DMT and Aliens

    "DMT is a psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family that resembles the basic structure of neurotransmitters and causes powerful hallucinations. It is popularly known for producing the same chemical reaction that is said to happen when you die and in smaller amounts while you dream. The hallucinations that result are markedly different than those produced by any other drug".- https://theghostdiaries.com/is-dmt-a-gateway-to-extra-dimensional-alien-contact. 

    This drug fascinates me in a lot of ways, specifically the fact that DMT is naturally occurring in all of our brains since the day we are born, it is part of being human and it is still not very well understood. I have herd many stories online of people taking DMT and having extremely similar situations unfold where they see and speak with what look like alien beings. "A shockingly large percentage of DMT users, including many scientists, have reported experiencing or communicating with aliens or extra-dimensional entities while on the drug".-https://theghostdiaries.com/is-dmt-a-gateway-to-extra-dimensional-alien-contact 

    I would like to see more studies done how the connection between DMT and contact with other beings, as crazy as it sounds there may be something there.  

Click to make the most out of this idea with a free account

psychic-vr-lab.com

      

Book Report "Thinking Fast and Slow"

 Thinking fast and slow explained in-depth about two systems that our brain processes the way we think. System one is all about the cognitive side of our brains. It contributes to our everyday life, for example; the way we identify threats or when memorizing roads and places we have visited. While systems two help us with complex situations in our life. System two helps with solving problems like math, crossword puzzles, and putting together furniture that requires complex thinking. This book explains different subfields around systems one and two. Few of the subfields are 'Answering an Easier question,' ' availability,' and 'people aren’t rational.” People use system one most of the time to make judgments and conclusions in which leads them to make irrational decisions. This book relates a lot to our class chapter “Ways of Thinking” because it discussed the different ways people think and the characteristics that fall within those thinkers' types.

My favorite part of this book is the chapter about “Choices.” “Every significant choice we make in life comes with some uncertainty (Kahneman, 2011). This is true because we make decisions from the time we wake up in the morning until the time we go back to bed. There is not a single day our brains do not make a choice/decision. In this chapter, Mr. Kahneman and his team did a study of gambling in which they determine how our brains work when it comes to making risky decisions. Bernoulli made a theory that “ people choices are not based on dollar value but the psychological values of outcomes, their utilities.” It explains how people try to avoid the options that contain the least amount of risk to win when gambling. That thought process is understandable because gambling comes with risk, and making sure that the option you are choosing is somewhat “right” makes it easier to risk a certain amount of money even though the reward may be less. 

This book can be applied to different situations in the real world because every human uses the two systems of their brains every day. Fast thinking is an automatic system in our brains that processes information faster. People use fast thinking in their work environment, schools, interviews, and when communicating with family members. While system two is on the deeper side of concentrations. People who work in fast-food restaurants use fast thinkers more than people who work in an office setting. The conception of this book can help people who want to make a difference in life learn how to empower their brains to produce creative ideas to help with the different issues that currently exist in the world. If more people know more about how their brains process information and how they can navigate that information; the more productive and enriching they would be.

The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

 

In his 1996 published book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan gives an extensive insight into the many beliefs which are based in pseudoscience and superstition.  Some of his topics covered throughout the book include: alien abductions, talk based therapies, religion, self-proclaimed healers, psychics and the lost city of Atlantis.  From the very beginning of the book, Dr. Sagan sets out to establish science as a means of protecting our life and beliefs against any idea that cannot be proven without the use of empirical evidence. Through his intellect and writing, Dr. Sagan demonstrates how science is more than just a subject taught in school but rather a method in which to live by.  Using the scientific method, Dr. Sagan systematically debunks myths and methodologies which are based in pseudoscience.  With his background in astronomy and teaching, it is evident that Dr. Sagan’s perspective as a scientist upholds the foundation of his beliefs.  He eventually concludes his book by explaining how science is undersold to our American youth and deprecated in our national value system.  Ultimately, Dr. Sagan uses our own history as an example of how our nation was a result of the biggest social and political experiment ever to be undertaken. As importantly, he portrays to the reader how science has taken a back seat when considering adaptation of American policy (*excluding COVID-19 policies because of the time the book was published) by demonstrating the lack of scientific awareness within our modern day political system.    

