[MD] Mystics and Brains

[Platt Holden]

Quoting Case <Case at iSpots.com>:

> [Platt]
> That the universe has no purpose is as much a conjecture on your part as
> that it does have purpose is conjecture on mine. In other words, to 
> claim  you are honest and those who believe differently are not is pure 
> arrogance.

> [Case]
> I have not claimed that others are dishonest. I do not regard self
> delusion  as dishonesty. But it does seem to me that burden of proof
> rests on those  who claim there is a purpose. Obviously if you admit
> that the inorganic  world is purposeful, you could claim any number of
> possible purposes. So I  would think that in claiming a purpose for
> nature you have an obligation not  only to show that there is any
> purpose at all, but that the purpose you  envision is the True purpose.

> Maybe it is arrogance but I think the whole enterprise is vanity and
> chasing the wind.

To each his own. I notice you failed to respond to the obvious fact of
human purpose not to mention the purpose of life to survive and reproduce
 -- an inexplicable urge to materialists and reductionists whose purpose 
is to know.

> [Platt]
> Plenty of evidence for both if you are willing to look and keep an open
> mind. Just the fact that you and I are purposeful beings and are part of
> the universe belies the assertion that the universe is without purpose.
> As for  psi effects, plenty of those around in scientific experiments,
> like the Princeton experiments mentioned before.

> [Case]
> How open does your mind need to be to see this stuff? If you leave your
> mind  open long enough all manner of weirdness can come in. Take these
> psi effects you cited before. They seemed at best very small. They did
> not take certain variables into account. They could not be replicated,
> even in the lab that published the reports. That pretty well sums up the
> results of this kind of research. It is not that research in this area
>  has not been done; it is that  it has failed to produce even a trace of
> evidence.

Not a trace? In the interests of opening minds, you might want to take a 
look at:

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sai/conscuniv.htm

Platt