Rupert Sheldrake and Richard Wiseman
Clash Over Parapsychology Experiments
Alex Tsakiris, Skeptico, March 8, 2010
“A lively debate between biologist Rupert Sheldrake and telepathy skeptic Richard Wiseman reveals wide rift between skeptics and psi proponents.”

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake on the Persistence of
Richard Wiseman’s Deception
Alex Tsakiris, Skeptico, April 19, 2011
“Biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake expresses dismay at latest claims made by skeptic Richard Wiseman in Wiseman’s recent book, Paranormality.”

Zen … and the Art of Debunkery
“Or, How to Debunk Just About Anything.”
Dan Drasin, New Science 2020
Step by step instructions for the pseudoskeptic new at the job.

A Response to Wikipedia:
Regarding Remote Viewing and Russell Targ
Russell Targ, ESP Research, May 2014
“Remote viewing is not ‘pseudoscience’. Please immediately drop that inaccurate and insulting term that you have scattered throughout my Wikipedia bio-page.”

True versus Pseudo-Skepticism
Dr. Gary Schwartz
“Pseudo-skeptics often are typically disbelievers – i.e. they are firmly entrenched in believing ‘no’ about certain things. Although they may ‘claim’ that they are open to new information, they typically react with strongly unfriendly if not hostile criticisms when their beliefs and assumptions are challenged by new ideas and evidence.”

The Right Man Syndrome:
Skepticism And Alternative Medicine
Larry Dossey, M.D.
“[CSICOP’S] skepticism is not always balanced. [T]he general tone … is extraordinarily cavalier and condescending.”

A Critical Look at CSI,
A Pseudo-Scientific Skeptic Organization
Craig Weiler, August 30, 2011

Religion, Science, and the Attack of the Angry Atheists
Max Tegmark (MIT Physicist), Huffington Post, February 19, 2013

Symptoms of Pathological Skepticism
William J. Beaty, 1996.
“[Skeptics use] the same tactics religious groups use to suppress heretics: hostile emotional attacks, circular reasoning, dehumanizing of the ‘enemy’, extreme closed-mindedness, intellectually dishonest reasoning, underhanded debating tactics, negative gossip, and all manner of name-calling and character assassination.”

The Death of David Reimer
Jesse Walker, Reason, May 24, 2004
“A tale of sex, science, and abuse … one of the darker episodes
in the history of pseudoscientific hubris.”

Are Hardcore Skeptics and Debunkers Actually Brain Deficient?
Their Own Beloved ‘Hard Science’ Might Well Suggest Many Are
Thomas Sheridan, April 15, 2013

Technical Reasons Why Skeptics Remain Stubborn
Victor Zammit, November 2011

Criticizing Skepticism: a Critical Evaluation
of the Organized Skeptic Movement
Julio Siqueira, 2012

The Skepticism of Believers
Rupert Sheldrake, Edge, 2006
Skepticism – virtue or weapon?

Fraud occurs in every area of human endeavor, but sometimes what is claimed to be fraud isn’t. In the case of psi and psychic research pseudoskeptics are overliberal, often even mendacious, in their accusations of fraud where there has been none.

Undue pressure from pseudoskeptics, mainstream scientists, or families on vulnerable subjects – often with a renumerative reward – can cause them either to suppress their abilities or to “recant” their proofs. Bias in the service of agenda is antiscientific:

Fraud in Psi Research
Robert McLuhan, Paranormalia

The Confidence of Jerry Coyne
Ross Douthat, The New York Times, January 6, 2014

Is This the Week that Organized Skepticism Imploded?
The Daily Grail, August 11, 2013

What Is Unhealthy Skepticism?
Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times, April 5, 2014
“What to consider when evaluating skeptic arguments;
how to spot a pseudoskeptic.”

Debunking Debunkers
Foster Gamble, Thrive, 30 August 2014
“I met one man who said he was going to watch Thrive, but then changed his mind when he saw that it ‘had been debunked.’ I asked if the debunking had made sense to him. ‘Oh I didn’t actually read it. I just saw it had been debunked.’ My immediate reaction was a punch in the gut. How often are people throwing away or discrediting years of valuable fact-checked research on the grounds of a baseless attack?”

