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Old 01-29-2004, 06:13 AM
naphand naphand is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Bournemouth, UK
Posts: 550
Default Re: Serious question about ESP (I don\'t mean psychic or anything silly)

OK - well, rather than try to produce an exhaustive list of stuff available on the web, you are probably going to find out just as much by searching the net (I use Google) for key words to do with your interest. You will have to wade through a lot of rubbish, but if you really are interested it does not take that long to find stuff. The publications change very rapidly, so it's impossible to keep any list current.

Two good links to start with are:

http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/brainde.php

As far as reading around the subject goes, I would recommend 4 books to start with, plus one author. As follows:

"Margins of Reality" - Dunne & Janne (PEAR)

This is from the Princeton team and gives a broad introduction to the theme of consciousness studies. It has plenty of scientific data, and well-worked methoodology/thinking. It's a very dry read though, and I could only manage a chapter at a time without nodding off. But invaluable for a really thorough approach to the scientific study of this area.

"The Dancing Wu Li Masters" - Gary Zukav

Probably the best introduction to the new physics published to date. Very well written and very comprehensive. A word of warning though - I don't recommend you read anything else by Zukav! He seems to be some kind of new-age type thinker, but this does not detract in any way from how good this book really is, it stands on it's own merits. The following review I picked up from Amazon:

"This is *the* definitive book to read for anyone seeking
to understand the basics of quantum physics. Here is your
guide to the particle/wave conundrum. Here is an
explanation of two basic principles in modern physics: 1)
the new logic of the relationship of subject and object
and 2) the random changes which occur to objective
properties. Zukav explains one of the most important
discoveries of science, the Copenhagen Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics. He elaborates upon how and why ideas
about reality, i.e. the experimental situation, differ
from the experience of reality. Instead, probability
replaces the absolutes of past science. The
'communication' of particles over the space-time continuum
suggests a concsiousness to the particles. He discusses
wave-particle duality, Max Planck's constant, Einstein's
theory of the photoelectric effect, Pauli's exclusion
principle, Lorentz transformation, particle physics,
Bell's theorem, and quantum logic, plus much, much more.
Zukav's gift is to distill complex ideas and simplify them
for inquiring minds "who want to know" but are "afraid to
ask" or don't even know where to begin to ask. He connects
metaphysical principles and science. He acknowledges that
the use of words is often inadequate to describe the
mysterious events of quantum physics. There is an unbroken
wholeness to reality which when observed by individuals
renders a loss of recognition to the interconnectedness of
life. Quantum physics proves the interconnectedness of all
reality in ways that only the mystics and spiritual
masters described in the past. In fact, both scientists
and mystics are beginning to use the same word
descriptions ... This is an excellent book for those who
dare to ask "what's new in the world of science?" Zukav
has the ability to simplify complex concepts and link them
to metaphysical principles in a very readable manner."

"The Case for Astrology" - John Anthony West

I only recommend this as an "extra" read, for the detail on the arguments between "rationalists" and "supporters", and particularly the expose of Scicop's methods and debunking agenda. You may not be interested in astrology at all, indeed the subject of much of this book (Michel Gauqelin) was fervently anti-astrology until his research revealed some interesting (although unexpected) results. Gauqelin's early work was strongly anti-astrology, as he found no correspondences in the "predicted" manner. He was widely supported by the scientific community for this, that is until he started to produce some unexpected results that appeared to support astrology, and from that point on he was vilified and ridiculed. His work is a thorn in the side of Scicop, as it has been so difficult to disprove. This book is worth the read just to see how the argument pro/against has been conducted over the last 20 years, I think it really shows how weak the reductionist argument is for examples like this, and how Scicop will stoop to any level to meet their own agenda. The arguments and scientific data put forward by West are compelling, and is a clear and reliable counter to the argument that "no evidence exists". After reading this book you may or may not agree with the conclusions, but you will be left in no doubt as to the difficulty researchers in this field face.

"The Mind of God" - Paul Davies

I quote from another website:

"PAUL DAVIES is an internationally acclaimed physicist,
writer and broadcaster, now based in South Australia.
Professor Davies is the author of some twenty books,
including Other Worlds, God and the New Physics, The Edge
of Infinity, The Mind of God, The Cosmic Blueprint, Are We
Alone? About Time and The Fifth Miracle: The Search for
the Origin of Life.

In recent years he has pursued an antireductionist agenda,
making the case for moving both physics and biology onto
"the synthetic path," recognizing the importance of the
organizational and qualitative features of complex
systems. He advocates a meeting of the minds between
physicists and biologists, noting that complicated
systems, whether biological or cosmological, are more than
just the accretion of their parts but operate with their
own internal laws and logic."

I personally recommend any book by this author, he is very readable and his arguments logically consistent and well-thought. The book above, was the first I read by him, and is still my personal favourite. This is a review of the book from a book site (not amazon):

"The Mind of God begins with physics, looking at different
theories of the creation of the universe, the nature of
physical laws and the possibility of a theory of
everything. This leads on naturally to a discussion of
mathematics and its philosophical foundations, and then on
to computer science, and in particular the nature of
computation and its relationship to physical processes.
Then it's back to mathematics and its relationship with
physics. After this things get more philosophical, with a
look at various arguments for a "God" or at least
something "outside" the universe. The final chapter is a
look at mysticism and contains a suggestion that
non-rational (religious and mystical) approaches to
understanding may be able to go beyond the limits of
physics."

Obviously, each book/link contains further references and so on. Many people may be uncomfortable with the topics covered in these books, but they are by no means the workings of belief-stricken minds, or random association, the conclusions drawn are at least as valid as those persued by the reductionists/rationalists, as will be evident from reading them, and make compelling reading.

Enjoy...
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