Never Fear! Dr. Quantum is Here!

You've been waiting for it, so wait no longer and brace yourself, because it has now been scientifically proven that consciousness transcends the physical brain! And this isn't New Age mumbo jumbo, either; it's the real deal(this time). If you're wondering which evidence I speak of, then wait no longer.

Without further ado, I present to you, straight from an article on "Metaphysics" shared on Facebook , the clear and undeniable evidence that our personalities can exist independently of our physical brains(never mind that if our brains become traumatized or diseased that we can't recognize people we've known our whole lives....so, shhhhhh) .....

(Consciousness has had proven scientific influence on): The behaviour of quantum objects. Consciousness collapses the wave-form of a quantum object and brings it to a state of particle existence. When not observed, it smears out through space as a non-local wave. It is only once a conscious observer comes along does this wave-form collapse into a particle, and even THEN it can only be measured as probability.

Wow! Did you hear that?!?! He/she/they, said, "Consciousness collapses the wave-form of a quantum object" And not only that, but then it, "brings it to a state of particle existence"!!!!

My first concern would be, I wonder if this was cut 'n pasted, or if it's in the author's own words. If it's the latter, then I wonder what he/she/they have as a source, besides a YouTube video of a cartoon guy named "Dr. Quantum" illustrating the double-slit experiment:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

The author goes on....

(Consciousness has had proven scientific influence on): The behaviour and thoughts of other people. Not only does conscious intention effect individuals through what is called "remote influencing", when enough people get together and focus on one idea, it effects the social and psychological behaviour of entire cities and states. Mass meditation has been proven to even reduce crime rates in the cities the meditation is happening in.

Yes, "remote influencing", such as when the religious come together and "pray", we know that their collective "conscious intention" effects the target of their "prayers" with perfect success(except when it fails).

 (Consciousness has had proven scientific influence on):The flow of electrical currents. Collective consciousness has a provable and repeatable effect on the flow of electrical currents within random-number generators (REGs), as proven numerous times at Princeton university and published in peer-reveiwed journals time and time again:

I wonder if it was reviewed as well as the spelling was reviewed, above? Oh, well. Let's not nit-pick. On other hand, let's not accept Facebook pages as the "peer-reviewed" part, either.

(Consciousness has had proven scientific influence on): The behaviour of biology and DNA. Spiritual healing and the sending of conscious intention has had effects on plants, human DNA, and even animals. And no, this is not because of placebo. Animals do not know that positive healing energy is being sent their way, and neither does isolated DNA in a test tube:

And the evidence for this? Well, of course.....it's a pretty picture.....

(click or copy link into browser if you really want to see the unmistakable evidence)

 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=248998745240364&set=pb.171274739679432.-2207520000.1368586239.&type=3&theater

Well, I guess that settles it, doesn't it?

 (Consciousness has had proven scientific influence on): Self-healing and disease through shift in consciousness (placebo). You think you are going to get healed, move into the space and attitude of being healed, and then you end up undergoing biological and psychological transformation:

Positive thinking and power of suggestion, depending on the extent/severity of the ailment, can produce a positive effect on the subject. Tell them they're taking a sugar pill? Kiss those results goodbye. 'Nothing "metaphysical" going on.

 What does this all tell us about the nature of mind? It tells us that consciousness can NOT simply be the software of the brain. It cannot be derived from chemical and mechanical processes if it has causal effects on the external world. Consciousness is a non-local field that gets filtered through our brains and nervous systems, and that all of creation and matter arises out of. 

Spoken like a true disciple of  Deepak Chopra...i.e....throw in a few fancy, scientific-sounding words..e.g..."non-local", "quantum", and voila, meaningless "woo" for.... I don't except that this life is all there is, damn it!

And finally there's......

 You don't have consciousness. You ARE consciousness.

Yes, you ARE consciousness! Well, unless you're unconscious.

Convictions & Dogma: Not Just for the Religious

      Just like the religious have convictions and who dogmatically cling to their beliefs, there are people from the "metaphysical" camp who have and do the same. While it should be pointed out that some "metaphysical" therapies used in conjunction with modern medicine seem to work, there is, to date, zero objective confirmation that these therapies work independently(excluding placebo effect), and in fact, people can become sicker and even die from using alternative therapies exclusively. Considering this fact, it is beyond argument that such pseudo-science should be denounced on every level, despite that there might be a small percentage of people who aren't charlatans and who honestly believe that what they do "works". The former people know it's a bunch of bullshit, yes, yet, they choose to capitalize on bilking the gullible out of their money. Despicable? Yes. But for now, I want to focus on the latter group - that is, I want to focus on the small percentage of metaphysical practitioners who genuinely believe that their "powers" have a referent in reality and who passively give way to the former group. So, the reasons they believe it? Well, of course, because they want to believe it. But mostly, because of the testimonies of their "patients", which is subjective validation. When confirmation bias is wedded to subjective validation, it is a recipe for self-deception.

