Yet, there is a C. The continuum does not stop with B. There are demonstrable, repeatable, empirical observations that can be made which do not exist within their domain; which CANNOT exist within their domain, if in fact the operative paradigms are in fact accurate; if in fact mind is matter, and nothing else.
OF COURSE different drugs create experiences similar to, say, out of body experiences: for example with ketamine. But does this imply that the experience is necessarily contained in the brain? Might we not posit that something within ketamine facilitates the temporary separation of consciousness from the body? Might we not, as an example, do experiments in which we put numbers or objects on top of objects the person could not see from where they are, and see if they could see them when in an altered state? That would be SCIENCE.
It would of course not be accurate to say that what neuroscientists do is not science, but it is categorically the case that what they do is science limited to a paradigm they never question, that of Materialism, which is an empirically invalidated and indefensible doctrine. If one surveys the history of science, the really big breakthrough, the really useful stuff, comes not from more measurements, but from new understandings of existing measurements. Quantum physics, as one example, has yielded more benefits, arguably, than any set of ideas since Newton’s Laws of Motion. But WE DON’T UNDERSTAND IT. We don’t know, really, what it means for light to be both particle and wave. We don’t know what a “quantum leap” really is, and even though most people think electrons “exist” this is really not an accurate understanding. They only exist if we ask them to.
“I don’t know” is perhaps the most useful phrase in science, as it permits progress. What we have now is many “I do know”‘s that aren’t so. We have false knowledge, that simply ignores all the paradigmatic challenges to it, that stamps it out, that forbids tenure to its apostles, that forbids publication of contrary opinions.
I would like to excerpt a part of the book “The First Psychic” to detail some of what “science” (really, Scientism) has ignored. The setup is that a famous scientist, William Crookes (who was knighted for his work, was a member of the Royal Society, and would like have won a Nobel Prize in our own era, having discovered thallium, been the first to isolate helium, invented the first de facto vacuum tube, having done work with cathode rays and more), decided to test medium Daniel Home under laboratory conditions. Home was famous for levitating heavy objects in clearly lit conditions, having hands mysteriously appear then disappear, having musical instruments play themselves, and the like.
Science, [Crookes] argued, could deal both with fraud and inadequate observation by providing properly controlled conditions and appropriate instruments of measurement. And a scientific man did not require the extravagance of human levitation, he merely asked that a power ‘which will toss a heavy body up to the ceiling, shall also cause his delicately-poised balance to move under test conditions. In the testing of the existence of any new force it was the quality, rather than the quantity that mattered. [italics mine: note that as an actual scientist he is thinking paradigmatically, which is to say qualitatively]. ‘The Spiritualist tells of heavy articles of furniture moving’, he pointed out. ‘But the man of science. . . is justified in doubting the accuracy of the former observations if the same force is powerless to move the index of his instrument one degree.’ It was in this attitude of open minded skepticism, and with complete faith in the objectivity of experimental measurement, that Crookes announced his intention to examine the phenomena, ‘in order to confirm their genuineness, or to explain, if possible, the delusions of the honest and to expose the tricks of the deceivers’.
Nobody else had shown such willingness as Daniel to be tested, or been so successful under scrutiny. . . And two of the many phenomena reported in Daniel’s presence were particularly suitable for scientific experiment: the alteration of the weight of objects; and the playing of instruments, normally an accordion, without human contact. Both could be tested in controlled conditions that eliminated the possibility of fraud, and neither could be dismissed as hallucination in the way that, for example, spirit hands might be. And so Crookes went about setting up a laboratory in his London home, and constructing foolproof test procedures that would rule out the possibility of lazy-tongs, self playing accordions, magic lanterns and such things. And if these experiments led to positive results, they would confirm the reality of Daniel’s feats.
When Daniel arrived, Crookes was not alone. With him were two men who would verify what was to happen, for Crookes did not want to be accused of inaccuracy, or lack of proper observation, or perhaps of having been mesmerized by Daniel. The force he was investigating was so controversial that sceptical scientists would suggest any alternative explanation rather than accept its existence. So in attendance was, firstly, William Huggins, a gentleman astronomer who had pioneered observation of celestial bodies. . .