Folklore and the Rise of Moderation Among Organized Skeptics
“‘Personally, I like the uniforms best. They’re jet-black with red insignia and berets. Only the officers wear them to most meetings, but we always dress up for investigations. When you show up at a haunted house in uniform, with night sticks and jackboots, people take notice! The ID is also handy when there is a long line at the store. I like flashing it and saying “Step aside, step aside, official skeptic business here,” and then buy a loaf of bread, or a stick of gum or something. You can feel the eyes burning holes in your back, but it don’t bother me. We’re skeptics, and you can see the jealousy.'”

Suppression of Sound Scientific Ideas
“Abstract: American and British history is riddled with examples of valid research and inventions which have been suppressed and derogated by the conventional science community. This has been of great cost to society and to individual scientists. Rather than furthering the pursuit of new scientific frontiers, the structure of British and American scientific institutions leads to conformity and furthers consensus-seeking. Scientists are generally like other people when it comes to the biases and self-justifications that cause them to make bad decisions and evade the truth. Some topics in science are ‘taboo’ subjects. Two examples are the field of psychic phenomenon and the field of new energy devices such as cold fusion. Journals, books and internet sites exist for those scientists who want an alternative to conformist scientific venues.”

British scientists are more likely than Swedish scientists to exclude mavericks, believing that they need to be excluded from the scientific community so that they do not gain legitimacy:

Mavericks Struggle to be Heard
Lena Eriksson, The Guardian, August 2004
“The British and the Swedes do it differently.”

When Scientists Fight
Lena Eriksson, Science and Public Affairs, June 2004 (at Scribd)

Two remarkable bibliographies on the suppression of dissent
within science:

Suppression of Dissent: Science
Brian Martin

Challenging Dominant Physics Paradigms
Juan Miguel Campanario and Brian Martin, 2004

Chris Carter

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Science and the Afterlife Experience:

Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness

(Inner Traditions, 2012)

Science and Psychic Phenomena:

The Fall of the House of Skeptics

(Inner Traditions, 2012)

Science and the Near-Death Experience:

How Consciousness Survives Death

(Inner Traditions, 2010)

Chris was educated at Oxford University in Economics and Philosophy. He is the author of three highly acclaimed books that explore controversial areas of science and philosophy, and currently teaches internationally (source: Amazon). His latest book is Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness

Larry Dossey, M.D.

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

One Mind:

and Why It Matters

(Hay House, 2013)

The Science of Premonitions:

Maximize Opportunities, and Create a Better Life

(Plume, 2010)

Healing Words:

The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine

(HarperOne, 1995)

Larry is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Healing Words and Prayer Is Good Medicine. An authority on spiritual healing, he lectures throughout the world and has been a frequent guest on Oprah, Good Morning America, CNN, and The Learning Channel. He is responsible for introducing innovations in spiritual care to acclaimed institutions across the country.

Website

David Fontana

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Learn to Meditate:

A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment

(Chronicle Books, 1999)

The Secret Language of Dreams:
A Visual Key to Dreams and Their Meanings

(Diane Publishing Company, 1994)

Dream Deck:

50 Cards to Interpret and Inspire Your Dreams

(Chronicle Books, 2002)

David was professor of Educational Psychology at the Universities of Minho and of Algarve, Portugal; a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Wales in Cardiff; a Chair of the British Psychological Society Transpersonal Psychology Section; and a Council member of the British Psychological Society. His interests included psychotherapy, stress management, transpersonal psychology, meditation, Eastern religions, gnostic traditions, parapsychology and dreams. He died in 2010.

Stanley Krippner

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Dream Telepathy: Scientific Experiments in the Supernatural (US)

(Hampton Roads, 2003)

The Mythic Path: Discovering the Guiding Stories of Your Past – Creating a Vision for Your Future (US)

– (Order UK)

(Tarcher, 1997)

Stanley is a Professor of Psychology at Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco. Formerly, he was director of the Kent State University Child Study Center, Kent OH, and the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, Brooklyn NY. He is co-author of Extraordinary Dreams and co-editor of Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence and The Psychological Impact of War on Civilians: An International Perspective. He holds faculty appointments at the Universidade Holistica Internacional (Brasilia) and the Instituto de Medicina y Tecnologia Avanzada de la Conducta (Ciudad Juarez). He has given invited addresses for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, and the School for Diplomatic Studies, Montevideo, Uruguay. He is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and has published cross-cultural studies on spiritual content in dreams.

