This list includes some interesting and sometimes intriguing experiments that have attempted to prove or disprove one of the most important questions ever faced by humanity: Is there life after death? I had no agenda either way as I was putting this list together. I hope if anyone that has information to add credibility (including some of your own experiences) or any evidence to debunk some of these experiments you will share it in your comments.
EVP (electronic voice phenomena) is a mysterious event in which human-sounding voices from an unknown source are heard on recording tape, in radio station noise and other electronic media. Most often, EVPs have been captured on audiotape. The mysterious voices are not heard at the time of recording; it is only when the tape is played back that the voices are heard. Some skeptics say interpreting random sounds into voices in their own language would sound like random noise to a foreign speaker. You can hear some samples of EVP here.
Interesting Fact: The 2005 film White Noise starring Michael Keaton focuses exclusively on the phenomenon of EVP as the main character attempts to contact his recently deceased wife.
This is not the official name of this experiment but I thought it had a nice ring to it. In 1907 Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, MA placed six terminal patients on a specially designed bed built on a scale and weighed them as they took their last breath. Based on results from the experiment, the patients lost approximately 3/4 ounces which equals 21.3 grams. MacDougall also measured fifteen dogs in similar circumstances and reported the results as negative with no perceived change in weight. He took these results as confirmation that the human soul has weight and that dogs do not have souls. MacDougall’s experiments were published in the New York Times and some medical journals.
Interesting Fact: MacDougall’s complaints in his journal about not being able to find dogs dying of the natural causes led to the suspicion that he was poisoning dogs to conduct his experiments. Also: These experiments inspired a film called “21 Grams” starring Sean Penn.
The God Helmet refers to a controversial experiment in neurotheology (study of correlations of neural phenomena) by Michael Persinger. When a modified snowmobile helmet is placed on the subjects head, magnetic fields start stimulating the brain. Persinger claims that near death experiences such as bright lights, the presence of God and seeing dead relatives etc. are reproduced. Richard Dawkins, who is known for his atheistic views and criticism of religion volunteered to test Persinger’s device. Afterward, he admitted on BBC that he was very disappointed that he did not experience communion with the universe or some other spiritual sensation. It should also be noted the helmet was also tested by a person that previously experienced a near death experience and the results failed to duplicate the same sensation.
Interesting Fact: Persinger claims that at least 80 per cent of his participants experience a presence beside them in the room, which they variously say feels like God or someone they knew who had died. You can learn more about the God Helmet here.
The Phillip Experiment was conducted in the early 1970’s by The Toronto Society of Psychical Research. The purpose of the experiment was to see if a fictitious historical character could manifest itself through the group’s efforts of concentration. They named the ghost Phillip and gave the ghost a personality and a complete background, even drawing a portrait to make him seem more real. The 8 members in the group also memorized the fictional biography and studied the period in which Phillip was supposed to have lived. The séances proved nothing for many months until 1973 when Phillip began to communicate. He first came through as a solid rap on the table. In the months that followed, the group discovered that when they asked questions and using 1 knock as “yes” and 2 as “no”, they could actually have an intelligent conversation with their ghost.
Interesting Fact: The experiment came to a strange end when one member of the group broke ranks and stated aloud in a reply to Phillip that “we only made you up, you know.” All communications stopped. Once denied that Phillip was real, he ceased to exist.
Ghost Hunters is a reality television series that debuted in 2004. A team of investigators travel to locations that are reported to be haunted. To locate ghosts the team has experimented with Geiger counters, EMF (electromagnetic field) scanners, infrared and night vision cameras, handheld digital video cameras, digital audio recorders, and laptop computers. The ghost hunters claim to have several good recordings of strange mists, odd lights, moving objects, and shadowy figures that manifest before the camera and disappear quickly.
Interesting Fact: Critics and skeptics of the program point to a lack of scientific methodology and critical examination in their investigations as well as questionable production aspects including editing.
