The "stupidity hypothesis"

Dean Radin on the "Stupidity Hypothesis" and why it is actually skeptics who are stupid. He explains that in fact the educated people statistically believe in Pychic phenomena more than uneducated people do. If you ask me, I think the reason skeptics are stupid is because they take science as religion but don't realize that's what they are doing. It's in fact the materialists and atheists, ignorant deniers and the like, who take science as a religion because they are in fact simpler than the educated people who believe psychic phenomena exists. It shows also that intuition is just as important as knowledge.
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Nice find! I watched the entire three part series, and found it to be quite fascinating. Dr. Radin's "Stupidity Hypothesis" actually made quite a bit of sense.

In essence, he states that because scientists have an extremely rigid structure in which to test the validity of their research, they are prone to a type of tunnel vision that does not allow for "unorthodox" thinking. In other words, it's taboo for scientists to show interest in the paranormal or junk sciences.

As a result, skeptics are quick to debunk paranormal phenomena because it is not supported by mainstream science. This makes it easier for skeptics to state that since scientists are highly educated people, and this type of phenomena is not supported by the mainstream science community, then believers of the paranormal are uneducated. Hence, the "Stupidity Hypothesis."

However, Dr. Radin points out that research shows that the more educated the person, the more likely they are to believe in paranormal phenomena. He also adds that merely because genuine scientific study of the paranormal is taboo, doesn't mean that these scientists are not interested in doing so.

The entire series is incredibly interesting to watch. I highly recommend it!

Educated people may be aware that there is much more to reality than meets the eye. They may have studied science and realized that science indicates unseen or 'paranormal' forces. I suppose that Newton and the like could have initially thought that gravity was 'paranormal'.

There's so much with blanket generalization, pseudo-conclusions, and baseless insults to even bother addressing this topic. I think this is just an attempt to puppy-pat those who believe in the 'alternative topics' (which are now main-stream by the way) to make them feel special, elite, or better than everyone else. There are some who don't see a point in researching any of these topics. Whether they're right or not, I can at least respect their opinions enough to not call them "stupid" just as someone should not call you or I stupid for believing in paranormal phenomena. The sooner this thread "ghosts", the better.

[edit on 4-6-2008 by saint4God]

reply to post by saint4God

I realize the actual title of the hypothesis can be construed as a bit insulting, but that does not mean it doesn't have any validity.

Did you take the time to even view any of the videos? The entire series is a little over 20 minutes long. If you have viewed the series, and this is your conclusion, then I respect that. I would just hate for someone to completely dismiss this topic without any basis for judgement.

After reviewing the video in all three parts, I feel there are a few points in the video which I have formulated certain views about.I would first like to impress on the reader that the Original Posters initial statement about this video is a bit misleading.At first glance it seemed to me that whatever this Dr.Radin was talking about was purely religious dogmatism bent solely on pushing a religious agenda and discrediting scientific observations.Because of this, I originally avoided this topic.The views on this were actually the opinions of the Original Poster and not Dr.Radin himself.Dr. Radin does not mention god or atheism in any of the parts of the video or that atheists and skeptics are themselves stupid.He does,however, go on to say that science is limited in it's views on the "paranormal" chiefly by its calculations.Dr.Radin's statement actually supports the validity of the possibility of the paranormal.I encourage people to actually view this video in all of it's parts.The original poster does not do justice to Dr.Radin's views.Dr.Radian is a scientist himself, talking about the need for science in general to view the paranormal differently.

In the beginning of the video Dr.Radin states initially that scientists of today are close-minded in the fact that what they have been taught stands to debunk and refute alternative ideas and that because of this they are quick to judge something false without any real testing or scientific observation.While this is true, it does not reflect the total sum of scientists.Not all scientists are close-minded in this capacity.I feel Dr.Radin has unintentionally generalized this aspect.He goes on to say that scientists view people who believe in the paranormal as stupid.This is more opinion than fact I feel.I don't think this is the case, it's not that scientists believe that people who believe in the paranormal are stupid, just rather misinformed or uneducated in scientific principles.Which he does state later on.His words does,however, go on to reflect a facet of human nature by which ignorance brought about by close-minded people will perpetuate stagnant and seemingly infallible ideas.This part of his video I feel is a valid point which should be seriously considered.