 

Considering my favorite chapter of Dr. Sagan’s book, I was specifically drawn to the premise of scientific experimentation as it was described in Chapter 25 entitled “Real Patriots Ask Questions”.  It is here where Dr. Sagan couples the scientific method of experimentation as it relates to the formation of the United States.  Science can be used in all aspects of our lives, even in creating the laws which govern our nation.  Because we don’t have a specific method or theory which is used to create and organize our social programs, we must rely on scientific experimentation.  Most of the time we see this starting out on a small scale within our own communities.  This is what is sometimes referred to as a grass roots movement.  The results we see working on smaller scales can then be expanded upon and adopted to use at the state and federal levels.  All of these types of changes come from those who doubt a current method of governing. They embody a form of open-mindedness combined with skepticism in order to question, develop and test new theories of social and political reform.  Thomas Jefferson himself believed that “the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite to responsible citizenship”.  We should question our authority figures in ways that will keep our freedoms intact.  Dr. Sagan showed through his writing that he believed in freedom as being imperative for us to be able to continue scientific experimentation.  This is the luxury we can afford in the United States that cannot be indulged in other parts of our world where tyrannical governments rule.  We live in a democracy that allows us, as citizens, to express our free will through our thoughts, speech and actions.  We can argue against our government, boycott laws that are unjust and even impeach our own president if our questioning is based in truth.  It is these truths that have been created through various forms of experimentation, which will keep us free.

Please watch the Youtube video I made relating Dr. Sagan's book to what we have learned in class and how I have extended this into my own life.  Please excuse the poor sound and lack of theatrical quality. This is my first video I have made for public use :) 

   

Blog Post #3: Aliens

 Aliens

Aliens have been the chosen theme for many movies, documentaries, and conversations for decades. Many people like me are believers that there is something more than just us living in the universe. Personally, I’m not sure what it could be and I don’t think of aliens as they portrait them in movies. I don’t even know if there are civilizations like us or more advance than us, is just that the universe is immense, and thinking that only we are living in it blows my mind. Just a couple of days ago I ran into the news online about scientists claiming that aliens may be communicating with each other by using stars. This is a new study by Imperial College London. Terry Rudolph who is a quantum physicist thinks aliens could use this method of communication. He said, “They harness the power of entangled photons from various stars to send these hidden messages” (Malewar, 2021). This information opens a new way of seeing a starry sky.

 

Also, a lot of money has been destined to investigate life outside Earth. We have been to the Moon and Mars, just recently on February 18, 2021, the United States sent “Perseverance” to Mars for a mission of two years to roam the surface and search for signs of any kind of life. There has been a lot of controversy with this topic, many people think that the government knows the truth, but they won’t tell us. “On June 25, the Department of Defense released an official report on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The report does not tell us much of anything, except that these objects remain unidentified. Nevertheless, for the department to officially acknowledge that we cannot explain what these objects are or how they move breaks a long-running taboo on taking UFOs seriously” (Bram, 2021). There is a new documentary on Netflix about the top secrets of UFOs. Throughout the time we've seen a lot of UFOs on videos on the internet, so many that we don’t know which of them can be real or be made up. The truth is that we don’t know yet what are those UFOs and where they came from. Hopefully, they give us or we find an answer soon to this huge concern. 

 

 

-       Malewar, Amit, et al. “Aliens Might Be Using Stars to Communicate with Each Other.” Tech Explorist, 4 Aug. 2021, www.techexplorist.com/aliens-using-stars-communicate/40405/.

 

-       Bram, Curtis. “Analysis | UFOs Exist, and Might Come from beyond Earth, the U.S. Said. Will That Encourage Conspiracy Theorists?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 July 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/30/ufos-exist-might-come-beyond-earth-us-said-will-that-encourage-conspiracy-theorists/.

 

Book Report: Thinking, Fast and Slow

The book Thinking, Fast and Slow examines the judgements and choices a person makes and the reasons they are able to make specific decisions. This novel deciphers how Two Systems, Heuristics and Biases, Overconfidence, Choices, and Two Selves are all vitaly important to making these decisions. Thinking, Fast and Slow delves into the essence of the questions in what ways do we think slow/fast and how do these ways of thinking affect a person's daily life. 

My general consensus after reading this novel was that we create a subconscious bias and whether it is an immediate response that is driven or a critical well thought out response is how we can ultimately identify the root of the bias and resolve the issues. It is often that these biases can not be recognized as they become patterns or habits. It is widely known that people are subjectively judgemental and biased. Even when we try so desperately to be open and unswayed, we still are subconsciously biasing and evaluating circumstances in life. 

Ultimately, this novel is split up into five main sections. Part 1, Two systems deals with the basic elements of fast vs slow and how each approaches judgements and choices. Part 2, deals with why we have subconscious bias and how people deal with unwavering impressions. Part 3, entails the difficulties of thinking in a statistical manner and being able to think outside of the box. Part 4, is focused on the nature of economics and the ways it affects our decision making abilities. Finally, Part 5 describes the research behind the experiencing self and the remembering self. 

My favorite part of the novel was when Two Selves was brought up. Two selves show the yin and yang relationship that fast and slow thinking portray. They are complete opposites, but both are necessary (respectfully) in their own certain situations. The two selves demonstrate the balance between what is known as the remembering self, and what is referred to as the experiencing self. The remembering self focuses on the past deals with situations as a reflective lesson learned. The experiencing self lives in the moment and deals with the feelings, the emotions, repercussions of choices that have been made. 

