Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[Xonas Pitfall]

Hey! Just a small suggestion for the blog - sometimes the videos aren't playable in my country (and maybe others too). Since the video is embedded, I can't see the actual YouTube link to try accessing it directly. If possible, could you include the video link as plain text or a clickable hyperlink alongside the embed? That way, people who run into country blocks can still copy the URL and watch it with a VPN.

Loving the blog a lot - thanks! 

[Avidya]

On 21.5.2025 at 3:37 AM, Leo Gura said:

Binaural beats work. They change your brain wave state. But whether this results in OBEs is going to be a pretty rare genetic thing. For me they never result in OBEs or any mystical states. But they do change my state.

Try the research the work by Robert Monroe. Ex. radio engineer and sceptic that had spontanoeus OBE's and wanted to reverse engineer his experience and understand the audio responsible for the brain states creating them.

This is 100 x binaural beats. You've probably heard about it. These are the OG's of remote viewing and were one of the original ones working with the CIA.

I've taken some course with good results. I was able to remote view and accurately describe cards from afar for example.

https://www.monroeinstitute.org/

[Jannes]

All this talk about remote viewing being real or not reminds me of a story:

Years ago I was in some kind of new agy group doing some spiritual practice, most of it seemed like complete nonsense and fantasy. And then we had this coconut practice: You put a coconut into your hand and then you had to do some inner work and when you realased your inner baggage that would manifest itself in the coconut rolling out of your hand by itself. At first it didnt immediately work out and the women leading this told me that it took her a long time before it worked and that it was very debilitating and that you should hold the coconut in one hand. So I thought to myself what a dumb b*tch she just gets tired at some point and with a mix of tiredness and the will to be fooled to have something magical in her life she just let the coconut roll out of her hand herself. So when we did it a second time I took a second hand to my hand holding the coconut as reinforcement so that there would be no way that I could accidently roll the coconut out of my hand myself or fool myself. It didnt take long, the coconut didnt want to roll so she quickly asked for connection with Swamijis Power and that fu*king coconut rolled out of my hand by itself, I kid you not!

Edited Thursday at 07:50 PM by Jannes

[Daniel Balan]

@Leo Gura I can't wait for that part 2 video on mankind's corruption and corruption as a whole. Your last blog post was like a hint to me that that video is coming soon! I knew from a young age how brutal and evil mankind is. That's why I will forever hate this species as a whole. Sometimes I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that mankind can be so overwhelmingly evil. Due to my life experience, today I can't ever be relaxed around a human! I am always expecting from humans to viciously attack me, to steal from me if I lose my focus for even a split second. Since I was a child I live my life like a soldier on front line patrol. Always being prepared to defend myself and mindful of any humans that are in proximity. Recently I became more aware of the good humans that are friendly to me but in general I am always fist clenched and fight ready when around humans. I wish I could relax around people but I've seen too much evil coming from humans to ever let my guard down ever again.

[hundreth]

33 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No!

Her prediction was too specific to be a cold read or confirmation bias.

She knew things about my life that no one could know unless they were actually psychic.

Stop taking people for idiots. Things are being said here that are over your head. You are not smarter than me with your skepticism. Your run-of-the-mill skepticism is a lower form of intelligence.

 

I never claimed I was smarter than you, but you're using very basic run-of-the-mill arguments to prop up your fortune teller. There's nothing new about what you're proposing here. These are the arguments I hear the babushka on the corner of 108th st make. 

 

Quote

James Randi – Summary of Psychic Experiments and Results

1. The Alpha Project (1979–1983)
- Subjects: Two young magicians (Banachek and Michael Edwards) posing as psychics.
- Method: Conducted under poorly controlled lab conditions at Washington University.
- Results: Subjects consistently demonstrated "psychic" abilities.
- Conclusion: Abilities were faked. Randi revealed the hoax after 4 years, exposing flaws in the lab's testing methods.

2. Uri Geller Investigations (1970s–1980s)
- Subject: Uri Geller, who claimed telepathy and psychokinesis.
- Method: Randi advised Johnny Carson to use controlled conditions on "The Tonight Show" (1973).
- Results: Geller failed to perform any psychic feats on live TV.
- Conclusion: Randi exposed Geller’s use of magic tricks and published “The Truth About Uri Geller.”