Website

Robert McLuhan

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Book:

Randi’s Prize:

Why They Are Wrong and Why It Matters

Robert McLuhan gained a First in English Literature at Oxford University, then worked as a foreign correspondent for the Guardian in Spain and Portugal. He left to join the music business, managing the techno dance label Rising High Records, before going back to writing. Robert has long had an interest in the paranormal, and Randi’s Prize is the culmination of years of research into the scientific investigation of such things as ESP, ghosts and near-death experiences. Against prominent sceptics like James Randi and Richard Wiseman, he argues that paranormal-seeming episodes cannot always be explained away as tricks or misperceptions. Robert blogs regularly at Paranormalia.com on matters relating to consciousness, spirituality, and psychic research. (Amazon)

Website

Guy Lyon Playfair

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Twin Telepathy (Order US)

(Order UK)

(White Crow, 2012)

This House is Haunted:

The Amazing Inside Story of the Enfield Poltergeist (Order US)

(Order UK)

(White Crow, 2011)

The Flying Cow:

Exploring the Psychic World of Brazil (Order US)

(Order UK)

(White Crow, 2011)

Guy is best known for the investigation of the “Enfield Poltergeist”, as he recorded in This House is Haunted. Prior to the Enfield case, he spent more than two years gathering accounts of incredible paranormal phenomena in Brazil. He recounted this bewildering investigation in The Flying Cow, later retitled The Unknown Power. Playfair recounted four nights spent in a house captured by poltergeists. He underwent psychic surgery. He witnessed automatic writing, reincarnation, and communications from the dead. With the psychic Uri Geller, he co-authored The Geller Effect, an up close look at the hows and whys of telekinesis and much else. Other works include The Cycles of Heaven. Playfair has worked with any number of paranormal experts during his decades of research. His co-workers include Dr. John Beloff, Dr. Eric Dingwall, Renee Haynes, and Maurice Grosse. His latest book is an update of Twin Telepathy.

Website

Dean Radin

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Supernormal:

Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities

(Deepak Chopra, 2013)

The Conscious Universe:

The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena

(HarperOne, 2009)

Entangled Minds:

Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality

(Paraview, 2006)

Dean is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). He has conducted experimental studies of parapsychological phenomena in universities and industry, including Princeton University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Nevada, and SRI International at Stanford, CA. He was a past President of the Parapsychological Association. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 journal articles and technical reports and the award-winning book The Conscious Universe. His latest book is Supernormal: Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities.

Website

Gary E. Schwartz

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

The Sacred Promise:

Spirit’s Collaboration with Us in Our Daily Lives

(Atria Books, 2011)

The Living Energy Universe:

A Fundamental Discovery that Transforms Science and Medicine

(Hampton Roads, 2006)

The AfterLife Experiments:

Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death

(Atria Books, 2003)

Gary is Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery at the University of Arizona, where he teaches courses on health and spiritual psychology. He has taught at Harvard and Yale, where he was director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center and co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic. Later he created the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science at the University of Arizona. He is now the Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Society for Behavioral Medicine, and the Academy for Behavioral Medicine Research. He has published more than four hundred and fifty scientific papers, has co-edited eleven academic books, and is the author of The Energy Healing Experiments, The G.O.D. Experiments, The Afterlife Experiments, The Truth about “Medium”, and The Living Energy Universe. His latest book is The Sacred Promise: How Science is Discovering Spirit’s Collaboration with Us.

Website

Stephan A. Schwartz

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Opening to the Infinite

(Nemoseen Media, 2007)

The Secret Vaults of Time:

Psychic Archaeology and the Quest for Man’s Beginnings

(Hampton Roads, 2005)

The Alexandria Project

(iUniverse, 2001)

Stephan is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty of Saybrook University and a Research Associate of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory of the Laboratories for Fundamental Research. He is the columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net, in both of which he covers trends that are affecting the future. His other academic and research appointments include Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain, Mind, and Healing of the Samueli Institute; founder and Research Director of the Mobius laboratory; Director of Research of the Rhine Research Center; and Senior Fellow of The Philosophical Research Society. Government appointments include Special Assistant for Research and Analysis to the Chief of Naval Operations, and consultant to the Oceanographer of the Navy. For 40 years he has been studying the nature of consciousness, particularly that aspect independent of space and time. Schwartz helped found modern Remote Viewing research, and is the principal researcher studying the use of Remote Viewing in archaeology. Other areas of experimental study include research into creativity, meditation, and Therapeutic Intent/Healing. He is the author of more than 100 technical reports and papers and the books The Secret Vaults of Time, The Alexandria Project, and Opening to the Infinite.

