ESP and Reincarnation

[BobG]

The other is, you gather more evidence, propose and perform tests, and modify your theories and make new conclusions based on the results.

I have no idea where to begin performing tests for my theories. Does that mean that I should abandon them?

Perhaps someone smarter than I am will know how to go about testing these theories but I don't have the foggiest idea where to begin.

Bob Guercio

 

[Denver]

I have no idea where to begin performing tests for my theories. Does that mean that I should abandon them?

Perhaps someone smarter than I am will know how to go about testing these theories but I don't have the foggiest idea where to begin.

Bob Guercio

You're right - that seems to make it a bit difficult to tell them from fantasy and make-believe, doesn't it?

 

[BobG]

You're right - that seems to make it a bit difficult to tell them from fantasy and make-believe, doesn't it?

At this point in time, string theory is not testable. However, that seems to be the most promising route to take in the field of Physics.

Should we abandon string theory?

Bob Guercio

 

[Denver]

At this point in time, string theory is not testable. However, that seems to be the most promising route to take in the field of Physics.

Should we abandon string theory?

Bob Guercio

I have little knowledge about string theory, and make no claims of it myself. However, I assume it is a theory proposed to explain observable phenomena. Should it be abandoned? Maybe, if it doesn't match observations, and better theories supplant it.

What observations do you think support reincarnation that can't be explained better by other theories?

 

[BobG]

What observations do you think support reincarnation that can't be explained better by other theories?

No observations support reincarnation; however, I will not abandon my deeply
held beliefs which I have gone to great lengths to articulate.

Bob Guercio

 

[Pup]

To me, to be sentient means to be conscious, nothing more!

I am sentient, you are sentient, my dog is sentient and quite smart I may add.

Well then I just don't get it. If one person (or dog) is reincarnated into another, what similarity is there between the consciousness of the two, or what difference is there between that pair and any other random pair?

If the answer is "absolutely nothing except that they're reincarnated," then it's simply empty word games, and in that usage "reincarnated" means nothing.

If the answer is something like the same pink unicorn breathed them to life in the spirit world years apart, then the answer may be untestable and required to be taken on faith alone, but at least I'd understand that "reincarnated" is being used to mean something.

 

[BobG]

If one person (or dog) is reincarnated into another, what similarity is there between the consciousness of the two

Both have the same consiousness!

It's pretty obvious at this point that we are plowing over the same ground again and again. There are millions of ways of asking the same questions and millions of ways of answering the same questions.

I will continue to read this thread in case something new comes up that I may want to comment on. Otherwise, I will no longer post to this thread.

I thank you for listening and critically commenting on my beliefs.

Bob Guercio

 

[Fnord]

It's a belief and an opinion. I'm not sure where you have been but I have been saying this throughout this thread!

.
Well, that clears it all up. It also makes further discussion irrelevent, since one person's beliefs and opinions are as good as any other ... unless, of course, those opinions and beliefs can be acted upon in a manner that is both practical and beneficial for all.

 

[Ferguson]

No observations support reincarnation; however, I will not abandon my deeply
held beliefs which I have gone to great lengths to articulate.

Bob Guercio

So you believe it just because you want to, and it comforts you. Do you have any interest at all in reality?

 

[Hokulele]

The same consciousness?

Heck, I don't have the same consciousness I had at age 18. A stroke, a couple of glasses of wine, or other changes to my brain and/or its chemistry would change my consciousness yet again.

 

[Marduk]

I was responding to both of you, the troll part was aimed at Bob... perhaps I could have been clearer. Anyway, I'll bite. What was the point you were making by your Einstein quote?

that in the midst of scepticism there is still room for poetical belief
surely we all believe in that......
and that the more sceptical of woo we become, surely there is a balance and we need to offset our orthodox rigidity with something less solid ?

or if you don't, try explaining to your preferred partner why you love them in realistic sceptical terms and watch what happens

 

[Marduk]

I have little knowledge about string theory, and make no claims of it myself. However, I assume it is a theory proposed to explain observable phenomena. Should it be abandoned? Maybe, if it doesn't match observations, and better theories supplant it.

What observations do you think support reincarnation that can't be explained better by other theories?

"string theory" has already been abandoned as a hypothesis, I don't think it ever made it as far as a real scientific theory,

"For more than a generation, physicists have been chasing a will-o’-the-wisp called string theory. The beginning of this chase marked the end of what had been three-quarters of a century of progress. Dozens of string-theory conferences have been held, hundreds of new Ph.D.s have been minted, and thousands of papers have been written. Yet, for all this activity, not a single new testable prediction has been made, not a single theoretical puzzle has been solved. In fact, there is no theory so far—just a set of hunches and calculations suggesting that a theory might exist. And, even if it does, this theory will come in such a bewildering number of versions that it will be of no practical use: a Theory of Nothing." -- Jim Holt

still not taking anything away from the O.P's opinion, it was just a bad example

 

[Marduk]

Both have the same consiousness!

It's pretty obvious at this point that we are plowing over the same ground again and again. There are millions of ways of asking the same questions and millions of ways of answering the same questions.

I will continue to read this thread in case something new comes up that I may want to comment on. Otherwise, I will no longer post to this thread.

I thank you for listening and critically commenting on my beliefs.

Bob Guercio

I think its pretty clear Bob from all the anecdotal cases that the same consciousness is not shared. Thats kinda the whole point. We are after all the sum of our experiences, that is what makes us who we are, if we don't share the exact same experiences in the exact same context then we aren't the same are we !

 

[LightningStrike]

Bob reincarnation is a doctrinal falsehood. It implies that the person is going to come back. Re-occurence is what happens and it is life that re-occurs. I am life in this body as you are there in your body. All the self knowledge gained is not lost and recurs in another form as consciousness.

 

[ferj]

Bob, I know psychic powers exist, Evolution seems to have solved the problem of survival. Why recycle used up life when it can produce billions of humans the natural way? On the other hand, life is stranger than a lot of us would like it to be.

 

[BobG]

Why recycle used up life when it can produce billions of humans the natural way?

What I have said seems quite natural to me.

 

[Denver]

Bob, I know psychic powers exist, Evolution seems to have solved the problem of survival. Why recycle used up life when it can produce billions of humans the natural way? On the other hand, life is stranger than a lot of us would like it to be.

Welcome back ferj. I remember you from the practice run for the $1 million. You were trying to confirm your psychic beliefs by predicting the UK lotto numbers. Ever win that?

 

[BobG]

You were trying to confirm your psychic beliefs by predicting the UK lotto numbers.

This I don't believe in!

Bob

 

[ferj]

Welcome back ferj. I remember you from the practice run for the $1 million. You were trying to confirm your psychic beliefs by predicting the UK lotto numbers. Ever win that?

No, but I can try again if you like

 

[arthwollipot]

If consciousness is what is reincarnated, but personality and memories may be different?

If personality and memories are not retained in reincarnation, what is?