Rupert Sheldrake vs. Richard Dawkins on Psychic Skepticism
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Published 2013-07-07
Full video: • The Extended Mind: Recent Experimenta...
We have been brought up to believe that the mind is located inside the head. But there are good reasons for thinking that this view is too limited. Recent experimental results show that people can influence others at a distance just by looking at them, even if they look from behind and if all sensory clues are eliminated. And people's intentions can be detected by animals from miles away. The commonest kind of non-local interaction mental influence occurs in connection with telephone calls, where most people have had the experience of thinking of someone shortly before they ring. Controlled, randomized tests on telephone telepathy have given highly significant positive results. Research techniques have now been automated and experiments on telepathy are now being conducted through the internet and cell phones, enabling widespread participation.
Speaker: Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. is a biologist and author of more than 75 technical papers and ten books, the most recent being The Sense of Being Stared At. He studied at Cambridge and Harvard Universities, was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. He is currently Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, funded from Trinity College Cambridge.
All Comments (21)
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I am 100% scientific, I hold no beliefs at all in religion or in the supernatural whatsoever...but the evidence I've experienced for telepathy is so overwhelming that I just know it exists, and I think that the scienctific world is so against it because it puts telepathy into the same category of Gods, miracles, Angels, etc... Well, it is not a miracle or has nothing to do with the supernatural. We are electric beings, aren't we? How can a phone generate communication from a distance and we can't? We human beings and even animals and I suspect even plants do have much more possibilities of communicating by distance than a cellular phone does. Our bodies generate more power to do so. This is something totally natural. It's so sad that anything which is not tangible is seen as illusions of the mind and thus seen as miraculous or supernatural. The natural world holds wonders... in the case of telepathy, most mothers could tell you that they've had at least a few telepathic experiences with their child, twins alike, lovers, close friends...Telepathy seems to work when two people are in tune with eachother, can feel eachother without the need to use words or argue...it's a harmonious connection between two souls that creates telepathy. The feeling of danger before it even happening also exists, in martial arts we know this as Saki (not sake lol), which means diabolical wind or diabolical energy. Animals in the wild feel this. In martial arts, we learn to feel it too, as we are animals ourselves. It's instinctive. I've been experiencing Saki from the age of 14 and it was always correct without exception. You train to feel energies before they manifest physically. Scientists today like Richard Dawkins who is a great man and a great scientist should try to look more into these things without any prejudice, since science is all about finding out what is true. If you go into something with a prejudice mind, then you're not trying to find out whether it's true or not, you're just there to debunk something regardless of whether it may be true or false, and I think that is absolutely the total opposite of what science is about.
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I'd definitely watch a Rupert Sheldrake vs Richard Dawkins debate
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He has such a nice British accent and delivery that I have no choice but to agree.
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i could listen to this guy all day.. fascinating & very inspiring
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It's easy to tell the difference between intelligent and ignorant skepticism. Dr. Sheldrake has a pretty good grasp on the difference.
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its a shame Dawkins has never fallen in love or taken DMT he would then see how narrow he was
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What a wonderfully articulate person. It's an absolute pleasure to listen to Rupert Sheldrake speak.
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How brilliant was that, this makes me proud of the scientific community, this is a very positive approach.
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Scientists like Dr Sheldrake are the scientists that move science forward. I salute the bravery of Dr Sheldrake!
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I used to idolize Richard Dawkins but for many reasons have done a complete 180. I now believe that Rupert Shaldrake's theories of Morphic Reasonance are the most elegant theories explaining many mysteries of nature. Even if Dawkins turns out to be correct, his approach to these mysteries seems fundamentalist and closed minded. This attitude is never good for science. We should never be so arrogant to think that we know everything and therefore ignore evidence.
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There is no separateness between anything. Reality is one seamless whole. Science will prove this one day. This is why telepathy and other psychic ideas are possible. Everything is an expression of the one consciousness. Enlightened people have known this for centuries. All is one.
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I think that sometimes even atheists (like myself) can get seriously mixed-up about dualism. Sheldrake quite reasonably suggests that quantum communication fields (whatever the hell they are) may have some REAL survival value in the dangerous world of the African veldt, where we all came from. So it is no surprise that it still may exist. Ideologues like like Dawkins (who actually is a brilliant scientist) got seriously "flustered" dealing with Sheldrake, himself a scientist with superb credentials. I think Dawkins found Sheldrake a real threat. But Sheldrake is not postulating or suggesting god or gods. All Sheldrake is postulating is that morphic resonance has genuine scientific studies to suggest that "something is definitely there." I have lost considerable respect for Dawkins. He SHOULD look at Sheldrake's data. There are other consummate haters of dualism who are (honestly) looking at Sheldrake's data and are even taking part in honest well-constructed experiments to either find "something's there or is not." Sheldrake is willing to "put up" or shut up. Sheldrake has put up numerous studies, not just by himself, but others as well. Dawkins crawled into his shell, backing away like a scared snail. Being an academic coward does not reflect honor on Dawkins. I think whether Dawkins detests Sheldrake or not, Dawkins owes Sheldrake an apology. The best expression of that "apology" is by actually looking at Sheldrake's data. Other scientists have and they have not been absorbed by the Borg. Who knows, they could become the best of friends....and just maybe Sheldrake has something monumental to TEACH Dawkins. sanjosemike
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I would love to see their discussion.
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Nothing amuses me more than the indignation and the anger on the face of Dawkins when he is exposed about his complete nothingness. Pure comedy - which, by the way, brought him a lot of fans and money.
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lol, I love this guy, he's absolutely delightful! Dawkins is so dahm deceitful and his ego is way overblown, considering he always has to have a pre-written script for every video he makes. Sheldrake is far and above the quicker wit.
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The wise and credible Satish Kumar was (insultingly) included in that Enemies of Reason series, but even some Dawkins fans thought he came out better than Dawkins- I wonder if he was misled about the debunking intention. Dawkins seemed to have respect for him.
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love to share a joint with this guy
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Dawkins does not love his wife
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Any denials from Dawkins? I've never seen one. Neither he nor anyone else involved in the show ever offered a different version of events. I think if they had, they would have had to produce the footage. And I don't think they wanted to. And Sheldrake doesn't "make it sound like he owned Dawkins". What he says is that the production got him involved under false pretences and the conversation broke down when that became known.
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I'd be surprised if some people here don't think Richard Dawkins could turn water into wine and then walk on it.