Alongside Huggins was Edward Cox, a Serjeant-at-law [sic] and former MP who had a keen interest in the phenomena being tested. Cox had attended many seances, and was considered by some a balanced observer. He had denounced certain mediums as frauds, upsetting many spiritualists in the process, but he had no doubts that some of the extraordinary phenomena he had witnessed were genuine. . .
The somewhat strange apparatus for the first experiment was set up on one side of the room. There was a table and chair, and beneath the table a steel cylindrical cage. Inside the cage was a brand-new accordion that Crookes had bought himself, and which Daniel had neither handled nor seen before. Daniel sat down, placed his hand within the cage, and held the accordion, keys downward, with thumb and middle finger at the other end. From this position, with his every movement being watched by witnesses on either side, he was expected to have the accordion play.
‘Very soon’, Crookes reported, ‘the accordion was seen by those on each side to be waving about in somewhat curious manner; then sounds came from it, and finally several notes were played in succession.’ Crookes assistant went under the table and saw that Daniel’s hand ‘was quite still’, yet, ‘the accordion was expanding and contracting’. It then began ‘oscillating and going round and round the cage, and playing at the same time’. As the observers confirmed Daniel’s hands and feet had not moved, ‘a simple air was played’. Daniel then took the accordion out of the cage ‘and placed it in the hand of the person next to him. The instrument then continued to play, no person touching it and no hand being near it’ Moments later, they ‘saw the accordion distinctly floating about inside the cage with no visible support.’
Next they moved over to the other side of the room, to the scent of the second experiment. There was another table, and attached to its edge was the end of a thirty six inch mahogany board. The board extended horizontally from the table, its far end being supported by a spring balance that hung from above. Daniel placed his fingertips on the near end of the board, which was resting on a support at the end of the table. In this position, rather like having a seesaw with the fulcrum at one end, no amount of pushing down at this end could move the other end. Nevertheless, his task was to affect the weight of the board, which would be measured by they spring balance at the other end. Crookes and Huggins stood on either side, ‘watching for any effect which might be produced. . .Almost immediately, the pointer of the balance was seen to descend. After a few seconds it rose again. This movement was repeated several times. . The [far] end of the board was seen to oscillate slowly up and down during the experiment.’ Daniel then placed two small objects, a card matchbook and a small hand bell, between his fingers and the board, to show he was not exerting any downward pressure. ‘The very slow oscillation of the spring balance became more marked,’ Crookes reported, and Huggins saw it gradually descend to an additional downward pull of three and a half pounds. To check that Daniel could not have done it by pushing, Crookes stood on top of the end of the board, but even when he ‘jerked up and down’, he could not move the index more than two pounds.
In July Crookes made the announcement. It appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Science, of which he was also the editor. It might have been published elsewhere had his fellow scientists allowed it, and it might not have appeared at all had Crookes not been the editor. It went was follows: ‘These experiments appear conclusively to establish the existence of a new force, in some unknown manner connected with the human organization, which for convenience might be called the Psychic Force.
The term was certainly convenient: Cox had already suggested it. ‘I venture to suggest’, he had written to Crookes the previous month, that the force be termed Psychic Force; [and] the person in whom it is manifested in extraordinary power , Psychics.”
Daniel Home was literally the first person to be called “Psychic”.
Now, can this testimony be doubted? OF COURSE: by definition all scientific claims can be doubted. That is the point of experimental replication. We don’t believe in Cold Fusion because nobody could duplicate it.
But to the point here, any guesses how many other scientists sought out appointments with Home to see what he could do for themselves? None, to the extent of my awareness. That experimental setup was never replicated with Daniel, even though he always took all comers. As one more example of scientific abdication of responsibility, Michael Farraday was invited to a seance with Daniel, but refused to go because no one could tell him in advance EXACTLY what would happen.
This attitude is not skepticism. It is not scientific. It is a fear-induced negative hallucination, in which things which are plainly there are ignored and made to vanish so that a previously established world view can continue without challenge or interruption. Scientism, put another way, is no different in principle or practice from a religion premised on faith.