The psi wars come to TED

[Sheila]

weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com
by Craig Weiler
March 2013

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. This is an organization on a collision course with consciousness research and it was only a matter of time before the war spilled over into their territory.

In this case, the brouhaha started when apparently skeptics by the names of Jerry Coyne and PZ Meyer tried to have a video by parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake removed from TED talks because they felt he was unscientific….To the Immense credit of TED staff, they opened up the controversy to the public. Even more to their credit, the staff person who did this, Emily McManus, is an atheist who set aside her personal beliefs to open up the discussion. A comment section was set up for this topic and the floodgates opened….
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I did not read through the whole 478 comments because frankly, the discussion is always the same with minor variations. The skeptics claim that there is no proof, etc, but provide no compelling evidence and the pro psi crowd counters with a barrage of links and counter arguments. The skeptics attempt to define evidence according to radically narrow definitions and the pro psi crowd calls them on it. Back and forth, back and forth. What was interesting to me was how many well informed posters were pro psi and how willing they were to work together to get their side of the debate heard. They even made a very strong effort to “like” comments from their side, which is new as well. That is usually a skeptical tactic. Somewhere, somehow, these people have learned how to counter the skeptics and they did it very effectively.

This supports my hunch that the internet is changing how science is done by making the skeptical gate keeping much more difficult. Information about consciousness research has spread far and wide and its supporters are growing ever more vocal. Among those supporters is a growing group of people who are persistent and engaged enough to do battle with the skeptical paradigm. Their numbers are apparently growing from what I’ve seen while the number of skeptics has stayed pretty much even. It looks like the tipping point has been reached. Skeptics are not winning.

Hopefully the staff at TED took notice because a wrong move on their part will create all sorts of havoc…..

http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2...s-come-to-ted/

[Luc]

Amazing. The change is at our doorsteps. And I was a super skeptic not that long ago myself, and I loved TED, then, my and "its" ways started to part. And for many reasons (including this one).

[Sheila]

Update –

“TED has indeed hidden my “War on Consciousness” presentation and Rupert Sheldrake’s “Science Delusion” presentation on the TEDx Youtube channel. Both videos are now marked as private and so no member of the public can now view them or make up their own minds about them. If this is how science operates, by silencing those who express opposing views rather than by debating with them, then science is dead and we are in a new era of the Inquisition.”

-Graham Hancock on Facebook


“I for one, will sleep better tonight, knowing that all over the world, skeptics are working tirelessly to protect me from having any woo thoughts.”

-- Craig Weiler


http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2...s-come-to-ted/

[Luc]

And, as usual, all this censorship will work just the opposite. Pfft. Now, even more people will want to, at least, see the forbidden fruit.... which is good.

[Sheila]

Good point!

[Sheila]

Update –

TED Swings the Banhammer: It Rebounds Into Their Face

In an act of breathtaking stupidity, TED chose to quarantine both Rupert Sheldrake’s video and another one by Graham Hancock using some trumped up charges of scientific inaccuracies for both of them. (Link here.) No one was fooled and the resulting outrage has now topped 700 comments as I’m writing this. They are destroying their brand with this nonsense. The Daily Grail has done a fine job of examining the skeptical hatchet job, so I won’t be addressing that. (link here.) Instead, I am going to look at what led them to this nuclear sized public relations disaster and how this is a litmus test of the psi wars in general.
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The result of this is that they did not anticipate and likely do not understand the outrage. They, like most people, assume that their value system is the right one and that the other camp is just plain wrong. For that reason, unless someone else at TED intervenes, they will do it again and again, prompting less and less outrage as more and more people who value openness abandon TED altogether.
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This was a strategic win for the pro psi crowd, even if it was a tactical loss. It is a very clear demonstration in a public forum that psi skepticism is quickly becoming an albatross around the necks of organizations that subscribe to it.
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This isn’t just some intellectual argument over the merits of materialism, it’s a social change as well that grants a measure of status to people who deserve it as much as anyone else. (see Psychic People: The Last Quiet Minority) This is about allowing a large amount of scientists to do consciousness research with full funding; this is about modeling our society on something a little warmer and fuzzier than cold, dead materialism. Finally, this is about the truth…..


http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2...to-their-face/

[Sheila]

Look at how the number of paranormal TV shows has exploded since 2000!

http://idoubtit.wordpress.com/paranormaltv/

[Luc]

This is about allowing a large amount of scientists to do consciousness research with full funding; this is about modeling our society on something a little warmer and fuzzier than cold, dead materialism. Finally, this is about the truth…..

It is amazing what is happening. And this awakening is only picking up more pace. The comment section of the blog is really worth reading. Inspiring.

[Luc]

Ok, so they thought they would somehow hide it...

Graham Hancock's presentation. Nice talk (and ground-breaking in terms of mainstream consciousness). What Hancock is talking about brings to mind Terrence Mckenna's ideas/work), though there are certain elements in the beginning of his presentation that I see a bit differently (especially about the length of time of "us" being around).




And Rupert Sheldrake. I have yet to watch this one;



I'm sure these videos would have gotten much much more views by now if the people knew those are there.

[Sheila]

Update –

TED Chased by “Army of Passionate Supporters” Escapes Into TARDIS

Under unrelenting pressure soaring to over a thousand comments, as well as a great deal of negativity on the web where the psi blogosphere united to condemn the censorship, TED finally realized that it wasn’t going to blow over or go away and relented . . . sort of. They’re hoping to jump into their time machine for a do over…..


read the rest here –

http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2...s-into-tardis/