John continues to take stabs at guessing more about Gary Schwartz's family, guesses that are completely and probably deliberately vague. Not only could the mediums be making wild and general guesses but they could have also acquired information through traditional sources or nonverbal cues. For example, the medium might have known beforehand that Schwartz's birthday fell during the Gemini month, and that his mother's name contained the letter "S" in it. Barring such obvious fraud, guesswork seems as plausible an explanation as any other.
Schwartz fields accusations of fraud at several points in his book. One of his rebuttals is that "mediums need not be perfect," they just have to be better than everyone else (54). In fact, Schwartz designed all of his studies with this premise in mind, using a control group of mostly undergraduate students who had no mediumship experience. Schwartz claims that "mediums are neither frauds nor freaks," and that the experiments presented in the book proves this is that case.
Hyman states that a true control group would more closely resemble the mediums; they would have had similar life experiences and similar demographics. Although Schwartz conducted a series of experiments, each more strident than the next, only the last experiment he conducted was a double-blind study. Schwartz boasts about his double-blind study, indicating that if it doesn't prove the existence of life after death, nothing will. In the double-blind study, Schwartz claims that there was no possibility for sensory leakage or any other potential flaw in the research design.
Hyman, however, accuses Schwartz of "just another blatant attempt to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat," stating that the author twisted and spun negative results to make them appear positive, and that the results were no better than chance. Hyman further notes that Schwartz's studies and their results are deliberately vague and far too simple to be taken seriously by the scientific community.
Most importantly, Schwartz does not adequately prove that consciousness persists after death. One alternate hypothesis to what Schwartz shows is that mediums act as clever conduits of information, that they might indeed be adept at creating the illusion of paranormal phenomenon. While it is tempting to believe that people can communicate with departed loved ones, such a conclusion is irrational and not based on properly collected scientific data. Schwartz's Afterlife Experiments are a decent, yet imperfect, beginning to potential future scientific research in the area of mediumship. Other scientists like him would do well to heed the voices of the critics and design more stringent studies if their findings are to be accepted by the scientific and academic communities.
Works Cited
Hyman, Ray. "How Not to Test Mediums: Critiquing the Afterlife Experiments." Sceptical Inquirer. Jan 2003. Published online by Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Retrieved 26 Nov 2004. http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-01/medium.html.
Schwartz, Gary. The Afterlife Experiments. New York: Pocket, 2002.
Life After Death: Afterlife Within the Realm of Ancient Greek Beliefs The question as to what happens after death is not fathomable within human reason. As such, it remains one of the biggest mysteries of life. The belief in life after death is what keeps the hopes of the human race intact even in the face of the tragedy of death. The concept 'afterlife' appears absurd in light of rational thought
But everyone deserves their fate: 'It was with conscious knowledge that the people of this world sinned, and that is why torment awaits them'" (Nadler 54). The writer of Ezra even provides some specific guidance concerning what can be expected by on the day of judgment, with the just and righteous being guarded in silence by angels until they are presented to God but the souls of the wicked
religious views afterlife held ancient Mesopotamian ancient Egyptians Ancient Mesopotamians believed that the world was a sphere that was divided in two parts -- one occupied by the living and one occupied by the dead. Gods were present in both environments and controlled much of what happened in the world of the living and in the world of the dead. Even with the fact that this civilization emphasized that a
Death and Afterlife "If you believe only in an afterlife, you are restricted to a very limited, dualistic view of time. There is only 'here' and 'after.' But if life is continuous, if the soul never stops making its journey, a completely different worldview opens up" (Deepak Chopra, 2000, p. 258). How do various religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism -- view the afterlife? What are the beliefs of these faiths
Wang Chong and Lucretius on their beliefs of afterlife. We will also discuss how their beliefs were shaped by other philosophers of their time. Finally, we will conclude by providing an analysis of the subject matter. Rome and Lucretius The success of the Roman Empire is often attributed to the auspicious religious beliefs that permeated that society. A book entitled, The World of Rome, describes the thoughts of the historian Polybius
Art conveys the values and beliefs of a culture, including prevailing attitudes toward death and the afterlife. Often imagery associated with death and the afterlife will contain religious symbolism or iconography, because religions tend to be occupied with questions related to human mortality and the nature of the soul. Some cultures were preoccupied with preparations for death and the afterlife, and have left behind a panoply of objects testifying to
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now