This prominent scientist says life is meaningless… and he’s serious |314|

Thanks for the interview and the analysis, Alex. I don't think my own score card would be that that high, especially before you got to the NDE science part, but you may have missed this bit of slipperiness. It jumped out at me when you replayed it in the analysis: "I could spend my entire life reading studies on near-death experiences and carefully understanding why they’re flawed". It's not just the "life is short so I don't have time to study the data" bit that you so well pointed out, but the just-under-the-radar, near-subliminal implication that all of those NDE studies must necessarily be flawed.
 
Thanks for the interview and the analysis, Alex. I don't think my own score card would be that that high, especially before you got to the NDE science part, but you may have missed this bit of slipperiness. It jumped out at me when you replayed it in the analysis: "I could spend my entire life reading studies on near-death experiences and carefully understanding why they’re flawed". It's not just the "life is short so I don't have time to study the data" bit that you so well pointed out, but the just-under-the-radar, near-subliminal implication that all of those NDE studies must necessarily be flawed.

I agree that this is a slippery response from Carroll, but this can cut both ways as the interviewee's ignorance of the papers has in the past allowed Alex to overstate claims that aren't necessarily backed up by the published studies.

I have asked before... What three or four NDE papers should an interviewee read before Alex records a show? AWARE would have to be one as the most recent 'gold standard'. I'm guessing Merkawah too. What other paper or two?

(I haven't listened to this week's show yet.)
 
I agree that this is a slippery response from Carroll, but this can cut both ways as the interviewee's ignorance of the papers has in the past allowed Alex to overstate claims that aren't necessarily backed up by the published studies.

I have asked before... What three or four NDE papers should an interviewee read before Alex records a show? AWARE would have to be one as the most recent 'gold standard'. I'm guessing Merkawah too. What other paper or two?

(I haven't listened to this week's show yet.)
You'll see when you listen to the interview, but in this case Carroll apparently brings up near-death experiences in his chapter called "Death is the end".
 
What three or four NDE papers should an interviewee read before Alex records a show?
Carroll latest book (referenced numerous times during the show) has a chapter titled "death IS the end." in it he makes a passing reference to NDE research suggesting that it doesn't measure up. I merely asked him to clarify which research he's referring to since he has zero citations of this research in his book.

Carroll does sloppy work aimed at slow thinking atheists.
 
why they’re flawed". It's not just the "life is short so I don't have time to study the data" bit that you so well pointed out, but the just-under-the-radar, near-subliminal implication that all of those NDE studies must necessarily be flawed.
great one, Ian!
 
Carroll latest book (referenced numerous times during the show) has a chapter titled "death IS the end." in it he makes a passing reference to NDE research suggesting that it doesn't measure up. I merely asked him to clarify which research he's referring to since he has zero citations of this research in his book.

Carroll does sloppy work aimed at slow thinking atheists.
OK, that does sound disappointing. I've been at work all day and will listen tonight... I'd still be really keen to know (in an ideal world) what 3 or 4 NDE studies you would put in front of a Skeptiko guest before an interview with you.
 
It has probably been mentioned already, but its *really* hard to take Sean seriously after he advocated to drop falsification in favor of the meta-physical (and quite frankly, essentially the same kind of thing that people like him dismiss as "superstition") multiverse idea.

Then again, this interview was nothing more than hand waving and excuses not to do his research. After such a display of arrogance. Are any of the resident skeptics still questioning why not many of their kind are interviewed nowadays? malf? Or brooke? Surely one of you can explain this dismissive attitude in a way that actually seems ontologically acceptable.
 
I'm not sure how many of Alex's points I picked up on, but one I'd add is that when Carroll uses the word natural in contradistinction to supernatural, he's presupposing that only physical phenomena are natural. Everything else is supernatural: and as we all should know, supernatural phenomena don't exist because everything that exists is natural, and only physical phenomena exist, right? The implicit circularity in his argument is something he can't for the life of him detect because of his underlying, unquestioning, belief that existence physicality.

Well, because that's a belief rather than a certain fact, it's metaphysical, just as is the the contrary belief, that existence not ≡ physicality (as in idealism), or the somewhat different belief that existence not wholly ≡ physicality (as in dualism).