      As I said in the title, dogmatism isn't exclusive to the religious. Just like a Pastor or Minister is convicted to his or her beliefs and may have a vested interest in defending those beliefs, since, let's face it, their career and livelihood depends on it, the metaphysical practitioners have the same vested interest in defending their beliefs. For years and years I had engaged in conversation/debate with a Christian woman named "Karla". I eventually bowed out of the conversation because it was clear to me that she was deluded, and happily so. In 2-3 years, this woman's very best evidence for how she knew she was "right" about Christianity was that she had seen a family member's arm lengthened with her own eyes. There's no way it could be trickery/self deception, because her "feelings" confirmed it was "real".

      Well, for close to a year, I've been in an exchange with the "metaphysical" equivalent of "Karla". This woman, who calls herself "The Duracell Bunny"(but prior to this name she had taken a name that was highly suggestive of being one who has powers---think, "Miss Cleo"), is just as dogmatically attached to her beliefs as any religious person I have ever encountered. Sadly, this women creates more head-desk moments than "Karla" did. Why? Because she claims to understand what good and bad evidence is, but yet, at the end of the day this amounts to her paying lip-service to it because she offers the same horrible, flimsy, anecdotal evidence, over and over and over, ad nauseam.

Here is some of what she purports to do:

• claims to work with "energy" as it pertains to metaphysical practices such as TT(Touch therapy) and "distant healing", and even has the school credentials.('got Seminary?!).
• claims to "connect" with deceased people and various animals---and when I say "connect", I mean she claims to "communicate" using ESP. In other words, she claims to be a "spiritual medium".
• claims to diagnose various medical conditions..e.g..."kidney problems", and if the person is close to dying, she can "predict" when they'll pass.

      I attempted to point out to "The Energizer Bunny", heretoforth TEB, that her "evidence", which is largely her clients - IOW, other people who can testify that her powers "work" - is no more credible or convincing than the fact that Karla the Christian can testify that a man at her church lengthened her relative's arm. It is no more credible or convincing than when someone gets a reading from "Cleo" and says, "Wow!....how could she have possibly known that about me?!?!"

      To the critical thinker, of course the more likely explanation for the former example is that the man is a charlatan who uses and counts on subjective validation. In the later case, the more likely explanation is a cold reading, which again requires subjective validation. BTW, when I asked Karla why the spiritual healer she met hadn't reproduced his powers in a clinical setting along with a control, she made excuse after excuse after excuse..e.g.."You wouldn't believe it even if I had video or X-rays", yadda, yadda. Well, TEB's excuse is that there isn't enough time or money to prove her "powers" in a scientific setting. So, in lieu of the evidence that might actually change my mind, she's taken to writing daily posts on her blog(i.e..her online diary) describing personal anecdote, after personal anecdote, after personal anecdote. She even posted a YouTube video of a cat that is (allegedly) "soothing a baby to sleep" with its paw. And although it is written along side the video......

Please watch and tell whether this still has anything to do with natural and/or conditioned behaviour or not, 

...her mind is made up, a priori; she is convicted to her belief that certain animals have spirits with which they can communicate and relate to humans. 

       So, like clockwork, TEB has no credible evidence for her fantastic claims other than that which convinces the already-convinced. This "evidence" is useless to me, and since she cannot get that part through her cranium, I made my blog "invitation only" and I stopped attempting to break through to her on her blog(at least for the time being), which makes her "hyper".

      But where evidence is concerned, I need to back up, because I made proving her powers as easy as anyone could possibly make it. That is, in the past I offered, in the way of challenge, to have her tell me something about a deceased friend that only he and I would know. Welp, much to my unsurprise, she failed. She couldn't do it, citing a few general tidbits that could easily apply to anyone...e.g...."He played a practical joke once!"[paraphrased]. Next I wrote down a number between 1-100 and sketched an animal on a piece of paper and slid it underneath a desk lamp where it still sits, undisclosed, waiting for her to use her "powers" to disclose what's written. What did I get? More excuses.

      In closing, the following is how The Skeptic's Dictionary describes "Subjective Validation":

 Subjective validation is the process of validating words, initials, statements, or signs as accurate because one is able to find them personally meaningful and significant. Subjective validation explains why many people are seduced by the apparent accuracy of pseudo-scientific personality profiles. Subjective validation deludes everyone from the housewife who thinks her happiness depends on her blood type or horoscope, to the FBI agent who thinks criminal profiles are spot on, to the therapist who thinks her Rorschach readings are penetrating portraits of psychological disorders.

Subjective validation is an essential element of any successful cold reading done by astrologers, palm readers, tarot readers, mediums, and the like. The sitter in such readings must cooperate. Fortunately for the medium, most sitters are usually eager for the reader to succeed and are willing to work hard to find personal meaning in whatever the reader throws out. In a successful cold reading, the sitter will be convinced that the accuracy of the reading was not due to her ability and willingness to cooperate but rather to the powers of astrology, palmistry, tarot, or mediumship.