Science and Siddhis

[dharmagoat]

I have just been reading about the presentiment experiments of Dr. Dean Radin. He is one of a small number of respected scientists that are investigating so-called paranormal phenomena. In these experiments he shows that a kind of unconscious precognition regularly occurs 2-3 seconds before an emotionally stimulating event.

He writes extensively about his research in his blog: http://deanradin.blogspot.com/

Does anyone else have similar sources in which to share?

[Indrajala]

This is a pretty interesting that has come about recently.


Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian man who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for 70 years - but is still in perfect health.

A team of scientists and doctors in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, are studying the claims of Prahlad Jani, a local holy man, who is over 70 years old.

He claims to have been blessed by a goddess when he was 8-years-old, which has enabled him to survive without sustenance and that he derives energy through meditation.

Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.



See the short news clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGF7EY2Ucm8

[Astus]

I think it is among science's silent rules that it is against all supernatural, and whatever seems supernatural brings it down to natural. Paranormal science is like Christian science - doesn't really make sense.

[Indrajala]

I have just been reading about the presentiment experiments of Dr. Dean Radin. He is one of a small number of respected scientists that are investigating so-called paranormal phenomena. In these experiments he shows that a kind of unconscious precognition regularly occurs 2-3 seconds before an emotionally stimulating event.

Is the precognition is unconscious, how are you aware of it?

I don't think cognition is possible if you're unconscious.

[Indrajala]

This time the article is courtesy of the Harvard Gazette.

In a monastery in northern India, thinly clad Tibetan monks sat quietly in a room where the temperature was a chilly 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a yoga technique known as g Tum-mo, they entered a state of deep meditation. Other monks soaked 3-by-6-foot sheets in cold water (49 degrees) and placed them over the meditators' shoulders. For untrained people, such frigid wrappings would produce uncontrolled shivering.


http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/200 ... tummo.html

[dharmagoat]

If the precognition is unconscious, how are you aware of it?
I don't think cognition is possible if you're unconscious.

Well-spotted. "Presentiment" is the correct term, but is a word that most of us are unfamiliar with.

One way that presentiment manifests itself is as a small change in the conductivity of the skin several seconds in advance of the stimulus that evokes the subsequent larger response.

[catmoon]

Okay, but on the tennis court we just call this anticipation. If you aren't moving to the ball before your opponent strikes it you won't get there in time.

So we train to see where the ball will go based on the opponent's preparations to swing. Nothing magic about it at all.

[dharmagoat]

Okay, but on the tennis court we just call this anticipation. If you aren't moving to the ball before your opponent strikes it you won't get there in time.
So we train to see where the ball will go based on the opponent's preparations to swing. Nothing magic about it at all.

Yes, but the images used in the experiment that serve as the emotional cues are selected randomly by computer. There is no known way the subject can anticipate the nature of the upcoming image, yet still, when the skin conductivity plots are averaged, a distinct early effect can be seen 2-3 seconds before the image is even selected.

I recommend that rather than relying on my attempts to explain Dr. Radin's work, anyone interested should read the relevant entries in his blog: http://deanradin.blogspot.com/

[Aemilius]

I have just been reading about the presentiment experiments of Dr. Dean Radin. He is one of a small number of respected scientists that are investigating so-called paranormal phenomena. In these experiments he shows that a kind of unconscious precognition regularly occurs 2-3 seconds before an emotionally stimulating event.

He writes extensively about his research in his blog: http://deanradin.blogspot.com/

Does anyone else have similar sources in which to share?

What do you think of David Blaine ? Do you think these are siddhis ? -or something else?
http://davidblaine.com/

[dharmagoat]

What do you think of David Blaine ? Do you think these are siddhis ? -or something else?
http://davidblaine.com/

Something else.

[5heaps]

I have just been reading about the presentiment experiments of Dr. Dean Radin. He is one of a small number of respected scientists that are investigating so-called paranormal phenomena. In these experiments he shows that a kind of unconscious precognition regularly occurs 2-3 seconds before an emotionally stimulating event.

Is the precognition is unconscious, how are you aware of it?

I don't think cognition is possible if you're unconscious.

an appearance can arise in the mind but be not ascertained.

in fact some systems of pramana say that at the end of each cognition of an object there is a mental direct cognizer, which only Aryas are capable of ascertaining.

[Aemilius]

What do you think of David Blaine ? Do you think these are siddhis ? -or something else?
http://davidblaine.com/

Something else.

Reality is elusive, siddhis are elusive, siddhi is a quality of the perceiver (equally), this has been said many times in buddhist tradition, there is no objective independent reality, so the experiments to pin down siddhis will be futile, but there may be siddhis in Olympic Games, in ultra marthon runners etc... how can you know it ??