Paranormal feelings

Discussion in 'UFOs, Ghosts and Monsters' started by wegs, Apr 6, 2020.

  1. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    13,077
    Nope

    Que MR from Stage LEFT

    It's Little Green Men
    Aliens from another dimension
    Lots souls with unrequited love
    Etc
    Etc

    EDIT

    Wrote the above before I read MR above

    Convenient how - conditions might not be the same - one time giggle other time a bang - and no predictability

    Dame the paranormal, hold still so science can get a good look at you

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    Last edited: Apr 7, 2020
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  3. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    But suppose you rule out all material possibilities? Let's say that the researchers are truly stumped at the end of the experiment, what would their next step be? To simply throw up their hands and say ''I don't know,'' or would they be open to the idea of paranormal activity, at that point?

    I'd want to eliminate bias going into the experiment. Does this make sense what I'm asking?

    Let me say, I don't have a thing for ghosts lol But, I wonder at what point, would evidence be sufficient enough for skeptics?
     
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  5. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Well, an experiment can only disprove or prove something. So they wouldn't be stumped at the end of the experiment - they would say "yes, the ghost caused a discharge" or "no, it didn't."

    The next step would be to create another hypothesis and test that. "Ghosts discharge capacitors by emitting ionizing radiation that causes leakage currents." Then they test for that. Again, they will see that or they won't.

    After several such trials they will have a good handle on being able to describe the phenomenon of ghosts (or will have demonstrated that no such phenomenon exists.)
    But again - if ionizing radiation is causing a discharge, that's not paranormal - that's science. It's how fluorescent light work, and they certainly aren't paranormal.
    You can't - not in ghost research, not in medical research, not in any science. (You think screening for paranormal bias is hard? Try finding medical researchers who don't want to cure cancer!)

    But by designing the experiment right, the bias doesn't affect the outcome.
    Repeatable results from controlled tests. That's the standard for science.
     
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  7. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    “But by designing the-experiment right, the bias doesn’t affect the outcome.”

    I’m not sure I believe that, but okay. If skeptics are involved in the experiment, they will be more interested in debunking the notion that ghosts are causing the issue, over finding evidence to possibly support it.
     
  8. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    8,874
    By that logic, "If believers are involved in the experiment, they will be more interested in finding evidence that supports it, over debunking the notion."

    That's why a double blind test is nice. Neither those running the test nor those participating in the test know what the test is about (for example).

    As was pointed out, if the test is property designed it doesn't matter what the bias of the designers is. Design a test so that biased researchers on both sides of the issue can't tell what the test designer bias was.

    Keep in mind that any researcher would love to confirm results leading to something new.

    I don't think there are any unicorns but if I could design a test for unicorns and possibly confirm that they do exist I would love to do that. Who wouldn't?
     
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  9. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    13,077
    My guess?

    Scientists would rather smash their last test tube , but before that say "I don't know" before saying "Paranormal"

    Currently there are any number of unknowns

    Some are unknowns scientists know about (the workings of graviiy) and I'm sure unknowns scientists don't know about

    Some unknowns (before the Big Bang) may forever be unknowable

    But unknowable IS UNKNOWABLE

    So explain how unknowable became god did it

    My take? imagination from storytelling which gained credence from repetition and repetition leads to "there must be something in it" leads to con artist "how can I use this magic cow pat idea?" (YES I have prejudged)

    Not so. Think Bill Gates is rich? Two days after proving ghost are real you would pass him at a gallop

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  10. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    Not getting a result such as a discharged battery wouldn't demonstrate that the paranormal doesn't exist. It would only mean that at that time a ghost either wasn't present or that it didn't care to discharge the battery for whatever reason. We are not iow dealing with a physical process that consistently follows scientific laws. We are dealing with a conscious entity whose presence and/or behavior at anytime is unpredictable and is manifested in any number of different ways.
     
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  11. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    13,077
    And EXACTLY how do you KNOW that?

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    Spoiler

    I already know but very interested in YOUR answer

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  12. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    It pretty much goes along with the whole concept of ghosts, doesn't it?
     
  13. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    So let's look at what choices are available once all the double blind experiments have been done on the -

    I pick - ghost drain batteries - but feel free to insert own whatever experiment you wish

    The results from - pick a number - experiments show no difference above what would be expected, and what has been observed, in numerous other experiments of this nature ie you could label any of the three sets of data with any of the other two designations or even ask experts in their respective fields, which set of data was
    • from the haunted house, which
    • from the non haunted house, and which
    • from the non designated house
    You could even swap the designation of each house around along with participants and ghost hunter sound / film / special effects crews

    I've numerous other flexibility ways to design a testing operation

    Any it's all been performed over a year and results are in

    Zero - ie no results show ghost drain batteries

    Michael's conclusion - no ghost

    Other conclusion - ghost exist but were not interested in taking part in any of the experiments

    Did I get the last two paragraphs correct?

