Brian Cox shows his ignorance and prejudice
Posted: 18 Jan 2012, 22:02
Following a recent controversy re Bruce Hood debunking all paranormal research in the UK TV Christmas Lectures - here comes the pin up boy of astronomy Professor Brian Cox, doing much the same on A Night With the Stars (Google it to watch if you want) which I've just got around to viewing.
I can understand academics slagging off the zany end of the the paranormal but get very frustrated when they lump it all together as if it's all seaside pier fortune tellers and tarot readers. And probably through total ignorance, they show no respect at all for the dozens of top quality scientists who treat as serious research.
There are people like paranormal researcher and UFO witness British scientist Peter Sturrock, whose research in nuclear physics at Engand's Atomic Energy Research Establishment led to Stanford University, California, where he was appointed Professor of Engineering and Applied Physics in its School of Engineering and its Physics Department. Since 1961, Sturrock has worked primarily on plasma physics, solar physics and astrophysics, as well as gravity research and studying the history and philosophy of science.
Or there's Bernard Carr, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University, London, or Prof Archie Roy, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, the British Interplanetary Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Both are past presidents of the Society for Psychical Research with immense knowledge of the paranormal.
In the celebrity Night with the Stars show, Cox outlines Quantum Theory by telling us that things can be in an infinite number of places at once and "describes the world with higher precision than the laws of physics laid down by Newton."
But he adds: " It doesn't therefore allow mystical healing or ESP or any other manifestation of new-age woo woo into the pantheon of the possible. Always remember quantum theory is physics and physics is usually done by people without star signs tattooed on their bottoms."
Now it might be right or wrong to equate Quantum Physics with paranormal phenomena but how 'scientific' is it to rubbish a whole area of research like ESP, which he obviously hasn't studied in any kind of depth?
Ironically he began his lecture with a quote from chemist Sir Humphry Davy :
“Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose our views of science are ultimate; that there are no new mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete; and that there are no new worlds to conquer.”
Such a pity that people like Cox and Dawkins don't take this on board regarding psychic mysteries....
I can understand academics slagging off the zany end of the the paranormal but get very frustrated when they lump it all together as if it's all seaside pier fortune tellers and tarot readers. And probably through total ignorance, they show no respect at all for the dozens of top quality scientists who treat as serious research.
There are people like paranormal researcher and UFO witness British scientist Peter Sturrock, whose research in nuclear physics at Engand's Atomic Energy Research Establishment led to Stanford University, California, where he was appointed Professor of Engineering and Applied Physics in its School of Engineering and its Physics Department. Since 1961, Sturrock has worked primarily on plasma physics, solar physics and astrophysics, as well as gravity research and studying the history and philosophy of science.
Or there's Bernard Carr, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University, London, or Prof Archie Roy, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, the British Interplanetary Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Both are past presidents of the Society for Psychical Research with immense knowledge of the paranormal.
In the celebrity Night with the Stars show, Cox outlines Quantum Theory by telling us that things can be in an infinite number of places at once and "describes the world with higher precision than the laws of physics laid down by Newton."
But he adds: " It doesn't therefore allow mystical healing or ESP or any other manifestation of new-age woo woo into the pantheon of the possible. Always remember quantum theory is physics and physics is usually done by people without star signs tattooed on their bottoms."
Now it might be right or wrong to equate Quantum Physics with paranormal phenomena but how 'scientific' is it to rubbish a whole area of research like ESP, which he obviously hasn't studied in any kind of depth?
Ironically he began his lecture with a quote from chemist Sir Humphry Davy :
“Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose our views of science are ultimate; that there are no new mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete; and that there are no new worlds to conquer.”
Such a pity that people like Cox and Dawkins don't take this on board regarding psychic mysteries....