Science in its present form concentrates on that which is physical, whatever "physicality" is deemed to mean--and what exactly is that? Well, at bottom, it comprises fundamental particles, fields, forces, time, and space. Of those, particles seem to best offer the prospect of concrete perception (based on everyday sensory experience of what are deemed to be aggregations of particles). The other items in the list are somewhat less tangible: I suppose magnetism and gravity are the best examples of force fields. Electromagnetic fields are a bit less concrete, and time/space, arguably a bit less still.

Notice that detection of all physical phenomena depends on sensory perception, either direct, or indirect through instrumentation. But note: without perception, we couldn't have the discipline of physics; it depends on perception, and also on sufficient intelligence to interpret data in some way.

But where did perception and intelligence come from? Carroll assumes physical phenomena are the very ones that generated perception and intelligence (underlying which is consciousness) in the first place. In other words, he assumes that, based on a present-day interpretation of the discipline of physics, actual physics, which presumably has always existed independently of that interpretation, quite blindly created everything.

Oh--but wait: he thinks that consciousness, at bottom, isn't what it seems to be experienced as: it isn't an ontological fact, but has mysteriously emerged from the interactions of elementary particles and forces. How remarkable that this emergent pseudo-phenomenon is precisely what he has to rely on to be able to offer his convictions as self-evident facts. They only seem like facts to him because of his disposition towards physicalism in the first place. There's no way to shift this disposition: no arguments one can offer, no response of his, however poorly researched or ill-informed, that can be used against him, because he's trapped inside the circularity of his own arguments.

During the interview, he made things up on the hoof to justify his claims; for instance, saying that Radin gets published in peer-reviewed journals, but peer-reviewed journals can't be relied on to publish facts--except, of course, when they're physicalist. This is just so obviously a case of special pleading I wonder he has the nerve to claim it.

Then again, what does it matter that a claimed majority of scientists (out in the open, at any rate) evince physicalist beliefs? What has consensus got to do with anything? Carroll would doubtless be the first to have to admit that sometimes, consensus views are wrong.

For the record, I agree with Carroll that nothing exists that is not natural (i.e. that is supernatural). However, I don't equate naturalism with physicalism (which I count as a naiive realist view, based on the evidence of sensory perception interpreted in a physicalist way). I think things are more subtle than that; physicality is an appearance that can be construed to cover some, but not all phenomena, especially consciousness. He might argue that we really don't possess it, but in doing that, he's undermining his case: why should we read his book and believe him if he's nothing but a mindless robot? Why should his view be any better than anyone else's?

My guess is that his answer would be that his view, even though it's that of a mindless robot, happens to coincide with the actual nature of reality; probably on account of his facility with, and trust in, mathematics, and of it's ability to model, at least to some extent (doubtless to be improved in the future), certain aspects of the natural world. But, hey: models aren't the same thing as reality itself, are they?

If only he'd accept that his model of reality, useful though it is, doesn't necessarily reflect what is actually the case, it might be possible for him to escape his many circularities and have a productive dialogue with those who differ from him. As it is, despite his ersatz humility, he's got an ego the size of a planet.
 
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Any philosophy worth a hoot has to navigate human experience in its entirety. Carroll's version of physicalism relies on wilful ignorance of all the reflexive internal dialogues that define living, and privileges one exotic and unprovable assumption that 99.99% of that experience is erroneous, phenomenally speaking. This rests on the assumption that dead men don't get up and walk, but ignores the fact that looking at the vital signs of a living person won't reveal whether they're solving Fermat's last theorum or thinking what to have for supper.

The important stuff offers no physical flags, no thought bubbles, light bulbs or exclamation marks, until its work is done. Carroll's version of reality insists the donkey work is an illusion, and reality only occurs when the solution is published and the rocket is on the launch pad. Einstein offered a general theory of relativity, ate his cornflakes, then took a dump, and close examination of the cereal or lavatory bowls won't reveal anything of how he reached his conclusions.
 
