High strangeness with the book "Communion"

(Nov 4, 2016 04:14 AM)Syne Wrote: Did you miss the question mark where I ASKED "why do you seem to have no skepticism"? Even if you made the erroneous assumption that this question was rhetorical, why on earth would you think it implied that it was based on any specific thing you had said? That is quite a stretch...even for one of your strawman arguments.

You seem to have forgotten saying this:

"what experience do you have that has allayed your own skepticism?"

That's not something I ever said. Again you are making up shit just to argue.

Quote:When you are constantly defend stories without any evidence, people will make assumptions about your skepticism.

Where did I defend stories? I simply posted some experiences people have had and my own experience. I have literally posted dozens of people's weird experiences in this Weird Subforum. What so bad about that?

Quote:The fact that you instantly get defensive may be more telling than anything. Evidence is the only real arbiter of credibility, so yes, the more remarkable the claim, the more the need for evidence. Pain or remembering mundane events doesn't raise any skepticism because they are normal and expected. So unless you have had enough similar experience of extraordinary events, one has to wonder why you seem devoid of skepticism about them.

Some people claim to have prescient dreams, out of body experiences, deja vu, messages from the dead, synaesthesia, mystical revelations, synchronicities, and alien abductions. Why should I doubt them just because they're not normal? Do you only believe normal things exist? What a boring little life you must lead.

Quote:And maybe you should look up the definition of delusional. "A delusion is a belief that is held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary." Disbelieving something due to a lack of evidence is far from delusional...and actually is a typical justification for atheism. Wait...you're an atheist, aren't you?

Believing only in things that you have personally experienced would be delusional considering the fact that 99.99999 % of our information about reality comes from what other people tell us they have experienced. Get a grip. Nobody but a paranoid nutcase asks for evidence for the things other people say they experienced.

(Nov 4, 2016 04:45 AM)Magical Realist Wrote:

(Nov 4, 2016 04:14 AM)Syne Wrote: Did you miss the question mark where I ASKED "why do you seem to have no skepticism"? Even if you made the erroneous assumption that this question was rhetorical, why on earth would you think it implied that it was based on any specific thing you had said? That is quite a stretch...even for one of your strawman arguments.

You seem to have forgotten saying this:

"what experience do you have that has allayed your own skepticism?"

That's not something I ever said. Again you are making up shit just to argue.

Where did I say you ever said anything like that? Certainly not in that quote...so where was it? Quote it, or shut up. Again, did you still miss the question mark...even after I pointed it out to you. I'm really not sure how you conflate asking a question with "making up shit". LOL

Quote:

Quote:When you are constantly defend stories without any evidence, people will make assumptions about your skepticism.

Where did I defend stories? I simply posted some experiences people have had and my own experience. I have literally posted dozens of people's weird experiences in this Weird Subforum. What so bad about that?

Let's see.

"Furthermore the two researchers who received the telepathic messages had no history of schizophrenia. They are normal functioning people."

You made this assertion without offering any mental health histories...which you then demanded of others suggesting there were alternate explanations. Now either that is a defense of the story, or you are just so adamant in your gullibility that you would so vehemently argue against ANY possible alternative.

Quote:

Quote:The fact that you instantly get defensive may be more telling than anything. Evidence is the only real arbiter of credibility, so yes, the more remarkable the claim, the more the need for evidence. Pain or remembering mundane events doesn't raise any skepticism because they are normal and expected. So unless you have had enough similar experience of extraordinary events, one has to wonder why you seem devoid of skepticism about them.

Some people claim to have prescient dreams, out of body experiences, deja vu, messages from the dead, synaesthesia, mystical revelations, synchronicities, and alien abductions. Why should I doubt them just because they're not normal? Do you only believe normal things exist? What a boring little life you must lead.

Well synesthesia is a fairly well-known neurological condition. But I agree, you won't find any reason to doubt them....if you're that gullible. Luckily, I don't need to imagine a lot of fanciful nonsense to lead an exciting life. But do lonely basement dwellers need such fiction to help pretend they have a life? I guess it broadens their social circle to include many other online cranks, so I guess it serves the same social purpose as AD&D.

Quote:

Quote:And maybe you should look up the definition of delusional. "A delusion is a belief that is held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary." Disbelieving something due to a lack of evidence is far from delusional...and actually is a typical justification for atheism. Wait...you're an atheist, aren't you?

Believing only in things that you have personally experienced would be delusional considering the fact that 99.99999 % of our information about reality comes from what other people tell us they have experienced. Get a grip. Nobody but a paranoid nutcase asks for evidence for the things other people say they experienced.

So all scientists are "paranoid nutcases"? Science, as well as most rational people, require some evidence for things of which they have no experience. But you dodged the question. Are you an atheist? Come on, you're not ashamed of it, are you?

Quote:Where did I say you ever said anything like that? Certainly not in that quote...so where was it?

Good. So shut the fuck up about my experience allaying my skepticism because I never said it did.

Quote:Let's see.
"Furthermore the two researchers who received the telepathic messages had no history of schizophrenia. They are normal functioning people."

LOL! You're confused again. That was a totally different thread.

Quote:Well synesthesia is a fairly well-known neurological condition. But I agree, you won't find any reason to doubt them....if you're that gullible. Luckily, I don't need to imagine a lot of fanciful nonsense to lead an exciting life. But do lonely basement dwellers need such fiction to help pretend they have a life? I guess it broadens their social circle to include many other online cranks, so I guess it serves the same social purpose as AD&D.

LOL! You can guess about anything you want. Don't let me stop you.

Quote:So all scientists are "paranoid nutcases"? Science, as well as most rational people, require some evidence for things of which they have no experience. But you dodged the question. Are you an atheist? Come on, you're not ashamed of it, are you?