Houdini’s training in magic allowed him to expose many mediums as frauds that had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. Fearing that spiritualists would exploit his legacy by pretending to contact him after his death, Houdini left his wife a secret code. Ten words were chosen at random from a letter written by Conan Doyle that he would use to contact her from the afterlife. After Houdini’s death on October 31, 1926 a friend of Doyle, Rev. Arthur Ford claimed to have contacted both Houdini and his deceased mother at a séance through his spirit guide. Ford stated that the message received was in the pre-arranged code worked out by Houdini and his wife before Houdini’s death. However most believe Ford conspired with Doyle and also talked Houdini’s wife (who was ill and self-medicating with alcohol) into conspiring to assist him in creating the impression he had contacted Houdini’s spirit.
Interesting Fact: Houdini’s wife Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini’s death, but Houdini never appeared. The photo above is Harry Houdini with his wife and mother
Gary Schwartz, a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona wrote a book in 2002 called “The Afterlife Experiments”. In the experiments he used mediums and sitters (someone who had had very close relationships with people now dead) to investigate whether or not there is life after death. The mediums consistently came up with specific facts and names about the sitters departed friends and relatives that the skeptics have been unable to explain away as fraud, cold reading, or lucky guesses. For the first sitter the results showed that the mediums had ranged from being 77 percent to 95 percent accurate. The average hit rate was 83 percent. The hit rate for the second sitter was similar to that of the first sitter. To rule out lucky guesses he set up a control group of sixty-eight students from the University of Arizona. The hit rate of the control group was just 36 percent.
Interesting Fact: When the 83 percent hit rate of the mediums was compared with the 36 percent of the control group, Schwartz claims the statistical probability of the control group difference occurring by chance is one in ten million.
Sir William Crookes was an English chemist and physicist and attended the Royal College of Chemistry in London. One of Crooks accomplishments was the “Crookes Tube” which would lead to the discovery of cathode rays, x-rays and the electron. Crookes had developed an interest in spiritualism possibly by the untimely death of his younger brother in 1867 at age 21. In 1870 Crookes decided that science had a duty to experiment with the phenomena associated with Spiritualism. The conditions he imposed on mediums were as follows: “It must be at my own house, and my own selection of friends and spectators, under my own conditions, and I may do whatever I like as regards apparatus”. Among the phenomena he said he witnessed were movement of bodies at a distance, changes in the weights of bodies, levitation, appearance of luminous objects, appearance of phantom figures and the appearance of writing without human circumstances which would point to the agency of an outside intelligence. His report on this research in 1874, concluded that these phenomena could not be explained and that further research would be useful.
Interesting Fact: Most scientists were convinced that Spiritualism was fraudulent, and Crookes’ final report so outraged the scientific establishment that there was talk of depriving him of his Fellowship of the Royal Society.
Australian Psychologist Peter Ramster made a documentary in 1983 called “The Reincarnation Experiments”. During the experiments he found very convincing evidence of past lives. One of the individuals featured in the film remembered a life during the French Revolution. When under trance she spoke in French without any trace of an accent, understood and answered questions put to her in French and knew the names of streets which had changed and were only discoverable on old maps.
Interesting Fact: General George S. Patton was a staunch believer in reincarnation and often claimed to have seen vivid, lifelike visions of his ancestors and also believed he was a reincarnation of Carthaginian General Hannibal.
In 1993 four psychic researchers and observers embarked on a series of experiments in the Norfolk village of Scole. For five years, more than 500 experiments were carried out. During some of the experiments objects materialized, lights danced, and solid beings appeared. Luminous spheres also flew around the room in apparently intelligent manner. The image above was received on 35mm films still in the light proof containers with no cameras used. Messages were also transmitted onto audio-tape. The experiments were repeated in the United States, Ireland and Spain. In the United States scientists from NASA, the Institute of Noetic Sciences and the University of Stanford also took part. You can learn more about The Scole Experiment here.
Interesting Fact: James Webster, a professional magician with 40 years of experience investigating paranormal phenomena came to the following conclusion: “I was unable to discover any sign of fraud, and it seems to me that fraud couldn’t have been possible, both because of the type of phenomena observed and by the conditions in which they came about”.
