Argument # 10: Paranormal phenomena aren’t possible because they contradict known laws of science.

 

First of all, natural laws as we define them are based on our interpretation of empirical testing and observation.  Therefore, they are subject to constant change as new discoveries are found which challenge or contradict our models.  Throughout history, we have constantly updated and expanded our understanding of the laws of how the universe works.  In the past, it was said that things like heavier than air flight and going to the moon were impossibilities.  Skeptics of those things were proven wrong of course.  At one time, according to the law of aerodynamics, a hummingbird shouldn’t be able to hover, yet it did, so we had to figure out why and revise our laws of aerodynamics.  When Albert Einstein discovered that light travels at a constant speed (e.g. if you’re traveling in a car and shine a flashlight forward, the car’s speed is not added to the light’s speed), and formulated his theory of relativity (time slows down as you go faster), and postulated that gravity involves distortion of space, all these things contradicted the Newtonian laws of physics at the time, yet they were eventually validated.  As of now, special relativity and quantum mechanics are at odds with each other, and physicists are seeking a grand unified theory to unite them both.  As history has shown, we constantly update and expand our laws of physics to fit the data, not deny the data and new discoveries just to protect our beliefs. 

 

In fact, new discoveries in quantum physics each year are shattering the materialistic reductionist view we had of the universe, making psychic phenomena and other dimensions more plausible.  These include the non-locality (meaning distance and space don’t exist) of twin particles (discovered by Alan Aspect in 1982), string theories that postulate several other dimensions beside our own, the discovery that particles behave differently when observed (making psychokinesis more probable), etc.  (See Fred Alan Wolfe’s Taking the Quantum Leap and The Spiritual Universe)  Each new discovery seems proves the skeptics wrong and moves us further from their views and closer to metaphysical paradigms.  This is obviously not a good sign for their case.  It appears that the skeptic camp is a sinking ship that one should get off to avoid embarrassment.  Just the discovery alone in quantum physics that all matter is a form of vibrating energy makes paranormal and psychic phenomena much more plausible and understandable.

 

Finally, good theories try to unify the data.  As Ron Pearson notes in his article Theoretical Physics Back Survival: 

 

“Theories make sense of the experiments and show how apparently unrelated phenomena are aspects of the same thing. Good theories provide unifications. For example, magnetism and electricity were separate fields when science was in its infancy. As understanding grew it was found that magnetic effects could be produced by electric currents and the converse also applied. Now we speak of electromagnetism as a single force; one of the four forces of nature. Theoretical physicists hope ultimately to join these by a unified field theory arising from a single 'superforce'.”

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