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Carroll's comment about how those who deny the existence of an afterlife are "being more honest" very much reminded me of one of Alex's interviews with Bernardo Kastrup, where Kastrup talked about hardcore materialism becoming fashionable precisely because it was so negative, which was combined with the idea that "A real man faces the harsh reality." So you end up with people who treat being a materialist as a point of pride, because they can see themselves as being tough enough to take it. I get the sense that there's at least some of that attitude behind Carroll's words.
 
Listening to Carroll some more, the general tone is of breezy confidence that borders on hysteria. This is not an uncommon trait in materialist proponents and gives the listener little confidence in the speaker's ability to be genuinely disinterested. Going back to Kastrup's compensation idea, the yawning gaps in knowledge manifest themselves in all kinds of rhetorical gymnastics and shrill appeals to progress. We're listening through an aural medium deprived of visual cues, but based on the spoken word Carroll sounds a salesman making a pitch, not an academic confident of his intellectual ground.

This could be a personality trait, but I've heard the same, slightly strangled tone among other skeptical rationalists that does not exist when they're talking to a tame audience. Remove the appeals to authority and cheery bonhomie, and there's nothing much going on with Dr Carroll that isn't better explained by psychology than physics.
 
I only have one thing to say - if Carroll won't even properly read research that he feels confident to write about on his book, and that he somehow 'knows' is false - how is he taken seriously?

Imagine if someone like Radin said that about skeptical studies that had negative results, nobody would take him seriously.

These interviews are useful to remind people that for many materialistic/atheist scientists, they're not being objective, it is a belief system of theirs, and a very strong one at that.
 
I only have one thing to say - if Carroll won't even properly read research that he feels confident to write about on his book, and that he somehow 'knows' is false - how is he taken seriously?

He is usually charismatic and appears confident even when talking out of his ass (the sort of puff that he manages to produce even while admitting that he knew nothing in this interview), that is usually enough to get you a following of redditors, just ask Neil deGrasse Tyson. To boost that, he enjoys delving into things *way* outside his training (and I don't mean parapsychology, check his posts on philosophy for example).

It doesn't take much for the media to highlight someone, he/she just needs to be entertaining and capable of appearing confident even when making a clown of himself/herself. Bit mind you, that this also applies to a lot of the media parapsychologists.
 
What three or four NDE papers should an interviewee read before Alex records a show?

There are a vast amount of papers, Malf and included in this relatively small list are most (but not all) of the best studies. Forgive me if I have this wrong but I always get the impression that you think you have good reason to perceive that there isn't a shred of reliable evidence anywhere in the literature. As regards Carroll, is he not also snubbing the papers authored by his natural allies ?

