Mod+ Previous Episodes of Skeptiko

A few days ago, Skeptiko episode 183 with Seth Andrews (The Thinking Atheist Podcast guy) showed up on my iPhone. I had not heard this one before for some reason - was there a reason that my iPhone's podcast app decided to download it? BTW, I also subscribe to Seth's podcast.
 
A few days ago, Skeptiko episode 183 with Seth Andrews (The Thinking Atheist Podcast guy) showed up on my iPhone. I had not heard this one before for some reason - was there a reason that my iPhone's podcast app decided to download it? BTW, I also subscribe to Seth's podcast.

Even several days after Alex posts a new podcast, I normally can't get it either . . . on my iPhone, that is. And it won't be listed under the "add previous episode" option either . . .
 
I had some issues with the iTunes feed after I launched the new website, but I think I've fixed those. normally iTunes updates very quickly.
 
I was listening to an episode about Synchronisity and how the brain picks out patterns for us but also allows us to change our environment by 3 to 6%. Reality is made of paradoxes? Why? Because of particle wave duality. Particles are just energy states in a quantum field. Science wants to identify all of the immutable phenomena that they call reality. But that is only half of reality. Predictability is only half of reality. The other half is about power. Ghosts sometimes have enough power to produce physical phenomena. It is my belief that there is a Creator that some refer to as God. I believe that this Creator visualized the laws of physics as we measure them now. I believe that God spoke an affirmation: Let there be light. I believe that God is an Infinite consciousness that created the big bang. I also believe that human consciousness can command power and supernatural phenomena in the physical universe. I believe that we are slowing unlocking this potential. There will come a time, perhaps centuries from now, when human consciousness will be able to command itself immortal and unaging. The whole reason that ascended masters and advanced spiritual beings have reached out with love to humanity is because a powerful consciousness will create what it focuses upon. It is far better to focus upon love and healing. Were a powerful being to focus upon hostility, anger, or distrust, the result would be incalculable horror and destruction.
 
I've enjoyed this podcast as an occasional listener, over the past couple years. I am not sure how anything works, I have no proof myself but I crave the knowledge that is out there one way or another (I'm a pure science / physics / aeronautics and aerospace junkee too) In the past year I've consistently started to look for and anticipate each new show. I've taken on the act of, one by one, listening to the early pod casts to get a better feel for how the entire process (this journey of discovery and inquiry) might be perceived by an outsider like myself.

I've already arrived at my first question - it's about episode 8 and D.J. Grothe - waaay back from 27 March, 2007. So.. Did you ever come to a shared conclusion with D.J. about the status of the "friendly wager" proposed in the show about 3/4 the way through? D.J. asked a good question, "What would you do if you finish your research and come to the conclusion that the data does not support what you are looking for?" I thought that was a really interesting question. Has there been any follow up or association with D.J. and his group recently? Perhaps I'll learn more about this question, the more I catch up with some of these interesting and formative, early shows.
 
I've enjoyed this podcast as an occasional listener, over the past couple years. I am not sure how anything works, I have no proof myself but I crave the knowledge that is out there one way or another (I'm a pure science / physics / aeronautics and aerospace junkee too) In the past year I've consistently started to look for and anticipate each new show. I've taken on the act of, one by one, listening to the early pod casts to get a better feel for how the entire process (this journey of discovery and inquiry) might be perceived by an outsider like myself.

I've already arrived at my first question - it's about episode 8 and D.J. Grothe - waaay back from 27 March, 2007. So.. Did you ever come to a shared conclusion with D.J. about the status of the "friendly wager" proposed in the show about 3/4 the way through? D.J. asked a good question, "What would you do if you finish your research and come to the conclusion that the data does not support what you are looking for?" I thought that was a really interesting question. Has there been any follow up or association with D.J. and his group recently? Perhaps I'll learn more about this question, the more I catch up with some of these interesting and formative, early shows.

Hi Skepter... glad you're digging into the old shows. Re "the wager", I've changed my opinion on a lot of stuff as a result of Skeptiko (especially: Christianity... less tolerant; conspiracies... much more accepting; and "the data"... not sure it's as much of a driver as I originally thought). I've also changed my view of groups like D.J. Grothe's JREF... I mean, wow, they are a perfect reflection of the close-minded, non-critical-thinking Christians they rail against. And no, despite the talk of openness, the JREF people have no interest in debating, dialoging or engaging with Skeptiko... they really don't like to debate science.
 
