Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge.
Ofcom Finds Against National Geographic TV
by Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake Complaint by Scientist Dr. Rupert Sheldrake Upheld by Official Adjudication In August 2005, with many subsequent repeats, National Geographic TV Channel broadcast a...
by Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake After a recent exchange with Michael Shermer about the value of “positive” skepticism, I received the following letter from Rupert Sheldrake, the English...
Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake From: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, by Rupert Sheldrake, Broadway Books, 2011 “Almost all the people who have attacked me as a result...
Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College.
“Almost all the people who have attacked me as a result of the research with animals described in this book have been fellows of CSICOP, militant atheists, or career skeptics, not professionals who actually know about animals: researchers in animal behaviour, animal trainers, or vets.”
– Rupert Sheldrake
Some members of the scientific community regard the topics discussed in this book as taboo.
The very idea of telepathy, or an unexplained sense of direction, or premonitions, or precognitions arouse skepticism, if not hostility.
My research has led me into a series of intense controversies. People with no experience of professional science may imagine that it is all about the open-minded exploration of the unknown, but this is rarely the case. Science works within frameworks of belief, or models of reality. Whatever does not fit in is denied or ignored; it is anomalous. The historian of science Thomas Kuhn called these thought-patterns paradigms. During periods of what he called normal science scientists work within the dominant paradigm, and ignore or deny anomalies.
Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College.
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake
After a recent exchange with Michael Shermer about the value of “positive” skepticism, I received the following letter from Rupert Sheldrake, the English biologist who is widely considered one of the leading thinkers in consciousness and post-Darwinian evolution.
He offers a case in point about how fair or even scientific the skeptical attitude often turns out to be. Sheldrake’s many books, beginning with A New Science of Life (1981), propose workable experiments to prove that evolution isn’t merely materialistic and that a field of “extended mind” is real, affecting every life form on earth.
Sheldrake is a speculative thinker by orthodox standards, but his academic credentials are impeccable and he has the patience to contend with his opponents on their own scientific terms.
– Deepak Chopra
Dear Deepak,
I read your exchange with Michael Shermer with much interest. I agree with both of you about the need for skepticism as a essential part of the scientific process. But media skeptics are not usually part of a constructive scientific debate but rather follow a narrow, negative agenda. Michael claimed that skeptics such as himself are “thoughtful, inquiring, and reflective.” But there is a big gulf between this ideal and what media skeptics actually do, which, as you pointed out, all too often involves condemning open-minded inquiry. Like you, I have been the target of many skeptical attacks, and my experience has been very similar to your own.
Biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College.
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake
Complaint by Scientist Dr. Rupert Sheldrake Upheld by Official Adjudication
In August 2005, with many subsequent repeats, National Geographic TV Channel broadcast a programme called “Is It Real? Psychic Animals” (also called “Is It Real? Animal Oracles”) in which a professional media skeptic tried to debunk Dr. Rupert Sheldrake and Aimee Morgana’s research on the telepathic abilities of a parrot, N’kisi.
The skeptic, a person with no scientific credentials, and the National Geographic commentator made unfair and misleading criticisms to which Dr. Sheldrake was given no chance to respond. He had agreed to take part in the programme only after being assured by National Geographic that the presentation would be fair and unbiased.
Dr. Sheldrake filed an official complaint with the British Government Office of Communications, Ofcom, which is charged with ensuring that broadcasters behave fairly.
In March 2006, Ofcom issued a Provisional Adjudication upholding two out of three of Dr. Sheldrake’s complaints. National Geographic’s lawyers appealed against it, but Ofcom rejected their appeal and issued a final Adjudication in Dr. Sheldrake’s favour on June 12, 2006.
National Geographic was required to broadcast the summary of the Adjudication on June 26, 2005.
