Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Science!

According to the BBC, 25 UK and US hospitals will study 1,500 survivors to see if people with no heartbeat or brain activity can have "out of body" experiences.. They're going to put pictures up in the resuscitation areas in the hospital, in places which can only bee seen from above. So if someone claims to have had an out-of-body experience while close to death, one can ask them what pictures they saw.

On Swedish talk radio P1's morning show, there was a bit of a discussion between a neurophysiologist and a woman who'd had an out-of-body experience while her heart had stopped and she was being resuscitated in the ambulance. It was highly amusing hearing them completely talk past each other - the scientist stating that "No, we have no evidence that it doesn't happen, but we do have a much simpler explanation which fits all facts", and the OOB-er "suggesting" that he be more open-minded and humble. I'm quite certain neither of them convinced the other.

I'm quite sure that if the study shows that the OOB-ers don't remember seeing anything they couldn't see while lying down, any OOB-er will still not accept it as valid. I think scientists would be less unlikely to accept a study contradicting their current beliefs. Or maybe that should be "hope" rather than think...

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