Christof Koch on NDEs

My read of this article by Koch is more historical, than what is being noted.  No argument is won, without being taken seriously.  Psi has been dismissed in general.  Science may have been ignorant, socially and professionally, toward the subject in the past, but so what?

Here is Koch in the article, with much better prose than I am capable, saying something that underlies the ground-work data for Psi.



Once actual data is in play - science will favor Psi as needing an explanation.   if Koch's explanations aren't good ....................

I think you are overly optimistic about the response of the Science community (or "Big Science", the consensus, the universities, etc.) to data on paranormal phenomena. The response up to now and probably for the foreseeable future is to closed-mindedly deny that there actually is any "real" data, regardless of the quality that is presented.

And unfortunately, by its very nature much of or most of the data of paranormal phenomena (rather than being laboratory data) is empirical evidence of spontaneous occurrences that simply can't be made to occur under controlled conditions, subjected to laboratory analysis, replication by different labs, etc. This is the large body of empirical veridical evidence accumulated for many phenomena including NDEs, past life memories of young children, mediumistic communications, and many other categories. This data must be evaluated more by abductive reasoning and the "courtroom" criteria of evidentiality. When objectively considered, the overall body of this evidence more than meets the "preponderance of evidence" criterion and perhaps also the "beyond the shadow of a doubt" criterion.

But of course to the fossilized closed-minded reductive materialist "consensus" this simply must a priori be merely unscientific anecdotes, regardless of quality. I don't think Science at least in the foreseeable future will open-mindedly consider Psi as a viable explanation for such evidence. All that is needed is to dismiss it as anecdotal rubbish and go on, business as usual. Koch's flawed and already debunked "explanations" for NDEs will go on being credulously accepted by the science faithful because they are the party line mindset that it is forbidden to transgress.