Website

Rupert Sheldrake

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery (US) /

The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry (UK)

(Deepak Chopra, 2012; Coronet, 2012)

The Sense of Being Stared At:

And Other Unexplained Powers of Human Minds

(Park Street Press, 2013)

Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home:

And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals

(Broadway Books, 2011)

Morphic Resonance:

The Nature of Formative Causation

(Park Street Press, 2009)

The Evolutionary Mind:

Conversations on Science, Imagination & Spirit

With Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

(Monkfish, 2005)

Seven Experiments That Could Change the World:

A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science

(Park Street Press, 2002)

Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness

With Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

(Park Street Press, 2001)

Rupert is a British biologist. The author of 12 books and over 80 technical papers, he studied natural sciences at Cambridge and philosophy at Harvard, where he was a Frank Knox Fellow. He took a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Cambridge and was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge where he was Director of Studies in biochemistry and cell biology. He was also a Research Fellow of the Royal Society, and from 1974 to 1978 was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India where he worked on the physiology of tropical legume crops; remained Consultant Physiologist until 1985. Currently he is a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) near San Francisco. His latest books are Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery (U.S.) / The Science Delusion: Feeling the Spirit of Enquiry (U.K.) and a revision of The Sense of Being Stared At: And Other Unexplained Powers of Human Minds.

Website

Ian Stevenson

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect

(Praeger, 1997)

Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy

(University of Virginia Press, 1984)

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation

(University of Virginia Press, 1980)

Ian was Director, Division of Personality Studies and Carlson Professor of Psychiatry, both a part of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. He was the pre-eminent researcher in the study of reincarnation as well as being the leading scientist studying children who claim to remember previous lives. He also made important studies of telepathy, near-death experiences, apparitions (“death-bed visions”), the mind-brain problem, and the survival of human personality after death. His most famous book is the classic in the field Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. He died in 2007.

Russell Targ

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

The Reality of ESP:

A Physicist’s Proof of Psychic Abilities

(Quest Books, 2012)

Limitless Mind:

A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness

(New World Library, 2004)

Miracles of Mind:

Exploring Nonlocal Consciousness and Spritual Healing

(New World Library, 1999)

Russell is a physicist and author who was a pioneer in the development of the laser. Targ was a senior staff scientist at Lockheed Martin, where he developed laser technology for peaceful applications. Targ also was a cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s. He is co-author of Mind Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Abilities and The Mind Race: Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities.

Website

Charles T. Tart

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Books:

Mind Science:

Meditation Training for Practical People

(Fearless Books, 2013)

The End of Materialism:

Is Bringing Science and Spirit Together

(New Harbinger, 2009)

Waking Up:

Overcoming the Obstacles to Human Potential

(iUniverse, 2001)

Charles is a member of the Core Faculty at Sofia University (formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology) and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University of California Davis. He is internationally known for research with altered states, transpersonal psychology, and parapsychology. His books include two classics, Altered States of Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychologies. Two books, Waking Up and Living the Mindful Life synthesized Buddhist, Sufi, and Gurdjieffian mindfulness training ideas with modern psychology. His Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality explores the scientific foundations of transpersonal psychology to show it is possible to be both a scientist and a spiritual seeker. His most recent books are The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal Is Bringing Science and Spirit Together and Mind Science: Meditation Training for Practical People.

Website

Alex Tsakiris

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K.

Recommended Book:

Why Science Is Wrong…About Almost Everything

(Anomalist Books, 2014)

Alex is a successful entrepreneur turned science podcaster. In 2007 he founded Skeptiko, which has become the #1 podcast covering the science of human consciousness. Alex has appeared on syndicated radio talk shows both in the U.S. and the U.K. and is well-known within the parapsychology and near-death experience research communities.

Website

Craig Weiler

Amazon U.S.

Recommended Book:

Psi Wars:

TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet: The Story of a Wild and Vicious Science Controversy . . . that Anyone Can Join!

(CreateSpace, 2013)

Craig is a parapsychology journalist, author, and psychic who lives in San Franscico, California. His popular website The Weiler Psi focuses on the topics of psychical research and pseudoskepticism’s influence on society and the media. His latest book is Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet: The Story of a Wild and Vicious Science Controversy … that Anyone Can Join!

Website