Skeptiko - Science at the Tipping Point

Interview with author Anthony Peake examines how our understanding of time may effect our understanding of the near-death experience. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Anthony Peake author of, The Labyrinth of Time. During the i...

Interview with Cornell University Professor Emeritus Dr. Daryl Bem looks at the reaction to his groundbreaking parapsychology experiments. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with noted psychology professor Dr. Daryl Bem. During the interview Bem discusses the reaction to his research among parapsychology opponents: Alex Tsakiris: What do you think is going to happen with this latest round of debunking? The skeptics have risen up and it seems like a very well-organized, concerted effort to knock down your research. What do you think their game plan is? What do you think is going to happen? Dr. Daryl Bem: Well, I think the flurry of activity in the popular media will just sort of die down. When I look at Google News on it there are still four or five articles that pop up in which it just shows how successful Wiseman is at getting his point of view out. I have been replying to people who’ve asked me to reply to blogs and things of that sort. Without accusing him of actually being dishonest, he has now published the three studies that he and French and Ritchie tried to get published in several journals that rejected it. I replied with a comment on that. If there’s anything dishonest there, it’s when you publish an article, even if it’s of your own three experiments—they did three experiments that failed trying to replicate one of my experiments—you always have a literature review section where you talk about all the previous research and known research on the topic before you present your own data. What Wiseman never tells people is in Ritchie, Wiseman and French is that his online registry where he asked everyone to register, first of all he provided a deadline date. I don’t know of any serious researcher working on their own stuff who is going to drop everything and immediately do a replication... anyway, he and Ritchie and French published these three studies. Well, they knew that there were three other studies that had been submitted and completed and two of the three showed statistically significant results replicating my results. But you don’t know that from reading his article. That borders on dishonesty. Dr. Daryl Bem's Website Play It: Download MP3 (45 min.) Read It: Today we welcome Dr. Daryl Bem to Skeptiko. Dr. Bem is a very highly regarded social psychologist and Professor Emeritus from Cornell who created quite a stir last year with his paper, “Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect.” Alex Tsakiris: Dr. Bem, it’s a great pleasure to have you on Skeptiko. Thanks for joining me. Dr. Daryl Bem: Good to be here. Alex Tsakiris: So a lot of our audience is going to be familiar with this paper and your work but for those that are not, can you tell us a little bit about it, and in particular, why you published this little package of well-defined psi experiments the way you did? Dr. Daryl Bem: Okay. The article contains nine different experiments. About half of them are actually replications of the others because I didn’t want to publish something that I’d only one once. I wanted to make sure that at least I could reproduce them again if necessary. As the title of the article suggests, I call it “retroactive causation” or “retroactive influence.” People are more familiar with the phenomenon just under the term, “precognition,” the ability to respond to a future event that could not be anticipated by any normal inferential process that we know of. So what I did because I wanted to address my fellow academics, my colleagues particularly in social and cognitive psychology, so what I did was look through the literature of social psychology and said, “I would like to take several very familiar phenomena that social psychologists already believe in and show that I can reverse them. That is, instead of presenting the stimuli and then measuring the response,

Interview with biblical scholar Dr. Mike Heiser examines how many Christians approach paranormal claims from curiously skeptical perspective.   Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with biblical scholar and author Dr. Michael Heiser...

Interview with Rollins College professor of philosophy examines what parapsychology research in other cultures tells us about consciousness. Join Skeptiko guest host Dr. Richard Grego for an interview with Dr. Hoyt Edge, author  of, A Constructive Postmodern Perspective on Self and Community. During the interview Edge discusses his forst exposure to cultures with a vastly different view of consciousness and personhood: Hoyt Edge: I remember an epiphanial moment hearing about the Aboriginal worldview, the “dream time.”  All of the sudden I began to say, here’s an entirely different vocabulary.  Here’s an entirely different way of looking at the world.  And, it’s been around for forty or fifty thousand years.  As a pragmatist -- it works. Guest Host: Dr. Richard Grego Who is Dr. Hoyt Edge? Play It: Download MP3 (1:29:00 min.) Download low bandwidth version (22MB)

Interview with alternative media investigative journalist James Corbett examines how we know what we think we know. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with James Corbett, host of, The Corbett Report. During the interview Corbett discu...

