Talking Consciousness

Courtesy of famed neuroscientist, Christof Koch and his Klab we have a wonderful compilation of definitions of terms used in the study of consciousness.

Better off dead?

The old saying, everyone has their price, has even more meaning now that Mingle2, an online dating service, has put up a cadaver calculator on their website.

When you think that love-hungry singles are meeting total strangers on the net, then the whole cadaver calculator on a dating site seems even more creepy than usual.

BTW, my cadaver is worth $4115.00. Don't tell my wife that, though...

$4115.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Dating Site

Mingle² - Free Dating Site

David Thompson - The Fraud from Oz

My colleague in the study of psi and the paranormal, Michael Prescott, has written a thorough and stinging final episode about David Thompson and his claims of materialization mediumship. It is definitely worth the read. I have been vocally challenging the claims coming out of Australia for some time now. Last year, I interviewed Victor Zammit, Mr. Thompson's sponsor, about the controversy on the radio show, Conversations from Beyond.

This year, I interviewed Michael Prescott on the very same topic on my new radio show, AfterlifeFM.

Some people, including my wife, have asked, "why do you care so much about what that guy does in Sydney?" My answer is very simple. He is destroying the credibility of something I cherish deeply - the study of consciousness survival. If phonies and frauds are allowed to bamboozle the believing public, then when that person is eventually exposed, why would any scientist or interested person ever believe me in what I am saying about consciousness survival. In some tangent way, confronting frauds like David Thompson is as important as confronting Holocaust deniers.

Sadly, when there's money to be made from people''s need to believe, the rats and vultures are never far behind. Be Skeptical. Be Open. Beware.

The Rhetoric of Madness

Last night I watch the Republican Party debate and came away with a feeling that the only true debate taking place was a brief, yet, heated exchange over the war in Iraq between Texas Congressman, Ron Paul, and former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee.

Then today, I received an email from a friend who sent me a link to another video making some noise on YouTube. The video is a hard-biting, poignant and unequivocal damnation of Bush’s strategy and policy in Iraq. Watch it here.

Agree or disagree, it is hard to ignore the quotable facts behind Keith Olbermann’s recent commentary on MSNBC.

There’s a lot to think about before next year’s election, but there’s nothing, outside of one’s own health and family, that’s more important. I have two children now. I don’t want to even imagine what awaits them in tomorrow’s world. I guess that’s what all parents have said, generation after generation, but it seems that few generations have raised the stakes as high as ours has.

I don’t care about Republicans or Democrats anymore. I just crave truth and honesty, and frankly, I don’t even know where to start looking for that. So, I am going to just pray for the end of madness and hope someone hears me. Please feel free to join in.

Who's Afraid of the Afterlife?

The following is an abstract of a paper written by Dr. Neal Grossman. The article appears in the first issue of AntiMatters, a quarterly open-access journal addressing issues in science and the humanities from non-materialistic perspectives.

The evidence for an afterlife is sufficiently strong and compelling that an unbiased person ought to conclude that materialism is a false theory. Yet the academy refuses to examine the evidence, and clings to materialism as if it were a priori true, instead of a posteriori false. I suggest several explanations for the monumental failure of curiosity on the part of academia. First, there is deep confusion between the concepts of evidence and proof. Second, materialism functions as a powerful paradigm that structures the shape of scientific explanations, but is not itself open to question. The third explanation is intellectual arrogance, as the possible existence of disembodied intelligence threatens the materialistic belief that the educated human brain is the highest form of intelligence in existence. Finally, there is a social taboo against belief in an afterlife, as our whole way of life is predicated on materialism and might collapse if near-death experiences, particularly the life review, was accepted as fact.

PDF link to Dr. Grossman's article

The Circle of Life

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my sister-in-law, Donna Crabtree (age 41), She had been battling juvenile diabetes for many years, and the last 5 years of dialysis were too much for her weakened heart. She will be buried next to her husband, Carl, who was killed 3 years ago by a drunk driver.

Donna is survived by her two children, C.J. (age 20) and Emily (age 13).

We miss you already, Donna.

Life Support

On August 7th, an hour prior to the start of my AfterlifeFM show, my sister-in-law, Donna (age 41), suffered a massive heart attack due in part to complications from juvenile diabetes. She is currently on life support and in a coma. The outlook is not good. She has two children.

Prayers are needed.