October 31, 2009

Scientists, Skeptics and Ufologists Will Always Disagree - And It May Be Genetic


We know that the majority of scientists think evidence for the existence of UFOs is full of holes despite the high level of military and government whistleblower testimony. Adding to the weight of this disclosure is the testimony from astronauts, police, space engineers and astronomers, yet many scientists continue to remain in denial. The UFO community scratches it’s head wondering how it will ever get through such rigid blindness. But it may well be impossible according to New Scientist magazine (print edition 10/10/09) which dedicated ten pages to consciousness. It just may not be possible getting through such denial and the reason is it’s those pesky genes that prevent new information being integrated into certain individuals grey matter.

In a piece about altered states, and in particular hypnosis, some studies hint at our ability to be hypnotized as being deeply ingrained. “When 50 people were re-tested [for their hypnotisability] on the Stanford scale after a 25-year gap, their scores stayed remarkably consistent.” James Horton at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville has even found physical brain differences: highly hypnotizable participants had a 30% bigger rostrum, a part of the brain thought to help focus attention. A few studies have also shown that hypnotisability may be hereditary, and some researchers – including Amir Raz of McGill university in Montreal, Canada – are trying to track the genes involved.

Curiously, most of the scientists interviewed for the article stated they were only mediocre on the hypnotisability scale. No surprise there since scientists tend to dissect, criticize and evaluate which is completely opposite to a hypnotic state of mind. Personally I’ve found that people who make the best hypnosis subjects tend to be more right brained than others and female. A right brained individual will be more creative since right brained activity is associative, synthesizing many things into one expression, whereas left brained activity pulls apart information, breaking it down into smaller clumps of data for observation and analysis. So we have synthesis versus analysis – or more simply said, putting together versus pulling apart.

Our brain dominance plays an important role in forming our behaviour, perspective and beliefs. So those who are left-brain dominant (for want of a better expression) will be drawn to the scientific, and if a higher degree of dominance is experienced it’s only natural they will go further and become a “skeptic” which is a deeper expression of left-brain behaviour. So no matter how much you try to “get through” to a skeptic it’s just not going to happen.

Now we could wait and be patient until the next generation is born, but unfortunately if this is genetic then it will just keep repeating itself, so don’t bother holding your breath. Darn those pesky genes!