While strolling with my beloved in the local zoo, we came across a shortish, furry, brown fellow who engaged our sight and seemed to want to play with us, albeit at a distance. He was friendlier even than the acknowledged local clowns (the bears) and surprise followed surprise as we read that this guy belongs to the ferocious wolverine species. Could this same jolly creature be one who would promptly dispatch us, much larger animals, if he were not fed for (...) a while? Thinking about these seemingly contradictory views of one and the same being and of how reality is always more complicated than our models of it, I had the insight that what mostly afflicts "skepticism" is the inability to tolerate complexity and even seemingly contradictory views about a phenomenon. I write "skepticism" in quotation marks to differentiate the epistemological absolutism that pervades both the strident anti- and pro-psi proponents from what I consider a healthy abeyance from fully committing to a closed position in science or other aspects of life. I contend that although the person in a "New Age fair" trading in everything from magical rocks to mysterious odors may seem to be the counterpoint of, say, the arch-skeptic academic who a priori declares psi impossible, they are both afflicted with the same inability to assimilate contradictory information and tolerate ambiguity, and it is only their axioms that differ. And even those may not be that different when we compare superficial materialism and superficial spiritualism (Cardeña, 2010). Consider Humphrey's comments (1995:54) that "materialism is to all intents and purposes the fact of life" no matter how contentious that concept of "matter" is in physics and philosophy (e.g., Wigner, 1969), and that of a Brazilian medium who reported that after death there is food, the same as here, just better-tasting (cf. Playfair, 2010). For both, nothing else seems to exist but everyday objects, the only difference being that for the second they continue after death. (shrink)

Although consciousness-correlated physical phenomena are widely and credibly documented, their appearance and behavior display substantial departures from conventional scientific criteria. Under even the most rigorous protocols, they are only irregularly replicable, and they appear to be insensitive to most basic physical coordinates, including distance and time. Rather, their strongest correlations are with various subjective parameters, such as intention, emotional resonance, uncertainty, attitude, and meaning, and information processing at an unconscious level appears to be involved. If science, by its most basic (...) definition, is to pursue understanding and utilization of these extraordinary processes, it will need to expand its current paradigm to acknowledge and codify a proactive role for the mind in the establishment of physical events, and to accommodate the spectrum of empirically indicated subjective correlates. The challenges of quantitative measurement and theoretical conceptualization within such a ‘‘Science of the Subjective’’ are formidable, but its potential intellectual and cultural benefits could be immense, not least of all in improving the reach, the utility, the attitude, and the image of science itself. Keywords: consciousness-correlated physical phenomena (CCPP)—science of the subjective (SOS)—scientific criteria—scientific models. (shrink)

We show that the velocity distribution in rarefied (i.e., Knudsen) gases is spontaneously weighted in favor of small speeds away from the Maxwellian distribution corresponding to the temperature of the container walls—despite thermodynamic equilibrium with the walls. The consequent paradox concerning the second law of thermodynamics is discussed.

Energy is the lifeblood of civilization, but inexpensive, high energy density sources are rapidly being depleted and their exploitation is severely degrading the environment. This paper explores a radical solution to this energy-environmental dilemma. In the last 10–15 years, the universality of the second law of thermodynamics has fallen into serious theoretical doubt [1–3]. Should it prove experimentally violable, this would open the door to a nearly limitless reservoir of ubiquitous, clean, recyclable energy. If economical, it could precipitate paradigm shifts (...) in energy production, utilization and politics. In this paper, recent challenges to the second law are reviewed, with focus given to one for which laboratory experiments are planned. Possible consequences of its violation for technology, society and the environment are explored. Keywords: entropy—energy—second law of thermodynamics—climate change—environment—ecology—energy economy—famine. (shrink)