Contributor: Blogball
I wonder if any one has tried to measure the weight of gasses for the volume of the lungs when inflated and seen if it is or isn't in excess of 21 grams. It's be a very easy solution to that problem without involving anything at all.
Except the weight of the dogs didn’t change…
wow cool list!
o.0
damn this list is so mind bogeling awsome list! Keep them coming. Yo word!
awesome! i love these lists
its 2:20 AM and i am officially crapping my pants hahaha this was a wicked list but i always get really creeped reading stuff like this at night :O!
Very nice list, thank you.
I would disagree with #9 though.
There will always be life after death just because people believe there is. It is the same with religion. Peoples beliefs make it real for themselves.
For me, DEAD is DEAD. Religion is a myth.
Better wake up and change your mind because IT IS REAL !!! I have had three experiences in my lifetime of "meeting"(seeing), (confronted by) (in the prersence of) sould of deceased persons. They will NOT harm you…
For #2, I’m sorry to say but she has a very clear english accent when she speaks french.
The Afterlife Experiments seems a bit rubbish.
Basically, as an *****ogy, they got a group of salespeople and a group of random university students. They then asked both parties to sell things from a shop. Miraculously, the salespeople sold far more! How could this be!?
That’s basically what happened, to an extent. Psychics and Mediums have learned which are good “hit phrases” more likely to produce an emotional response from the interviewee, they also obviously know how to build rapport to sway decisions as well. This is a seriously flawed experiment, I wouldn’t have had it past 9.
stevek:
Agreed. God may not exist, but if I said that loud enough, I’d probably get killed because I said that. That’s power enough. :p
If anybody hasn’t watched Ghost Hunters and is a bit curious, I recommend it. The hosts of the show are skeptics themselves, and try to debunk everything.
I’m not sure your “interesting fact” is a fact at all, but competition from the show stating their views.
New season starts in March on SciFi.
Very interesting list, Blogball!
Jono:
With all the “Truths” which have now been proven to be myths, why do people believe the bible to be the ultimate truth. I see it as a collection of “Myths”, written sometimes centuries after the “Fact”. Storytellers make their living telling stories, if they weren’t interesting, just add a little more action. It could be the difference between eating and starving.
Dr Brian Weiss tells interesting stories of his patients having past lives. Seems a reputable shrink and made interesting watching when he was interviewed by Dr Oz on Oprah.
Poor Phillip.
number one is cool… brrr..
I have no use for psychics. If I were to call one of psychic hotline numbers, when I picked up the phone they should already be there waiting. I’ve seen cold readings on various talk shows and mostly the people give the psychic the information and don’t even realize it. Needless to say, I’m not impressed with #4. Although I think the writers of “The Honeymooners” were psychic for the way they rip-offed “The Flinstones” before it even went on the air.
Oooo spooky list…I shouldn’t be reading this at midnight lol, its creeping me out…
There is an after-life. I have my own proof.
Which is what?
Nice list! No. 10 reminded me I had found an interesting research on EVP and that case in particular (an italian man claiming to hear his deceased daughter’s voice recorded on tape) had been debunked by the Italian organization called CICAP (Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sul Paranormale – Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims on the Paranormal) here’s the link for their website:http://www.cicap.org/new/index.php (there should be an english version, but unfortunately the articles are still in Italian only) These people are basically scientists who research paranormal phenomena. They challenge psychics, mediums and such to show them their abilities, but no one as of yet has ever passed their tests; they also regularly make fun of horoscopes, and showed how to make perfect crop circles. These guys are just plain awesome in my books.
brilliant list. really enjoyed it.
The list is quite full of nonsense.
For example, Number 4 the Afterlife Experiments was very much flawed, you can read more about it here: http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-01/medium.html
It’s important to note that these flawed experiments always get more publicity than the ones that are made correctly and do not show any ‘paranormal’ results. The same with this one:
“A fifth report describes a study that was designed to be a true double-blind experiment. The outcome, by any accepted statistical and methodological standard, **failed to support the hypothesis of the survival of consciousness**”
In other words: the second you make it scientific, the paranormal aspects go away. Hmmmm…. makes you wonder…
As soon as ghosts stop acting like a**holes, I’ll believe in them. As of right now, all they seem able to do is make annoying noises in attics and knock stuff off dressers when no one is around.