3. Peter Popoff Exposure (1986)
- Subject: Televangelist claiming divine knowledge of audience members.
- Method: Randi used a radio scanner to intercept Popoff’s wife feeding him information via earpiece.
- Results: Revealed Popoff was using planted information.
- Conclusion: Popoff’s ministry collapsed; later reemerged but credibility was damaged.

4. One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge (1964–2015)
- Purpose: Test any paranormal or psychic claim under scientific conditions.
- Prize: $1 million offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).
- Method: Agreed-upon protocols, double-blind controls.
- Results: Over 1,000 applicants tested; none passed even preliminary stages.
- Conclusion: No verified evidence of paranormal abilities under controlled testing.

5. Miscellaneous Claims (Hydrokinesis, Remote Viewing, Dowsing)
- Subjects: Individuals claiming water movement, seeing hidden objects, or locating items with rods.
- Method: Standardized, double-blind tests.
- Results: All failed to demonstrate abilities beyond chance.
- Conclusion: No evidence of psychic powers when bias and trickery were eliminated.

They always fail.

Edited Thursday at 08:06 PM by hundreth

[ZhenZhenZhen]

26 minutes ago, Xonas Pitfall said:

Hey! Just a small suggestion for the blog - sometimes the videos aren't playable in my country (and maybe others too). Since the video is embedded, I can't see the actual YouTube link to try accessing it directly. If possible, could you include the video link as plain text or a clickable hyperlink alongside the embed? That way, people who run into country blocks can still copy the URL and watch it with a VPN.

Loving the blog a lot - thanks! 

From PC you can right click video and get the url from it. Then you can bypass the restriction.

[Raze]

Leo’s post on Afghanistan is over Simplistic. Afghanistan had functioning cities, universities, and hospitals.

What you’re referring to was among impoverished gangs and orphans living in the outer tribal areas who were recruited by war lords as the society got torn apart the soviets invaded and had killed millions. 

[Starlight321]

@Leo Gurasame problem with the access to the video. I'm not sure if I've found the right one.

If this is the right one it's note worthy that a big part of rural eastern europe lived in similiar fashion until the late eighties. So that people know that it's closer home than many think. In some rural villiages even arranged marriages happened until the sixties and seventies. But it's nothing like a dark shed in the snowey mountains of Tibet.

Edited Thursday at 10:19 PM by Starlight321

[Leo Gura]

26 minutes ago, Starlight321 said:

@Leo Gura

 

No, this is a totally different video.

[Leo Gura]

@Leo Gura This is an alternative link to the video:

https://youtu.be/68N6A7mgBpE?si=01GyO4MOCqs__4Oy

[zurew]

1 hour ago, hundreth said:

They always fail.

Is that a summary done by AI or an article ?

Edited Thursday at 09:13 PM by zurew

[hundreth]

42 minutes ago, zurew said:

Is that a summary done by AI or an article ?

AI. I specifically asked for James Randi because I was already familiar with his work but that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to controlled testing around paranormal phenomena. Not surprisingly, the results are similar.

[Leo Gura]

Ah, James Randi -- the fool's first and last appeal.

Edited Thursday at 10:50 PM by Leo Gura

[ExploringReality]

@Leo Gura

Leo, the book you sent me! Amazing, I'm still listening to the audio version, and it's connecting dots and experiences I have had. It's sending chills down my spine as I speak. Without falling into delusions or confirmation bias, when I was a young boy, I have always been oddly observant. The first time I ever experienced something similar to ESP, was when I was a kid playing San Andreas GTA, I was stuck on a mission for over 3 months Leo, one night during a dream I had a vivid experience of being the character in the game on that specific mission but I was fully conscious and aware, lucid, and I was able to figure out what to do through my own mind in the characters body and literally figured out how to pass the mission by doing it myself in the dream. I woke up the next morning and immediately passed the mission with ease exactly the way I dreamed it. Also I have had a few experiences of outer body experiences during dream states and on psychedelics. My last mushroom trip I took seven dried grams in darkness and I predicted my father's death which happened a few days later. In that same trip I also experienced a lucid obe while standing in the kitchen watching myself from a third person spectating point of view, I got really scared because I didn't know if I was going to come back into my body. I don't give a fuck what a critic or troll has to say, it happened to me, and I am open minded to see where this leads me, while staying grounded, keeping my epistemic toolkit sharp and clean.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

It is very interesting witnessing the resistance to the validity of Leos experience with the psychic.