Athappilly, G.K.; Greyson, B.; Stevenson, I. - Do prevailing societal models influence reports of near-death experiences? Comparison of accounts reported before and after 1975. J Nerv Ment Dis 194: 218-222, 2006.
Badham, P.; Badham, L. - Immortality or extinction? Barnes & Noble, Totowa, 1982.
Bates, B.C.; Stanley, A. - The epidemiology and differential diagnosis of near-death experience. Am J Orthopsychiatry 55: 542-549, 1985.
Bauer, M. - Near-death experiences and attitude change. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Studies 5(1):39-47, 1985.
Becker, C.B. - The failure of Saganomics: why birth models cannot explain near-death phenomena. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2: 102-109, 1982.
Bentall, R.P. - Hallucinatory experiences. In: Cardeña, E.; Lynn, S.J.; Krippner, S. (eds.). Varieties of anomalous experience: examining the scientific evidence. American Psychological Association, Washington, pp. 85-120, 2000.
Blackmore, S. - Birth and the OBE: an unhelpful analogy. J Am Soc Psychical Res 77:29-238, 1983.
Blackmore, S. - Dying to live: near-death experiences. Prometheus, Buffalo, 1993.
Bush, N.E. - The near-death experience in children: shades of the prison-house reopening. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 3:77-193, 1983.
Bush, N.E. - Is ten years a life review? J Near-Death Studies 10:5-9, 1991.
Carr, D. - Pathophysiology of stress-induced limbic lobe dysfunction: a hypothesis for NDEs. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2:75-89, 1982.
Clark, K. - Clinical interventions with near-death experiencers. In: Greyson, B.; Flynn, C.P. (eds.). The near-death experience: problems, prospects, perspectives. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, pp. 242-255, 1984.
Fenwick, P. - Is the near-death experience only N-methyl-D-aspartate blocking? J Near-Death Stud 16:43-53, 1997.
Flynn, C.P. - Meanings and implications of NDEr transformations: some preliminary findings and implications. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2:3-13, 1982.
French, C.C. - Dying to know the truth: visions of a dying brain, or false memories? Lancet 358:2010-2011, 2001.
Gabbard, G.O.; Twemlow, S.W. - With the eyes of the mind: an empirical analysis of out-of-body states. Praeger, New York, 1984.
Gloor, P. - Experiential phenomena of temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain 113: 1673-1694, 1990.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and attempted suicide. Suic Life-Threat Behav 11:10-16, 1981.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and personal values. Am J Psychiatry 140:618-620, 1983a.
Greyson, B. The psychodynamics of near-death experiences. J Nerv Ment Dis 171:376-381, 1983b.
Greyson, B. - Near-death encounters with and without near-death experiences: comparative NDE Scale profiles. J Near-Death Stud 8:151-161, 1990.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences precipitated by suicide attempt: lack of influence of psychopathology, religion, and expectations. J Near-Death Stud 9:183-188, 1991.
Greyson, B. - Reduced death threat in near-death experiencers. Death Stud 16:533-546, 1992.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and antisuicidal attitudes. Omega 26:81-89, 1993a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and the physio-kundalini syndrome. J Relig Health 32:277-290, 1993b.
Greyson, B. - The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention.
J Nerv Ment Dis 185:327-334, 1997a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death narratives. In: Krippner, S.; Powers, S.M. (eds.). Broken images, broken selves: dissociative narratives in clinical practice. Brunner/Mazel, Washington, pp. 163-180, 1997b.
Greyson, B. - The incidence of near-death experiences. Med Psychiatry 1:92-99, 1998a.
Greyson, B. - Biological aspects of near-death experiences. Perspect Biol Med 42:14-32, 1998b.
Greyson, B. - Dissociation in people who have near-death experiences: out of their bodies or out of their minds? Lancet 355:460-463, 2000.
Greyson, B. - Posttraumatic stress symptoms following near-death experiences. Am J Orthopsychiatry 71:368-373, 2001.
Greyson, B. - Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences on a cardiac care unit. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 25:269-276, 2003a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences in a psychiatric outpatient clinic population. Psychiatric Serv 54:1649-1651, 2003b.
Greyson, B. - Consistency of near-death experience accounts over two decades: are reports embellished over time? Resuscitation 73:407-411, 2007.
Greyson, B.; Harris, B. - Clinical approaches to the near-death experiencer. J Near-Death Stud 6:41-52, 1987.
Greyson, B.; Liester, M.B. - Auditory hallucinations following near-death experiences. J Humanistic Psychol 44:320-336, 2004.
Greyson, B.; Stevenson, I. - The phenomenology of near-death experiences. Am J Psychiatry 137: 1193-1196, 1980.
Heim, A.; von St., G. - Notizen über den Tod durch absturz. Jahrbuch des Schweitzerischen Alpenclub 27:327-337, 1892.
Herzog, D.B.; Herrin, J.T. - Near-death experiences in the very young. Crit Care Med 13:1074-1075, 1985.