The afterlife must make people bitter.
nice list, but only entertainment for a skeptic like myself. (damn my early introduction to Micheal Shermer!)
when I was younger (before 25) I completely embraced the idea of reincarnation. Throughout my childhood, up to the age of 13, I had frequent deja-vu. once so strongly that I knew the way around a town in Oklahoma that I had never been to!(it was during a field trip in 5th grade to “No Man’s Land”) shortly after 13, I just stopped having the deja-vu.Now I believe that my brain simply was able to properly channel the visual images into a real-time format, instead of having a ‘glich’ that made me think I was in some locale or situation previously…
I find that my current concept of death is far more interesting & satisfying than any idea of an afterlife consisting of ghosts, orbs, unfinished business, or a heaven-like place.
1st Law of Thermodynamics:energy cannot be created or destroyed; rather, the amount of energy lost in a steady state process cannot be greater than the amount of energy gained.
hence my current concept of what happens upon death for ALL living things, human & otherwise…
our bodies decompose, and so does our energy.By decompose, I do not mean ‘destroyed’ I only mean “dissipated’ or transformed into another state.
the energy that supplied the internal combustion & electrical impulses of my nervous system will be released outside of my body, after the internal energy needed to begin decomposition of my physical body finishes setting that process in motion. then the ‘life’ energy will be distributed into the greater universe, to atomically compose leaves & grass, water & clouds, atoms of other living things…stars…dark matter…you name it, it is constantly in a state of reclamation & distribution.
as a teen, learning the 1st Law of Thermodynamics in high school just made perfect sense.
also, Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” and Phillip Pullman may have helped solidify this concept…
ringtailroxy
p.s. I’d rather be a functioning, contributing part of all matter than a ghost, random orb, or vengeful poltergeist. really. aren’t people annoying enough while alive?
positively post script. why are so many ‘paranormal’ encounters hostile? I live right next to an enormous Jewish cemetery. It’s gates are open 24/7…I often walk my dog down there. It’s beautiful, the grounds are immaculate, the mausoleums thought provoking, and I just like to read the headstones.
Neighborhood kids spook each other and talk of ghosts. I laugh and say “What is a Jewish ghost going to do? Charge me admission? Help me balance my checkbook? Teach me how to make good Baba Ganoush?”
yeeash…
*held in moderation for use of ’1st’*
Yeah…this list seems to be 99% bull***** unfortunately. Usually the people who perform “experiments” centered around the afterlife stand to make a lot more money if the experiments are successful then if they’re not.
CFAustin:
The hosts of Ghosthunters are not skeptics, they have had they’re own real experiences. But they do the investigations in such a way to get convincing evidence for those who have not had an experience. Spiritualism and science can co-exist.
Great list.
hey-whyfore my comment #25 says ‘Your comment is awaiting moderation.”? I didn’t use any curse words, kept the controversy to a minimum, and only was mildly condescending…
rtr
*it has been released. w/ an explanation.*
stevek religion cannot be a myth. religion is real.Thousands of people belong to religious organizations. i think you mean god is a myth
19. Mrs Polidori
I would very much like to see or hear your “proof”.
26. deepthinker
The fact that they are not skeptics is the failure. They already go into investigations with preconceived notions. Their convincing evidence is only convincing to credulous individuals who share their preconceived ideas. They fail to convince any skeptic of the authenticity of their claims simply because there is always, I stress that word, ALWAYS a more logical and simple explanation for their findings.
“Spiritualism” and science will NEVER co-exist. Ever. Perhaps to the ghost hunters who do not know the definition of science or how to correctly practice it, it will. But that is not co-existence; it’s presenting pseudoscience to attempt to quantify their false findings.
