Your thoughts on Astral Projection.

Plastictowel said:
Totally random bit of information, that always boggled me.
In high school, I was a total, drug abusing nut. LSD, Shrooms, coke, reefer(still lol) alcohol, opium, and pain pills...lots. I have had so many bizare occurences on these things...Anyway to get to the point. The only hallucinogen I was terrified to try after hearing what it dad was Dramamean. (Spelling). It's sold in stores, at your local wal green and such as something to help you sleep, I believe. A lot of my friends abused this...and all of them had the same reports. After ingesting it, a friend of theirs, or celebrity, or something would appear infront of them. They all said it seemed real. As real as could be. They would sit and have hour long conversation with this friend, and suddenly in the blink of an eye they'd be gone. Even after doing this, they'd take it again and have the EXACT same experience and EVERYTIME truly believe whoever it was was right their, hanging out...
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Eh, I wouldn't boggle too much. My husband did Dramamine back in the day (it's actually sold as an anti-nausea drug most of the time) and met no celebrities, nor any weird appearances. He did it on multiple occasions and did not have the exact same experience each time, nor did any of his friends describe any eerily similiar trips. (He did spend five hours pressing fast forward and rewind on a tape deck over and over, but that's another matter.)

I suspect this is a case of a miniature self-reinforcing culture, since many of your friends likely knew each other, and probably talked about their drug experiences. Particularly when you're that suggestable, it doesn't surprise me at all that many of people either had the same experience, or shoehorned the notoriously unreliable memories of their trips into that kind of box.

We could set a double-blind study of that sort of thing up, but I suspect there would be legal and ethical repercussions (and anyway, I'm too old for the hangovers these days...)
 
treble_head said:
I have had both hypnogogic and hypnapompic hallucinations as well as sleep paralysis on many occasions. Part of the entire reason I am on this message board is because of one of my experiences with sleep paralysis, and the response to my e-mail to Mr Randi to be so prompt and (heh) SWIFT on the subject. http://www.randi.org/jr/022505thank.html#8
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Did you get an answer to the lighting question? If I sleep and leave my computer on, I almost always have intruder type dreams/false awakenings. I now make sure I switch everything off or shut the door to that room.
 
AnotherSillyAlias said:
Which, it would seem to me, is either an indication that you think you know everything or a sad reflection on your ability to learn.

I have been here a relatively short time and learned quite a lot, especially in the area of critical thinking skills. I like to think that I can learn something from all my experiences, both good and bad.

There are some VERY intelligent and well educated people here, I can't imagine why anyone can't learn something from them. Sure, there are a few idiots and trolls but they're just the comedy relief, easily ignored.
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They might well be well educated, but I cannot agree with you that they are "VERY intelligent". Indeed I have been absolutely flabbergasted that the good majority of skeptics on here are apparently unable to understand the most simple philosophical ideas. Since I am mostly interested in philosophical discussion and critical thought, it is not surprising I have failed to learn anything.

I'm not saying they are less intelligent than believers, but before coming here I originally thought they would be much more intelligent than believers. They most certainly are not. So I suppose that's one thing I have learned.
 
VoloVersio said:
15,000?
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Yes that's right. At one stage almost everyone got their post number knocked down. My post count was knocked down by 6500 posts -- vastly more than anyone else. I suspect that this was not just coincidence. I suspect they didn't want a non-skeptic to top the list for being the most prolific poster. I also have about 1000 - 2000 posts using sock puppets.
 
Interesting Ian said:
They might well be well educated, but I cannot agree with you that they are "VERY intelligent". Indeed I have been absolutely flabbergasted that the good majority of skeptics on here are apparently unable to understand the most simple philosophical ideas. Since I am mostly interested in philosophical discussion and critical thought, it is not surprising I have failed to learn anything.

I'm not saying they are less intelligent than believers, but before coming here I originally thought they would be much more intelligent than believers. They most certainly are not. So I suppose that's one thing I have learned.
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No one is quite as "special" as you are, Ian. :D
 
Interesting Ian said:
I'm not saying they are less intelligent than believers, but before coming here I originally thought they would be much more intelligent than believers. They most certainly are not. So I suppose that's one thing I have learned.
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I get a strong feeling that you consider yourself vastly superior to most people, at least in the area of intelligence. This being the case, it pretty much ends the conversation. I tend to find conversations with people who think they know everything less than satisfying.

This forum, like society at large, has a small minority of people who are a trifle dim, a small minority who are very bright, and a large majority who fit somewhere in between.
 
Interesting Ian said:
Yes that's right. At one stage almost everyone got their post number knocked down. My post count was knocked down by 6500 posts -- vastly more than anyone else. I suspect that this was not just coincidence. I suspect they didn't want a non-skeptic to top the list for being the most prolific poster. I also have about 1000 - 2000 posts using sock puppets.
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Please provide any evidence of your assertion that "they" don't want a non-skeptic to top the list for the most prolific writer on this forum.

