So my experience is useless. But what else is there? The rudest cut of all. Now I am hallucinating or dreaming and you know all of this intuitively. There is nothing left to say in the face of your indictment. Not a smidgeon of self-awareness is present only a righteous judgement of the ignorant.
Yes. So is mine. That’s why we have science, to distinguish between the useless, the possible, and the factual.
Science. It’s all we have. And it’s pretty good at it. Without it, right now you’d be babbling over a dying campfire in the wilderness, huddling to keep warm and wondering where your next meal is coming from instead of happily typing on a computer in a cozy room after a satisfying repast prepared in your well-stocked kitchen.
As pointed before, it is just that that is the most likely explanation: human altered states. Ocam’s razor can be a harsh mistress.
Now that is silly, there is plenty of evidence of altered states that fit what you saw, the ignorance that you have here is demonstrated by not being aware of the previous and current research.
In your experience, am I you? That is to say, i’ve argued with you a few times on this board; in your experience, do I react to you in the way that you yourself would react to you? Is this very post i’m currently making the post that a copy of you would make in response to your post? You have experience of yourself, and the only evaluation you need to make to answer the question is “Is this what I would do, based on my experience, or not?”, so you should be able to answer it, I think.
I know others have tried to explain why they don’t agree with the above, but since you are asking politely let have a go.
The scientific method first looks at evidence and then makes hypotheses and theories to explain it.
If new evidence comes along, the theory must be changed to explain it.
Anyone can test the theory and get the same results.
This simple idea has led to everything that works in our world.
The method explains chemical reactions, our genetic code, medicine, computers, accurate eclipse predictions, the effects of gravity, spaceships etc. etc.
if you say you’re a non-scientist, you mean that you’ve got a better way of explaining the World and producing results.
What is it and what results can you show?
You are not me, of course. While it is true I experience myself, I also experience you and many other people, the world, the books I have read. What does that mean to you? I have experience spiritual events on a regular repeatable basis. I have received small gifts from spiritual beings in flowers, small statues, marbles of many colors, balloons, even small amounts of money which I have spent. That can hardly be call a delusion. Everyone is spiritual and has a spirit guide. If you ignore your spirituality your guide will leave. Millions of people know this. Science is not God, it is made-up by men.
I know what the scientific method is I just don’t believe in it any more than I believe in the Bible. I am not a devotee of some belief system. Yes I can explain the world in spiritual terms and concepts rationally. The field of spiritually is very large with many facets. It takes years to study it and understand it. There is a shortcut but it was rejected here very quickly.
“Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” - Richard Feynman - The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.
Nonsensical point, science allows you to know the most probable path to take; if your ideas are not confirmed by experiment or the results show something else, it does not matter how nice your idea is, it is wrong.
I may believe that the experiments will show the results I wanted, but in the end the data will tell me if there is a reason to continue with my beliefs. You see, the important thing is that science will allow many others to see progress, **regardless of what I or you believe. **
On what basis do you claim that “of course” i’m not you? I gave an example when I asked the question, but while you answered the question you didn’t agree or disagree with that suggestion. What are you basing your claim that i’m not you on? You don’t have access to my experiences to check. If “of course” it’s not so - why?
I don’t understand why you compare the scientific method with the Bible.
As i said, the scientific method has produced everything that works in our World. It’s not a belief system (such as religion, where there is no physical evidence to support it.)
The results of using the scientific method work for everyone whether they believe in it or not.
Do you accept our knowledge of chemical reactions?
Do you agree that we can accurately predict eclipses?
You use a computer and the Internet - do you accept that they came about using the scientific method?
Do you think there are satellites orbiting the earth allowing TV and phone calls?
By comparison, you claim you have a spirit guide who (for example) occasionally sends you gifts.
What else can your guide do?
I have no idea what this means to me. When I experience something I know I experience something. I have no need to test the experience. If I had to test every experience I had how would I get anything done. I don’t believe you test every experience you have.
I mean, if someone hands me an apple and asks me if it’s an elephant, I can say no because they wouldn’t be able to hand me an elephant, or because it’s not grey, or because it’s not trumpeting, etc. How are you determining that i’m not you? What are you judging?
Sounds like you are describing God instead of science. God works also whether you believe in Him or not. There would be chemical reactions with or without science. Way before science some people knew about the eclipses by observation. Jobs was a kid when He invented the home computer. The internet become possible through college computers tied together. You do worship science as others would God.
My guide is very creative, you wouldn’t believe what He can do.
Science is a substitute for God, how could I think differently from the explanations you gave.
That is precisely the point when Feynman mentions the big chance that then we can fool ourselves.
I can be amazed at seeing insect critters in the morning (it has happened a few times to me), but after I experimented further I found that it was some stuff floating in my eyes and my brain filling in the details during sleep paralysis, luckily I also have some ability on lucid dreaming so those apparitions became less scary after I figured out how to move during those paralysis events and “crush” the critters, found out that indeed they were in my mind and in eye particles and I made them fade away and less common and frightening.
Investigating further showed that those hallucinations are common:
It would be indeed very comforting for your point of view if we where in the middle ages, but unfortunately for you we are not there anymore.
Actually God doesn’t give any physical indication that he exists. So how does he ‘work’?
You seem incredibly confused about science.
Science does not create chemical reactions; it observes and predicts accurately how they will occur.
Science does not create eclipses, but it does allow us to predict them.
The Internet could only have happened with scientific method.
Scientific theory changes with new evidence; Gods never change (since there’s no evidence for them.)
Can your guide put satellites in space and thus create a world-wide telephone network?
Can your guide eliminate diseases world-wide (like science did with smallpox?)