tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post5571426459719274108..comments2023-08-08T10:25:47.529+01:00Comments on McCabism: Near-death experiencesGordon McCabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-17364639412619514552009-03-26T16:29:00.000+00:002009-03-26T16:29:00.000+00:00Weather NDEs are evidence of mind/body separation ...Weather NDEs are evidence of mind/body separation or not, science still needs to account of consciousness. <BR/><BR/>Let's find a way to detect and measure consciousness, then maybe we are closer to an answer and a proof of either direction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-70002362399228286742009-01-01T03:15:00.000+00:002009-01-01T03:15:00.000+00:00Is Bryan a Christian?Is Bryan a Christian?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-67006372396971837642008-12-17T11:10:00.000+00:002008-12-17T11:10:00.000+00:00Agreed, but you started off by claiming that Bryan...Agreed, but you started off by claiming that Bryan didn't express a viewpoint, and if you're explaining a controversial and extreme viewpoint to a general audience in a mainstream newspaper, it's only professional to acknowledge that the viewpoint <EM>is</EM> controversial and extreme, otherwise you will mislead the general audience.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-84846945074905281512008-12-17T10:37:00.000+00:002008-12-17T10:37:00.000+00:00Because it's an interesting and provocative viewpo...Because it's an interesting and provocative viewpoint?Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-53764140214407373702008-12-16T13:24:00.000+00:002008-12-16T13:24:00.000+00:00In which case, why the need to invoke quantum theo...In which case, why the need to invoke quantum theory to explain why it is conceivable?Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-81650923434240826512008-12-16T13:17:00.000+00:002008-12-16T13:17:00.000+00:00Well it is conceivable - indeed, it is the default...Well it is conceivable - indeed, it is the default belief for most people.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-41495089682265640382008-12-16T12:14:00.000+00:002008-12-16T12:14:00.000+00:00You don't think Bryan expressed a viewpoint? Well,...You don't think Bryan expressed a viewpoint? Well, how about this:<BR/><BR/>"But is such a thing as a separable mind possible or even conceivable? The answer is yes. In explaining why, it will be necessary to plunge into philosophy and quantum mechanics...at the end of it, you might just believe you are immortal."<BR/><BR/>Yes, you're right, that's extremely impartial.<BR/><BR/>But seriously, it is precisely because Bryan is writing a journalistic feature article, rather than an academic paper, that I would expect an informative account, which quotes from reliable and authoritative sources, rather than the biased and misleading article which was written.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-15549883082973085632008-12-16T11:38:00.000+00:002008-12-16T11:38:00.000+00:00Harsh, Gordon.I didn't feel that Bryan espoused a ...Harsh, Gordon.<BR/><BR/>I didn't feel that Bryan espoused a particular viewpoint. It's a journalistic feature article in a Sunday paper, not an academic argument.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-29469444587505989902008-12-15T11:53:00.000+00:002008-12-15T11:53:00.000+00:00And just imagine, Bob, what happens when a program...And just imagine, Bob, what happens when a program gets terminated after entering an infinite loop; from immortality to death, and then back to immortality in the cybernetic afterlife.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-34410622342112406032008-12-15T10:24:00.000+00:002008-12-15T10:24:00.000+00:00I love the software analogy. That's probably becau...I love the software analogy. That's probably because I work with software.<BR/><BR/>We would sure have al lot of dead programs flying around in our company, if this was the case. Maybe that's what is haunting me on monday mornings when my computer refuses to obey me. I knew it was something from the other world...Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02040537651843418484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-55017527066753772402008-12-15T10:01:00.000+00:002008-12-15T10:01:00.000+00:00To gain an authoritative and informative understan...To gain an authoritative and informative understanding of the interpretation of quantum theory, Bryan could have consulted or quoted from one of the majors figures in the field, such as Jeremy Butterfield, Harvey Brown or Michael Redhead. <BR/><BR/>In fact, Bryan did exactly that when he consulted Michael Redhead, then Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, for his 1992 book, <EM>Understanding the Present</EM>, so let's see what Professor Redhead has to say about the role of consciousness in quantum theory. <BR/><BR/>In his book, <EM><A HREF="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yt6kUGQH_scC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%2B%22Michael+Redhead%22" REL="nofollow">Incompleteness, nonlocality and realism</A></EM>, Professor Redhead considers three possible interpretations of quantum theory. In the first, the Bohmian interpretation, Redhead points out that: <BR/><BR/>"It is anti-idealist, in the sense that human consciousness plays no role in the specification of the interpretation," (p47).