality measurable. Therefore all speculations are simply "BS".

Dussel wrote:



That is just not true. For example, falling in love takes place in nature but you can't take some people and replicate the experience. If people were to judge love based on scientific experiments, there most likely wouldn't be sufficient evidence to prove that it actually happens the way people claim it happens through their own experience.

Psi is non-material, so why would you even consider testing it according to matter based experiments?

ABSTRACT
Electroencephalograph (EEG) and Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) data were collected from Sean Harribance, a well documented psychic who has previously participated in laboratory research, while he was engaged in psi tasks. This data was independently collected from two different laboratories during 1997.

The primary goal of the EEG data collection was to determine the dominant electrocortical activity and its location while Sean participated in psi tasks. EEG data were collected from Sean in the following five psi tasks: two psychic readings from photographs, two runs of card guessing with standard ESP cards using the down through method, and one remote viewing trial. After removing any artifacts, the data for each condition were then spectrally averaged and topographic brain maps were computed which showed that while Sean was engaged in psi tasks, alpha was dominant bilaterally in the paraoccipital region, with alpha power being strongest in the right parietal lobe at electrode placement P4. A lack of alpha activity was seen in the frontal and temporal lobes.

For subsequent data analysis, Dr. Robert Thatcher at Applied Neuroscience Laboratory in Redington Shores, Florida edited and removed any artifacts from the raw EEG data collected from Sean during an eyes-closed baseline. He then analyzed the data for EEG coherence, phase, amplitude differences, and relative power, and compared these measures to the data in his Lifespan Reference EEG Data Base using the appropriate age-matched group. Results show deviations from the reference data base that are primarily bilateral, involving the occipital, temporal, and frontal regions. Sub-optimal neural function is indicated, especially in the frontal and temporal cortical regions.

Two Tc-99m SPECT ECD brain scans were completed with Sean in order to contrast a baseline resting condition with a psi task condition. The results indicate the areas of Sean’s brain that were active while he was in the psi task condition and the baseline resting condition. The most pronounced finding was increased uptake of the tracer,

Relative to cerebellar uptake, in the paracentral lobule and in the superior parietal lobule of the right hemisphere only during the psi task condition. A mild decrease of function in the frontal, temporal, and thalamus regions is suggested by the lack of uptake of tracer in these areas during both conditions.

The consistency of the results across laboratories, equipment, experimenters, and research protocols suggests the existence of a neurophysiological correlate which is stable across both time and conditions. It is hypothesized that the parietal cortex is activated while Sean is engaged in psi tasks as this part of the brain is attributed with visual search attention via the posterior attention network. Also, it is speculated that Sean’s brain may be more highly developed or may function at a higher level in the parietal cortex to compensate for a lack of activity or sub-optimal neural function in the frontal and temporal cortical regions. The data presented is specific for Sean and may not be applicable to others. Future research with other selected subjects is needed in order to determine if these results can be replicated between subjects.

Who here believes in it, and please tell me, the best way you can, why?

Also, who here believes as I do that it is absolute bull?

You can see the affects of love through a brain scan just as you can observe the EEG of a person using psychic abilities. Here is a study that shows the brain waves of a psychic conducting psi tasks. As a side note, the man who invented the EEG was inspired to learn about the brain because he and his sister experienced some psychic phenomenon. It's interesting to note that he could not explain his invention scientifically because he learned how to design it through a psychic vision.

I believe that phenomena occur that science has yet to explain.

This doesn't mean paranormal per say, because science is capable of explaining these events, there are just no scientific laws or theories that properly deal with these phenomena. There may be lights in the sky, and they may not be anything we currently understand, but that doesn't mean they have to be alien spacecraft.

So essentially I think our knowledge of the universe, even for visible events, is incomplete and we must never stop searching for answers.

Dussel, that link didn't negate anything.

Edgar Cayce was not a fake. Have you (fnord) actually sifted through the mountains of evidence from his case files?