Hi, I enjoyed the recent show, here are some comments:
First of all, I really hate that popular quote about "don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out", because it's subversively detrimental to unconventional thinking, and more importantly it doesn't even apply to open-mindedness.
The type of thinking that the quote is referring to is *credulity*, which has no relation to open-mindedness. The two separate terms are deliberately associated together in the quote because mainstream thinkers use it as a club to batter maverick thinkers back into the fold.
Open-mindedness is typified by being unwilling to accept anything as factual one way or the other. One man says, "UFOs are piloted by extraterrestrials." A second man says, "UFOs are not piloted by extraterrestrials." A third man says, "Perhaps UFOs are piloted by extraterrestrials, and perhaps they are not."
How exactly are the third man's brains falling out? He is being the most honest and intelligent in this case. This stance is useful even in ordinary subjects, because it's been proven again and again that what people consider as "common sense" today may not necessarily be true.
Ok enough ranting about that. Next rant.
I think there are many other explanations why one man holding a recorder could pick up EVPs, and another man holding a recorder in the same room could not. I don't think imaginative projections are the only reasonable conclusion.
A person can touch a radio and improve its reception, so there's no question that simple human contact with an electronic device can affect its function. There are also many cases of people associated with paranormal phenomena being able to affect electronics in unusual ways (stopping watches, affecting street-lamps, etc). So it doesn't seem that much of a stretch to consider that specific people could affect a recorder in a way that others cannot, and this effect could alter its receptivity.
That's just one speculative possibility among many. Sometimes I think you guys may place technology on too high of a pedestal. As in, "Technology is objective, it measures the world exactly as it is. So if something changes then it must involve human imagination." As in the case of the woman touching the radio, technological measurements of "the world as it is" can vary, depending on both seen and unseen conditions.
Thanks for tolerating the nitpicking, this episode was very interesting as always.
First of all, I really hate that popular quote about "don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out", because it's subversively detrimental to unconventional thinking, and more importantly it doesn't even apply to open-mindedness.
The type of thinking that the quote is referring to is *credulity*, which has no relation to open-mindedness. The two separate terms are deliberately associated together in the quote because mainstream thinkers use it as a club to batter maverick thinkers back into the fold.
Open-mindedness is typified by being unwilling to accept anything as factual one way or the other. One man says, "UFOs are piloted by extraterrestrials." A second man says, "UFOs are not piloted by extraterrestrials." A third man says, "Perhaps UFOs are piloted by extraterrestrials, and perhaps they are not."
How exactly are the third man's brains falling out? He is being the most honest and intelligent in this case. This stance is useful even in ordinary subjects, because it's been proven again and again that what people consider as "common sense" today may not necessarily be true.
Ok enough ranting about that. Next rant.
I think there are many other explanations why one man holding a recorder could pick up EVPs, and another man holding a recorder in the same room could not. I don't think imaginative projections are the only reasonable conclusion.
A person can touch a radio and improve its reception, so there's no question that simple human contact with an electronic device can affect its function. There are also many cases of people associated with paranormal phenomena being able to affect electronics in unusual ways (stopping watches, affecting street-lamps, etc). So it doesn't seem that much of a stretch to consider that specific people could affect a recorder in a way that others cannot, and this effect could alter its receptivity.
That's just one speculative possibility among many. Sometimes I think you guys may place technology on too high of a pedestal. As in, "Technology is objective, it measures the world exactly as it is. So if something changes then it must involve human imagination." As in the case of the woman touching the radio, technological measurements of "the world as it is" can vary, depending on both seen and unseen conditions.
Thanks for tolerating the nitpicking, this episode was very interesting as always.