Interview with U.S. Army Remote Viewer Joe McMoneagle explains how his near-death experience led to being selected for the government’s psychic spy program. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Joe McMoneagle, author of, Memoirs of a Psychic Spy. During the interview McMoneagle discusses the origins of the government’s psychic spy program: Joe McMoneagle: We heard rumors and picked up some details about the Russians using psychics to spy on America.   It was impossible, for obvious reasons, to get an actual agent inside their program; so when faced with the possibility that our enemy is doing something that we have no ability to judge, the best way to find what their capability is, or the limits of their capability, is to emulate them. So the initial intention was to just spend three years doing that--selecting people, targeting our own people at the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, that sort of thing. That didn’t work very long because we were able to successfully recruit six people and they turned out to be very, very good at doing what we thought the Russians were doing. They were good enough that people felt that it should be operational immediately. Alex Tsakiris: Tell us about your trips to Russia and your meeting with your Russian counterparts. Were they really spying on us with psychic spies? Joe McMoneagle: In actuality, they were. They were using spies, psychic spies, to target us and target many of our agencies. In my trips to Russia and the time I spent with the directors of their program and their actual remote viewers—I call them remote viewers. They probably shouldn’t be called remote viewers because they use nothing like our protocols. They displayed some interesting capacities in many of the things that they were doing but they did things completely differently than us. They did a lot of things that we didn’t do in terms of their attempts to manipulate the paranormal area, anyway. For instance, there were some efforts I know that they spent a great deal of time in trying to manipulate or affect the decision-making of some American politicians and that sort of thing. Joe McMoneagle's Website Play It: Download MP3 (67:00 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we’re joined by one of the world’s leading experts on remote viewing. Joe McMoneagle was psychic spy #001 for the U.S.’s Stargate Project that began at the Stanford Research Institute in the ‘70s. Joe was also a near-death experiencer and author of several books, including Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time and Space Through Remote Viewing, and Memoirs of a Psychic Spy: The Remarkable Life of U.S. Remote Viewer 001. Welcome, Joe, and thanks for joining me today on Skeptiko. Joe McMoneagle: I’m glad to be here. Thank you. Alex Tsakiris: You know, there are so many big picture topics that we could get into given your background that I hardly know where to start. I mean, you’re a military man and a soldier who spied on the enemy to advance our national interests. But at the same time you’re a man with this extraordinary spiritual experience that you had to reintegrate back into your life—this NDE that you had. Most people know, of course, that you’re a psychic, which you say remote viewers are psychic so you’re psychic. Not that you are “a psychic” but you’re psychic. But then you also have these spontaneous out-of-body experiences that I think people would just find fascinating. I don’t know how much we’ll be able to get to but I’m excited to jump into it. Where I thought we’d start is with this military background, so one thing that jumped out at me—here you are in the middle of the Vietnam War and you’re a college student and you decide to join the Army. Why? Joe McMoneagle: That’s a really good question. Actually I was going to go to college. I was accepted at the University of Miami and I went and bought all my books and registered for my classes and everything.

Interview with Parapsychology researcher Dr. Caroline Watt explains why, despite criticism, she maintains, “there is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences.” Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with University of Edinburgh professor Dr. Caroline Watt, co-author of, There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: how neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them. During the interview Watt discusses her research into near-death experiences: Alex Tsakiris: The other thing that upset me about the paper was the way it was picked up by so many science publications; Scientific America, NPR, BBC, Discovery, Discovery News. It’s not a strong paper. Yet, it gets echoed back through the mainstream science media as some kind of breakthrough about near-death experiences. Even though it directly contradicts all the leading researchers in the NDE field. Dr. Caroline Watt: The leading researchers in the NDE field may publish their papers and have them reported as well. It’s an open forum. If it says something interesting, then it will be reported.  Everybody can have a say. It’s not like I have some kind of privileged access. Alex Tsakiris: I’m not suggesting that. I’m saying that what gets picked up and perpetuated through the science media is reflective of the current position, even if that position isn’t supported by the best data. I’m saying your paper got traction even though there’s not a lot behind it. I’m saying you cited references incorrectly.  And you referenced skeptics like Dr. Susan Blackmore who admits to not being current in the field. Dr. Caroline Watt: As I said, it was intended to be a provocative piece. It’s not claiming to be balanced. The paper, if it wasn’t limited to two or three pages, I could have dealt more thoroughly with many different aspects because there’s more to near-death experiences then the dying brain hypothesis. It would have been a longer and more in-depth paper, but that wasn’t the paper that we wrote. Dr. Caroline Watt Play It: Download MP3 (64:00 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr. Caroline Watt to Skeptiko. Dr. Watt is a founding member of the Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and has taught and researched parapsychology for 25 years. She is well published in the field, many peer review journals, and is also the author of the most popular textbook in parapsychology, An Introduction to Parapsychology. If we can add to all that, we can also mention that she has also served as a president and board member of the Parapsychological Association. Dr. Watt, it’s a great pleasure to have you on Skeptiko. Thanks for joining me today. Dr. Caroline Watt: Thanks, very much, for inviting me Alex. Alex Tsakiris: Caroline, you are well known within the parapsychology community. For those folks who don’t know much about your background, can you tell us a little about how you got started in the field, and maybe some of the highlights of your research, if you will? Dr. Caroline Watt: Sure. I did my undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. There we had no teaching at all in parapsychology, but we had a final exam called Contemporary Issues where in the degree exam, we were supposed to answer questions about new developments in the field of psychology. That was way back in 1984, just when the Koestler Chair was starting up in Edinburgh. Because there had been a lot of press interest in the Koestler Chair, one of my teachers set a question in the exam about the Koestler Chair, and I answered it. That was my first formal contact with parapsychology. The question was: You are applying to be the new professor at the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at Edinburgh University. Outline what research program you might follow. Alex Tsakiris: There’s some foreshadowing. Dr. Caroline Watt: Yes, indeed.

