Investigating the paranormal

I don't remember the name of your third guest, but I'd be very sceptical of anyone associated with the Sceptical Inquirer. That magazine is most definitely NOT dedicated to open-minded investigation of various paranormal phenomena, they are dedicated to de-bunking them, and they therefore have an agenda going in which disallows them being truly open to possibilities. They are staunch defenders of the scientific status quo, not objective investigators. What is sad to me is that that is what's become of science.

Yeah right, Lee. The paranormal phenomena people are the ones makes the claims. Who else is going to test the validity of those claims? If such phenomena exist, they should be easily verifiable by objective measurement. We’d all like for such wonders to exist; people “associated” with the Skeptical Inquirer simply prefer that we not fool ourselves about such things and have some real evidence before giving in to belief.

Dave, that skeptic guy did not 'test the validity' of the claims the paranormal people were making, ie. the pebbles etc. He simply heard them speak - nothing more - and then came on and basically accused them of either fraud/fakery or of falling asleep. He came to a conclusion about their specific claims based on a pre-conceived set of ideas. How is that being objective?

There is proof and there is speculation. The investigators are speculating what is occurring in those locations based on observation. No one in the scientific community has even attempted to investigate this phenomena. They have simply claimed it is not possible. If someone would like to step up to the plate and provide a controlled environment where the phenomena can occur that would be great. Until that happens investigators will still seek out knowledge the only way they know how. No one has ever claimed to have proof of life after death and... for that matter the proof of God or even a zero point field. There is a possibility that proof may not be obtainable at this point. I see no problem with investigators amassing data for future research.

I was a little disappointed (but not surprised as the show was just before Halloween) that only one guest was of the skeptical bent, and he was not in studio.

The guests from the Pasadena Paranormal Research Society and the Los Angeles Paranormal Association made claims that they treated their investigations using scientific methodology but a visit to their websites shows that they start with a belief in the paranormal. They may weed out the more obvious and explainable claims of hauntings, but keep the fallback that if THEY can't explain something, then it could be paranormal.

An expedition between the Pasadena Paranormal Research Society and the Independent Investigations Group (that Jim Underdown is a part of) would be a good way for these groups to see how the other approaches reported cases of the paranormal.

To be truly open-minded, one must be open to the mundane explanations as well as well as fantastical ones. Really, the mundane should be the default explanation: mundane until proven extraordinary. We need to be sure something is not of this world before we claim that it is of another. Science has no fear of such phenomena, because if they were proven to be true under proper observing conditions, they would simply become natural phenomena and part of our scientific understanding of the universe. I too would like to see the PPRS or the LAPA coordinate with the IIG in an investigation.