Prayer, Love, And Quantum Entanglement

[Guest Davka]

NPR recently ran a series on The Science Of Spirituality, with some very interesting stuff. The 4th show in the series talked about experiments that show measurable physical changes in one person when another prays or thinks good thoughts about them.

 

Some quotes:

 

 

Ironson says over time, those who turned to God after their diagnosis had a much lower viral load and maintained those powerful immune cells at a much higher rate than those who turned away from God.

 

"In fact, people who felt abandoned by God and who decreased in spirituality lost their CD4 cells 4.5 times faster than people who increased in spirituality," Ironson says. "That was actually our most powerful psychological predictor to date."

 

"Just so I understand it," I confirm, "if someone weren't taking their meds and were depressed, they would still fare better if they increased in spirituality?"

 

It doesn't matter which religion is involved, or if it's replaced by "thinking good thoughts" with no deity in mind. The results are the same.

 

 

And even cooler, love and good thoughts can actually affect the physiology of another person:

As the session begins, Dean Radin, a senior scientist here, watches as a computer shows changes in J.D.'s blood pressure and perspiration. When J.D. sees the image of his wife, the steady lines suddenly jump and become ragged. The question is: Will Teena's nervous system follow suit?

 

"Notice how here … see, there's a change in the blood volume," says Radin, pointing to a screen charting Teena's measurements. "A sudden change like that is sometimes associated with an orienting response. If you suddenly hear somebody whispering in your ear, and there's nobody around, you have this sense of what? What was that? That's more or less what we're seeing in the physiology."

 

 

 

Check out the whole story:

Can Positive Thoughts Help Heal Another Person?

[RationalOkie]

I can't help it...I'm a skeptic about ridiculous claims like these. But, It IS Science and I'll accept the repeatable experimental data. I'm not certain that they are interpreting the data correctly. I say this with NO evidence, mind you, it's just my intuition. Something is clearly taking place and I'm not going to be pig headed about it like the fundies. All I'm saying is, I've seen reports that came out claiming they had proven that prayer healed people in a "Scientific" study. Later we find out the study was riddled with discrepencies and missinterpretations and human bias. If it's true...fine. Let it be open to skepticism and keep an open mind.

 

Below is one of my favorite statements from the skeptic that NPR could dig up.

This idea — that we may be connected at some molecular level — echoes the words of mystics down the ages. And it appeals to some scientists. But it infuriates others — like Columbia University's Sloan. The underlying idea is wrong, he says. Entanglement just doesn't work this way. "Physicists are very clear that the relationship is purely correlational and not causal," Sloan says. "There is nothing causal about quantum entanglement. It's good to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out."

Can Positive Thoughts Help Heal Another Person?

 

Cracks my butt up.

[Guest Davka]

I can't help it...I'm a skeptic about ridiculous claims like these.

I'm always intrigued by the experiments, but try to hold the whole thing at arms' length. And as you pointed out, physicists aren't too happy about the "quantum entanglement" theory as to how this works (assuming it's real). I just think it's interesting stuff, and worth a second look.

 

As long as people are conducting true repeatable double-blind experiments, I'm willing to suspend disbelief. It's the junk science that fries my ass.

[Guest Davka]

A lot of my friends are into new age stuff. Whenever I express the slightest questioning or skepticism about anything, they bring up quantum physics. I just sort of put on my calm, "I have no brains" smile and clam up. What does it matter. Live and let live.

LOL - "I have no brains" smile, I know it well.

 

Have you ever seen the Crystal Homeopathy site? It's a riot. This guy made up the whole idea, posted a link on a pagan forum, then logged on as a different user and criticized everything on his own site as unscientific mumbo-jumbo.

 

The pagans on the forum immediately leapt to the defense of "crystal homeopathy," arguing passionately with the creator of the hoax. Even after he exposed the whole thing as a hoax, many continued to believe. And today, 6 or so years later, if you google "crystal homeopathy" you'll find that this made-up BS has become a "legit" branch of New Age therapy.

 

If I were just a bit more cynical and dishonest, I'd start my own religion.