Happy Atheist Forum

if so, what do you think they are?
have you ever seen one?

and is it possible for an atheist to believe in ghosts or spirits, when your belief system seems to imply that man is alone in the universe, without any unseen beings

also, do you believe in UFOs

if you do, what do you think they are?

No. I do not believe in ghosts.

I don't know why an atheist would believe in ghosts or spirits, but that would be up to each individual. Not all people who don't believe in God are the same, or even hold all the same beliefs.

Plus, humans are not alone in the universe. There is life all around us here on Earth, and likely elsewhere in the cosmos.

Belive in UFOs? Do you mean all of the reports of Earth being visited by flying saucers and the like? If so, then no. People who believe that have a huge lack of understanding of the size of the universe, galaxy, solar system and physics.

I don't believe in ghosts, however there are plenty of weird things that can't be explained. Some have been proven to be hoaxes, others have been Unsolved Mysteries (which was a really kick ass show). I think that aliens exist considering the massive size in the Universe, but I doubt they would want to visit Earth. I mean if you perfected Inter-stellar/galatic travel, would you want to visit a planet that has primitive warlike people who kill each other over resources instead of using civilized diplomacy? I sure the fuck wouldn't.

I used to be obsessed with Unsolved Mysteries. It used to scare the crap out of me

Quote from: "Court"I used to be obsessed with Unsolved Mysteries. It used to scare the crap out of me

Dude Unsolved Mysteries rocks! I used to get home from school and flip it to Lifetime to catch it. I remember they used to play 3 hours of it on Saturday Nights back in the 90's. Man, those were the days.

No ghosts.  No UFO's.  

No:  heaven, hell, god, satan, Santa Claus    (sorry Santa).  No karma or reincarnation.  

There may be other intelligent life in the universe.  I just hope they aren't writing any cookbooks.  (Please tell me someone got that!)

onlyme,your questions are welcome here.  Are you ready for the answers?

Quote from: "MommaSquid"I just hope they aren't writing any cookbooks.  (Please tell me someone got that!)

hah...grok

Firstly, Atheism is only a belief regarding the non-existence of God or gods.  Atheism itself does not require a belief in what's called philosophical naturalism or metaphysical materialism.  

These two usually interchangable ideas argue that the universe consists of nothing but physical things.  So if you're a naturalist or a materialist, then if ghosts exist they have to material things.  

Atheism and materialism are not the same belief.  In fact, most buddhists are also at the same time atheists, and yet they certainly believe in some kind of non-physical spiritual substance.  


UFO's are entirely possible, though I've never seen one and I find claims about them highly suspicious.  On the other hand, life certainly exists elsewhere in the universe, it just depends on what you include as 'life'.

Quote from: "MommaSquid"I just hope they aren't writing any cookbooks.  (Please tell me someone got that!)

Ha! "To Serve Man"

Love it, MommaSquid!

Quote from: "onlyme"if so, what do you think they are?
have you ever seen one?

No, I don't believe in ghosts and have never seen one.

Quoteand is it possible for an atheist to believe in ghosts or spirits, when your belief system seems to imply that man is alone in the universe, without any unseen beings

The only thing common among atheists is that we don't believe in a god or gods.  I don't know why an atheist would believe in ghosts but it is possible...there are some spiritual atheists, I just haven't met very many of them.

Quotealso, do you believe in UFOs

if you do, what do you think they are?

A UFO is just an unidentified flying object...so ya, in that way they do exist from time to time.  UFOs are typically hoaxes but in some cases can be a secret military plane undergoing testing.

But I don't think aliens are visiting this planet...they would have either been discovered by someone other than rednecks out in the middle of nowhere or someone would have leaked confirmation of their existance.  The government can't even cover up something like Watergate (sorry, american example)...how could they hide aliens.

It is very possible that life exists somewhere out there in the universe..maybe even intelligent life.  They either live too far away to get here given their current technology, don't care to mess with stupid humans, scared of humans since we have so many wars, or maybe there aren't any at all.

Quote from: "laetusatheos"But I don't think aliens are visiting this planet...they would have either been discovered by someone other than rednecks out in the middle of nowhere or someone would have leaked confirmation of their existance.

"And I'll tell you something too. That's starting to annoy me about UFOs, the fact that they cross galaxies or universes to visit us, and always end up in places like... Fyffe fucking Alabama... Maybe these aren't superintelligent beings, y'know what I mean?" -Bill Hicks

Sorry, I just can't hold back the quotes from my favorite comedians sometimes...

The universe must be, statistically at the very least, teeming with life form.

There may even be some life forms that are advanced enough to consider travelling to the stars. (There is at least one example we know of)

There is no evidence that anything or anyone has visited here other than anecdote. I'm afraid that doesn't count.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I'm impressed with the level of discussion and intelligence on this forum, even from the young, and those that have expressed a dislike or suspicion of me.

