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Lead Section, Sheldrake

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'Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is a British biologist and author, most notable for his hypothesis of Morphic Resonance, his research into telepathy, and his criticism of scientific materialism.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Sheldrake defines morphic resonance as a process by which "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind."[7] Sheldrake claims his research into telepathy suggests the phenomenon is an extension of biology and thus a natural, not supernatural phenomenon that may often occur in the animal world between members of social groups. [8]

Sheldrake’s work on morphic resonance and telepathy has been widely criticized by prominent scientists, skeptical organizations, and science journalists, with some claiming it is pseudoscience that is unsupported by evidence, magical thinking, heresy, and damaging to the public understanding of science.[9][10] His work has provoked such heated reaction and opposition that an editorial review of his 1981 book A New Science of Life, in the scientific journal Nature, was entitled "A Book for Burning?"

Reactions from the scientific community and the debate surrounding Sheldrake's ideas have been analyzed in public debates, books, documentaries, television programs, scientific and skeptical journals, and academia.[11][12][13][14]

References

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References

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  1. ^ Chartras, Caroline (2011). Why I Am Still An Anglican: Essays and Conversations. London, UK: Continuum, New Ed. p. 119. ISBN 978-0826483126.
  2. ^ Adams, Tim. "Rupert Sheldrake: the 'heretic' at odds with scientific dogma". February 4, 2012. The Guardian.
  3. ^ Lawton, Graham. "Science's greatest critic is no mood to recant". August 22, 2012. New Scientist. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  4. ^ Sheldrake, Rupert (2011). The Presence of the Past. London: Icon Books LTD. ISBN 978-1848313064.
  5. ^ Sheldrake, Rupert (2000). Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals. Arrow (New Ed Edition). ISBN 978-0099255871.
  6. ^ Sheldrake, Rupert (2012). The Science Delusion. London: Coronet. ISBN 978-1444727944.
  7. ^ [Sheldrake, R. (1988) The Presence of the Past. New York: Times Books, p. xvii]
  8. ^ [Sheldrake, R. (1999) Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home. New York: Crown]
  9. ^ Dace, Ted. "The Anti-Sheldrake Phenomenon". Skeptical Investigations. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  10. ^ Vernon, Mark. "It's time for science to move on from materialism". January 28, 2012. The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  11. ^ ^ Durr, Hans-Peter;, Gottwald, Franz-Leo (1999). Rupert Sheldrake in der Diskussion. Das Wagnis einer neuen Wissenschaft des Lebens [Gebundene Ausgabe]. Berlin: Fischer Scherz. ISBN 9783502191698.
  12. ^ Watts, Fraser. "Morphic Fields and Extended Mind An Examination of the Theoretical Concepts of Rupert Sheldrake". 2011. Journal of Consciousness Studies. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  13. ^ ^ "The Glorious Accident". LibraryThing. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  14. ^ ^ Wolpert, Lewis; Sheldrake, Rupert. "What can DNA tell us? Place your bets now". July 8, 2009. New Scientist. Retrieved 6 October 2013.

Alternate lede proposal

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Caveat: While I am uneasy about the danger that I may be participating in an experiment aimed at creating a case study about conflict resolution rather than a genuine effort improve the encyclopedia, I'm going to assume good faith that the answers I got from Tumbleman when I first raise the question were accurate. In short, I'm going with my hopes instead of my fears. If you do not understand what I'm talking about, please see User talk:Tumbleman, both the parts that are stricken with this device and the parts that remain.

I've edited the prose from above, assuming that the refs can be appended later.

DiDC draft

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Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is a British biologist and author. He was [position alpha] at [institution alpha] [years in position alpha], [position beta] at [institution beta] [years in position beta] and [pattern continues]. He is currently [position omega] at [institution omega]. Sheldrake is most notable for his "morphic resonance" hypothesis, his research into telepathy and his criticism that modern science has become a series of dogmas rather than an open-minded approach to investigating phenomena.

His morphic resonance hypothesis posits that "memory is inherent in nature" and that "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind." He argues that morphic resonance is also responsible for "telepathy-type interconnections between organisms".

Sheldrake’s work on morphic resonance and telepathy has been criticized widely — by prominent scientists, skeptics and science writers — with some saying it is unsupported by evidence and others labeling it pseudoscience, magical thinking and heresy. His work has provoked such heated reaction and opposition that an editorial review of his 1981 book A New Science of Life, in the scientific journal Nature, was entitled "A Book for Burning?"

Public debate surrounding Sheldrake's ideas and reaction from the broader scientific community have been been featured in books, documentaries, television programmes, scientific journals, skeptical periodicals and in academia. Critics express concern that his books and public appearances attract popular attention in a way that has a negative impact on the public's understanding of science.
David in DC (talk) 21:35, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

good work here David in DC, thanks for giving this a go. Sorry i have not had time yet to augment. I agree that it would be proper to have his academic titles and positions in academia in the lead, but I am keeping it out of mine in the spirit of consensus, I assume many of the editors dont want his scientific credentials listed as much and there is flak around the parapsychology issue - so i though just keeping it simple would be helpful, but all for your suggestion if it was up to me.
Paragraphy two of your edit that defines MR uses this quote ""telepathy-type interconnections between organisms" - that's a quote way out of context. Editors are using it on the page because it has the word telepathy in it and it makes Sheldrake look 'fringy' in doing so. That is not how Sheldrake argues for morphic resonance, that is a quote from his book, and it's actually in the page. it says
"The idea came to me in a moment of insight and was extremely exciting. It interested some of my colleagues at Clare College - philosophers, linguists, and classicists were quite open-minded. But the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species didn’t go down too well with my colleagues in the science labs. Not that they were aggressively hostile; they just made fun of it. Whenever I said something like, "I’ve just got to go and make a telephone call," they said, "Ha, ha, why bother? Do it by morphic resonance!"[6]
Sheldrake is 'quoting' his idea that way because he is showing how it would be received at an institution. It's an anecdotal story, it's not even an explanation of his theory, it's a caricature of an explanation of his theory. I am sure you can see how this is not the best way to neutrally explain what MR is from Sheldrake's POV.
Paragraph 3, I dont see any sources that justify the "Critics express concern that his books and public appearances attract popular attention in a way that has a negative impact on the public's understanding of science." there is a source on his page, but it's one opinion of one person, certainly not a consensus. I think it's relevant though, so I am putting it in the second paragraph where it's context is properly served. It seems awkward to state in the third paragraph, considering the sources for the third paragraph reference Sheldrake at round tables with some of the most prominent scientists in the world. The Tumbleman (talk) 21:05, 10 October 2013 (UTC)
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