In this class, we have talked much about being open-minded. This book splits the divide between our distasteful biases and closed minded thoughts and welcoming open-minded thoughts. This novel has helped me specifically open my eyes to the world and see things in a different light, being open minded can change hearts and minds toward a variety of different subjects. Specifically, reading this book can shed light on new perspectives and alternative ways to look at a situation whether it be good or bad. In today's world, there is so much anger and hatred towards people who come from different backgrounds and cultures and much of the animosity is fueled by ignorance and closed-minded behavior and thinking. If people in general were more open minded to embracing people who look/talk/act/believe differently I know that the world would truly be a better place for all of us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvr3oh_Wy9U

https://www.verywellmind.com/be-more-open-minded-4690673

Blog Post #2: Chupacabras

Chupacabras

Coming from a Hispanic household, I have been told many stories about chupacabras. As the professor explains in Lecture #2 chupacabras is a mysterious creature that attacked pets and farm animals. By sucking all their blood this mysterious animal kills them, just living the animal’s body and bones. Some stories tell that chupacabras actually eats the animal. I’ve been raised in Lima, the city of my country so, you don’t hear chupacabra’s stories that often in there, but I remember always going to visit my grandma outside of the city, she used to have a farm with animals and pets. I remember loving to visit my grandma, but I was terrified by all the stories her neighbors and her were telling me about this creature, I even had trouble sleeping in her house at night. Also, I remember her telling me about the neighbor’s animals missing and found dead and they thought it was the chupacabra’s fault. They describe this creature just as the pictures in the lecture. 

 

It is really interesting how all of these Hispanic countries have this mythical creature in common, and how we all Hispanic kids have this mutual terror for the chupacabras when we were little. Now that I’m grown up, I wonder how this story went from Puerto Rico all the way to South America, Peru, where I’m from. In my research for this post I have read an article that says “In recent years, chupacabras have been reported as far afield as Russia and the Philippines” (Gabbatis, 2016). I didn't know but it appears there are two types of chupacabras, there is a video underneath that explains this. There is no real proof the chupacabras existed. Most pictures you find on the internet about this creature are from dogs without hair or some pictures and videos that had been manipulated. I can assure you there are some pretty good explanations why those pets and animals are found dead under those conditions. It was interesting to remember a monster who did let me sleep at night in my childhood. 

 

- Gabbatiss, Josh. “Earth - the Truth about a Strange Blood-Sucking Monster.” BBC, BBC, 10 Nov. 2016, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161109-the-truth-about-a-strange-blood-sucking-monster. 

 

Blog Post #1: Past Life Hypnotic Regression

Past Life Hypnotic Regression

One of the pieces of content we covered in this class is past-life hypnotic regression. Prior to reading Lecture #9, I was reading a book called “Many lives, many masters” by Brian Weiss. The author is a psychiatrist who discovers past life therapy through treating a patient named Catherine. Catherine was living a life with many phobias which she didn’t know where they came from, in the book we discover those phobias were coming from past lives. Throughout the book, Weiss tells how Catherine was having vivid memories of past lives in their sessions. “He writes that during one of their sessions, Catherine regressed back to a time before she was born, recounting a past life as an 18-year-old girl name Aronda from the year 1863 B.C.” (OWN, 2020). While they were continuing their sessions an explanation for her phobias was found and the reason was they were created because of situations she experienced in her past lives. Every session she discovered she was healing from her phobias and was not afraid or anxious anymore.

 

When I was reading the class lecture, the first thing it came to my mind was this book because it was the first time I heard of this technique. While reading the story I was really impressed by the new perspective of life this book was giving me, I researched this topic back then and now, and there is no real proof this technique works. “It is more likely that instead of re-living actual past lives, you are imagining (sometimes vividly) something that is being suggested, or that you would like to imagine” (The Hypnotherapy Practice Edinburgh, 2019) In the meantime, there is news about people who have found a cure to their phobias with hypnotic regression but "this may be because the client starts to feel different as they imagine themselves as someone else" (The Hypnotherapy Practice Edinburgh, 2019). In my perspective, it's difficult to believe in this technique without a deep study in the subject but it was interesting to get a different point of view of life. 

 

 

-       OWN. “Dr. Brian Weiss on the Patient Who Made Him Believe in Past Lives | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Aug. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMlLoPYwZ5w. 

 

-       “Why Past-Life Regression by Hypnotherapy Is a Waste of Money.” The Hypnotherapy Practice Edinburgh, 12 Feb. 2019, www.thehypnotherapypracticeedinburgh.co.uk/why-past-life-regression-is-a-waste-of-money/. 