I still think I'm right, though, in that we will all be humbled by God at some point.

Just my own personal experience speaking, thought I'd pass it on, for what it's worth, whether you hold it in any regard or not.  Just trying to be helpful, that's all, believe it or not.  I am not your enemy, peeps.

Edit:

Quote from: "onlyme"...... we will all be humbled by God at some point.

Most of us (here) don't believe in god, so you're just flapping your fingers for nothing when you say stuff like that.  Still, I respect your right to state your beliefs.  No matter how much we disagree with you on that issue, your presence here is valued.

Mommasquid

I thank you for your post, and respect you for it.  You caught on, then, did you, that I was speaking primarily of you and court?

As regards your other point, I only say that we should keep an open mind.  None of us should get so arrogant that we could say I will never bow down to or acknowledge a higher power.

I don't have anything against any of you on this forum.  You think you have better insights than me on some things, I think I have better insights on other things.  Time will tell.  We are all people.

Hey, what is this?  Just before I scuttled off to work the other day, I expressed my surprise that I was now considered a 'hero member' on this forum.  Now, upon returning, I find that I am classed as a 'HAF addict'

I think maybe that you lot are easily impressed, do you hear me, laetus?

seriously, though, I am a bit flattered concerning my new-found position.

Am I a sad person, or what?  

that is a trick question.

Onlyme, it automatically does that once you post a certain number of posts.

The title change is just the ranks system, most forums use something similar and it is based on post count.

Here is how this forum does ranks:  http://www.happyatheistforum.com/ranks.php (http://www.happyatheistforum.com/ranks.php)

ohhh look at me, I'm Miss Admin, I burst people's bubbles.....OOOOOOHHH You kjnow I love ya.

Thanks for sharing Laetusatheos.  The Troll for Christ is really cute!

No, I don't.

Quote from: "Big Mac"I don't believe in ghosts, however there are plenty of weird things that can't be explained. Some have been proven to be hoaxes, others have been Unsolved Mysteries (which was a really kick ass show). I think that aliens exist considering the massive size in the Universe, but I doubt they would want to visit Earth. I mean if you perfected Inter-stellar/galatic travel, would you want to visit a planet that has primitive warlike people who kill each other over resources instead of using civilized diplomacy? I sure the fuck wouldn't.

as humans we study beings which are not as advanced as us, i would say we study animals for better understanding of them and just for fun, what if the aliens were just in a feild trip to earth?

For what? It's not like we hold some kind of special secret they don't know about. We're violent, meme accepting, Jesus loving, shit nuts creatures. What do you gain from studying that?

you gain knowledge of other life. all the time you learn about things that arent relavent to you at the time. its about the whole quest for knowledge. if you choose not to look for knowledge thats your choice. but many people study things not as advanced as us. we study animals different organisms. plus its just fun to know about that kind of stuff. who knows why the aliens, if there are any, are coming to earth.

I prefer not to speculate on the intentions of visiting extraterrestrial life until the existence of such visitors are known.

Good point there.

i agree. but if you thinks its fun to debate(like i think it is) i would debate about anything, including wether you can ever get to "anywhere". i debated that for atleast a half and hour with my brother once, quite fun. i am starting to think more open minded which is good, i will belive it, untill its proven false or if i want to. because basicly theres faith, then theres knowledge and i have a little of both, without faith i coudnt belive in a god, i coudnt. if i needed abselute proof i would be waiting for eternity, literaly. little bit of a tangent but thats the way i think, get over it!

I try to avoid debates that are pointless. They just take up time and you waste a lot of energy for nothing. Furthermore I can only have faith in things that make sense and for which there is valid proof, all the rest is superstition.

Ghosts....aliens....Santa....Easter Bunny....Irish Virgins....all in the same category of non-existent things.
 8)

One show that used to send shivers up my spine was "In Search of... (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074007/)" with Leonard Nimoy narrating. That was back when I was about 10-14 years old. His voice lends authenticity to the subject. Even though Spock was an entirely fictional character, Spock was always the source of wisdom and logic, so pairing Leonard Nimoy's voice with the subject matter on that show was brilliant.

I used to believe that ghosts existed, but I no longer do. I have had my own paranormal experiences in the form of strong premonitions that have come true. Those experiences tend to leave me very shaken. Does that make me believe in ghosts? No, actually it makes me discount ghosts. I tend to think that there is something about our existence that allows us to see other things, perhaps in space and time, that occurred in the past or are about to occur. To say that another person or object from another space/time is intentionally interacting with us, such as a ghost? Absolutely not.

Well, it looks like I have to change my mind. Just in time for Halloween is this spectral image taken in my own home. It is purported to be the ghost of a teenage boy who killed himself in this house before we moved in. Pretty spooky, huh?