Horowitz, M.J.; Adams, J.E. - Hallucinations on brain stimulation: evidence for revision of the Penfield hypothesis. In: Keup W. (ed.). Origin and mechanisms of hallucinations. Plenum, New York, pp. 13-22, 1970.
Insinge, R.M. - The impact of a near-death experience on family relationships. J Near-Death Stud 9:141-181, 1981.
Irwin, H.J. Flight of mind: a psychological study of the out-of-body experience. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, 1985.
Irwin, H.J. - The near-death experience as a dissociative phenomenon: an empirical assessment. J Near-Death Stud 12:95-103, 1993.
Jansen, K.L.R. - The ketamine model of the near-death experience: a central role for the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. J Near-Death Stud 16:5-26, 1997.
Kellehear, A. - Culture, biology, and the near-death experience. J Nerv Ment Dis 181:148-156, 1993.
Kelly, E.W.; Greyson, B.; Kelly, E.F. - Unusual experiences near death and related phenomena. In: Kelly, E.F.; Kelly, E.W.; Crabtree, A.; Gauld, A.; Grosso, M.; Greyson, B. Irreducible mind: toward a psychology for the 21st century. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, pp. 3667-3421, 2006.
Lister, M.B. - Inner communications following the near-death experience.
J Near-Death Stud 16:233-248, 1998.
Locke, T.P.; Shontz, F.C. - Personality correlates of the near-death experience: a preliminary study. J Am Soc Psychical Res 77:311-318, 1983.
Lukoff, D. - Diagnosis of mystical experiences with psychotic features.
J Transpers PsychoL 17:155-181, 1985.
Lukoff, D.; Lu, F.; Turner, R. - Toward a more culturally sensitive DSM-IV: psychoreligious and psychospiritual problems. J Nerv Ment Dis 180: 673-682, 1992.
Moody, R.A. - Life after life. Mockingbird Books, Covington, 1975.
Morse, M.L.; Conner, D.; Tyler, D. - Near-death experiences in a pediatric population. Am J Dis Child 139:595-600, 1985.
Morse, M.L.; Venecia, D.; Milstein, J. - Near-death experiences: a neurophysiological explanatory model. J Near-Death Stud 8:45-53, 1989.
Noyes, R. - Attitude change following near-death experience. Psychiatry 43:234-242, 1980.
Noyes, R.; Kletti, R. - Depersonalization in response to life-threatening danger. Compr Psychiatry 18:375-384, 1977.
Osis, K.; Haraldsson, E. - At the hour of death. Avon, New York, 1977.
Parnia, S.; Fenwick, P. - Near death experiences in cardiac arrest: visions of a dying brain or visions of a new science of consciousness? Resuscitation 52:5-11, 2002.
Parnia, S.; Waller, D.G.; Yeates, R.; Fenwick, P. - A qualitative and quantitative study of the incidence, features and aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors. Resuscitation 48:149-156, 2001.
Persinger, M.A. - Near-death experiences: determining the neuroanatomical pathways by experiential patterns and simulation in experimental settings. In: Bessette, L. (ed.). Healing: beyond suffering or death. Publications MNH, Chabanel, Québec, pp. 277-286, 1994.
Ring, K. - Life at death: a scientific investigation of the near-death experience. Coward, McCann, & Geoghegan, New York, 1980.
Ring, K. - Heading toward omega: in search of the meaning of the near-death experience. William Morrow, New York, 1984.
Ring, K. - The Omega Project: near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and mind at large. William Morrow, New York, 1992.
Ring, K.; Cooper, S. - Mindsight: near-death and out-of-body experiences in the blind. William James Center/Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, 1999.
Ring, K.; Lawrence, M. - Further evidence for veridical perception during near-death experiences. J Near-Death Stud 11:223-229, 1993.
Roberts, G.; Owen, J. - The near-death experience. Br J Psychiatry 153: 607-617, 1988.
Rodin, E.A. - The reality of death experiences: a personal perspective. J Nerv Ment Dis 168:259-263, 1980.
Rodin, E.A. - Comments on "a neurobiological model for near-death experiences". J Near-Death Stud 7:255-259, 1989.
Saavedra-Aguilar, J.C.; Gómez-Jeria, J.S. - A neurobiological model for near-death experiences. J Near-Death Stud 7:205-222, 1989.
Sabom, M.B. - Recollections of death: a medical investigation. Harper and Row, New York, 1982.
Sabom, M.B. Light and death: one doctor's fascinating account of near-death experiences. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1998.
Sagan, C. - Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science. Random House, New York, 1979.
Serdahely, W.J. - Pediatric near-death experiences. J Near-Death Stud 9:33-39, 1990.
Turner, R.P.; Lukoff, D.; Barnhouse, R.T.; Lu, F.G. - Religious or spiritual problem: a culturally sensitive diagnostic category in the DSM-IV. J Nerv Ment Dis 183:435-444, 1995.
van Del, R.A. - The role of death romanticization in the dynamics of suicide. Suic Life-Threat Behav 7:45-56, 1977.
van Lommel, P.; van Wees, R.; Meyers, V.; Elfferich, I. - Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. Lancet 358:2039-2045, 2001.
Whinnery, J.E. - Psychophysiologic correlates of unconsciousness and near-death experiences. J Near-Death Stud 15:231-258, 1997.
Wilber, K. - The developmental spectrum and psychopathology: part II, treatment modalities. J Transpers Psychol 16:137-166, 1984.
 