It was indeed fascinating to listen to the hard sell and almost fraternity rush you were getting in the interview to be "in the club" (ie the so called Scientism Rush Party from DJ's interview). In a later show I could feel the "hope" of something that obviously never came to pass in your interview with Dr. Stephen Novella.. it's interesting listening, knowing how certain things panned out after the fact - but still - I found myself listening to the show, wondering, "why can't we indeed come up with objective ways to collaborate and still follow the data?" And Dr. Moody's interview: That was a surprise, I did not expect to hear Dr. Moody speak so clearly and level headed. He is more science minded and reserved (less new-age) than I originally gave him credit for. Those old shows are valuable sources to re-visit for some of us.

More than anything the motivation for starting at the beginning with show #1 onward was inspired due to the desire to get a good feel for where this whole process started and what paths were taken in the maturing process. (I originally discovered Skeptiko around show 170 or so). It's amazing how much material is out there and how far this podcast has come in a building of perspective and shared experience through the impressive guests you have been able to host. I don't want to be so much of a "rah rah" cheer leader - but I do want to still sincerely thank you for all the effort in sharing your personal journey of the Skeptiko Podcast and offer encouragement to continue to follow the data, whatever form it presents itself in. In the meanwhile, I really am enjoying the archived shows. I guess I have a hundred-fifty more to go before I've caught up to where I began originally. I am listening to several a week so I have some time to soak it all in yet. In the meanwhile, keep up the impressive hosting and interviewing work, Alex. I will buy the book when it is published.
 
PS - Don't want to dominate the forum too much but I've been trying to find the following shows:

Shows 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 36(missing file), 37, 38, 41(in the list of shows, show 41 has show 42 in it's player even though it may look like show 42 is missing it's really show 41 on AWOL), (43, 44, 45 no file), 48, 59, 72, 172, 194...

There are some links out there in Google Ville but many links to these shows are dead. It would be nice to have them on the official web site too.

I was originally curious about 27-31 but also realized there were more missing. I am really interested in the first "Randy" interview. Even if some of these shows turn out to be less than "the best of" types, it would be really interesting to consider them against the total library that I'm "diligently" catching up on. Thanks!
 
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Heard the show w dr kevin nelson saying ndes were "fight or flight" response.
Ndes are "fight or flight"? That makes no sense. We know well the fight or flight response is adrenalin induced with circulation shunted away from the brain to the muscles. Also fear is a major emotional part of the phenomena. These well documented facts of the fight or flight response are the opposite of what happens during an nde. During an nde blood flow is not shunted to the muscles, adrenalin levels have not been shown to rise, and most importantly the patient does not feel fear. To the contrary most patients say they feel extreme peacefulness. So much for dr nelson's "scientific" explanation of ndes. Gez.
 
Still in my "past show" work. Episode 81 was enlightening and I felt it necessary to just comment since there are no old threads on this episode anymore. I've found in the past 80 shows, that I have really enjoyed listening to some of the skeptical guests. I identify with many of them but time and time again some of the most intelligent skeptics just go off the rails when it comes to truly looking at research data without heavy prejudice or disregard due to a variety of reasons that are sometimes not even known. This is all found in this episode, and a lot of chickens come home to roost here.

Science is a METHOD and while the "organism of individual people" searching for data and sense of what it's all about are just people - it's still important to realize that no specific scientists are the "one face of Science".. And there is no way one group of people can be the gate keepers for science. It's been very interesting to see time and time again with JREF that they think they can say what is and what is not science. This brings us to JREF president Phil Plait, a guy with some scientific credibility and some smarts but he's putting a lot of his brain power into JREF now. Wow, It was somewhat disappointing to see the the moral ambiguity applied to his own responsibility as president of JREF and his inability to steer the organization with any direction when it comes to worldviews overriding science as a METHOD. Instead, he can't take responsibility for JREF personal attacks of "people" behind the data he can't even really address. Childish "Pegasus" awards, etc. He kept going on and on about the vaccination issues and would not touch anything regarding consciousness aside from saying "clearly the data is not consistent". Rupert Sheldrake, Gary Shwartz and Charles Tart have all been awarded Pegasus Awards by JREF. Phil just could not back up any of the reasons except replying with statements like "The Pegasus award is not designed to be an analytic study to see where some research has gone wrong.. it's not just coming out of the blue..." Well then, what is it then? When he was put on the spot about the heavily documented and peer reviewed science behind the work JREF was awarding Pegasus awards to the replies like "clearly this is not correct" and "you are trying to hammer a nail with a wrench" were all cheerfully offered as some sort of intellectual reassurance by Phil that we should all just realize smart guys at JREF will know best just because they are smart and "keep moving along, nothing to see here". This form of intellectual narcissism was hard to take at times.