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  14. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    Wegs, you might enjoy this :
    https://austin.curbed.com/maps/austin-haunted-places-to-go-map
    "The Driskill Hotel
    The Driskill is probably Austin's most famous haunted space, and is populated by so many ghostly presences that staff has a handout on them for guests. They include its namesake, Civil War Colonel Jesse Driskill, who had the place built and then promptly lost it in a card game, and Peter J. Lawless, who lived in the hotel from 1886 until 1916 (including during renovations); he can sometimes be seen checking his pocket watch when the elevator doors of the fifth floor on the hotel’s Historic Side open.
    Musician Annie Lennox reportedly had supernatural help with choosing an outfit to perform in when she was on tour and stayed in the hotel, and Johnette Napolitano’s song “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man” is supposedly about this encounter."
    https://austin.curbed.com/maps/austin-haunted-places-to-go-map

    Johnette Napolitano/Concrete Blonde song “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man”
     
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  15. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,644
    Right. But let's say the skeptics end up in the second control group - the group with fake ghosts and "fake capacitors" that discharge all the time. If they are so biased that they are willing to fudge the data, they will say "we saw no discharge" - thus invalidating the experiment.
     
  16. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

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    7,999
    At anuther forum a guy made the obvous pont that if you tied a string to the handle of a bucket an swung the bucket overhead in a circle… then let go of the string the bucket woud not rotate as it flew away… it woud fly away wit the buckets handle nearest to you an the bottom of the bucket always farthest from you befor it hit finaly the ground. Seemed to make sinse to me but i did the experiment just to prove it.!!!

    So i was very skeptical that the bucket woud rotate but it did. I was amazed an reported that we had both been wrong.!!!
    He said i must have done somptin wrong… an refused to try the experiment himself.!!!
     
  17. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    If YOU were swinging the bucket you would get a variation in bucket respond

    You need a regulated mechanical machine able to put the same input to the bucket each time

    You are not a regulated mechanical machine

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  18. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Agree. Well said. It's not that I'm dismissing billvon's or Seattle's points, but as you state here, paranormal activity most likely can't be proven through strictly scientific methods. One of the ways to learn about consciousness (from a scientific approach) is to evaluate human experiences, which isn't unlike interviews with people claiming to have experienced ghostly encounters. (But, scientists usually don't believe their stories.)

    So, I guess when it comes to consciousness, asking humans about their experiences makes sense, but when it comes to ghosts, scientists don't trust ''eye witness accounts'' from claimants. Hmm.
     
  19. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    9,254
    Only if they know that the experiment is designed to prove ghosts, no?

    **trying to understand**
     
  20. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    That's interesting! I'll say this, I'm not sold on hauntings and such mainly because...why do ghosts exist? I'm not so much interested in the how (although, that's curious), but the why. Are they ''spirits'' trapped between worlds? If so, why? Why aren't all the dead haunting the earth, rather than only a select few? Sort of like trying to solve a murder mystery, I'm always more intrigued by the why, than the how.
     
  21. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    8,874
    They don't doubt their experiences. It's the conclusions.

    You could tell me about bad experiences with your father (hypothetical) and I would believe that you felt that way. If you told me that your father hated you and that's why you had a curfew I wouldn't just take your word on that, nor should I.

    If you see a curtain move and sometimes you realize it is the wind and sometimes you realize it only happens when you just woke up from a dream and sometimes it is definitely a ghost...what am I supposed to do?

    It's not about whether I believe you or not. It either is a ghost or it's not a ghost and it doesn't matter if I believe in ghosts or not. If there are ghosts they are there whether I believe in them or not.

    Conversely, if there are no ghosts, they don't become real just because someone believes in them.

    Everyone seems to realize that love exists. Everyone doesn't accept that ghosts, Gods, unicorns, Big Foot, etc. exists. There is a distinction here.

    We are of the natural world. Everything we experience is of the natural world in one way or another so to say that "science" can't test things because they are not of the natural world it really just a cop out. If something isn't of the natural world you can't know of it either.
     
  22. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    9,254
    Good points. Although, I've known a few who don't believe in love.

    Your points here are clearer to me now, so thanks for not giving up lol

    Skeptics say that those who believe in ghosts...want to believe. But, the idea of paranormal activity, if we really stop to imagine it...is pretty unsettling. I've rarely heard a positive, uplifting ghost story. They're usually scary tales depicting the worst of scenarios.

    https://www.livescience.com/why-some-people-love-being-scared.html
     
  23. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

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    So if the bucket was swung by a regulated mechanical machine... woud the bucket rotate when the string was released

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