 

Blog Post 3: The End of The World

     The end of the world is a terrifying thing to have to think about, but it is something that could very well happen at some point down the line (hopefully very, very far down the line).  Something touched on in the powerpoint is just how many different dates there are that the world could end according to different sources.  Whether religious, somehow scientifically backed, or created by pure skeptics,  these theories on the world ending have successfully scared millions.

    The most influential world ending prediction was without a doubt Y2K.  This event was something that my parents enjoyed talking to me about, and back when I was much more interested in technology, this was one of the most perplexing thoughts I had ever had.  When we think about it now, the thought of the world ending due to a sudden technological shut down because of the changing of a number is ridiculous, but the very thought of it occurring was enough to terrify millions.  An interesting thing I have heard about the theory set forth by Kenton Beshore Kyle about the events supposedly to occur around 2021 is that COVID is actually the event that was discussed and that we would experience the troubles of COVID for those seven years.  This is an interesting thought, and in my opinion is just a strange coincidence.  How people continue to attempt to predict the end of the world and be wrong amuses me, and hopefully will continue to purely amuse me for the rest of my lifetime.

Here is an article about Y2K and what the U.S. government did to combat it:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/Y2K-bug/

Going Clear Book Report

        Going Clear details, the life of Ron L. Hubbard and his creation of Scientology. It originated from a book Hubbard wrote called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This idea quickly became popular, and people reported seeing improvement in their lives because of it. This book formed the basis for the religion Hubbard came to call Scientology. He claimed that our souls were not of this world, and that Scientology was the only way we could truly reach enlightenment, gain superhuman abilities and will ultimately be free from the body in death.

 

            Most of the people that became Scientologists were drawn in because they were told that they would be able to affect their environment and be able to leave their bodies at will. Once they joined the religion and started the introductory classes, many of them started to see improvements in their lives and mental states and immediately became hooked. But they didn’t realize that once they joined the Scientology ranks, it would be practically impossible to leave unless you escaped, which only ended up with them returning. Hubbard had background checks done on every member so that if they tried to leave or expose anything the church did to the public, they would use whatever dirt they found to blackmail them into submission. The premise of this religion is to obtain spiritual enlightenment and freedom, but they didn’t realize they gave up their freedom the minute they joined the church.

 

            My favorite part of the book is when Hubbard is describing his out of body experience during his dental operation. In this experience, he that he gained knowledge of how life began, where we go after we die, and if there were past lives before he was pulled back into his body because it was not his time yet. This knowledge that he supposedly received from dying during the surgery would later heavily influence the foundational beliefs in Scientology. This is my favorite part of the book because it shows that the beliefs of Scientology were not discovered threw actual spiritual growth but threw a hallucination due to the anesthesia he was given. It proves that the only real gain of Scientology was the money that Hubbard received from his followers. Out of body experiences like the one Hubbard experienced have also been shown to be a hallucinatory side effect of the anesthesia used on the patient.

 

            This book is related to our course because it talks a lot about out of body experiences. They believed heavily in dualism, and that they came from a race of aliens driven from their home planet, and that they would be reborn once they died. This belief is like the Heaven’s gate cult who believed that they were communicating with aliens, and that they were meant to join an alien ship by allowing their souls to leave their bodies. One of the main differences between the two is that the Heaven’s Gate cult committed suicide to move on to a higher existence, whereas Scientologists believe they will move on once their time on Earth has come to an end. Both groups are completely sperate from each other and are only linked by their shared belief in aliens and dualism. 

 

            I believe that this book addresses a current issue because although Scientology seems like a peaceful religion, it is quite the opposite. Whenever the church came under scrutiny by the public, Hubbard or those closest to him would retaliate to try and save their image. Some Scientologists were tasked with planting incriminating evidence to get their accusers thrown in jail. A good example of this would be the reporter Paulette Cooper, who was writing against the church of Scientology to expose their wrongdoings. To get her out of their way, they imitated her on the phone and made threats to Arab consulates in New York, mailed a threatening letter to an Arab consulate posing as her and impersonated her threatening the president at a laundromat; this incident was then reported to the FBI, and she was arrested.

This is a link to an interview by Larry King where former Scientologist Leah Remini talks about the inner workings of Scientology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzDtygWlWqI&t=53s

Book Report

                                                                         Viral BS

For decades, fake news has been spread everywhere into the corners of society. From newspapers, television, magazines, social media, and more, fake news has been extremely harmful to society in all types of ways. Seema Yasmin, a British physician, exposes the medical myths and pseudoscience of society in her book, Viral BS. Yasmin uncovers numerous myths from lead being in lipstick, the health benefits of eating your baby’s placenta, to the government banning research on gun violence. Many things that we were taught growing up or things that we heard from a source we deemed as reliable or factual, are not true and are uncovered in the book Viral BS.