Science isn't anti-paranormal. It is simply methodical - when given enough data, it adapts. 

Many things that were once considered pseudoscience or myth, have now been accepted - hypnosis, ball lighting etc

Science has already begun the unravelling of consciousness via the observer effect (although not proven), although we are still in infancy with understanding the implications of such. The observer effect tends to blow peoples little brains out.

There are things about this hologram we exist in that have yet to be explained.

This isn't news.

I feel like this is really assisting people in revealing unconscious beliefs!

[hundreth]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Ah, James Randi -- the fool's first and last appeal.

Ad hominems - Leo's first and last appeal.

[hundreth]

55 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

It is very interesting witnessing the resistance to the validity of Leos experience with the psychic.

Science isn't anti-paranormal. It is simply methodical - when given enough data, it adapts. 

Many things that were once considered pseudoscience or myth, have now been accepted - hypnosis, ball lighting etc

Science has already begun the unravelling of consciousness via the observer effect (although not proven), although we are still in infancy with understanding the implications of such. The observer effect tends to blow peoples little brains out.

There are things about this hologram we exist in that have yet to be explained.

This isn't news.

I feel like this is really assisting people in revealing unconscious beliefs!

There is no resistance to the validity of the experience, more-so the conclusions drawn from it. I do this myself, I swear I've influenced the outcome of the Knicks game by saying the wrong thing. 

You seem like you have good intentions behind your words.

The thing is, the observer effect has been hijacked by every woo peddler on the planet to make it mean whatever they want it to mean. Most of them don't even understand it. 

The other part is that of course you're right that science isn't pro or anti anything, with enough data it adapts. The problem is that we dismiss all the data that does exist when it doesn't suit our narrative. There is tons and tons of data and studies which have already been done. Can they 100% disprove something, no - you never can. But you can make some reasonable inferences from the existing data.

The same thing happens when you have people like RFK Jr. initiating studies around the origins of autism. We've already had tons of studies over the years, but no - they are all trash because they don't give the answer they like. They must now do new studies to find the answer RFK is looking for. Why? Because some parents had a valid experience of witnessing their children develop autism symptoms shortly after taking vaccines. But that one individual experience doesn't tell the whole story.

This is the epistemic issue Leo warned you about, but he happens to be on the other side of it - today.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

Aren't you just illustrating bias in many words? This is just how I perceived your passage. 

The observer effect indeed. I am well aware it has been misinterpreted. My point was relating to the parts of the scientific method that it stumbles over. Many people take it mean proof that consciousness exists, but it is not so (according to science that is). Which is highlighting some flaws.

I think I am attempting to say in many words, to quote Leo 'Radical Open-mindedness' 

Cradled by sound epistemology & ontology of course!

I do have good intentions - if I wanted to convey something else I intentionally inject that tone (as I have been a bit naughty in past posts)

Also, I don't think Leo said anywhere these psychic abilities EXIST did he? He just reported his 'Data' experience and confirmed it would be difficult to disregard due to specific details.

In the end, our beliefs shape our reality. We will see exactly what we choose to see.

[ExploringReality]

@Natasha Tori Maru

Beautifully said.

[hundreth]

37 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

Aren't you just illustrating bias in many words? This is just how I perceived your passage. 

The observer effect indeed. I am well aware it has been misinterpreted. My point was relating to the parts of the scientific method that it stumbles over. Many people take it mean proof that consciousness exists, but it is not so (according to science that is). Which is highlighting some flaws.

I think I am attempting to say in many words, to quote Leo 'Radical Open-mindedness' 

Cradled by sound epistemology & ontology of course!

I do have good intentions - if I wanted to convey something else I intentionally inject that tone (as I have been a bit naughty in past posts)

Also, I don't think Leo said anywhere these psychic abilities EXIST did he? He just reported his 'Data' experience and confirmed it would be difficult to disregard due to specific details.

In the end, our beliefs shape our reality. We will see exactly what we choose to see.

What's the bias? 

I'm also not following what you mean about the observer effect and consciousness. The flaw of what? Science?

Leo did say that psychic abilities exist. Very plainly actually.