There has never been, nor likely ever will be, any evidence of an afterlife. Hearsay, faith, conjecture and anecdotal evidence is not evidence. These are the only things used to “prove” paranormal or supernatural activity. Therefore, the laws of science simply do not apply.
okay, great omnipotent moderator…thanks for clarifying that. got worried there…didn’t know if I was blacklisted for some asinine reason.
just out of curiosity…why was “1st” moderated? I really am curious…(which is why i visist this site daily!)
waiting for Bucslim, Randall, & Rushfan to wake up…
rtr
*’1st’ is posted @ forums or on comment sections of websites by preteens w/ low self esteem to bolster their sagging egos. its been done to death and back. hence being banned on this site as well as most any site that allows public interaction.*
Ah yes. People will always be uncomfortable with the notion that once you die you cease to exist. Live your life now people don’t wait for an afterlife to start enjoying yourself.
Having worked in hospice i do believe that there is an afterlife. Why else would people see dead loved ones, the “light” etc.?
People once said we would never land on he moon, and they were wrong, so how can you write off the fact that there might be an afterlife? There is no proof there ISNT one. To the people who are not so open minded, is it realy ruining your life that some people do believe in it? Maybe your just too afraid to admit there might be things that even scientists cannot disprove, as your are scared of the possibility of there being something unknown to us.
very interesting list.
Life’s a ***** and then you die..
ringtailroxy:
I was up at the crack of dawn, as always, ringy. What can I do for you? Having trouble with fools and weirdos? Need me to rough somebody up? Or just looking for stimulating intellectual discussion?
Randall, btw, possesses no particular belief in an “afterlife.” I believe in living life NOW. Pace Jake Ryder, above.
However, my “belief” parallels that of the VERY wise Joseph Campbell–that we are vessels of light, of consciousness. And god/the universe is consciousness. And so when we die, consciousness returns to consciousness. Reincarnation? Perhaps. I’ve had odd echoes of the possibility of it, in my life, and the lives of friends. But I do not believe in the survival of the ego, the “self,” after death. I don’t believe in a heaven as a “place” where we hang out with all our dead relatives and get to meet Ben Franklin and Aristotle and whatnot. My reason for disbelieving in this, however, is because I feel the ego must be a transitory thing… which is, in fact, the very lesson that the Buddha and Jesus taught. It would not make sense, therefore, that it would survive after death.
Physics tells us that alternate universes are almost certainly real–but are they any more easy to accept than some kind of continuance of an energy or a general (but not individual) consciousness after death?
I have friends who believe strongly (because they can “feel” it) in the idea of “alternate existences” where things happened differently, where choices were made that led to different ends than occurred “here.” I’ve had such “feelings” myself.
An existence “beyond” all this might, therefore, also exist. Not where “I” carry on, as Randall… but where the “thing” in me that is an echo of the consciousness of god or the universe, rejoins that primary voice, and carries on.
Am I supposed to be making something out in the picture on #1? Just looks like blocs to me.
blobs*
Hey, very nice list, and quite thoughtful insights from Randall (37). This list is right up my street as I currently work for a Shaman, have many years of buddhist and spiritualist experience, and am a philosopher by nature. I get most of my knowledge in these matters by channelling. Now I know that sounds strange; and a sure way to get ridiculed; but what I ‘hear’ comes from a source beyond what I already know – and beyond things I have read in books or seen on TV – and that is why it is pure insight.
I too was a skeptic until I undertook mediumship training, and at that point I understood that I could ‘hear’ voices that were not coming from me. I am not schizo – as some might jump to believe. So how does this work? Well, as Randall so delightfully enthused, all existence at the core is pure energy. We know this because when we split the atom, all that energy came flooding out. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but transmutes between one form to another, ad infinitum. This energy is also consciousness in its purest form. It is all around us, and we, as well as everything in existence, is made from it (appearing in various states of solidity depending on the resonation frequency). Hence God is all around us, and we are made from ‘the source’, and will return to the same energy pool (source) after physical death.
