tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1733988359835604469.post9197032840457834170..comments2023-06-14T04:42:37.404-07:00Comments on Science is a method, not a position: "As skeptical as Pat Robertson or Billy Graham". . .M.C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13310971675352307226noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1733988359835604469.post-55904377547424834952008-06-21T10:27:00.000-07:002008-06-21T10:27:00.000-07:00Well put there, especially the comment just above ...Well put there, especially the comment just above mine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1733988359835604469.post-62238097313478665802007-08-09T17:41:00.000-07:002007-08-09T17:41:00.000-07:00"We know that an injury to the head can cause some..."We know that an injury to the head can cause someone to lose consciousness. Lack of oxygen can cause someone to lose consciousness. Anestetics and other drugs can also cause a person to lose consciousness. Sitmulants can cause a person to regain lost consciousness."<BR/><BR/>You're missing Wallace's point. We can't define the limits of "consciousness." As the atheist neuroscientist Sam Harris points out, we can't be sure whether there is a genuine cessation of "consciousness" during anasthesia. For example, lots of people aren't conscious of their dreams.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1733988359835604469.post-4991744080771122232007-08-09T11:40:00.000-07:002007-08-09T11:40:00.000-07:00I think we know more about consciousness than Alan...I think we know more about consciousness than Alan indicates. We know that an injury to the head can cause someone to lose consciousness. Lack of oxygen can cause someone to lose consciousness. Anestetics and other drugs can also cause a person to lose consciousness. Sitmulants can cause a person to regain lost consciousness.<BR/><BR/>We can experience altered states of consciousness through drugs, meditation, and dreaming.<BR/><BR/>All of these factors can be studied scientifically. There is a lot of evidence implicating the brain as being involved in consciousness, although NDE studies and spirit communication also indicate consciousness can occur in the absence of physical brain function.<BR/><BR/>Saying we know nothing about consciousness is just as biased as saying we know everything about consciousness.<BR/><BR/>The problem is deeper than the fact that "skeptics" believe assumptions are facts. The problem is that they are emotionally tied to their beliefs and will not consider facts that suggest alternatives to their beliefs. Their materialist beliefs are not a result of poor logic, their poor logic is contrived to support their materialist beliefs.<BR/><BR/>Pat Robertson and Billy Graham are poor choices for an anology. They are not noted for ignoring facts. They may spin those facts their own way but that is not really the problem with skeptics. Holding them up to ridicule is just a gratuitous and ignorant slap at religion.<BR/><BR/>A much better analogy is that skeptics are like the cardnals who refused to look through Galileo's telescope.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com