Question of the Day, October 24, 2010
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
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I don't believe in ghosts as sort of a proper physical form but.
Remember being told in science that energy is never created or destroyed, it is only transferred.
So where does your final bit of energy go when you die?
That's what I interpret ghosts to be, energy.
Remember being told in science that energy is never created or destroyed, it is only transferred.
So where does your final bit of energy go when you die?
That's what I interpret ghosts to be, energy.
No, they're not real, but I've seen one.
Confusing, yes? Not really.
I had hurt my leg and was bleeding pretty bad and the sudden loss of blood made my head all fuzzy.
Brain - Oxygen = Insanity.
Confusing, yes? Not really.
I had hurt my leg and was bleeding pretty bad and the sudden loss of blood made my head all fuzzy.
Brain - Oxygen = Insanity.
If you mean the electrical impulses that form our consciousness, they turn to heat and dissipate.Davey Woo said:
Me, too. Hell, this video scared the crap outta me.Mechsoap said:
(It is not a RickRoll, so don't worry.)
Personally, I'd like to think that ghosts do exsist. I like the concept of an afterlife, much better than rotting in the ground after you're buried.
That's a fallacy we call a "slippery slope." Being open-minded about one thing doesn't mean you have to be open-minded about everything. It might be that being open-minded about one tends to lead to open-mindedness on others, but it's not required.FaceFaceFace said:
Also, lack of evidence is not evidence against. Requiring personal evidence also isn't a good idea. What personal experiences do you have to make you think atoms exist? Do you at least know the tests and results that have lead to our current models of them? And yet I doubt you look at someone saying matter is made of atoms and go "Pff, but I've never seen one!"
But what evidence do we have for ghosts, or for any of the things I listed? I listed them all because they all have equal amounts of evidence. Personal evidence. Open-mindedness about ghosts does require open-mindedness about anything equally unlikely and equally backed by nonscientific personal evidence. And I never said lack of evidence is evidence against. That was my point. It is impossible to disprove any of these things, but its so ludicrous to try and allow for the possibility of anything anyone says they saw that the rational thing to do is assume, until good evidence appears, that they don't exist. Like atoms. Good evidence that they exist = I believe in them.ssManae said:
Welcome to the minority, at least on this forum.Grayjack said:
I believe in them also and have had my own experiences. It's hard to believe it until it happens to you.I believe in ghosts. What I find hard to believe in is 6 billion people existing in the middle of nothingness. The universe trapped in side of what? Life, now that is something worth arguing about.
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I'll say this again, because there isn't a simpler way of way of saying it: your logic is wrong. Being open-minded about one paranormal thing does not mean you have to be open-minded about anything paranormal. Let's hit up Wikipedia for you one this one:FaceFaceFace said:
"A slippery slope argument states that a relatively small first step inevitably leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant impact, much like an object given a small push over the edge of a slope sliding all the way to the bottom.[1] The fallacious sense of "slippery slope" is often used synonymously with continuum fallacy, in that it ignores the possibility of middle ground and assumes a discrete transition from category A to category B. Modern usage avoids the fallacy by acknowledging the possibility of this middle ground."
Now, as for the argument that there's only personal testimony as evidence, that's also just not true.
Bigfoot/other Ape Men: Footprints, recorded cries not identifiable as other animals, hairs not identifiable to other creatures.
Aliens: Besides the lingering radiation in supposed landing spots, fallow circles years after in the same, and anomalous electrical fields and poor crop growth in some crop circles, even the official US debunking program was unable to explain all reported cases--even when they were famously willing to write off many as "mass hallucination" and "swamp gas." (I use aliens instead of reptile-aliens-run-England paranoia conspiracy theory, granted, but there's really no sort of evidence of that, now is there?) Also, by definition UFOs exist, the question is whether or not they're extraterrestrial in origin.
Your other two aren't exactly paranormal things, just a religious hysteria that's been around for years (see xkcd.com/603) and a satire on religion that's not meant to be a proof against it but has been used as it by people that don't really get logic (or are just smug elitists who think they're better than those "religious morons"--again, see same strip).
To get back to ghosts, there is more than just "I saw X" to be seen, too. EVP, electrical field anomalies, significant temperature gradients with no cause, amongst others. Is some of it bunk? Sure. I recall an episode of Ghost Hunters where a family claimed to constantly feel a presence in one part of their house. Electrical readings confirmed something odd at that spot. Ghosts? No. They had a poorly-shielded fuse box that needed fixing. But just like Blue Book, it's those ones that you have no explanation for that you can't just sweep under the rug and try to say they aren't there.
If you absolutely won't accept anything but personal experience, try this. Do some research on where you live. I'm sure you'll be able to find some form of paranormal attraction. If you're lucky, it won't just be a tourist trap; it might be something worth your time like the Carbon County Jail in Pennsylvania. Maybe you can even have a personal experience. And then probably get home and deny it actually happened and must have just been in your head, just like every time my wife sees Elanor.