The main part of his argument for paranormal reasonings, is that professional people of higher learning also believe in the paranormal which does not make them stupid,as the "Stupidity Hypothesis" dictates that any belief in the paranormal is founded in lack of critical thinking necessary to understand the principles that would debunk these kinds of phenomena.Dr.Radin goes on to say that scientists don't consider personal experiences as evidence.This is true, scientists have learned that anecdotal evidence is unreliable, because our senses can be fooled.There is also evidence of this through scientific testing and observations.Like the ideomotor response with ouija boards,optical illusions which can trick our brain into seeing something differently than it is, magic eye illusions being the most commonly known.The argument that Dr.Radin presents is that scientists are limiting themselves by view because of that.

In this there is a strange dichotomy. On one side we have scientists telling us that our experiences are something that is based on trickery and misconceptions, while on the other side we have many people having these experiences which they feel are true and valid.To science its a matter of uninformed observations, to the those who experience these aspects are real.Both have very valid points, which can only be clarified by understanding through reliable testing.

The latter parts of the video are really observations, and his own opinions of the mind-matter relationship.In fact Dr.Radin supports the idea of the possibility of the paranormal being real.In this I feel the video has more merit than what I had originally taken it is.Once again, don't let the OP mislead you.Thank you for reading ^~^!

All I know is it starts in high school candy sale...

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[edit on 4-6-2008 by Ihavenoidea]

Originally posted by ~Waffles~
I would first like to impress on the reader that the Original Posters initial statement about this video is a bit misleading.At first glance it seemed to me that whatever this Dr.Radin was talking about was purely religious dogmatism bent solely on pushing a religious agenda and discrediting scientific observations.Because of this, I originally avoided this topic.The views on this were actually the opinions of the Original Poster and not Dr.Radin himself.Dr. Radin does not mention god or atheism in any of the parts of the video or that atheists and skeptics are themselves stupid.

On the taboo of paranormal phenomena and spirituality in the scientific culture. WOOOOOO-WOOOOOO-
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Evidence showing Atheism causes people to be more dishonest
www.youtube.com...

Eastern Science vs. Western Science
www.youtube.com...

Merging Science and Spirituality
www.youtube.com...

Philosphpy of Science
www.youtube.com...

It was my hope to let this thread disappear, but maybe some personal testimony is in order. I don't know why everyone use the word "scientists" like we're an Atlantis tribe located on a lost island who have ray guns, teleport people through time and yet scoff whenever anyone mentions God. I can say after a decade of business, I found more non-believers in banking than any other location I've worked. I don't think it's profession-based really, but since working in a scientific corporation, I can say the majority of people on my team are believers in God (some Protestant, some Catholic). It was an interesting discovery because they only way you can tell is after a few months being here someone mentions either church or you notice something on their desk from their son/daughter that says "God bless you mommy!" or somesuch. For whatever reason, there's no voice in this community, whether it be a lack of interest in social aspects such as ATS or lack of published papers as required by college professors. Getting to the point, thanks for your patience. I like talking about ATS-like topics, starting with "did you see the news about that UFO at suchandsuch?" and the responses vary from "yeah, whatever" to "that's pretty interesting". The demographics of my area are chemists and engineers. Most of the chemists have a biology degree since a lot of work is in biochemistry. Others went straight chemistry. Changing the paradigm from where I sit, perhaps you could see why it would be ridiculous to both catagorize scientists as believing only one way and also calling them incapable of comprehending paranormal subjects? Scientists have studied a career and do the job just like a construction worker knows how to fix split concrete or a homemaker knows to clean the lint tray when the dryer is done. We're all specialists, just in different fields of life.




[edit on 6-6-2008 by saint4God]