Carl Sagan


From Carl Sagan’s book Demon-Haunted World:

“… there are three claims in the ESP field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study: (1) that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random number generators in computers; (2) that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images “projected” at them; and (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any way other than reincarnation.”

I was pretty surprised when someone pointed me to this quote.  Sagan was a known critic and a founding member of the skeptical organization now known as CSI (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).  He was still skeptical and the next paragraph in the book confirms that.  He’s pretty sure an explanation will be found that will explain it all away, but he is reluctantly conceding that in these three cases there is something there that still needs to be explained.

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