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This seems overly dismissive. I think if you had intelligence that the soviets were researching this, and they were, you would more or less have to also. Its al

This seems overly dismissive. I think if you had intelligence that the soviets were researching this, and they were, you would more or less have to also. Its also philosophically suspicious to assume we understand everything about human consciousness today and that we can dismiss what may be a way to access non-local information. Worse, the uber-skeptic position has been hurt in recent years, not the least of which with the military releasing incredible footage of the very same UFO experiences that have been dismissed by skeptics: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/unidentified-aircraft-navy/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/unidentified-aircraf... Also, small nitpick, but a witch hunt was a political move against women, not an honest attempt to find real witches. Societies with witch burnings were overly patriarchal and witch threats existed to keep women in line.

danbruc 8y ago
I think if you had intelligence that the soviets were researching this, and they were [...] I know essentially nothing about this topic but from what I read due to this post the Soviets were not actually researching this, it was just a translation error. [...] you would more or less have to also. If your enemy wastes resources on something that is hopeless you don't counter by also wasting your resources on the same thing. Its also philosophically suspicious to assume we understand everything about human consciousness today [...] We may not have a good understanding of human consciousness but we have a pretty good understanding of fundamental physics and human consciousness can not sidestep the laws of physics. Worse, the uber-skeptic position has been hurt in recent years, not the least of which with the military releasing incredible footage of the very same UFO experiences that have been dismissed by skeptics: I don't know how such footage changed anything, there have been alleged alien space ship sightings for a long time, some easily explained, some remaining unexplained. What do a couple more examples change? There are no alien space ships roaming Earth's sky. Also, small nitpick, but a witch hunt was a political move against women, not an honest attempt to find real witches. Societies with witch burnings were overly patriarchal and witch threats existed to keep women in line. According to Wikipedia that was at best one motivation among several and neither a particularly early nor leading one. Anyway, I only used the term witches to make the comment more catchy, I did not want to imply that what they were looking for was the same or similar to witchcraft witches allegedly made use of.
- mrobot 8y ago
  > We may not have a good understanding of human consciousness but we have a pretty good understanding of fundamental physics and human consciousness can not sidestep the laws of physics. The laws of physics havn't been completely decided. The arrogance of this post is enraging.
  - danbruc 8y ago
    I never claimed that we figured out all the laws of nature but we certainly know a lot about them. And among the things we know are limits on things we may not have discovered. If there was, for example, a yet undiscovered fifth force, then it would have to have tiny effects because otherwise we would have noticed it in past experiments. There is no chance we would have missed anything that could enable remote viewing or something along that line.
    - StanislavPetrov 8y ago
      >There is no chance Stating anything without doubt is the definition of hubris.
      - danbruc 8y ago
        Are you worrying what you will do if the sun does not rise again tomorrow? I guess technically it is not certain that the sun will rise tomorrow, but for all practical purposes the sun will without [any relevant amount of] doubt rise again tomorrow.
  - yongjik 8y ago
    The laws of physics, when it applies to the energy scale of human brains, is nearly completely understood. You might want to read this: http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2010/09/23/the-laws-underlying-the-physics-of-everyday-life-are-completely-understood/ http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2010/09/23/the-laws...
- StanislavPetrov 8y ago

danbruc 8y ago

I think if you had intelligence that the soviets were researching this, and they were [...] I know essentially nothing about this topic but from what I read due to this post the Soviets were not actually researching this, it was just a translation error. [...] you would more or less have to also. If your enemy wastes resources on something that is hopeless you don't counter by also wasting your resources on the same thing. Its also philosophically suspicious to assume we understand everything about human consciousness today [...] We may not have a good understanding of human consciousness but we have a pretty good understanding of fundamental physics and human consciousness can not sidestep the laws of physics. Worse, the uber-skeptic position has been hurt in recent years, not the least of which with the military releasing incredible footage of the very same UFO experiences that have been dismissed by skeptics: I don't know how such footage changed anything, there have been alleged alien space ship sightings for a long time, some easily explained, some remaining unexplained. What do a couple more examples change? There are no alien space ships roaming Earth's sky. Also, small nitpick, but a witch hunt was a political move against women, not an honest attempt to find real witches. Societies with witch burnings were overly patriarchal and witch threats existed to keep women in line. According to Wikipedia that was at best one motivation among several and neither a particularly early nor leading one. Anyway, I only used the term witches to make the comment more catchy, I did not want to imply that what they were looking for was the same or similar to witchcraft witches allegedly made use of.

mrobot 8y ago
> We may not have a good understanding of human consciousness but we have a pretty good understanding of fundamental physics and human consciousness can not sidestep the laws of physics. The laws of physics havn't been completely decided. The arrogance of this post is enraging.
- danbruc 8y ago
  I never claimed that we figured out all the laws of nature but we certainly know a lot about them. And among the things we know are limits on things we may not have discovered. If there was, for example, a yet undiscovered fifth force, then it would have to have tiny effects because otherwise we would have noticed it in past experiments. There is no chance we would have missed anything that could enable remote viewing or something along that line.
  - StanislavPetrov 8y ago
    >There is no chance Stating anything without doubt is the definition of hubris.
    - danbruc 8y ago
      Are you worrying what you will do if the sun does not rise again tomorrow? I guess technically it is not certain that the sun will rise tomorrow, but for all practical purposes the sun will without [any relevant amount of] doubt rise again tomorrow.
- yongjik 8y ago
  The laws of physics, when it applies to the energy scale of human brains, is nearly completely understood. You might want to read this: http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2010/09/23/the-laws-underlying-the-physics-of-everyday-life-are-completely-understood/ http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2010/09/23/the-laws...
StanislavPetrov 8y ago