Now that is mostly common knowledge amoung the open minded. What is not talked about is the way the after-existence works. When we sleep, we sometimes dream; the active imagination (the creator of our simulacrum, or perspective on reality) – detatched from the glorified caluclator which is the brain, makes images all of its own. After death, this is all we have left; consciousness and free-form imagination. So, whatever awaits us upon death is whatever we imagine it to be. If we believe in hell, and expect to go there upon death, then we would create our own version of what we imagine it would be like. Simlarly, if we expect to see John Lennon or Elvis, then this is what we find. Because this form of existence (as opposed to ‘being’) is not limited by time or space, we can imagine ourselves anywhere we like, and communicate with any thing we like – although nearly all human beings are deaf to these messages.
For further research, see ‘What Dreams May Come’.
I too believe in the here and now and not the here after. Live life to the fullest…however, my favorite show is Ghost Hunters. Love that show. I don’t care if its commericialized or not, its damn good! They go in hoping to debunk the activity and whatever is left should be real. Many of what they have caught on camera, evp or whatever cannot be rationally explaine. There will always be skeptics no matter what. Having said that, does anyone have any proof of God? If not, the don’t rip on my Ghost Hunters…thank you very much!
also, if my post starts the religion debate…sorry in advance!
awesome list.
I dont like the way these experiments are presented like they contain some grain of truth. They all failed to prove anything, but now you’ve got all the gullible people reading this list turning away from rationality and embracing the afterlife idea. Its just silly, and it needs to be presented as silly.
This is pretty much like presenting the top 10 perpetum mobile experiments, and then not explaining what the faulty reasoning behind them was and why they violate the laws of physics.
I just farted and it clearly sounded like Daffy Duck’s late grand father Dangle Duck. He said “Being dead beats being a dead beat”. The voice was very clear, and very mysteriously quack like, it just had to be the voice from the afterlife. Scientists cant explain this phenonema, so it proves the afterlife!
“33. Carrie lynn
Having worked in hospice i do believe that there is an afterlife. Why else would people see dead loved ones, the “light” etc.?”
There is scientific evidence that explains this phenomenon. Essentially, and in very simple terms, it’s the brain shutting down. There is more detailed information on this in Michael Shermer’s “Why People Believe Weird Things” and Carl Sagan’s “The Demon Haunted World”.
“34. Char
People once said we would never land on he moon, and they were wrong, so how can you write off the fact that there might be an afterlife? There is no proof there ISNT one. To the people who are not so open minded, is it realy ruining your life that some people do believe in it? Maybe your just too afraid to admit there might be things that even scientists cannot disprove, as your are scared of the possibility of there being something unknown to us.”
People also said the Earth was flat and the Sun revolved around the Earth. Science has proven those beliefs wrong. Incidentally, it was science that put man on the moon. It’s quite the straw-man argument to try and back up the existence of a life after death using a completely unrelated human achievement. Proving there “isn’t” life after death is not the issue. It’s up to the person making the claim to prove that it is so. You can’t prove that I don’t have an invisible fire-breathing dragon in my garage, it’s impossible to prove a negative.
I’m completely open-minded to any claim you have to make, but you’d better be prepared to back it up with evidence if you want to convince me that it’s true. I’m afraid that “faith” and your “strong belief” isn’t enough to make it so. I’m not even talking about empirical evidence to make it absolute truth, but something other than anecdotal evidence that can usually be explained by simple means. Provide something that makes the claim testable by proper scientific means; something that can at least promote the claim from speculative observation, to actual theory. Consider Hume’s Maxim when trying to relate to these types of claims:
“That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish.”
With that in mind, is it more likely that the noises heard in a house are those of spirit who has nothing better to do than remain in a house making muffled, incoherent “bumps in the night” to try and contact the living, or that it’s the normal creaks and bumps of a settling house?
Closed minded describes the people who refute science as being fallible and unreliable in the past so therefore it must be wrong because it cannot “disprove” something that is not testable. Science is ever-improving on itself, that’s what it does, that’s why theories change and expand and improve. It doesn’t go in with the preconceived notion that there is life after death and then tries to find evidence to back up the claim; that’s what the ghost hunters do, along with New Age Guru’s who claim to be able to hear voices from the beyond speaking to them, and that is not science. However, they like to use what they claim to be scientific instruments and scientific-based buzz words like “pure energy” (whatever that is) or “resonation frequency” (“resonation” is scarcely even a word). This then devalues their claim from what they consider scientific, to nothing more than pseudoscience.
