Matthew Jackson
Sep 7, 2018 · 1 min read

I’m a former science journalist, not a scientist, but I’ve done a fair bit of reading on what you would likely describe as “fringe” research in your field. I find some of it pretty convincing in terms of being highly suggestive of consciousness in some way being independent of brain function.

Just one of many examples is the research coming out of the University of Virginia’s school of medicine (Division of Perceptual Studies), founded by Ian Stevenson in 1967. Stevenson’s main claim to fame, of course, is his meticulous research of children who claim to remember past lives. I’m wondering if you are familiar with this research, and how you interpret their findings through the current mainstream paradigm of trying to explain every facet of conscious experience through brain function.

To quote the book review editor at JAMA (234:978, 1975): “In regard to reincarnation [Ian Stevenson] has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases from India, cases in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds … He has placed on record a large amount of data that cannot be ignored.”

    Matthew Jackson

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