Ebbie...."... the opinion of someone who has experienced something may be of greater worth than the opinion of someone who has not?"

well, that's a nice generality! Indeed it is often true! But can't you cite cases where 'experience' was deceptive in various ways? Just simple things like interviewing 14 witnesses to a car accident will show that memories are slippery and impressionability in common. It has almost been proven that those kids in the day-care molestation case a few years ago were LED to false memories by eager investigators. Why is it so hard to believe that stuff we WANT to believe can work the same way? (no, that doesn't prove it did in all cases)

Psychologists doing tests can stimulate areas of the brain with electrodes and 'cause' memories of various sorts...(usually pain, color...etc..in simple tests like that)...
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Little Hawk...as to "Still, you can have fun annoying other people by trying to discredit everything you can't prove, I suppose..."....that may be how some do it, but...I hope that's not all you think of MY attempts to shed light on our experiences and the thought patterns involved.

There are a couple of things going on in my explorations...one is that I like testing and clarifying my own mind and seeing what I can do with these ideas...as honestly as I can do it. (and I don't doubt YOUR honesty in your reporting). The problem is that people who believe various things that can't be 'proven' scientifically view the world in different ways and make decisions differently than those who approach with more scepticism.....so what? Well, Muslim suicide bombers are an extreme example of the BAD route that unfounded beliefs can take, while Aunt Josie's notion that she saw the ghost of her father is pretty benign (unless 'he' tells her to do awkward things!)

You and Amos and others have beliefs based at least partly on certain 'experiences'...and for the most part, it affects me very little, just as my scepticism doesn't sway YOU in your assurance...but there are so very many 'beliefs' that people hold that DO affect themselves and others negatively, (cult religions that eat the family savings, fake seances, governments run according to astrological predictions....even folks who laughingly pay attention to the paper in their Fortune cookies), that it is really hard to separate the benign from the serious.
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   It is so difficult in discussions like this that last for years ..in different formats with different hot buttons..to keep focus on specific points and precise definitions and show each other what we mean and how we mean it without getting away from neutral, non-judgemental bantering and verging on personal criticism. I 'try' to watch myself, as I seldom let my view of a position affect my view of a person....(well, 97.0217% of the time *grin*) (don't YOU suspect that some expressions of Bluegrass musicians from Chicago are fueled by serious problems, despite disclaimers?)

short answer...I think the debate and the issues are important. Knowing how we think and the implications OF our patterns in relevant to the species as a whole. Nothing I say in this little forum is gonna change the world, but that butterfly in Brazil 'might' eventually help ease tensions in Israel, hmmmmm? Can't 'prove' it won't