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/ ... 285277.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/McQ14/pa285277.jpg)

Welcome to the "HAF" Twilight Zone, where scary ghosts wear jeans under a burkha. :lol:

Haha, nice photoshop! Massive lULZ!!!

Pretty amazing, huh? But it's not a burkha. It's a blue blanket dammit! Get it right!  :lol:

And I have no idea how to use PhotoShop (or any other like software). I promise you that no post-processing of any kind was done to this picture.

Now, that said...can you figure it out (obviously I don't believe in ghosts, as I've stated before, and this is posted just for fun before Halloween). No post-processing, no photographic manipulations of any kind in fact. Just a regular digital SLR, one shutter actuation, and no superimposing of shots.

Maybe it's really a ghost...

 

Just in time for Halloween, University of Central Florida professor Costas Efthimiou proves mathematically that vampires
do not exist.  

Party pooper!  

QuoteGhosts and zombies not real, and physicist is out to prove it
Seth Borenstein
Associated Press
Oct. 28, 2006 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - It may be the season for ghosts and zombies. Just remember, they're not real, warns physicist Costas Efthimiou.

Obviously, you might say.

But Efthimiou, a professor at the University of Central Florida, points to surveys that show American gullibility for the supernatural.

Efthimiou explains why it is that ghosts that can't walk among us while also gliding through walls. That violates Newton's law of action and reaction. If ghosts walk, their feet apply force to the floor, but if they go through walls, they are without substance, the professor says. "So which is it? Are ghosts material or materialless?" he asks.

Zombies and vampires fare even worse under Efthimiou's skeptical microscope.

Efthimiou looked at the most prominent child-turned-zombie case that aficionados cite: the 1989 case of a Haitian boy, 17, who was declared dead and then rose from the grave a day after the funeral and was considered a zombie. The boy, who never died but was paralyzed, had been poisoned by a relative of the deadly Japanese pufferfish, later research showed.

Efthimiou takes out the calculator to prove that if a vampire sucked one person's blood each month, turning each victim into an equally hungry vampire, after a couple of years there would be no people left, just vampires. He started his calculations with just one vampire and 537 million humans on Jan. 1, 1600, and shows that the human population would be down to zero by July 1602.

Take that Casper, Dracula and creepy friends.

All this may seem obvious, but to Efthimiou and other scientists, the public often isn't as skeptical as you might think. Efthimiou points to National Science Foundation reports showing widespread belief in such pseudosciences as vampires and astrology. More than 1 in 3 Americans believe houses can be haunted, a 2005 Gallup Poll indicated. More than 20 percent of Americans may believe in witches and that people can communicate with the dead. Such TV shows as Medium and Ghost Whisperer are popular.

"We're talking about a large fraction of the public that believes in subjects that scientists believe are out of the question," Efthimiou said. His paper is awaiting publication either in the journal Physics Education or the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, he said.

University of Maryland physics professor Bob Park, author of the book Voodoo Science, said scientists have to keep telling the public what seems all too obvious.

"There are things that we need to point out that are crap," Park said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1028vampire-science1028.html

Quote from: "McQ"Pretty amazing, huh? But it's not a burkha. It's a blue blanket dammit! Get it right!  :lol:

And I have no idea how to use PhotoShop (or any other like software). I promise you that no post-processing of any kind was done to this picture.

Now, that said...can you figure it out (obviously I don't believe in ghosts, as I've stated before, and this is posted just for fun before Halloween). No post-processing, no photographic manipulations of any kind in fact. Just a regular digital SLR, one shutter actuation, and no superimposing of shots.

Maybe it's really a ghost...

 

Ok, I have no clue....how'd you do it?

He used the force.....

[glow=red]Ok, here is the spooky solution........[/glow]

All I did was have my son stand in the room with a blanket over him. I shot him, he died and became a ghost.







Ok, I didn't shoot him....but dammit, he was asking for it!

What I really did was have him stand there with the blanket over him, and simply took a ten second exposure with the camera (on a tripod). Five seconds into the exposure I had him walk out of frame. Voila! Simple. One shutter actuation, no tricks. Just walk out of frame. The more time in frame, the more "solid" he would appear.

Of course! That's how they used to make the ghost pictures of days gone! I thought of it (I honestly I did) but I dismissed it because I thought no one would use such an archaic technique. My hat tips to you, McQ, you taught me a lesson in dismissing a valid, if unusual, theory.

Quote from: "Big Mac"Of course! That's how they used to make the ghost pictures of days gone! I thought of it (I honestly I did) but I dismissed it because I thought no one would use such an archaic technique. My hat tips to you, McQ, you taught me a lesson in dismissing a valid, if unusual, theory.

Yeah, it's a really old technique. Goes back to Daguerreotypes. It's funny, because I figured no one would think about it because of all the new digital photography techniques out there. But it's also so much easier to do than any photo-manipulations. Glad you enjoyed it!