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There are many genuine unsolved mysteries in the universe and it is okay to say, "We do not yet know but someday perhaps we will." The problem is that most of us find it more comforting to have certainty, even if it is premature, than to live with unsolved or unexplained mysteries.
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OR to resort to silly notions of the paranormal - which doesn't actually mean anything. If it exists, it is part of this world, and therefore there is nothing "paranormal" about it.
Last edited by Tallysmom; 11-05-2013 at 10:34 AM..
Reason: copywrite violation
I thought this forum was a skeptic free zone. I remember reading that way back when it was constructed. It is for people interested in "unexplained mysteries," not for debunkers to argue why there is "no such thing."
That really is a red herring, isn't it? One could argue that those who subscribe to the notion of paranormal phenomena are the skeptics. Why? Because there is no reason to assume that the unexplained is not unexplainable, and yet many do. And for the record, the rules say:
Quote:
This is NOT a forum for prosthelytizing or for bashing members who hold worldviews that differ from yours.
Since I am not prosthelytizing or bashing anyone, but simply expressing a different view, I believe my thread is within the confines of the rules.
I agree with Bob. Everyone has a different perspective on these things. I don't believe in vampires, but I'm not interested in going on pro-vampire sites to try to discount or even explore those beliefs -- I just don't care enough.
If it exists, it is part of this world, and therefore there is nothing "paranormal" about it.
The word 'paranormal' breaks down to 'beyond normal'. Much of what is discussed here is beyond the norms of everyday happenings. what maybe you are trying to say is these things are not 'super-natural'? And that I would agree with. Science may not yet be able to explain ghosts, yet they are beyond what is normal, to us. To us, a person is physical and can be touched, a ghost is not physical and cannot be touched. But that still does not mean that they do not exist, they just cannot be rationally explained at this time.
I don't find the notion of paranormal possibilities as silly. There was once a time in human history that the majority of people thought that the idea of the earth rotating around the sun was silly. Everyone was quite sure that it was the Sun rotating around the earth. Then people discovered the way it really worked and the idea was not so silly anymore.
10. Unexplained Is Not Inexplicable
(Think of a cake in a 450° oven. The air, the cake, and the pan are all at 450°F, but only the metal pan will burn your hand. Air has a very low heat capacity and also low conductivity, so you can put your hand in the oven long enough to touch the cake and pan. The heat capacity of the cake is a lot higher than air, but since it has low conductivity you can briefly touch it without getting burned. The metal pan has a heat capacity similar to the cake, but high conductivity too.
Please do us all a favor and put a freshly baked cookie or a piece of cake in your mouth as soon as they come right out of the oven. Then tell us your reaction. Yes, it will burn.
Please do us all a favor and put a freshly baked cookie or a piece of cake in your mouth as soon as they come right out of the oven. Then tell us your reaction. Yes, it will burn.
Do poltergeists exist outside of folklore and historical hoaxes? If ghosts and spirits truly do move objects and cause the unexplained phenomena attributed to them, it is surprising that not a single film or video exists of such amazing incidents. Surveillance cameras and cell phones are everywhere, yet no one has ever captured a clock flying off a shelf on its own or cabinet doors violently banging open and closed in an empty kitchen. Modern reports of these "noisy spirits" are closer to urban legends than documented proof.
Though there's no scientific evidence for poltergeists or any other types of ghosts, they continue to intrigue, entertain and scare us — just as they have for centuries.
The fact is that people believe what they want to believe, and that belief as often as not is not based on reality.
The word 'paranormal' breaks down to 'beyond normal'. Much of what is discussed here is beyond the norms of everyday happenings. what maybe you are trying to say is these things are not 'super-natural'? And that I would agree with. Science may not yet be able to explain ghosts, yet they are beyond what is normal, to us. To us, a person is physical and can be touched, a ghost is not physical and cannot be touched. But that still does not mean that they do not exist, they just cannot be rationally explained at this time.
I don't find the notion of paranormal possibilities as silly. There was once a time in human history that the majority of people thought that the idea of the earth rotating around the sun was silly. Everyone was quite sure that it was the Sun rotating around the earth. Then people discovered the way it really worked and the idea was not so silly anymore.
According to Merriam-Webster, paranormal is defined as:
: very strange and not able to be explained by what scientists know about nature and the world
So paranormal and supernatural is synonymous, according to the definition. The problem with that definition, IMHO, is that it has no scientific basis, but is more of a cultural definition. In other words, few, if any, real scientists would agree that something not (currently) explainable necessarily needs to have the label "paranormal" or "supernatural", and that is because most real scientists consider those labels to be meaningless. Again, if it exists, it is a part of this world, and so is a natural phenomenon. As such, there is no reason to suppose that there is no scientific explanation. Again, the inexplicable is not unexplainable. The biggest problem with so called paranormal phenomenon is that there is, in fact, no unambiguous empiric database one can rely on to say that this "paranormal" phenomenon or that "supernatural" event actually exists. Most of the so called data is based on anecdotal evidence. And anecdotal evidence is not scientific. 10 anecdotes are no better than one. 100 anecdotes are no better than 10. And that is because they are not falsifiable. They are, by definition, first person in nature. Farmer Bob may be the most honest, law abiding citizen anyone has ever known, but we still need physical evidence that a ghost visited him at 3 in the morning.
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Yes, it will burn. 
