Letters to the Editor
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Re: Center for Consciousness Studies
Borinquena says: "The University of Arizona has a Center for Consciousness Studies, and their website has links to abstracts, publications and online courses. More info here: http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu"
I used to live near the UA campus in a row of houses that were mostly being used to shelter various labs. The house to the east of mine hosted a study into communicating with the afterlife, for instance. The occupants of the house to the west attempted to "cure" sexual predators with electroshock. (A neighbor helped them move and glimpsed "the world's largest polygraph" in a closet.) The house catty-corner behind the alley hosted regular pow-wows with drum circles.
Every campus has such extrapolative and multi-disciplinary research.
An earlier writer pointed out that gauging consciousness using PET and MRI was like discerning the processes of a computer by monitoring its power consumption. This, of course, is a familiar technique that has been used to break the encryption of smart cards, for instance.
The question isn't whether such research is desirable or even possible - the question is how one constructs a protocol rooted not just in scientific enquiry, but in empiricism and logic. One can certainly posit hypotheses relating to inward experiences and arrange "challenges" (if the word "experiment" makes you nervous) that test these hypotheses. Statistical techniques abound to allow even purely anecdotal results to be characterized.
If voicing the intended research as some set of null hypotheses to test is indeed acceptable, this line of research is as scientific (although perhaps not as productive) as any other. If, on the other hand, the very notion of empirical inquiry is deemed unacceptable, then it isn't just science that is being rejected, it is research and reason. What remains is not empiricism, but perhaps the "empathicalism" doted on by Audrey Hepburn's character in "Funny Face".
Eventually the labs (and my house) were flattened for a new parking garage. Presumably the research continues.
Science and religion aren't opponents, they jointly motivate the seeking of enlightenment in a world governed by Mammon.