Not only does the author leak medical myths, but she explains to the reader why these myths are believed by so many people. One large reason is simply storytelling and anecdotes. Stories help us find order in a world bursting with uncertainty. As Yasmin stated “the more fantastical, the better.” Unfortunately, humans are gullible and if something sounds interesting to them, even with the slightest bit of factual evidence thrown in there, they will not only believe it’s true, but they will spread the myth by telling their friends and family. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Yasmin also helped to unmask myths about the coronavirus. With almost everybody in the world having their eyes glued to a tv or smart phone, myths about the coronavirus were easy to spread.

One interesting part of this book was in Chapter two, when Yasmin calls out a very well known person and a myth they may or may not have had intention of spreading. It was the famous Kim Kardashian, who stated that eating her placentas helped her with postpartum recovery. Yasmin quickly revealed that such action has no medical benefits at all. In fact, studies show potential harm from the practice, since the organ can carry a lot of damaging cells and bacteria. Like in class, much evidence was provided for things that have been debated as fact or fiction overtime. Something that we have believed for the longest time came out to be untrue, or vice versa, things we always believed to be myths actually turned out to have evidence of existence. 

    In class, we learn much about paranormal activities, old sci-fi creatures, and other strange things that lead to numerous conspiracy theories. Some of these topics are believed by some, neglected by others, or even kept a secret in some cases. We just don’t really know. However, we believe what is interesting to us, or what we think makes sense, or what other people are saying is true. Like Yasmin explained, myths spread like wildfire and many medical myths are untrue. However, with well known or well educated influence, things are easier to believe which is why Yasmin begins Viral BS by introducing herself as a physician, director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, and a former epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is more likely to buy the readers trust when uncovering facts and fiction. Yasmin and GSS Paranormal and Pseudoscience class have both taught me ways to distinguish the fake news from facts and I believe the world would be a much better place to live if us humans were not invested with lies.

Subliminal messages

  A sneaky technique, a clever one, a very distasteful one at that. This technique is called subliminal messaging, mostly used in the business world for advertisements, tv shows, and movies to lure people in. How you may ask, this how, these messages are insufficiently intense messages used to produce discrete sensation by influencing one's mental process or behavior. Many business find the subliminal messages to sell more product when using this technique. The biggest businesses to use this are soda companies, for example coca a cola, the shape of the bottle is deistically recognizable, with all the curves, it signifies the curves of a women. Amazons logo as well, the smiling shaped arrow pointing from A to Z to show that they have all of the products from A through Z. Although these a petty subliminal messages, there are subliminal messages that work your insecurities and mental health to make you buy the product. Social media is greatly drawn to subliminal messaging as well, ads or posts are created by influencers to give their fans or viewers a message. For example, an influencer advertising a product for weight loss, once you see that product once and it already is lodged in your mind it will start to appear more, making the viewers think "oh because that influencer is doing it i should to". These subliminal messages are making business richer while us viewers poorer. 

                        

            

What if: 100% of our brain

  Our brain is only being 10% used, there has been many articles of scientists trying to create a human with the brain capacity of 100%. With our brain being used at 100% it hasn't been proven to know what we would be capable of doing. What if our brain when used at 100% can read minds, learn 6 languages in one minute, read 5 books in an hour. These things are all things we think about, what if. Everyone wishes to be smarter, just like the next guy. It's not impossible to be smarter than the next guy, but it is impossible to use 100% of our brain. In order to use that much, one would have to have a bigger brain to start. You can't grow a bigger brain because your brain is there to fit your body. In comparison to a human brain and a whales brain, the whales brain is 5 times larger, but a whales body is what bigger which shows to need more processing power. Our body and mind is smaller, which is why we don't need that much processing power as a whale does. There is a movie called "Lucy" that is dedicated to the impossible of using 28% of your brain. This movie shows how the brain is so powerful, when using only 18% more than usual, you can have the powers to fight, hack any computer, and have the knowledge that you never knew before. Imagine using 100%, if only 18% more can do that, no one knows how much 100% can do to you. 

Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAPXQtT766Q

The jersey devil: Baader Meinhof Phenomenon

 There are many different opinions confirming the myth the jersey devil, ghost stories of hunters in the woods of Pine Barrens, where the devil resides. As for me I believe that the once you enter those woods thinking about the The Jersey Devil, your mind will create the Jersey Devil. This is called the Baader Meinhof Phenomenon, this is when your mind plays tricks on you, it creates an illusion for you to see so you can think it is there. Your mind is very powerful, like many other myths such as ghost in your house, or the myth of Bigfoot. Your mind will create an illusion so you can believe it's true. The Baader phenomenon will back me up on my belief, it has been proven that once your mind is set on something it will see it more often. For example, when someone wants a red car really badly, it will be lodged in the back of your brain, even if you are not thinking about it, red cars will start to appear more often because as the phenomenon says, your mind creates a selective attention bias. This happens because your brain takes notice of the things your are passionate about or are interesting in. Many ghost stories about the Jersey Devil has occurred, all bringing back to reporters saying "They swear", a statement that shows that it's not  believable. The myth started in 1909, with this creature capturing newspaper headlines, and more and more people seem to be encountered with the Devil. I stand to believe it is just your mind playing tricks on you, your mind thinking they saw it just because it has everyone else scared and has been on the headlines of news papers. This myth has many fans and authors writing about ti causing the people to read and want to see the woods for themselves, walking into the woods scared and knowing this is home of the Devil, causes your brain to react to any sound or object near by. 

The Jersey Devil

     The story of the Jersey Devil is unique. The legend stems from Quaker folklore where much of the gossip surrounding it came in spite of the almanac Daniel Leeds had publish. The old folklore states that the 13th child of Mother leads was in fact the devil. The Jersey Devil is often associated with a horse like figure with wings. When it was born, it is said that the child began growing at an unbelievably fast rate. The child transformed into a large beast with wings and horns. The Jersey Devil proceeded to kill Mother Leeds and the midwife that helped deliver the baby. From that day on it began terrorizing the Pine Barrons area of New Jersey. 

     However, because the creature can fly it was not secluded to just this part of the region.
The most sightings of the Jersey Devil come from many accounts in newspapers and articles written back in 1909. At one point, the Devil became such a problem that schools, factors, mills, and more shut down because of the fear surrounding the legend of the Jersey Devil. The beast has been seen mostly in the Pine Barrons of New Jersey but there have been reports of sightings as far west as Philadelphia. 

http://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/

A Case For The Open-Minded Skeptic: Protecting Ourselves From Superstition

What thoughts are conjured if someone described themselves to you as an "open-minded skeptic"?  One may feel that this depiction can be viewed as an oxymoron, meaning that these terms viewed separately are in complete contradiction of themselves.  Having an open mind often connotates that an individual is able to view opposing ideas without rigidly attaching to their own.  Open-mindedness can also be described as being receptive to new ideas and procedural methods which pertain to our society.  On the other hand, the word "skeptic" or "skepticism" may evoke assumptions of doubt and even the lack of rationality.  So how can this term have any place in science? How can becoming an open-minded skeptic protect us from supertions and false narratives?

    

Lets take a look from a scientist's perspective.  A good scientist must be curious.  If we don't have curiosity, how can we formulate questions? Our questions are basically rooted in doubt or , in another word, skepticism.  Furthermore, if we can't form questions from our doubt, how can we ever develop a hypothesis and contrive different ways of testing?  This is the point where our skepticism comes into the lime light.  It is imperative that we posses doubt so that we are able to prepare various forms of testing. Test the question at hand! All of this ultimately leads to experimentation, which is the pinnacle of formulating truths in science.  Does any of this sound familiar?  It should if you are a purveyor of scientific information.  This is basically the tenants of scientific procedure or what is commonly known as the scientific method. By using this method, even in our daily lives, we can delinate the truth from the false. 

If you are reading this, I encourage you to question everything with an open mind!  Be curious with a smidge of doubt!  This is where science is created. This is also how we can protect ourselves from forming superstions and biased beliefs.  Become an open-minded skeptic!

Please take a moment to watch this short Youtube video on open-mindedness as it relates to skepticism, the attainment of pure knowledge and protection from forming superstions:https://youtu.be/T69TOuqaqXI

Blog Post 2: Twin Telepathy

     Telepathy is an interesting in concept, but is something that in reality likely would not exist.  We, as humans, only use 10% of our brains at any given time.  This is all that we are capable of doing.  What happens when we use more than that 10%?  There isn't a person that could tell you.  The ability to read minds out communicate using our minds, however, is something that some who dig into using more than 10% of the brain believe that we could do.

    One of the most mainstream forms of telepathy and most widely seen examples is twin telepathy.  Twins will claim that because they developed together in the womb that they can feel and think what the other twin is thinking without any physical notions or indicators.  While being simply impossible and likely more of a shared personality kind of thing, the concept is still very interesting.  If this telepathic form of communication was truly telepathic, what if we as a species could figure out how to harness it and bring it to the every day person?  The possibilities are endless with a form of communication such as this. This presents a big question: do twins have an ability to use more of their brain than every day people or does telepathy rely on some sort of outside factor that could potentially be more scientifically backed?  I would have to say there is an outside factor, just because the odds of two people who developed together in the womb possessing more brainpower than a person who'd developed by themselves are very slim.  The potential connection makes sense, but in my opinion it would not scientifically.  I hope in the very near future more scientists revisit this twin telepathy topic as it is very interesting and I would love to learn more about it!