The claims made by people like lifeschool are certainly flowery and wonderful; however, he/she cannot provide evidence for any of them, which makes them no more credible than had he claimed to have an invisible fire-breathing dragon in his garage. For some reason, most people seem to be more hesitant about such a claim, but are willing to buy into the former. Remember that just because a great number of people believe something, it does not make it so. In fact, mass-belief in such claims can lead to what is known as a “feedback loop” (feel free to look that up). A feedback loop is not just an ancient phenomenon, it has happened in our own time on several occasions, and can lead to unjust behaviour and has caused such memorable events as the Witch Craze of the 15th and 16th century.
To get back to your question, it is not ruining my life that someone believes in an afterlife, but rather, it may be ruining their life to be not living the only existence they have to the fullest, because they believe an afterlife will be so much better.
Finally, science is never out to “disprove” something, it is designed to find the truth and shed light on what is not yet known. If the evidence (or lack thereof) shows that a hypothesis is false, then that is the conclusion. The scientific method is relied upon by you, me and everyone else, every minute of the day, every day of every year. It has made your life more convenient, likely saved your life and the lives of your loved ones -perhaps without ever knowing it- and continues to improve your way of life. It seems a bit unfair to sully it by suggesting that it may not be all it’s cracked up to be, simply because it isn’t designed to “disprove” supernatural claims.
I am not “scared of the possibility of there being something unknown to us.” On the contrary, I’m delighted to know that there are innumerable mysteries yet to discover, and welcome any and all wondrous things that can make life a more amazing journey that it already is. However, wasting time on supernatural nonsense and paranormal activity as anything more than simple entertainment, takes away from all the amazing “natural” and “normal” discoveries we have yet to make.
I still wonder why all ghosts are from the Victorian era . . . has anyone seen a Neanderthal ghost . . .
thanks blogball very interesting list for some reason #7 The Philip Experiment felt very strange
Why is it so hard to believe that science is a great discipline that explains how God does what He does?
I hope that after I die, I will be reincarnated as a person a few thousand years in the future. If I cannot, I would like to use my “dead time” to learn all I can about the universe.
hogwash….theres no such thing as ghosts and otherworldly spirits…i mean seriously, have you ever hear of pre-victorian ghosts?(as per Cubones comment)ronald reagan hasnt begun bombing russia from some bunker in his afterlife, has he?no…..maurice gibb hasnt contacted brother barry about a beegees reunion yet, has he? no….people, its easy to be fooled by many of the phenomenae that happen in our world, but to assume that ethereal being inhabit our plane of existance is utter nonsense
Excellent list once again Blogball. Not that I believe any of it; my belief is unnecessary, what’s interesting to me is what these intelligent educated people believe.
I had a psychic reading once, years ago before I got married. The only thing I remember from the 45 minute session was her statement that Davey and I are soul mates and the prediction that we would have 4 kids. (I scoffed at her). The fact that these are the only correct things that she said during my reading is why I remember it; and precisely why belief in psychics and the supernatural continue to this day. Even her comment that my hubby and I are soul mates requires no psychic ability by the way – Our friends commented on the fact that we looked and behaved like an old married couple since high school.
My personal beliefs are much the same as Randall’s, although my shared consciousness wouldn’t be nearly as eloquent or well reasoned.
I thought #7 was the most interesting by far.
Anyone that has had a dog as a companion, knows that they have souls, if humans do. Interesting list.
