Added: 1 year ago
From: EvolvedAtheist
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  • Sorry but i think this is condecending to religion and spirituality. This 'god helmet' give a sense of a presence. I get that when I think someone is in the room at work or when i am walking down a dark ally and I look over my shoulder. (It could explain something like this however sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1097239) This is NOT an experience of god which is something deep complex and heartfelt.

  • @ghstar101

    Sorry, but I think that we OUGHT to be condescending to religion. Spirituality is separate from religion. As to supposed experiences of an imaginary being, perhaps such deluded individuals ought to seek professional help.

  • I wish they would let us know if there is a connection between already being religious and having a religious experience when hooked up. I would also like to know if people are told in advance that 80% of other people felt a certain way when hooked up.

  • @zodiakranch

    One of the first rules of social psychologists seems to be to lie to test subjects. Researchers don't do that because they are inherently dishonest, but because they make every reasonable effort to reduce their subjects' bias.

    I very much doubt that Persinger would tell any experimental subject how many or what other's had experienced in the helmet.

    As to TMS-experience, I would expect that suspectibility would correlate with *proneness* to religiosity.

  • No wonder Richard Dawkins couldn't have a religious experience. He never lets his brain shut down, and never has a 'loss of self'.

  • @dewinthemorning

    Hmn. I'm not sure that that is the explanation for why he's in the 20% of non-reactors. The meditation effects don't appear to be confined to the temporal lobes ( 6:24 ). Whatever the difference in his temporal lobe connections, his credulity-disconnect might explain how he escaped theism.

    I'd love to see research on the god helmet reactivity of scientists and other non-emotional *thinkers*. I expect there'd be a correlation between atheism and low-susceptibility.

  • @dewinthemorning

    I think it might have to do something with one's dopamine levels. That's just a guess, though.

  • I remember when this was on TV. Good episode.

    Proof that God is a condition brought about by brain chemistry.

    Now all we need to do is get the dogmatic types to actually listen to the evidence.

    That is the issue.

  • @Bobajobimus

    They don't listen to evidence, they either deny evidence or re-interpret it to fit their delusions.

  • @EvolvedAtheist Hence the ongoing issue of closed mindedness.

  • @Bobajobimus

    Yes. It strikes me that those who are most likely to claim to be privy to "the Truth" are least likely to actively search for truth.

  • @EvolvedAtheist So true.

    I think we all need to be open minded, as although i am an atheist it does not mean i do not believe in a higher purpose to the universe, but I unlike the religious types want to understand the universe not merely accept it.

    The struggle continues.

  • Haha. A meta-video; a video about a video.

  • @LennyBound

    Isn't it a video from a video?

  • @EvolvedAtheist That's what I meant. I just found it funny that most of the clip is the show showing old clips. :-)

  • @LennyBound

    Ah! This is part of a program that examines the question of the relationship of science and religion using old episodes of "Horizon." Undoubtedly, it was a nice cheap way to illustrate thinking about the clash.

  • very interesting. Thanks for mirroring and providing the links as well:)

  • @zodiakranch

    You're welcome. It's no surprise that the brain that invented deities should also be capable of imagining communing with said inventions. WLC's Holy Spirit is a brain fart.

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