>From my friend Alex Tsakiris of Skeptiko.com
Hi Rick... good to hear from you. Was just listening to a BATGAP 5 minutes ago after dropping off my daughter at swim camp... nice transition. Wanted to again tell you how much I appreciate what you're doing. I particularly like when you challenge guests (just a bit) and reflect back what you're encountered through your experience and through your many interviews. The mosaic (as pictured on your site) is the message :) Re Eben Alexander, been writing a lot about it over the last week... some of it here: http://forum.mind-energy.net/skeptiko-podcast/5360-esquire-misrepresents-dal ai-lama-attacks-dr-eben-alexanders-nde.html Quote: Originally Posted by Bucky <http://forum.mind-energy.net/skeptiko-podcast/5360-esquire-misrepresents-da lai-lama-attacks-dr-eben-alexanders-nde.html#post156424> Hmmm... between 45:00 and 48:00 the Dalai Lama is saying that for the third category of phenomena, those that are more hidden and obscure, we rely on the testimony of experiencers and therefore we need to investigate these testimonies to make sure they are reliable. I an all honesty it doesn't sound that far from the article quotation. The Dalai Lama didn't use the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" mantra, but he's definitely saying that we need don't just take things at their face value when confronted with phenomena that are difficult to comprehend. Wait a minute, Luke Dittrich's underlying theme, the whole basis of the article, is that the "biological robot" meme is true... that all this NDE stuff is nonsense and we can go back to business as usual. It's not like he's saying, "gee, there are a lot of good NDE cases out there, and a pretty substantial body of NDE research, I just don't like this one." No, he's saying, "don't worry all you lovers of the fruits of scientific materialism, it's all ok, go back to sleep." So, for Luke to suggest that Alexander "squirmed in his seat" as the Dalai Lama called him out on a fake story is terrible journalism. It misrepresents that fact that Dalai Lama is completely convinced of the reality of experiences like Alexander's and completely opposed to the kind of closed-minded-do-anything-to-defend-the-status-quo science that this article bolsters. and here: another gross misrepresentation in the article is the suggestion that Alexander was hurting financially because of the $3M malpractice suit filed against him (as if that isn't covered by insurance)... and that this led him to cook up the idea of writing a bestseller to turn around his fortunes. you gotta read the full article to see how slanted it really is: http://d.pr/xWTy bottom line... the article is a it's a culture war hit piece with a goal of arming atheists with mud-balls to throw at a big target (Alexander sold a lot of books and made a big splash)... of course, that doesn't mean it's not effective. Alexander is gonna take a credibility hit from this. what is completely lost in all of this is that there is absolutely no medical explanation for Alexander's experience given his medical condition (whether the comma was partially induced or not). I mean, they had CAT-scans... his brain was gone. the battle is a culture war battle versus a battle over the science... materialists/atheists (like your buddy Bill Maher) must insist that we are "biological robots" -- no exceptions -- or their worldview crumbles. to most (probably 90% of Americans) this is a silly notion they dismiss without ever directly addressing the absurdity it implies... i.e. "of course my life has meaning... of course love is real... of course I have free will." BTW I have booked a guest for a global warming show. wasn't going to go there until I had another guest (who I like and respect) fall into the same trap you have :) Best, Alex
