Re: Scientific study of the effects of prayer

From: jeff davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Oct 03 2001 - 03:54:59 MDT


--- Damien Broderick
<d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> At 06:01 PM 10/2/01 -0700, Jeff wrote:
>
> >I appreciated Bryan Moss's reminder to look to the
> >identities and motivations of those who
> commissioned
> >the "research". [...]
> >(Noting the venue of the research, ie
> >Korea, I wonder, "Could have been commissioned by
> the
> >rev Moon?")
>
> Did you also note the details at the end?

You mean these details?

> < None of the researchers are employed by religious
> organizations and were
> not asked by religious groups to perform the study.
> Dr. Kwang Y. Cha,
> director of the Cha Hospital and an associate
> research scientist at OB/GYN
> at Columbia University College of Physicians &
> Surgeons, funded the
> research through his hospital.

You bet your bippy I did. But after Bryan's heads up,
I reduced my credence level. Specifically, after a
bit of thought, it seemed highly unlikely to me that
such a study could be conceived of or instigated by
anyone WITHOUT a religious inclination, interest, or
agenda.

Certainly you don't think Dr. Cha and the staff at the
Cha hospital are all atheist or agnostics. ;-)

Also, I never really thought of the Rev Moon as a
religious man, more like a cult leader.

>
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/obgyn/patient-care-services/cha.html

> This is linked to Columbia University, not Bog
> Extension College, Jerkville.

I don't want to cheap shot these guys, they all seem
ultra-educated and as emlyn would say, they all have
nice lab coats, so they must be legit. Whoops!

One of the reasons I'm not ready to jump on the
bandwagon (despite a bit of motivation to do so) that
dismisses Penrose's theories of a quantum effect in
the microtubles, or in consciousness, or in biological
phenomenon generally, is because BIOLOGY IS EVOLVED,
and that evolution takes place in the presence of and
subject to the effect of the complete inventory of
physical phenomena. If it is *physically* possible
for quantum phenonomena to enhance
survival/reproductive fitness, then they MUST BE
selected for, integrated into biological systems, and
otherwise subject to the evolutionary dynamic, our
ignorance of the details of quantum phenomena
notwithstanding. Psi and quantum phenomena, whatever
the extent of their reality, are mysterious only
because they are not yet understood. See Ray Charles,
below.

Best, Jeff Davis

 "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                       Ray Charles

 

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