Redcaboose~
*sigh* i fancifully believe that. but i logically believe that many animals, especially domestic ones, have a consciousness beyond what other animals have. all animals are as intelligent as they need to be to survive in their environment. dogs just happen to have learned how to effectively bond with, manipulate, and accept us to satisfy their survival needs. dogs ARE smarter than us…mine doesn’t pay rent, gets premium food, constant vet care, and all her emotional needs met! i don’t even have that!
mom424~
i had a psychic reading once… the guy was so creepy! he was handsome, but insisted on holding my hands…he knew my name (because i wrote it on the list for a free reading) and he knew my birthdate (a simple free records search online could provide such info)
he began to ask me if i enjoyed animals (which i do) but this was obvious because he was conducting readings at veterinarian’s house!
he then was pulling ideas out of his ass. some made hits, most didn’t. like he knew that there was an important man in my life. (duh…most females in their early 20′s have a father, boyfriend, or guy pal)
he told me i had a dog that i went everywhere with (duh… my dog was laying on the other side of the patio screen door, you could see the tips of his ears. also, i had a totebag with a picture of me hugging my dog on a mountain top on it!)
the only 2 things he said that remotely caught my attention was that he guessed my father’s name was Rick and that I was an avid snorkeler.
but… maybe the charm on my necklace, a tiny silver mask & snorkel gave that away? maybe not…
44. B-on : I just farted and it sounded like Harry Truman.
I think you’re on to something.
Nice list, but one of my favorite things is missing today!
There is no Crazy comment from Jajdude.
I hope no one minds, but Iwll try to fill his shoes in his own intersting dialect… here goes..
Proton packs to the max on the list, G. I’ve been seein things in the dark since I was a kid, yo.
Well, I tried.
No disrespect jajdude.
rtr;
They don’t have to be domesticated. There are many stories of Chimps, Dolphins/Porpoises, Elephants and the like mourning the death of close family members and offspring. Remember Flo from the Jane Goodall special? Many of the higher animals demonstrate an extremely high level of consciousness and self-awareness. Close family ties and a certain level of altruism benefits the species. Consciousness provides that capability. Amazing the things that develop in the quest to spread the genes.
“Why is it so hard to believe that science is a great discipline that explains how God does what He does?”
That’s what I believe, yet so few others do.
People are either the close-minded Christians who think we were created in 7 periods of 24 hours, or the hypocritical atheists, who wouldn’t dare ever acknowledge there’s a hint of supernatural phenomena in this world.
That’s seriously beside the point though.
This was a very interesting, and somewhat creepy list.
Good on ya, Blogball.
“59. Skiffo
People are either the close-minded Christians who think we were created in 7 periods of 24 hours, or the hypocritical atheists, who wouldn’t dare ever acknowledge there’s a hint of supernatural phenomena in this world.”
That’s an incredibly unfair generalization to both Christians and Atheists. I know several Christians who are not Creationists and countless Atheists -myself included- who are more than open to the idea of supernatural phenomena. I don’t acknowledge it as existing as I have yet to see any evidence to convince me of it. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp?
This is an excerpt from Carl Sagan’s “The Demon Haunted World”. I have referred to this book often because it is one of my favorites and is the inspiration for my earlier “Fire-breathing dragon” claim. I can pretty much guarantee you wouldn’t believe such a claim on my word alone, why should I be expected -as well as be called hypocritical- to believe an extraordinary claim with no evidence?
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“A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage”
Suppose (I’m following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you’d want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!
“Show me,” you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle–but no dragon.
“Where’s the dragon?” you ask.
“Oh, she’s right here,” I reply, waving vaguely. “I neglected to mention that she’s an invisible dragon.”
You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon’s footprints.
“Good idea,” I say, “but this dragon floats in the air.”
Then you’ll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.
“Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.”
You’ll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.
“Good idea, but she’s an incorporeal dragon and the paint won’t stick.”
And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won’t work.
Now, what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I’m asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.
The only thing you’ve really learned from my insistence that there’s a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You’d wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I’ve seriously underestimated human fallibility.
Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don’t outright reject the notion that there’s a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you’re prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it’s unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative– merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of “not proved.”
Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons–to say nothing about invisible ones–you must now acknowledge that there’s something here, and that in a preliminary way it’s consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.
Now another scenario: Suppose it’s not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you’re pretty sure don’t know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages–but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we’re disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I’d rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren’t myths at all.
Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they’re never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon’s fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such “evidence”–no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it–is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.
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In short Skiffo, I’m not being close-minded or hypocritical, I’m being insightful and cautious of taking extraordinary claims at face value.