Abiogenesis (Origins)

by dhw, Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 16:07 (4853 days ago) @ broken_cynic

David: There is currently no explanation for near-to-death or out-of-body experiences,and a large number of the ND's have third party verification, much of which we have discussed in the past.-KENT: Did you miss the part where said "Every... that has ever been explained?"-Your exact wording was: 'Unexplained psychic phenomenon' is a completely empty phrase. Every single 'psychic phenomenon' that has ever been explained has been a trick. Every. Single. One. Then 'unexplained psychic phenomenon' is far from being an empty phrase. You are merely saying here (though you slightly change your tune later ... see below) that those which have been explained have been found to be tricks. So what about those that have not been explained? Those that have not been explained are the unexplained phenomena. Simple!-KENT: That said, I'd put a pretty penny on one or a combination of these three items being plenty sufficient to cover all the explanation you will ever need for stories of that type:
A) your mind isn't as reliable as you'd like to think it is, even when in good working order
B) sometimes minds aren't in good working order
C) sometimes someone has something to gain by convincing you to see things that aren't there-You obviously haven't studied the NDEs and OBEs that David was referring to, and even on this forum we have been given first-hand examples of people obtaining information to which they could not have had access through normal channels but which has later been confirmed as true. Your above list shows that you are thinking in terms of ghosts, things that go bump in the night, or out-and-out tricksters. This is a horribly narrow view of the subject.
 
In my post of 17 July at 22.36, under "Consciousness, identity, OBEs..." I attempted to summarize the importance of this field. As usual, I remain on the fence, but I am certainly not prepared to dismiss every single OBE, NDE and instance of unexplained acquisition of information as being due to the causes you have listed. If a phenomenon has not been satisfactorily explained, I would argue for open-mindedness until it has. That's agnosticism for you!