Science, pseudoscience, paranormal activity and the measurement problem, an ongoing issue that haunts the field of subtle energy. As technology evolves with ability to measure what was previously unmeasurable, will we meet at the crossroads and be spooked by our own shadow? Ever since the emergence of the study of the paranormal it has had a tentative at best relationship with mainstream science – by definition the study of phenomena outside the orbit of scientific explanation, the study of the paranormal has been largely rejected by the scientific community – after all, they are experiences which lie at odds with the rational and empirical approach through which science defines itself. The presence of a large number of charlatans and frauds – particularly during its early Victorian years – certainly didn’t help matters, and their continuing presence to this day serves to add fuel to the fires of rational skepticism. The existence of paranormal phenomena such as spirits, ghosts, telekinesis and extrasensory perception are often labelled pseudoscience; “bad science” couched in scientific terms, exemplified by the various attempts to build machinery to measure such phenomena which bear an unfortunate resemblance to the gadgets found in movies such as Ghostbusters. And yet, while parapsychology and other similar fields have made little progress towards reconciling the paranormal with mainstream scientific thinking, recent developments seem to suggest that a reconciliation may be something the future will bring. A problem with the empirical approach to “proving” the existence of paranormal events is the reliance on the use of technologies available to man to measuring these phenomena – for instance, the fact that no one has ever produced a verified photograph of a ghost or spirit is taken as ample evidence for their non-existence, while the notion that perhaps the machine itself is incapable of capturing something that exists on a different plane of reality is rarely considered. But this problem is gradually being increasingly addressed by a growing number of scientists, many of whom who are at the cutting edge of consciousness research, recognizing the crucial link between how the mind works in relationship to paranormal experiences. More below:
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 14:44:02 +0000
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