Interesting that you would admit to using sock puppets. Are these known to the mods? Why did you resort to posting under false pretenses?
 
Ian said:
Yes that's right. At one stage almost everyone got their post number knocked down. My post count was knocked down by 6500 posts -- vastly more than anyone else. I suspect that this was not just coincidence. I suspect they didn't want a non-skeptic to top the list for being the most prolific poster. I also have about 1000 - 2000 posts using sock puppets.
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Mwahahahaha!

Like we care.

~~ Paul
 
AnotherSillyAlias said:
I get a strong feeling that you consider yourself vastly superior to most people, at least in the area of intelligence. This being the case, it pretty much ends the conversation.
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I certainly think I'm very intelligent at philosophy. But there again it's a life long passion of mine which I've thought about a hell of a lot. It is perhaps not therefore altogether surprising that I do not learn anything in this area on this board.

It is philosophy which ought to determine our worldview as to what is possible or likely/unlikely. Certainly it ought not to be the prevailing intellectual fashion or what your immediate peer group believes.

Think about it. How can I learn from people who merely spout forth their blind prejudices?? That's all you get on here, at least either that or the very obvious stuff

I tend to find conversations with people who think they know everything less than satisfying.
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That's precisely the opposite to me. I know nothing. Skeptics apparently "know" everything. It's always the same. They never seem to question their beliefs -- quite the opposite to the way they claim to perceive themselves.
 
Interesting Ian said:
I suspect that this was not just coincidence. I suspect they didn't want a non-skeptic to top the list for being the most prolific poster.
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If this was the case, Ian, it was a secret even from me, and I was a mod at the time, and admin (briefly) shortly thereafter. I have no evidence, but only my word, in case that means anything to you.

It really doesn't matter one way or the other, but I thought you would prefer to know. I honestly do not think it was personal.

I could be proven wrong, but only by 2, perhaps 3 people, who would know.
 
Interesting Ian said:
I have no evidence. However, unlike so-called "skeptics", I tend to be suspicious of coincidences.
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That's what I thought. All blowhard, no evidence.

Any answer as to why you felt the need to post under false pretenses? What were your socks, and do the moderators know about it?
 
Ian said:
It is philosophy which ought to determine our worldview as to what is possible or likely/unlikely. Certainly it ought not to be the prevailing intellectual fashion or what your immediate peer group believes.
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Ah yes, no fashion involved with philosophy. No sir-ee.

Think about it. How can I learn from people who merely spout forth their blind prejudices?? That's all you get on here, at least either that or the very obvious stuff.
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Indeed, we have noticed that some people spout forth their blind prejudices. And some even do so while presenting no evidence for them, but merely attributing their prejudices to the inherent nature of the existent.

I certainly think I'm very intelligent at philosophy.
...
That's precisely the opposite to me. I know nothing.
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Thereby demonstrating that philosophy has nothing to do with knowledge.

I have no evidence. However, unlike so-called "skeptics", I tend to be suspicious of coincidences.
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Ooh, you mean the coincidence where the idealist happens to get his post count reduced? Is that like the coincidence where the Greek gets his post count reduced, or the guy with the really long hair gets his post count reduced, or the woman with big breasts gets her post count reduced?

Perhaps only special people get their posts counts reduced.

~~ Paul
 
Mercutio said:
If this was the case, Ian, it was a secret even from me, and I was a mod at the time, and admin (briefly) shortly thereafter. I have no evidence, but only my word, in case that means anything to you.

It really doesn't matter one way or the other, but I thought you would prefer to know. I honestly do not think it was personal.

I could be proven wrong, but only by 2, perhaps 3 people, who would know.
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I should state I absolutely do not care about my post count. It could be on 0 for all I care.

I trust you on this, but it might well have been something that you were unaware of. It's not really an interesting topic of discussion though :)
 
fowlsound said:
That's what I thought. All blowhard, no evidence.

Any answer as to why you felt the need to post under false pretenses? What were your socks, and do the moderators know about it?
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The One called Neo
Eyes shining angrily
Skeptician
Mr Sensible
Frederick Trotteville
Philip Mannering.
 
Interesting Ian said:
That's precisely the opposite to me. I know nothing. Skeptics apparently "know" everything. It's always the same. They never seem to question their beliefs -- quite the opposite to the way they claim to perceive themselves.
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I also have a problem with wild generalisations, I believe they are rarely useful. I would consider myself a skeptic, maybe not a good one, but a skeptic nonetheless. I certainly don't claim to know everything, in fact the more I learn the more I realise how much I don't know. I also question my beliefs and I consider myself open minded and willing to examine credible evidence. I would suggest that many others here hold similar views. I think you need to look a little beyond your feelings of superiority, examine your critical thinking skills and ask yourself if exaggerations and generalisations, like those above, advance your argument.
 
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