Phil Plait is a showman in addition to surrounding himself by science, and I think that's why James Randy put him in the "public" seat of JREF. While Phil may be a Dr. and a smart guy, he is not in control of JREF as much as a scientist but rather a "showman gatekeeper" with a credential. James Randy is not a researcher or a scientist and is just a Richard Wiseman follower and court jester (self called clown) as long as it suits his worldview - and Richard Wiseman even waffles around a lot on the data, so who knows how long Wiseman will suit the amazing Randy. From about 25 minutes onward is where the show really is. It was revealing as to what's wrong with JREF aside from just the shenanigan's of the James Randy showman types. At :50 Phil says "if we are getting this wrong then we need to look at what we are doing" but then when it comes down to actually following the data he can't really go there - well perhaps he can himself, but he can't let a discussion go there as the JREF president. When a real set of data can be looked at, he's not aware of it or willing to get down to the act of doing any science analysis himself. Whatever "wonder at it all" he had, before getting involved with the "non-scientist James Randy" - it has been sold to someone else, and he just doesn't have "it" in him, in this interview. Phil said, "I'm not going to get cornered into a specific thing here..." That was his attitude, time and time again, before throwing in an anecdotal example of a crazy claim or garbage you may hear about on shows like Coast to Coast AM or the like. That's not science, that's anecdotal classification and defending beliefs, Phil. While science education (the target discussion of #81) is an interesting and really important topic, the subject paled in comparison to what's behind the curtain at JREF. I guess in my opinion, that is what the episode really brought forward.

I think Phil Plait is a really smart and likable guy. But it was disappointing to see his smarts and inspiration coerced into putting his mind toward JREF. His best efforts can be applied much more constructively elsewhere, even if his data may not agree with someone else's. At least THAT would be science.
 
I feel like I'm on fast forward in going through so many shows in a short time. I can now see my post above is giving poor Phil Plait too much of a roasting - I was riled up and now see it was not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Still - Phil didn't stick around too long at JREF... I suppose he probably saw the writing on the wall and went back to his strengths of being a scientist and that's probably a good thing. While I find myself enjoying DJ Grothe speak I can also see JREF is a non player in terms of who is a mover and a shaker in trying to really figure leading edge science details out. It's just a side show.

The thing that has surprised me now that I have passed episode 105 and higher is that I really, really appreciate the effort that "some" if not a good portion of the skeptical people have put into showing up - ready to debate with Alex. For example I find myself impressed often by Dr. Steven Novalla and then usually later on, it's easy to feel frustrated by the impasse that always seems to occur once the debates are over. It's almost like we start to get somewhere when it comes down to two people trying to sort details out - and then the "two sides" seem to regroup and the cultural inertia of inflexible conclusions then harden up again. I think believers and skeptics are both guilty of the same traps of self delusion when it comes to the minute details of the science behind the science. This is science though - it moves slowly and methodically by design. I feel like my "probability wave" gets collapsed and re formed all the time in these podcast episodes. I am not sure if I'm a skeptic or a believer at this point. My gut feeling is there is something very real to this stuff - I have a long gone distant personal experience that always nags at me and those memories are what make me keep coming back and learn more. What a trip. Thank you Alex for this podcast. I really feel like I have learned a lot and put a lot of thought into an area that I've been interested in for a long time. Thanks to the work and effort put into this "personal journey" of yours, as I now feel more empowered to start digging into this stuff in a more substantial way. I'm just getting started but I'm on my way.
 
Thanks for the link
all I could find was a few of the podcasts that got erased from the new forum
I wasn't able to find the archives of the original forum with years and years of discussions and debates
any idea?
I'm not sure.

I logged on to the old forums, went to my own profile page and then listed my own posts. I don't know how many posts there should have been, but some of them still seem to exist. In a couple of cases the listed post linked to a missing page (code 404) so it's definitely incomplete.
 
I tried looking in each older podcast episode, under the links of "past shows" to specific discussions. There is a link on the top of the page that says "discussions". My initial thought was the link did not work anymore as all it does is refresh the page. However, scrolling down below the transcript, I saw that the comments were attached to the web page of the show itself. It is not in a forum environment, but rather in a "blog" post or comment attachment to the lower page. Not as functional or easy to settle in to, but the comments are there none the less.
 
I tried looking in each older podcast episode, under the links of "past shows" to specific discussions. There is a link on the top of the page that says "discussions". My initial thought was the link did not work anymore as all it does is refresh the page. However, scrolling down below the transcript, I saw that the comments were attached to the web page of the show itself. It is not in a forum environment, but rather in a "blog" post or comment attachment to the lower page. Not as functional or easy to settle in to, but the comments are there none the less.
I think those comments on the show webpage have always been there, it was additional to, and not the same as the forum discussions.
 
Just made it through 200 shows! It took some time but it was a good ride. I'm now caught up for the most part, but will listen to them all from 200 through today, once again, so I can say I made a complete run through all of them in the last year. Awesome stuff, thank you to all the guests and Alex.
 
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