Comments on: Neuroscientists protest Dalai Lama at SfN

By: Jack Hammermann

Jack Hammermann — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:06:32 +0000

The increase in body heat is neither new nor even remotely novel. At least some of the allegedly “autonomic” body functions can in fact be brought under mental control. The precise degree such control can be employed is pure speculation and apparently highly individualistic.

Tons of relevant medical evidence showing that the Human Condition is far less understood than the demi-god wannabes with M.D. after their name. Simply take your heart beat & respiration rate immediately after dreaming you are running away from danger or falling. In “reality” (whatever the Hell that is) you were not running nor falling. Yet, your body reacts on several parameters as if that was the case. The body is primarily concerned with food, sleep, comfort & sex. For discriminating sensory input it relies on the mind. As far as I know, precisely what the mind is continues to be a subject of much debate.

With regard to your elevated body temp., don’t worry about it. It’s a transitionary phase and you will soon pass through it with your “normal” body core temp returning to baseline. Life is for experiencing, not a vehicle for endless circle jerk intellectual piffle.

By: steven

steven — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:44:13 +0000

The real issue is political: many Western people have been taught that the Dalai Lama is a sort of freedom fighter. So this controversy is just western propaganda (really!)
Chinese people don’t care if Dalai Lama is a sort of feudal dictator or not. He is a sort of separarist.

By: neurodudes » Blog Archive » NYT article on Dalai Lama, SfN controversy

neurodudes » Blog Archive » NYT article on Dalai Lama, SfN controversy — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:13:17 +0000

[...] Same story as before. As SfN gets closer, I’m sure we’ll only hear more about this. Oh, and for fairness, here are links to both the anti-DL and pro-DL petitions. [...]

By: J

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:03:29 +0000

I am a computational neuroscientist (modelling spiking neurons) and keenly interested in models of emotion, attention and other neurobiological phenomena. I do agree that inviting the Dalai Lama is a bit controversial, considering his religious and political position. However I do believe that investigation of meditation and its effects on the brain is a legitimate topic for neuroscience study, as are other psychical and so far unexplained phenomena. I have read a book on destructive emotions by Daniel Goleman, author of emotional intelligence, in which he speakes of interviews by a team of scientists with the Dalai lama. It cannot be denied that the Dalai lama has been quite open and encouraging of scientific research on the mind, despite his religious upbringing. The brain and mind has been considered the last frontier of science, and Eastern religions (esp. Buddhism) have theories of consciousness, volition etc. which I think would be worthy of examination in the light of scientific findings.

By: neurodudes » Blog Archive » Pro-Dalai Lama petition

neurodudes » Blog Archive » Pro-Dalai Lama petition — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 21:23:38 +0000

[...] A followup to our previous story about this: [...]

By: infuriated_neuroscientist

infuriated_neuroscientist — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 03:47:05 +0000

Only a small number of “scientists” out of the total SfN roster are signing the
petition. Most of the people who signed are Chinese
nationals who are faculty or students at American and
European Universities (and some chinese). Their organizer and petition
author and spammer of the email asking for people to
sign is very likely Dr Jianguo Gu, Associate Professor at the
University of Florida (jgu@dental.ufl.edu; ip addy
159.178.232.137.;if you’ve recieved the spam email inviting you to protest the Dalai Lama, just check the last ip addy of the FULL header, do a “swhois.com,” and you’ll find that the network ID and IP addy the of computer this spam was sent from just happens to match Dr. Gu’s UFL internet account ID and email addy. A mere coincidence? More googling shows that a character with the same name has been attracting some press coverage with his activities.) What about the validity of a petition that’s been illegaly advertised this way? What are his motives? Trying to earn brownie points with PR China government by acting as an agent for their agenda? I know I would never sign such on offensive spammer’s document. Dr. Gu and other petition organizers are also
keeping a doctored copy of the petition on a chinese language bbs site. Anyway. Gu and his comrades are using some very unethical tactics in waging their
smear campaign. They even registerd the petition under a throw-away yahoo email account under a fake name.
To my point. I’m also a scientist and a member
of SfN and look forward to hearing his talk. HH takes
neuroscience very seriously and regularly attends high
profile international conferences on the subject.
There have been several interesting, significant
papers published in prominent scientific journals
based on experiments and ideas the Dalai Lama has suggested.
Sorry for my rant. The whole thing is very upsetting.

By: Fernando Gomez

Fernando Gomez — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 07:10:06 +0000

The Dalai Lama had participated as an advicer in what seems to be serious research (see note on PNAS, 2004, 101, 46 p. 16369-16373). This is a difficult study but show different types of controls for muscle artifacts, age differences between practitioners and controls etc. I am particularly skeptical but since there is a serious effort to employ the scientific method, philosophical or religious believes are irrelevant (they are impossible to avoid in science anyway). Any scientist, as human being, need to accept epistemological believes that can not be ignored (”Philosophy might be ignored, but not escaped; and those who most ignore escape last” D. Hawkins). Consequently, it is not ethical discriminate somebody who honestly apply the scientific method but have unconentional believes or life style. Science is not a matter of social agreements, but on hard and painful controversies. If the Dalai Lama is an honest person -as I think he is- he should be tolerant and open to questions from the public and possible hard critics.
Hw must avoid political views. Since Science is based on democracy and not authority, I respect his right to talk, considering that he is the representant of one of the more under-represented, pacific and non-violent societies.

By: O-Happy-Day

O-Happy-Day — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 17:32:24 +0000

I’m pleased to see so many people clearly supporting Dalai Lama’s upcoming lecture. I wholeheartedly agree with nerfbrain … we must let SfN know that there are at least equal numbers of people who support his lecture. Also, thank you to JohnH and markc for their comments. You points about diet and seizures, respectively ring true for me. I’ve discovered that, in addition to medication, that daily stretching, breathing and relaxation exercises and a careful (ketogenic-esque diet) have reduced my seizure frequency remarkably. I *feel* my brain awaken, releasing itself from the haze of an impending seizue, whenever I practice my form of meditation. The effects of meditation have been just as reliable, and faster, than the medication. I believe in the power of self-healing and look forward to attending the lecture on Neuroscience and Meditation.

By: nerfbrain

nerfbrain — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:38:10 +0000

It seems to me that those of us who support having the lecture at SfN (I am a member) are not doing our part to SUPPORT the lecture, whereas the close-minded few (a few hundred out of about 35,000 members) are making a lot of noise. If you really do support having the lecture, let SfN know. SfN will only cave to the pressure if there is no way to justify having the lecture (ie that some support it). Contact info is available on their website (www.sfn.org).

By: Philippe

Philippe — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 06:55:31 +0000

I totally agree with theo: the problem is political, not scientific. The Chineese government is ALWAYS trying to prevent the Dalai Lama from making important public appearances. This is just another attempt.