Pseudoscience/Paranormal

[venomfangx]

It is hard to define pseudo science really.  Often in our history inventions have been made for the science catches up with the technology to explain how it works.
Until the technology is scientifically verified I guess the mumbo jumbo surrounding the invention is pseudo science.  It would appear that for instance, electrochemical cells had been discovered and used by the ancient Egyptians for metal plating.  They had no idea of course of cations, ions and electrolytes but they knew how to metal plate is would seem.  I am sure they dressed that up with a bit of magic.

[AlP]

I'm a skeptic.

[Jolly Sapper]

I hold a different opinion Venom.  Pseudoscience is a product of trying to put the cart before the horse.

Trying to rationalize something by using big words or overly technical language is an example of pseudoscience.  

Performing biased experiments without publicly acknowledging the bias and/or attempting to mitigate or eliminate the bias with the goal of proving a pre-made conclusion is an example of pseudoscience.  So instead of creating/running experiments to see if an hypothesis holds true, the purpose of the experiment is to create "evidence" that proves a particular conclusion.

When you think of pseudoscience, think of the Creation Museum.  When you think pseudoscience, think of the tobacco companies' researching the safety of their products (where independent study found their research to be flawed).

[venomfangx]

We have a different idea of what is meant by pseudo science but I can see what you are saying.

[curiosityandthecat]

I always took pseudo-science to be anything that was purely non-scientific but tried to pass itself off as being scientific. Hence pseudo: "not genuine but having the appearance of".

[Nahuel]

I don't believe in any of that. However, I'm surrounded by people who do. Ghosts seem to be very popular, as well as horoscopes.
Of course, I've never seen a ghost or been in a situation so strange that I could only attribute it to a ghost's action. But people who believe in it seem to be constantly haunted by ghosts! These people seem to think that the only possible (and logical) explanation for what they saw/felt has to do with ghosts.
I was talking to a friend yesterday, and she told me she was helping her mom at the school she works at. It was night. The Janitor was with them. As they were leaving, they heard some chairs being dragged in one of the rooms. They say they were all locked up. Then the janitor told them that he hears similar things every night, such as doors opening and closing, furniture moving, etc.
So how convince her that it couldn't possibly be a ghost? I tried coming up with a bunch of elaborate explanations but, of course, she wasn't convinced. I ended up saying "Yes, you are right. Ghosts are the most logical explanation..." (with a bit of sarcasm )

[curiosityandthecat]

I think belief in the paranormal is an evolutionary development. If you believed there were werewolves or vampires in the woods it kept you from going in there and getting lost/breaking something/getting eaten by a real wolf. The human imagination is what makes us what we are. It's also, unfortunately, why people still believe in gods.  

[SSY]

I discount all forms of paranormal activity, I would want to test them myself, in my own home to be sure of these things. Except resurrection, this is a demonstrable phenomenon, things come back from the dead all the time, LIKE THIS THREAD!

[Jolly Sapper]

I discount all forms of paranormal activity, I would want to test them myself, in my own home to be sure of these things. Except resurrection, this is a demonstrable phenomenon, things come back from the dead all the time, LIKE THIS THREAD!

 

[Ninteen45]

I discount all forms of paranormal activity, I would want to test them myself, in my own home to be sure of these things. Except resurrection, this is a demonstrable phenomenon, things come back from the dead all the time, LIKE THIS THREAD!

 

He is correct.

People can come back to life, usually through medical procedure.

And they did it with mice and gas.

[SSY]

If they did it as an experiment, under repeatable, controlled conditions, does that mean it is not really paranormal?

[bfat]

Hi there,

(This is my first real post)

This is a topic that has interested me since I was... well, born, I think.  I've always been sort of fascinated/obsessed with the paranormal and things of that nature.  The way that I have always interpreted it is that "supernatural" things are not necessarily un-natural (because this is a complete contradiction--nothing in nature can exist if it is not naturally occurring), it's just something that science is, as of yet, unable to explain.  For example, magnets may have once been seen as "magic" because they can move things, but now we know about electromagnetism (and, btw, the whole magnet therapy thing is based on a pretty good idea--that external magnets may affect the human body's natural electromagnetic field--which it does, provably and scientifically, have--it's how the touch pad mouse works.  I'm just not sure if these therapies have actually undergone in-depth scientific studies, or if they have, the results have been ambiguous).

Anyone who as studied much theoretical physics (which I have not--I've only read the Cliffs Notes versions of these things) knows that the cutting edge of science these days borders on philosophy--because the math works, but the particles are too small, or the cosmos too inaccessible to us at the degree necessary to perform the experiments.  But things like "dark matter" and quarks, and even Einstein's theories, Schroedinger's Cat, and all of the newest science would seem like "paranormal" theories to anyone 100 years ago.  Electrons have been shown to bilocate--to actually exist in two places at once.  Light is both a particle and a wave, something that scientists are still trying to wrap their brains around.  All the attempts to unite the 4 forces of the universe require the existence of at least 6 parallel dimensions.

So at what point does cutting edge theoretical science become the supernatural?  What if ghosts exist, but the technology just doesn't exist yet to quantify their existence?

So yeah, I definitely believe in the possibility of these things.  And who hasn't thought about ghosts when they're home alone and gotten completely freaked out?  

-bfat

[philosoraptor]

While I'm very convinced in the non-existence of God, I have a much more charitable feeling for ghosts.  Ghosts I have seen and heard and touched.  God I can't say I've ever encountered.

Allow me to yarn a bit and placate the skeptics, as I was once also a skeptic regarding the supernatural.  Then I moved to Lancaster for college, and had all sorts of weird and seemingly unexplainable experiences.

My Freshmen year, the last week of the semester I had packed everything up and unplugged my computer to bring home for Christmas.  That night, laying alone in bed, I heard whispers coming from the unplugged computer speakers.  I double checked to see that they were unplugged, and I put my ear up against the wall to see if the people next door were making noise.  They weren't.

Sophomore year, around 3:30am I woke up facing the wall.  I felt my skin crawling, like I was being watched.  I turned around, and there was a dark shadowy figure standing by my bed.  I screamed, and the apparition vanished  Several days later, both my fish and my pet rat died.  I also did some minor investigation stuff with my roommates.  We investigated an old farm house, where we were chased away by a truck that disappeared.  Other locals said that people reported getting chased by disappearing cars frequently in that area.  We also did EVP and took photo in an old Mennonite cemetery.  All three of us had our cameras die almost simultaneously, and when we played back the EVP recording, you could hear a very low woman's voice say "terminate the camera" right before our cameras died.

Junior into Senior year, I lived in a one bedroom that I shared with another girl.  We would have weird and unexplainable things happen all the time.  If we would go out and leave a light on, it would be off when we got back.  The shower curtain that was always left open would close itself.  Sometimes the TV or CD player would kick on or off randomly.  It wasn't uncommon for small items of furniture or knick knacks to be moved, or to have sudden temperature drops in the apartment.  We'd often hear voices or feel footsteps in the living room.  We found out 6 or 7 months into our lease that a girl had been murdered there, and her killer never found.

I really didn't know what to make of it, then or now.  Something was obviously going on, but I can't rationalize it.