Summary: Interview with author and consciousness expert Dr. Susan Blackmore explains why Skeptics and atheists cling to her opinions on NDE science. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for and interview with oft quoted near-death experience skeptic, Dr. Susan Blackmore. During the interview Dr. Blackmore acknowledges that dispute her reputation among near-death experience doubters, she has not remained current in the field, “It’s absolutely true; I haven’t written about this subject for a long time and I haven’t kept up with all the literature, either.” Blackmore continues, “… I gave up all of this stuff so many years ago…if you are a researcher in the field it behooves you to read as much as you can of the best work because otherwise you can’t be a researcher in the field. I’m not a researcher in the field. I have not been for a long time.” Dr. Blackmore also responds to criticisms of her interpretation of Buddhist teachings. In her book, Dying to Live, Blackmore stated, “… in Buddhism these [near-death and after-life] experiences are not meant to be taken literally”. This statement has been criticized by Buddhists scholars. During the Skeptiko interview Blackmore responds to those criticism, “Well, I’m not a Buddhist scholar. I don’t read Sanskrit or original language. I’m not a scholar of Buddhism in that sense. But I have been training in Zen for 30 years now. I’ve also trained to some extent, much and much less in Tibetan practices. Most of what I wrote there is based on that long practice.” Check out Dr. Susan Blackmore’s Website A Critique of Susan Blackmore’s Dying Brain Hypothesis by Greg Stone Play it: Download MP3 (53:00 min.) Read it: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome back Dr. Susan Blackmore. She’s a writer, lecturer; in fact, you may have seen her excellent presentation at the TED conference a couple years ago, which is quite an honor itself. She’s also a visiting professor in psychology at the University of Plymouth. Dr. Blackmore, welcome back to Skeptiko. Dr. Susan Blackmore: Thank you very much. Alex Tsakiris: Well, as I explained in my email, the main reason I wanted to have you back on is because as we’ve dug in this show into near-death experience science and we tried to explore what skeptics have to say about this, and whether this is really evidence for consciousness existing outside of the brain, well, the more we dig into that your name seems to keep popping up. I have always said, “Hey, Susan Blackmore hasn’t published on this in 15 years.” I don’t know where you’re going but nonetheless, I keep getting a lot of “You need to read Susan Blackmore’s book.” So I thought it would be nice to have you back on and clear up some of these questions. Dr. Susan Blackmore: Well, thank you very much. It’s absolutely true; I haven’t written about this subject for a long time and I haven’t kept up with all the literature, either. I hear about some of the things that are happening. I talk to people involved. I know Peter Fenwick for example, very well. So I kind of know what’s going on to some extent but I got to the point many, many years ago when I just thought, ‘I have done all I feel I can do for the moment, and I just need to get out of the endless round of arguments and do something else.’ So I have. I’m now spending my time investigating other aspects of consciousness and these particular experiences in meditation and meanings and evolution and all sorts of other things. I’m glad to have gotten out of that. Why people go on with that I suppose, I provided some sort of position for the people to argue about it and people who persist in thinking that near-death experiences are evidence for life after death or evidence of a soul or a spirit or something. We hate any proposal[...]
