What are Ghost/spirits made of?

sweetpea said:
My god! I understand the point your making Kitts, but where did that scenario come from? I going to have to change my view of you. :)
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Actually, that scenario was taken from X-Men First Class (what the Nazi's did to Max Eisenhardt in order to try and get his powers to manifest, ultimately ending in them killing his mother in front of him, which caused him to snap and, well... if you've never seen the movie, I recommend it)
 
Regarding reproducible evidence,

I agree that if something is repeatable and subject to controlled scientific experiment, it is likely to be accepted by science. That acceptance might be slower and more troubled if it contradicts too many strongly-held preexisting beliefs.

But I'm less comfortable with any suggestion that if events aren't 'repeatable' then they can't be real and must be met with sarcasm and ridicule.

I'm inclined to accept the possibility of one-off events (certainly one-off in our limited experience) that aren't repeatable on command or otherwise observed to repeat in nature. I remember arguing this point regarding radio emissions received from outer space on a single occasion, never to be duplicated. The origin of life and the big bang might be other examples.

Ghosts seem to be located midway in that spectrum. Reports of apparitions are common throughout history in pretty much all known cultures. Reports of their occurrance come very close to being cultural universals. I think that's fascinating in itself and perhaps worth more scholarly attention than it typically receives.

I'm most inclined to interpret them as subjective psychological phenomena. Photographs and so on seem to argue against that interpretation, which is why I find them interesting. I'm always interested in finding good convincing physical/instrumental evidence of ghosts and other 'fringe' beings.

But apparitions don't seem to be conjurable in a laboratory on demand. They happen when and where they happen. So they aren't repeatable in a strict bench-top sense, but may well be repeatable in the sense that supernovae are, where astronomers just have to wait for one to pop off.
 
sweetpea said:
My god! I understand the point your making Kitts, but where did that scenario come from? I going to have to change my view of you. :)
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There's an XKCD for that!

pain_rating.png

[ Title text: If it were a two or above I wouldn't be able to answer because it would mean a pause in the screaming. ]

https://xkcd.com/883/
 
spidergoat said:
I would argue that ghost hunting is repeatable. Every time a legitimate researcher goes to record the physical sensory effects that people report, they get nothing. Therefore ghosts probably don't exist.
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Yes. What about all the well documented locations said to be overloaded with ghost

Ghost ghost ghost as far as the 3rd eye can see except when any sort of sensitive detection equipment turns up. That is the time ghost take time off or go on strike

Perhaps the owners of the equipment should sell the equipment as "ghost repellent"

:)
 
Ghosts are repeatably detected on infrared cameras, evps, audio, video, vibration detectors, and emf monitors. Hundreds if not thousands of investigations have proven this. You'd have to be living in a cave to not know about this by now.
 
Then why aren't they considered to be ordinary, mundane, natural phenomenon that people study legitimately?

Science would jump at the chance to learn more about the natural world and how reality works. Think of all that Nobel Prize money...
 
Magical Realist said:
You'd have to be living in a cave to not know about this by now.
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Yes complete with paintings of caveman dinosaurs but nobody believes my caveman dinosaurs are the real deal

Just like scientist don't believe the hundreds or even thousands of captured images are ghost. I wonder why?

Daecon said:
Then why aren't they considered to be ordinary, mundane, natural phenomenon that people study legitimately?
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Could the explanation be (gasp) they are not genuine? Not mundane?

And again not repeatable. If they were repeatable the TV stations could set up a running series

Anybody know if there is a Guinness Book of World Records for the most photographed (or detected) ghost?

:)
 
JordanTredray said:
If we can see them then they must have a weight?
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Not necessarily. There are subatomic mass-less particles. Perhaps ghosts are made of mass-less spirits.
We need more data in order to come to a conclusion.
If I was a ghost, I would approach some scientist and offer to provide evidence of the supernatural. He or she would get a Nobel Prize.
I certainly wouldn't rattle chains in a castle to frighten some old woman.
 
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Thomas Cranmer said:
Not necessarily. There are subatomic mass-less particles. Perhaps ghosts are made of mass-less spirits.
We need more data in order to come to a conclusion.
If I was a ghost, I would approach some scientist and offer to provide evidence of the supernatural. He or she would get a Nobel Prize.
I certainly wouldn't rattle chains in a castle to frighten some old woman.
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If they can be seen, they are either emitting photons, or causing hallucinations. Hallucinations have several plausible naturalistic explanations. Photons can be detected and photographed.
 
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