There are a vast amount of papers, Malf and included in this relatively small list are most (but not all) of the best studies. Forgive me if I have this wrong but I always get the impression that you think you have good reason to perceive that there isn't a shred of reliable evidence anywhere in the literature. As regards Carroll, is he not also snubbing the papers authored by his natural allies ?

Athappilly, G.K.; Greyson, B.; Stevenson, I. - Do prevailing societal models influence reports of near-death experiences? Comparison of accounts reported before and after 1975. J Nerv Ment Dis 194: 218-222, 2006.
Badham, P.; Badham, L. - Immortality or extinction? Barnes & Noble, Totowa, 1982.
Bates, B.C.; Stanley, A. - The epidemiology and differential diagnosis of near-death experience. Am J Orthopsychiatry 55: 542-549, 1985.
Bauer, M. - Near-death experiences and attitude change. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Studies 5(1):39-47, 1985.
Becker, C.B. - The failure of Saganomics: why birth models cannot explain near-death phenomena. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2: 102-109, 1982.
Bentall, R.P. - Hallucinatory experiences. In: Cardeña, E.; Lynn, S.J.; Krippner, S. (eds.). Varieties of anomalous experience: examining the scientific evidence. American Psychological Association, Washington, pp. 85-120, 2000.
Blackmore, S. - Birth and the OBE: an unhelpful analogy. J Am Soc Psychical Res 77:29-238, 1983.
Blackmore, S. - Dying to live: near-death experiences. Prometheus, Buffalo, 1993.
Bush, N.E. - The near-death experience in children: shades of the prison-house reopening. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 3:77-193, 1983.
Bush, N.E. - Is ten years a life review? J Near-Death Studies 10:5-9, 1991.
Carr, D. - Pathophysiology of stress-induced limbic lobe dysfunction: a hypothesis for NDEs. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2:75-89, 1982.
Clark, K. - Clinical interventions with near-death experiencers. In: Greyson, B.; Flynn, C.P. (eds.). The near-death experience: problems, prospects, perspectives. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, pp. 242-255, 1984.
Fenwick, P. - Is the near-death experience only N-methyl-D-aspartate blocking? J Near-Death Stud 16:43-53, 1997.
Flynn, C.P. - Meanings and implications of NDEr transformations: some preliminary findings and implications. Anabiosis: J Near-Death Stud 2:3-13, 1982.
French, C.C. - Dying to know the truth: visions of a dying brain, or false memories? Lancet 358:2010-2011, 2001.
Gabbard, G.O.; Twemlow, S.W. - With the eyes of the mind: an empirical analysis of out-of-body states. Praeger, New York, 1984.
Gloor, P. - Experiential phenomena of temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain 113: 1673-1694, 1990.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and attempted suicide. Suic Life-Threat Behav 11:10-16, 1981.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and personal values. Am J Psychiatry 140:618-620, 1983a.
Greyson, B. The psychodynamics of near-death experiences. J Nerv Ment Dis 171:376-381, 1983b.
Greyson, B. - Near-death encounters with and without near-death experiences: comparative NDE Scale profiles. J Near-Death Stud 8:151-161, 1990.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences precipitated by suicide attempt: lack of influence of psychopathology, religion, and expectations. J Near-Death Stud 9:183-188, 1991.
Greyson, B. - Reduced death threat in near-death experiencers. Death Stud 16:533-546, 1992.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and antisuicidal attitudes. Omega 26:81-89, 1993a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences and the physio-kundalini syndrome. J Relig Health 32:277-290, 1993b.
Greyson, B. - The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention.
J Nerv Ment Dis 185:327-334, 1997a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death narratives. In: Krippner, S.; Powers, S.M. (eds.). Broken images, broken selves: dissociative narratives in clinical practice. Brunner/Mazel, Washington, pp. 163-180, 1997b.
