[davedes]

Quote by: Morality Games .......... the kind of technology you would use to study chemical changes in the brain is nothing like an EEG, and how do you propose a scientist (a) know when a near death experience is about to occur (b) conduct an orderly study under the circumstances surrounding a near death. If you can't do that, then there is no call for you to call what I say 'ridiculous'.

So you are saying that since human death is difficult to study, we should not study it? I think I'm fully justified in calling that ridiculous.

We can't wheel in an electron microscope to view synpases while somebody undergoes cardiac arrest. That's not what I'm suggesting. A more rational approach would be to first study veridical perception in regular OBEs, not near-death situations. It may also be wise to study chemical changes in other animals during near-death experiences.

Perhaps when technology catches up, we will be able to study NDEs without having to be physically present.

... from study, drugs and meditation are both known to alter brain chemistry, but that does not equate with other planes of existence.

This chemical change certainly does not equate to another plane of existence. I never said anything of the sort. The change may play a role in inducing an out-of-body experience, which in turn may, if veridical perception is true, suggest something more than our current understanding of reality.

Proving that an OBE is based on brain chemistry does not "debunk" claims of veridical perception. It may give a reason for why this perception is happening, but it does nothing to argue against the claim itself.

Now, I thought we were talking about NDE in particular? How did I miss the point?

I made it quite clear that I was discussing OBEs as well as NDEs. Almost all NDEs that we have discussed here are those that trigger an out-of-body experience. Most if not all claims of veridical NDE perception stem from an out-of-body experience. In this case, an NDE acts as a "trigger" to induce the out-of-body state.