Here is a very interesting article about the concept of twin telepathy:

https://www.livescience.com/45405-twin-telepathy.html

Blog Post 1: Mythical Creatures

  Mythical creatures, such as the Jersey Devil, Bigfoot, and the Chupacabra, have always fascinated me since I was a child.  The thought that these creatures may be out in the wild and have managed to avoid human contact so well for so long blows my mind.  While the various different types of creatures may have differing levels of authenticity, there have been sightings of all of them throughout human history.  Although a clear hoax, it was wild to read that the Jersey Devil had been sighted so closer to out university one time!

    The two that interest me the most, however, are Bigfoot and the Chupacabra.  I knew what a Bigfoot was generally speaking, and I knew what it is supposed too look like, but I did not know that the term "Sasquatch" actually embodied many different creatures that resemble the modern day Bigfoot in order to bring those who have recorded sightings together.  Bigfoot also being connected to different UFO sightings is also something I had never heard about, but would be something I would be interested in finding out.  The Chupacabra, to me, is the most realistic creature that could be out in the wild today.  I have a cousin who attended Arizona State University and lives out there to this day and swears up and down that the Chupacabra is real.  There is also undeniable evidence that in my opinion cannot be faked, particularly the animals found on farms in the southwest completely drained of blood.  The Chupacabra is a big mystery to me and one that has drawn my attention over the last few years, and whether or not the Chupacabra exists or it is simply a case of mistreated Xolo dogs as stated in the powerpoint is something we may hopefully find. conclusion on soon.

Here is a comparison between the Xolo dog and a picture of an alleged Chupacabra.  What do you think?

False Memories

     One of the topics that was covered in this class that I find particularly interesting is the topic of false memories. At first it seems crazy that people are so likely to remember things incorrectly, but when carefully considering the tendencies it makes perfect sense. Unless people have a photographic memory they don’t remember things exactly how they were in all cases, and instead they combine what they do remember with organization that makes sense to them and is consistent with what is expected from them. With this in mind it is easy to see how people are prone to false memories, and how this can be used to peddle pseudoscience and belief in the paranormal. But aside from that it made me wonder about some of my childhood memories. 

Many of my most cherished childhood memories are shared with my family, and so to test my theory about false memories I brought up some of these memories to my siblings and parents to see how well our stories matched up with several different memories. For most the general gist of the memory is the same, but many details were not. Some of these included location, order of events, and who else was present. In other cases I discovered that some of my memories were in fact false memories that I had created after hearing a story so many times and imagining it in my head the same way every time. In most of those cases I was either too young to actually remember or I was only there for part of the story but remember the whole thing as if I were there. This is consistent with what we learned about false memories because I was using what I knew and what I had heard from retellings of the events to fill in the blanks of my memory. In some other cases it seems my memory is consistent with that of the rest of my family, but someone else in the family had a false memory of it. Now while I had no memories of anything that was completely made up, it was extremely interesting to find out how much of these memories I had retained from the actual experience, and how much I had fabricated in my mind based on other people retelling the story or myself trying to piece it together in my mind. If anyone is interested in doing the same I strongly recommend it because it was very nostalgic and fun bonding experience and it was also fascinating to discover how differently we remembered some of these occurrences.  

 

The Jersey Devil Is A Hoax

 I want to revisit the Jersey Devil subject after reading some of the other posts here on this site.  As I sit here typing this, I’m in the middle of the Pine Barrens which is the supposed home to the Jersey Devil.  The Pine Barrens, or The Pinelands National Preserve, is an all encompassing 1.1 million square acres which was designated as such by Congress in 1978.  This makes up over 22% of New Jersey.  I have spent countless hours and days at the Tracker School, here among the pines, immersed in learning the ways of our Native American ancestors.  Numerous tales have been told of this mythical creature which, as folk lore tells it, is a spawn of the devil himself. Born as the thirteenth child of Mrs. Leeds, a resident of Estellville, NJ , the Jersey Devil myth has plagued South Jersey for nearly 300 years.  It is said that after learning of her pregnancy, Mother Leads proclaimed “Let this one be the devil!”.   Since then, numerous sightings have occurred throughout the region, some of them made by prominent officials.  What is curious though, in my research, no mention of the Jersey Devil can be found in the traditional stories of the Lenape people who were the Native Americans inhabiting this land long before the white settlers came. I can’t say that I have ever seen the Jersey Devil here in this place, but I have experienced the peculiarities of the Piney people; those who have lived here their whole life and frequent the area quite often.

