franky172
Posts: 160 Joined: Jan. 2007
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First, it appears as though I have been "secretly banned" from UD. My password no longer matches my username. I can tell that my UD password is being typed correctly because I had FireFox remember it. Still, my former login: franky172 no longer works with that or any of my other website passwords. At first I guessed this was some sort of internal glitch on UD, but then I found this (from a link on ATBC, UDDT):
DaveScot: https://www2.blogger.com/comment....4468144 Quote | Ah, the old passwords don't match trick. As Maxwell Smart would say, "That's the oldest trick in the book". |
Of course I could be wrong, FireFox might have forgotten my password, and I may have forgotten it too. If so I'm sorry.
In any case, Denyse O'Leary appears to be deeply mistaken about materialistic theories of the mind, and she seems to want to make this as clear as possible. First she links to a survey paper that supposedly shows how dualist theories of the mind work. Unfortunately the paper has no actual reference to dualism, or any sort of mind process apart from the material brain. The point of the article appears to be "the brain can re-map iteslf", which Denyse takes to mean "the mind exists as a separate entity from the brain". Well, OK. But Denyse appears to not understand that a) her conclusion is not supported by the data and b) there are no scientific tests that we can perform that would confirm or disconfirm her hypothesis. i.e. Her hypothesis is a science stopper (without further qualification, if she said "mind is separate from brain and can communicate across vast distances via ESP" we might have something to work with).
Quote | But if neuroscience can get along quite well using a non-materialist paradigm, as Mario demonstrates, then science is not applied materialism. And THAT has momentous consequences. can get along quite well using a non-materialist paradigm, as Mario demonstrates, then science is not applied materialism. And THAT has momentous consequences. |
First of all, Mario has not shown that neuroscience can "get along" with a non-materialist paradigm - all of his results were generated with "materialist" techniques and his results are commensurate with existing neuroscientific theories. Further, Denyse appears to think that science ends with the publication of a paper. But the goals of science are further inquiry - what questions does Mario ask that lead to further "non-materialist" investigations? As far as I can tell, the answer is "none".
Plus: Quote | And what they can’t explain, they can deny or rule out of order (psi, for example). |
Well, evidently Denyse has evidence that psychic abilities exist! Where might this be? (wait, let me guess - I have to buy the book!).
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