They would be if they never believed people's descriptions of their own experience. In fact they'd go quite mad, believing everything they hear to be a massive hoax to deceive them. Fortunately there's not a scientist alive who doesn't take people's descriptions of their own experiences as true. It's how we navigate successfully as productive members of our society. I'm thinking that's not something you've really mastered yet going by the shitty way you treat people online.

(Nov 4, 2016 07:15 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: Good. So shut the fuck up about my experience allaying my skepticism because I never said it did.

It was a question. I'm not sure why you're so defensive about a simple question.

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:Where did I defend stories?

Let's see.

"Furthermore the two researchers who received the telepathic messages had no history of schizophrenia. They are normal functioning people."

LOL! You're confused again. That was a totally different thread.

If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question. "Totally different thread" does not refute that you did, and is only a red herring to distract from your obvious embarrassment.

Quote:

Quote:So all scientists are "paranoid nutcases"? Science, as well as most rational people, require some evidence for things of which they have no experience. But you dodged the question. Are you an atheist? Come on, you're not ashamed of it, are you?

They would be if they never believed people's descriptions of their own experience. In fact they'd go quite mad, believing everything they hear to be a massive hoax to deceive them. Fortunately there's not a scientist alive who doesn't take people's descriptions of their own experiences as true. It's how we navigate successfully as productive members of our society. I'm thinking that's not something you've really mastered yet going by the shitty way you treat people online.

That's an obvious false dilemma. Just because a person doesn't believe some things they are told doesn't mean they believe nothing they're told. For example, I believe you when you say you are gay, or atheist (not confirmed), or many other things you may identify as or experience. So you're claiming that every "scientist alive" believes every sasquatch, alien, and ghost story they hear? Prove it. It's an absurd absolute assertion that flies in the face of science being a discipline wholly engrossed in evidence and corroboration.

Aw, did we hurt your feelings because we won't mindlessly accept every fanciful story you post? If you got out into the world more, you'd know that's to be expected.

Quote:So you're claiming that every "scientist alive" believes every sasquatch, alien, and ghost story they hear?

Where did I say that? Here's what I actually said:

"Fortunately there's not a scientist alive who doesn't take people's descriptions of their own experiences as true."

Now you're saying they don't take people's descriptions of their own experiences to be true? How do they get thru the day? Their plumber telling them about their problem. The news videos showing eyewitnesses describing scenes they saw. People at work telling them how their weekend went. The announcer of the ball game on the radio describing the game. Fellow scientists describing their own experiments. We do this so constantly we don't even think about it. Unless it suddenly becomes convenient to deny someone's experience because we don't believe in what they experienced. But that's a case of confirmation bias---deciding what's fact and what's not to fit your own preconclusion.

Quote:Aw, did we hurt your feelings because we won't mindlessly accept every fanciful story you post?

Where did I say that? Or is this just you guessing again?

Hence the false dilemma. There's a huge difference between believing your plumber and believing a ghost story. But guess what, the plumber could show evidence of the problem and credible eye witnesses have at least enough corroboration to support what they claim. Scientists don't believe experimental results until they have been replicated elsewhere.

You're acting as if extraordinary things require no more evidence than mundane things to be believed. Even though you've yet to show even as much evidence for the extraordinary as we find routinely for the mundane. That's what makes things mundane...it's trivial to find evidence for them. Like I already said, extraordinary claims must provide extraordinary evidence. Don't atheists say that all the time? You must not be an atheist. So what kind of god or higher power do you believe in?

Quote:Hence the false dilemma. There's a huge difference between believing your plumber and believing a ghost story. But guess what, the plumber could show evidence of the problem and credible eye witnesses have at least enough corroboration to support what they claim. Scientists don't believe experimental results until they have been replicated elsewhere.

LOL! Thankfully we don't have to wait around until scientists research something to confirm if it happened. And no, extraordinary events don't require extraordinary evidence, whatever that is. They simply require enough people experiencing it that it no longer becomes feasible to deny it is happening. For many years people have testified to seeing blue lights shoot out of the ground and brilliant flashes right before earthquakes. Scientists never believed them. But enough people reported it that it was recognized as a real phenomenon. Finally photos of it were captured, and science finally admitted it was real. Thousands of people claim they experience alien abductions. The experience follows typical patterns and exhibits common characteristics. It is enough to admit something real is going on and not dismiss it because it isn't normal. Are there multiple eyewitness accounts of aliens? Sure there is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVgq9gejdkE

(Nov 4, 2016 07:42 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: LOL! Thankfully we don't have to wait around until scientists research something to confirm if it happened. And no, extraordinary events don't require extraordinary evidence, whatever that is. They simply require enough people experiencing it that it no longer becomes feasible to deny it is happening. For many years people have testified to seeing blue lights shoot out of the ground and brilliant flashes right before earthquakes. Scientists never believed them. But enough people reported it that it was recognized as a real phenomenon. Finally photos of it were captured, and science finally admitted it was real. Thousands of people claim they experience alien abductions. The experience follows typical patterns and exhibits common characteristics. It is enough to admit something real is going on and not dismiss it because it isn't normal.

Again, are you an atheist? Are you ashamed to admit it? Do you just as readily accept witness accounts of having seen god/Jesus in person? If not, why? How is one extraordinary eyewitness account different from the other? If you keep dodging these questions, you only prove you are inconsistent and irrational.

Quote:Do you just as readily accept witness accounts of having seen god/Jesus in person?

Go ahead and post some of those eyewitness accounts of God and Jesus appearing to people..Also post some multiple witness accounts too. And no...faces in tortillas and clouds and bank windows don't count. I'll wait..

Here's my list of ufo sightings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_re..._sightings

Still afraid to admit you're an atheist, huh? Why not just deny it and be done with it?