Mod+ Near Death Experience : Fifth Dimension Documentary on Near Death Experiences

It annoys me that they put someone like Susan Balckmore on as not only an "expert", but also claiming to be an NDEr, which she clearly is not. She had some sort of "experience" while taking drugs, but she wasn't "near-death" and she didn't experience any of the after-effects typical of NDErs. At best, she may have have an OBE, but it seems more likely it was just a chemically induced hallucination. Let's face it, she has more in common with substance abusers than with NDErs, so it's no wonder that - in contrast to actual NDErs - she has been doing her best over the years to distance herself from that experience. (That being said, I do believe that people can have spiritually transformative experiences through the use of certain drugs. But the average person smoking pot at a party is more likely to just get stoned and stupid.)

Not only is Blackmore not an NDEr, she isn't an expert on NDEs! Prior to being in this documentary, she appeared on Skeptiko and admitted that she was not an expert!
I’m not a researcher in the field. I have not been for a long time.
So why is she still making false claims and pretending to be something she is not? It doesn't say much for the documentary producers that they included her in this film.
 
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Although clearly some of the material is still relevant, and some of the people are still key players in this field, the documentary itself is credited with the year MMV or 2005, which makes it quite dated. For example the AWARE study didn't begin until 2008.
 
Although clearly some of the material is still relevant, and some of the people are still key players in this field, the documentary itself is credited with the year MMV or 2005, which makes it quite dated. For example the AWARE study didn't begin until 2008.
That's still after the time when Blackmore had already quit the field of parapsychology and admittedly stopped being an "expert". The skeptiko interview was 2010, and she stated this in the podcast:

Dr. Susan Blackmore: But I don’t. You’re absolutely right. I wouldn’t have said that before I gave up all of this stuff so many years ago. Of course I wouldn’t have said that because if you are a researcher in the field it behooves you to read really as much as you can of the best work because otherwise you can’t be a researcher in the field. I’m not a researcher in the field. I have not been for a long time. And because I felt I had to get out-it’s the same with all of the parapsychological things which I really stopped doing about 10 years ago.

So she was no longer an "expert" in 2005, and she was never an NDEr.
 
You will find the doco here:


I'm interested in people's reflections and analysis

Jules

I use to "hammer" this documentary back on the old Skeptiko-forum. I think its a good series.
The NDE-one is just one part out of 6.

If someone have interest seeing the other parts I put the link in here below.

The order in which they were released is:

It contains both sides of the fence for each subject (sceptics and proponents), so there is a bit of Wiseman and Blackmore thrown in now and then, but not so much that it discourage. ;)
I highly recommend it for those who are interested in these subjects.

Here is playlist that plays the whole serie back to back, in correct order, so when one ends the next starts. So its just one click and play, for the whole show.>>

 
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