Interview with NDE researcher Dr. Jan Holden unravels the claim, “there is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences.” Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with University of North Texas professor, Dr. Jan Holden, co-author of, Th...

Interview with London physician Dr. Ian Rubenstein reveals how one doctor's encounter with psychic phenomena led to Spiritualist Church mediumship. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Ian Rubenstein author of, CONSULTING SPIRIT: A Doctor's Experience with Practical Mediumship. During the interview Rubenstein discusses how he struggled to understand his psychic abilities: Alex Tsakiris: What you seem to be contrasting is a materialistic, medical paradigm that says there is none of this; this cannot happen. There is no way that the consciousness survives death. There is no way that spirits can influence us. That, I think, is what you’re really butting up against, and yet you seem to give that a lot more weight then I think it deserves in this case, especially given, (1) your personal experience and, (2) the research that you’ve done to see that there’s data to support it. Why do we have to stay with the materialistic paradigm? It doesn’t seem to work. Dr. Ian Rubenstein: I think you’re looking at a guy struggling with this. I don’t come from a religious background at all. I’m a non-practicing, left-wing, Jewish background. All my family was, you could say, very anti-religious. I’m not a religious guy. Spirituality is not new to me. I’m as affected by new-age stuff as much as everybody else, but it’s not native to my culture and background, and certainly not to my education. Western rationalist education is all pervading; it colors the way you see the world. It’s there, and I’m dealing with this every day. At medical school, you were taught how to think. You have to think critically. You do not trust your instinct. Every doctor knows that instinct is very important, and you get a feel for it, but you’re not trained in this. One of the things I develop in my book is that I found that training as a medium, having had all these experiences and then ending up sitting in a spiritualist circle, I actually found that you can train your intuition, that you can to some extent trust it, and it’s very useful. I now use it much more in my consultations. Of course, a skeptic would say, “You know, Ian, you’re an experienced doctor. You’ve been a family physician for 28 years. You’ve been a doctor for 34 years. Maybe this is just ordinary stuff.” I don’t know. Ian's book: Consulting Spirit Play It: Download MP3 (46:00 min.) Read It: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Dr. Ian Rubenstein to Skeptiko. Dr. Rubenstein is a general practitioner in London who’s written a fascinating book titled, Consulting Spirit: A Doctor’s Experience with Practical Mediumship. Welcome to Skeptiko, Ian, and thanks for joining me. Dr. Ian Rubenstein: Thanks, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: I guess that’s a question I want to come back to; what do you do with it? In your book, Consulting Spirit, what you do is chronicle this journey that this initial experience in your office sent you on. What I found particularly interesting about the book is the people that you meet along the way.   You do more than I think most of us would have done. What was your thought process in going for this? Just saying, “I have to see where this leads.” You chronicle how you’re able to meet some of the folks you do, like spiritual healers, and medium researchers like Gary Schwartz.   Dr. Ian Rubenstein: Absolutely. It was almost as if someone, I don’t know who, took me by the hand and said, “Okay, Ian. I’m going to lead you through this world,” bearing in mind I knew very little about it.   Having had that first experience with a Ouija board, I think I was very lucky to have a second experience when I was 19 and in my first year at medical school, which I perhaps ought to mention, because it maybe explains why I was a bit open-minded to it than otherwise.   At the time, my sister and I witnessed what is spiritually called transfiguration. I don’t know if you know what that is, but spiritualists believe,

Interview with historian and Alfred Russell Wallace scholar challenges evolutionary biologist, Dr. Jerry Coyne. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Professor Michael Flannery, author of, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life....

Interview with University of Chicago professor and author of, Why Evolution is True,  Dr. Jerry Coyne. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Jerry Coyne, author of, Why Evolution is True.  During the interview Dr. Coyne discusse...

Interview with Cal Tech professor and author of the upcoming, Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist,  Dr. Christof Koch. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Christof Koch, author of, Consciousness: Confessions ...

UFO researcher sees evidence of telepathy in the accounts of UFO witnesses. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Stanton Friedman, author of Science Was Wrong.  During the interview Friedman discusses the implications of his resear...

Author and scientist sees pattern of decreased brain activity during peak experiences. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, author of Meaning in Absurdity.  During the interview Kastrup discusses his beliefs a...

Psychotherapist and Medium claims communication with spirits reveals no reincarnation. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with August Goforth, author of The Risen.  During the interview Goforth discusses his beliefs about reincarnatio...