Anderson Cooper flogging near-death experiences

[Puppycow]

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/us/to-heaven-and-back/

The trouble with these is that there seems to be no objective way to either confirm or disprove the experience itself. You can choose to believe this woman's story, or not, but it is essentially unfalsifiable.

However, one thing about this story made me skeptical: If you watch the video starting at about 2:20 in the video, she describes that "two young Chilean men" "appeared" and they never said a word, and no-one said a word to them, and they carried her to a waiting ambulance that had also somehow miraculously appeared out in the wilderness. Isn't it likely that the ambulance and the "young men" "appeared" there not because of some sort of divine miracle, but because someone had called the emergency services?

 

[Senex]

None of those near death experiences needed to happen if Anderson Cooper just used a "safe word."

 

[Crossbow]

None of those near death experiences needed to happen if Anderson Cooper just used a "safe word."

I thought almost the exact same thing.

 

[rcfieldz]

I wanted to see Anderson Cooper flogged. Wrong thread I guess.

 

[Puppycow]

None of those near death experiences needed to happen if Anderson Cooper just used a "safe word."

I thought almost the exact same thing.

Please to explain.

 

[Senex]

Please to explain.

It's not as funny if you explain it. Just do a search on the term "safe word" and an entire new world, evidently, will be there for the discovering. Anderson Cooper needs to learn that maverick not playing by the rules journalist stuff might fly on CNN but in the flogging community safe words are to be respected.

 

[rjh01]

There is nothing to see here. This is a known to happen if a person suffers from a severe shortage of oxygen. One thing that has been noticed it that people do not gain any knowledge they can only get from having an out of body experience.

 

[Aepervius]

Please to explain.

1 Acronym : BDSM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeword

 

[rcfieldz]

AC 360

Seems myopic to me.

 

[Iamme]

There is nothing to see here. This is a known to happen if a person suffers from a severe shortage of oxygen. One thing that has been noticed it that people do not gain any knowledge they can only get from having an out of body experience.

We debated this subject years ago. There was a case where someone who died on the operating table, and naturally came back to life, told tending hospital personal of the OBE and told them what was up on a shelf and outside a door. Stuff the patient could not even see if awake still on the gurney being wheeled in or the operating table. Then again, this is a story...so who knows. Urban legends are made of such stories. I cant recall if there were any verifications regarding this particular case.

 

[RU Insane]

These people seem convinced that they had a genuine experience. However, I can't think of, and nor have I heard of any credible way to scientifically investigate NDEs.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

These people seem convinced that they had a genuine experience. However, I can't think of, and nor have I heard of any credible way to scientifically investigate NDEs.

If the NDE includes an OBE then asking the OBEr to read what's on the piece of paper on top of the cabinet in the OR would be one proof.

There is no truth to the rumour that sneaky skeptics have done this with a piece of paper that has written on it, "I can't see a thing".

 

[Crossbow]

1 Acronym : BDSM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeword

Thanks much!

And I hope that explained it to you 'Puppycow'.

 

[Senex]

Here is how it is used in Springfield.

 

[RU Insane]

@Gord: I've heard of that technique before. I'm intrigued by it. Could you provide a link to the "skeptic rumor"? I love reading up on stuff like that.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

@Gord: I've heard of that technique before. I'm intrigued by it. Could you provide a link to the "skeptic rumor"? I love reading up on stuff like that.

I'd love to but I just made it up as a joke.

I my defence, all I can say is, "Many a true word is said in jest."

 

[stanfr]

I just saw the Mary Neal interview on CNN. I immediately thought to myself...hmmm i wonder if there's a thread on Randi...and lo and behold here it is!

Out of morbid curiosity i went to her website, only to find this nugget on her FAQ page when asked if she was 'believer' prior to her NDE. (Amusingly, she is often referred to as a 'skeptic')

I was a Christian and believed that the Bible was the absolute and historically accurate word of God. I was not, however, what anyone would call deeply spiritual or deeply religious and had no preconceived notions about life after death

Nothing contradictory there....

I once suffered through all of van Hommel's book on the subject after a friend lent it to me. I got to the part where he started relying on R Sheldrake and D Radin studies and i couldn't stomach any more. But the most convoluted part of his argument was when he conceded that DMT could induce an identical experience to an NDE. Somehow, he was able to twist this into an argument that NDEs must be real.
Sorry, but if drug trips are indistinguishable then you'd better have some concrete evidence (like identifying hidden messages during an OBE) before i take any of this seriously.

Oh, and why the heck do the spirits and such always wear robes? Is death like some outrageous toga party? (hmm...might not be so bad)

 

[bjornart]

None of those near death experiences needed to happen if Anderson Cooper just used a "safe word."

I thought almost the exact same thing.

Me too

 

[Aepervius]

We debated this subject years ago. There was a case where someone who died on the operating table, and naturally came back to life, told tending hospital personal of the OBE and told them what was up on a shelf and outside a door. Stuff the patient could not even see if awake still on the gurney being wheeled in or the operating table. Then again, this is a story...so who knows. Urban legends are made of such stories. I cant recall if there were any verifications regarding this particular case.

You are probably thinking of the "red shoe" story which is about as unveriafiable as far as anecdote goes.

Frankly I am more expecting from the heart chirurg which put random picture on top of the OP table. At least that's a testable proposition with checkable protocols.

 

[Arcade22]

There was a case where someone who died on the operating table, and naturally came back to life

The problem with situations like this is that any worthwhile definition of "death" does not allow people to simply "come back to life" just because their heart spontaneously starts to beat or something similar.