It is my belief that those who can’t or don’t understand the ways of Mother Nature can often take certain experiences as supernatural phenomenon.  Most of the people that come here to this area of the pines are boozed fueled individuals looking for a good time, lacking reverence for the actual beauty which is present. The animals that inhabit this place include: sand hill cranes, white tail deer, great horned owls, pine snakes, and the gray fox.  The Jersey Devil has been described as a hooved animal with long legs, bat like wings, the head of a dog, and donned with antlers or horns.  It has also been described as having a blood curdling, high pitch screech.  All of these descriptions resemble the combinations and characteristics of all these animals mentioned.  It is my belief that the tale of the Jersey Devil is based out of ignorance.  If you spend some time here among the Pines with a sober mind, you will come to know its hidden treasures of natural awe. By doing this, there will be no room left for doubt or superstitions.

Sandhill Crane

White Tail Buck (Male)

Great Horned Owl

Pine Snake

Gray Fox

Calls of the Great Horned Owl:  https://youtu.be/kqcmukhiGs0

Please enjoy these pictures and sounds of the many animals which inhabit this vast land.  After doing so, come to your own conclusion as to whether or not these animals could be mistaken as the Jersey Devil.

Book Report- Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall For Them by Seema Yasmin

Melinda Parson

Book Report

August 3rd, 2021

    Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why we Fall For Them by Seema Yasmin is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. A brief summary of Seema’s book is that she was a young doctor in London, when she realized the skepticism many people have in our medical professionals, and this is due to stories being passed along by people to create this mistrust. She went on to work for The Epidemic Intelligence Service at the CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) and then went on to fill her role as a public health translator- to debunk myths about viruses and how they spread, and this was occurring during the Ebola outbreak in Dallas. Medical Myths and Pseudoscience created by people telling and believing stories had created a hysteria in the United States and it was Seema’s job to help calm the masses down.

    Personally I believe this was the fire behind her writing this book. Her introduction to each chapter, which go into the, “stories (what we remember as humans) from medical myths about vaccines and chemtrails, to conspiracy theories about nefarious governments and unscrupulous scientists,” (Yasmin, p.25). Was extremely powerful. It leads the reader to be very interested in three questions she leaves us with before breaking off into each separate chapter, which discuss topics from baby powder, to diet pills, to ovarian cancer: “why do we believe what we believe, why don’t facts extinguish falsehoods, and what is a fact anyway?” (Yasmin, p.25).

     My favorite chapter of this book was called, “Is it dangerous to be pregnant in America?” (Yasmin, p.147). There were many fascinating chapters, but this one seriously peaked my interest, as I want to have children of my own one day. What I learned from this chapter however, is horrific. In the United States- from the year 2000 to 2013, maternal mortality has increased by 27%. Whereas many other countries worldwide are having decreased mortality rates, ours here in America has increased by nearly 30%. This is scary to think about, and the reasoning behind it could be our lack of protocols post delivery and during delivery. For instance Great Britain has a national protocol to check for hemorrhaging post birth, where the United States does not. Another reason for rising maternal mortality is the interventions taking place during the birthing process, like c-sections, which have doubled for unnecessary reasons over the last ten years. Another unnecessary intervention is induction of contractions prior to the birthing process, which can lead to c-sections. However, the most horrifying fact of this chapter was that black women in America are 3-4 times more likely to die from giving birth than white americans. This comes from black women's concerns being ignored by healthcare workers, poverty, lack of insurance after 60 days post birth, drug overdose, and more: which all lead back to one word- inequality. It was extremely eye opening and made me want to be able to help find ways to prevent these outcomes for pregnant women in America.

A lot of the chapters in the book Viral BS relate back to our class and what we have covered because people believe in stories. The human brain processes information at an incredible rate, but just because we are able to do so does not mean we do so sensibly. Seema presents the fact that most of us are more afraid to fly in a plane than travel by car, however we are more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash. That is because stories- like one where an airplane falls out of the sky is more appealing to our brains. Stories with suspense like this allow our brains to release a hormone called oxytocin, which I remember hearing about in the Ted Talk presentation by Michael Shermer. Our faith in stories correlates directly with pseudoscience itself.

Attached at the bottom of this paper I have included a really cool Ted Talk presented by the intelligent and wonderful Seema Yasmin herself discussing her experiences with the Ebola outbreak in Dallas, which she discussed in the introduction of her book. It is super interesting and I highly recommend taking a look at it, as it ties in with the overall topic of this book which is storytelling that leads to skepticism; what is real and what is not real? This book really sparked my interest in many topics, such as the covid-19 vaccine. Many people are skeptical of the vaccine because of stories being told about it like the fact that it is the only vaccine ever created that changes our genetic makeup. Is this fact or not? It would be really interesting to hear Seema Yasmin’s opinion on the covid-19 vaccine. Hopefully she can explain the facts behind the vaccine to all of us soon.

Ted Talk By Seema:

Works cited: Yasmin, S. (2021). Viral bs: Medical myths and why we fall for them. Johns Hopkins University Press.