The scientific conspiracy as explanation for lack of interest from neuroscience is cop out IMO. My guess is that NDE's, although they are interesting, are simply very hard to study. The whole motivation for there even being a field of NDE research is search for an afterlife.
That is a good question, makes me wonder why NDE researchers are not more interested in investigating other states of minimal consciousness.
But when has something been uninteresting to scientists because it's hard to study? The brain is hard to study, yet we have neuroscience as an entire field dedicated to researching it. As far as motivation goes, doesn't that vary on each individual in the field? I'd sure like to meet the guy who said, "when I was 5, I decided at that moment that I wanted to be a urologist." XD
You raise a good point about researching minimal conscious states, know anyone who's on that? Their research would be interesting for discussion.
You misunderstand, I said this in the context of our discussion about the NDE being an evolved function.
Full disclosure prompts me to admit that I think it is the most probable explanation in the broader context to, but there is always a possibility for new and better evidence there.
Oh, my bad then. Actually, I think most, if not all, NDE researchers agree it's an evolved function, the question is why and how... and maybe who.