Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00415)

"Searching for God in the machine"

David Noelle a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for the Neural
Basis of Cognition, a joint project of Carnegie Mellon University, and the
University of Pittsburgh shoots down all mystical religious experiences as
nothing more than a "trick of the mind",  a deception and a fraud.

Quote:
"I have certain positive knowledge from my own direct experience. I can't
put it any plainer than that. I have seen God face to face." With these
words, the fictional theologian Palmer Joss defends his religious
convictions in Carl Sagan's 1985 novel, "Contact". Joss argues for the
existence of his Christian god on the basis of personal revelation. And Joss
is not alone. Many religionists rest their faith on the apparently solid
foundation of personal religious experiences. Some receive visions, others
hear a comforting voice, almost all experience a "sense of presence"...

We may, quite rightly, reject such subjective experiences as lacking the
necessary qualities of scientific evidence, such as reproducibility and
openness to consensual validation or critique. **[comment: If these people
are reporting similar experiences, then the results ARE being reproduced]**
The religionist may retort, however, that his belief may not be
scientifically justifiable, but he knows it to be true, nonetheless, because
of his private religious revelation.
To completely counter this argument for the existence of god(s), some
alternative explanation must be given for the religious experience.
Researchers in the fields of psychology and neuroscience have begun to
uncover the biological mechanisms that might give rise to
these feelings…

I will briefly review and critically assess some of these scientific
findings, focusing specifically on three questions:
1. Circuitry--What brain circuits are involved in religious experiences?
2. Modularity--Does the brain contain a special module dedicated to
religious experience?
3. Innateness--Is there a "religion instinct" that is genetically
"hard-wired" into our brains?
**[The author then goes on to assess these.]**

His conclusion…
..(1) In brief, religious experiences are seen as the result of "temporal
lobe transients" (TLT)--short-lived increases and instability in the
firing patterns of neurons in the temporal lobe. These transients are seen
as miniature versions of the seizures experienced by temporal lobe
epileptics, and they are thought to occasionally arise in healthy people.

While these results are interesting, Persinger's work involving the actual
generation of religious experiences is much more striking. In a typical
experiment the subject is isolated from sound, and the eyes are covered. A
helmet equipped with solenoids is strapped to the head. While reclining in
this state of partial sensory deprivation, currents are induced in the
subject's brain …

By manipulating the magnetic field the experimenter has some control over
the location and pattern of induced current in the brain...  when temporal
cortical areas are targeted for stimulations, subjects often report
dreamlike visions (often with "mystical" or "religious" content) a "sense of
presence,"  and strong emotions...

Persinger's investigations have yet to fully confirm his views on the
neurological bases of religious experience, but he has made tremendous
progress. **[tremendous progress into proving that he can generate religious
experiences through a machine, and therefore "all religious experiences
must occur inside the physical brain"]**

Modern science is beginning to understand the neurological mechanisms that
give rise to the religious experiences of the believer. Given these results,
the skeptic may present the believer with a simple question: How do you know
that your religious experience is not a simple trick of your brain -- the
unfolding of a perfectly natural temporal lobe transient? How can you trust
such an experience when, through science, we can convincingly mimic the face
of God?"   (end of quote)