Greyson, B. - The incidence of near-death experiences. Med Psychiatry 1:92-99, 1998a.
Greyson, B. - Biological aspects of near-death experiences. Perspect Biol Med 42:14-32, 1998b.
Greyson, B. - Dissociation in people who have near-death experiences: out of their bodies or out of their minds? Lancet 355:460-463, 2000.
Greyson, B. - Posttraumatic stress symptoms following near-death experiences. Am J Orthopsychiatry 71:368-373, 2001.
Greyson, B. - Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences on a cardiac care unit. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 25:269-276, 2003a.
Greyson, B. - Near-death experiences in a psychiatric outpatient clinic population. Psychiatric Serv 54:1649-1651, 2003b.
Greyson, B. - Consistency of near-death experience accounts over two decades: are reports embellished over time? Resuscitation 73:407-411, 2007.
Greyson, B.; Harris, B. - Clinical approaches to the near-death experiencer. J Near-Death Stud 6:41-52, 1987.
Greyson, B.; Liester, M.B. - Auditory hallucinations following near-death experiences. J Humanistic Psychol 44:320-336, 2004.
Greyson, B.; Stevenson, I. - The phenomenology of near-death experiences. Am J Psychiatry 137: 1193-1196, 1980.
Heim, A.; von St., G. - Notizen über den Tod durch absturz. Jahrbuch des Schweitzerischen Alpenclub 27:327-337, 1892.
Herzog, D.B.; Herrin, J.T. - Near-death experiences in the very young. Crit Care Med 13:1074-1075, 1985.
Horowitz, M.J.; Adams, J.E. - Hallucinations on brain stimulation: evidence for revision of the Penfield hypothesis. In: Keup W. (ed.). Origin and mechanisms of hallucinations. Plenum, New York, pp. 13-22, 1970.
Insinge, R.M. - The impact of a near-death experience on family relationships. J Near-Death Stud 9:141-181, 1981.
Irwin, H.J. Flight of mind: a psychological study of the out-of-body experience. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, 1985.
Irwin, H.J. - The near-death experience as a dissociative phenomenon: an empirical assessment. J Near-Death Stud 12:95-103, 1993.
Jansen, K.L.R. - The ketamine model of the near-death experience: a central role for the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. J Near-Death Stud 16:5-26, 1997.
Kellehear, A. - Culture, biology, and the near-death experience. J Nerv Ment Dis 181:148-156, 1993.
Kelly, E.W.; Greyson, B.; Kelly, E.F. - Unusual experiences near death and related phenomena. In: Kelly, E.F.; Kelly, E.W.; Crabtree, A.; Gauld, A.; Grosso, M.; Greyson, B. Irreducible mind: toward a psychology for the 21st century. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, pp. 3667-3421, 2006.
Lister, M.B. - Inner communications following the near-death experience.
J Near-Death Stud 16:233-248, 1998.
Locke, T.P.; Shontz, F.C. - Personality correlates of the near-death experience: a preliminary study. J Am Soc Psychical Res 77:311-318, 1983.
Lukoff, D. - Diagnosis of mystical experiences with psychotic features.
J Transpers PsychoL 17:155-181, 1985.
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Realistically, we need to give a prospective guest a manageable number of papers before a show, ideally from higher impact factor journals. Best six?
 
Realistically, we need to give a prospective guest a manageable number of papers before a show, ideally from higher impact factor journals. Best six?

If you mean best six studies, they have to be prospective. Sabom (Atlanta) Morse (Seattle) Van Lommel et al... Parnia and Fenwick 2002... P Sartori ....Aware ..is that okay ? It doesn't mean that the retrospective studies are of no value, they have all been subsequently shown to be reliable. You didn't answer my question though.
 
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If you mean best six studies, they have to be prospective. Sabom (Atlanta) Morse (Seattle) Van Lommel et al Parnia and Fenwick 2002... P Sartori ....Aware ..is that okay ? You didn't answer my question though.
Papers from "allies"? Which ones?
 
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