<BR/><BR/>The second candidate interpretation accepts that the values of physical quantities can be unsharp or 'fuzzy', but again Redhead points out that:<BR/><BR/>"The experimental probings under which propensities manifest themselves have nothing to do with human minds or consciousness. Everything could work out in a world without human beings at all," (p49).<BR/><BR/>And the third candidate, Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation, holds that classical physics applies to macroscopic systems, so there's no question of quantum theory applying to the mind/brain here.<BR/><BR/>By quoting from a crank such as Stapp, and by treating Stapp's opinions as if they provide a reliable guide to the interpretation of quantum theory, Bryan has engaged in a wilful twisting of the facts. It's the action of an unprincipled propagandist.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-5976632852180106662008-12-15T00:16:00.000+00:002008-12-15T00:16:00.000+00:00Long time no hear Frank!The formalism of quantum t...Long time no hear Frank!<BR/><BR/>The formalism of quantum theory represents the wave-function to collapse in measurement-like interactions in which observers play no part at all. For example, when a photon impinges upon a photographic emulsion, quantum mechanics represents the wave-function of the photon to collapse when it interacts with the molecules of the emulsion. No observer is required to represent the collapse of the wave-function. <BR/><BR/>Of course, the only photographic emulsions we observe are the ones we observe, but knowledge is not restricted only to that which we observe, or that which can be derived directly from observation. Rather, knowledge is also obtained from the hypothetico-deductive technique, which in the realist worldview of science, postulates a world existing independently of perception, derives predictions from specific theoretical hypotheses, and observationally verifies those hypotheses. <BR/><BR/>One can always challenge these underlying naturalistic postulates, and resort to a type of idealism, a la Berkeley, but this is not the issue here. The crucial point is that the mathematical formalism of quantum theory is perfectly capable of representing wave-function collapse by measurement-like interactions in which the observer plays no part.Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-84528379687523478722008-12-14T15:49:00.000+00:002008-12-14T15:49:00.000+00:00Hi Gordon:Could you provide an example of a measur...Hi Gordon:<BR/>Could you provide an example of a measurement-like interaction that did not involve an observer and if we know of such wouldn't that be because an observation had been made?<BR/>Best,<BR/>FrankFrank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37936507.post-39021504285525866362008-12-14T14:48:00.000+00:002008-12-14T14:48:00.000+00:00And round the roundabout we all go.......How do we...And round the roundabout we all go.......How do we know that God is not an evil deceiver and we are living in fact living in a computer made "matrix"? <BR/><BR/>I too am a skeptic, I prefer to call myself a militant agnostic rather than an atheist, but there have been a handful of points in my life when I have to consider that an event was more than just plain random.<BR/><BR/>For example, Ive only ever made one bet in my life, my grandfather was an addicted gambler I have always been against, but in 1992 I went to the bookies to place a bet, John Mayor and the Conservatives to win the election with a 21 seat majority, they took my money with a big grin their faces, and not so when I went a few months later to collect my substantial winnings, I gave it to the local hospice, I dont like gambling. All this based on a dream I had a few months earlier that left we spooked.<BR/><BR/>Yes I was keen to see the Welsh wind bag stuffed, and yes it could well be random, but 21 seats against the backdrop of the politics of the time?<BR/><BR/>The dream was like a NDE, as described, it was like getting a peek at something you should not as a child and giggling at what you saw, I really felt that part of me had separated from my body, coming back, for use of a better term, I felt my external body reconnect with my physical body, I even felt a strain in both my legs and arms for many days afterward, this was more than a dream, much more this was insight. I am still puzzled and alarmed by it, it goes against most things I accept as fact. The whole thing haunts me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com