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 purplefood wrote:
Baron's right.
We can't explain it so it must be ghosts...

No, it's: We can't explain it, therefore it's time for SCIENCE to step in and solve the mystery!

*demotes Purplefood to 'Minion status' for his failure to grasp the obvious!*

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 purplefood wrote:
Baron's right.
We can't explain it so it must be ghosts...

No, it's: We can't explain it, therefore it's time for SCIENCE to step in and solve the mystery!

*demotes Purplefood to 'Minion status' for his failure to grasp the obvious!*

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

I have generally stayed out of this particular argument, however here is my own personal take: The supernatural is real, there are those who genuinely experience something of it and never talk about it, there are those who genuinely experience something and do talk about it, and finally there are the "attention whores" who will never experience anything more supernatural than their city bus being 5 minutes late, but talk about experiences that they have never had.

In the case of "legitimate" supernatural occurrances, I feel that the reason these events cannot reliably be recreated, is in part due to technology, and in part due to science. I understand that there is so much of the universe that we just simply do not understand and cannot comprehend at this moment in time. However, I feel that in the right circumstances with the right people, what was once viewed as supernatural will become as plain as day. Afterall, many of our ancestors once believed that the sun was pulled by a chariot, with the moon forever chasing him. There are old sea maps with areas of the deep ocean labeled "there be monsters here", only for us to discover some truly massive creatures inhabit those parts (and in fact, that there are some 'monsters' out there like the Giant Squid)

Overnight sleepover at the Winchester Mystery house. I saw ghosts there, my cousin even has pics of what she swears aree ghosts.

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

Depends on your definition of 'ghost'. Here's one to think about: science still can't explain fully what 'life' is (the oldest question next to 'why'? still really eludes us). Most current theories involve energy to some degree, but energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where does it go?

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

Depends on your definition of 'ghost'. Here's one to think about: science still can't explain fully what 'life' is (the oldest question next to 'why'? still really eludes us). Most current theories involve energy to some degree, but energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where does it go?

Probably somewhere else in a different form...

 purplefood wrote:

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

Depends on your definition of 'ghost'. Here's one to think about: science still can't explain fully what 'life' is (the oldest question next to 'why'? still really eludes us). Most current theories involve energy to some degree, but energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where does it go?

Probably somewhere else in a different form...

What? Are you serious? I'm 100% sure we know what is and isn't life.

 poppa G wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

Depends on your definition of 'ghost'. Here's one to think about: science still can't explain fully what 'life' is (the oldest question next to 'why'? still really eludes us). Most current theories involve energy to some degree, but energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where does it go?

Probably somewhere else in a different form...

What? Are you serious? I'm 100% sure we know what is and isn't life.

Oh really?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

Can you prove the world is not just an elaborate dream, without using your own perceptions? Or is all of history just a fever-dream induced by bad tacos and strong medication?

I have not personally encountered ghosts, or imagined I have. I would imagine even the most cynical and hardened nihilists doesn't hate humanity enough to hang around and move chairs to freak out random passerbys. If ghosts really exists, it would stand to reason that heroes and villians would be in a constant battle to affect the world, until apathy at the futility of it all eventually quieted them.

I prefer my spirits timeless, and without human limitations.

Gitzbitah wrote:

 poppa G wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 purplefood wrote:

So what are you saying?
You don't believe in ghosts but you do believe there is odd stuff that happens which science has yet to explain?
In that case what are people arguing about?

Depends on your definition of 'ghost'. Here's one to think about: science still can't explain fully what 'life' is (the oldest question next to 'why'? still really eludes us). Most current theories involve energy to some degree, but energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where does it go?

Probably somewhere else in a different form...

What? Are you serious? I'm 100% sure we know what is and isn't life.

Oh really?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

Can you prove the world is not just an elaborate dream, without using your own perceptions? Or is all of history just a fever-dream induced by bad tacos and strong medication?

I have not personally encountered ghosts, or imagined I have. I would imagine even the most cynical and hardened nihilists doesn't hate humanity enough to hang around and move chairs to freak out random passerbys. If ghosts really exists, it would stand to reason that heroes and villians would be in a constant battle to affect the world, until apathy at the futility of it all eventually quieted them.

I prefer my spirits timeless, and without human limitations.

I don't see how your question correlates to this. So help me figure it out. How does saying that this could be a taco induced dream prove that we still don't know what life is or isn't? I think you're trying to get at the whole "I think, therefore I am."

I've never had one.

I have my doubts that ghosts are real. It might be my motivation talking, but if they were, I would slash the feth out of them with my Kabar. Not Youmu though. Youmu is an okay ghost.

 Captain Fantastic wrote:
I've never had one.

I have my doubts that ghosts are real. It might be my motivation talking, but if they were, I would slash the feth out of them with my Kabar. Not Youmu though. Youmu is an okay ghost.

That is some pimpin' knife ware brah.
I don't know what they would do to a ghost though

 poppa G wrote:


I don't see how your question correlates to this. So help me figure it out. How does saying that this could be a taco induced dream prove that we still don't know what life is or isn't? I think you're trying to get at the whole "I think, therefore I am."

Hence the link I posted. There is a school of thought that says not only are we uncertain of what life is, but we also can be certain of nothing but that we think we are perceiving all that we are. Without using our senses, we can't prove the world around us exists- bringing up solipsism in a thread about the existence or lack thereof of ghosts seemed reasonable to me. I don't hold to that dogmatically, but I do believe our understanding of the universe is deeply flawed, and likely to remain that way.

10 years ago, no one had ever proven the existence of the Higgs-Boson particle.
100 years ago, nothing we made could leave Earth's orbit.
300 years ago, man could not fly.
A little over 500 years ago, everyone knew the world was round. 100 years before that, everyone knew that the Sun revolved around the Earth.

Even today, our definition of life is changing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_tube_worm survive by chemosynthesis without a digestive system. Indeed, trying to define life is nearly impossible. We don't even know if it has to be carbon based or not. Most definitions have an exception somewhere along the lines. I've never encountered a universal definition of life that holds true in every circumstance. If you have one or can find it, I will happily cede your certainty- until such time as science invalidates it, as it will inevitably disprove or modify all of our current knowledge.

 poppa G wrote:

What? Are you serious? I'm 100% sure we know what is and isn't life.

No, we really don't. Science has struggled for years to come up with a definition of 'life' (one reason some dictionaries can devote a whole page to differing definitions. MIrriam Webster has something like 20 different ones). What is that little 'something' that makes one thing alive an another dead? (and I know Jihadin and Frazz immediately thought '7.65 NATO', but that's not what I mean)

Structurally, biologically, chemically, a live body can be exactly the same as a dead one. Post mortem biological processes continue for quite some time, and the brain retains a small electric charge even after death.

 poppa G wrote:

I don't see how your question correlates to this. So help me figure it out. How does saying that this could be a taco induced dream prove that we still don't know what life is or isn't? I think you're trying to get at the whole "I think, therefore I am."

The point is that the only means you have for validating your existence, as well as the things you accept for fact are though your own perceptions, which are then critically analyzed in your own mind. If your perceptions are a lie, or your mind malfunctions, how do you validate that anything external to yourself (or even you) exist?

I mean, you see things, but what if sight is a lie? That would invalidate potentially anything you read, anything you see, anything I write. You could be in a coma right now, dreaming all of this. More importantly, I could be in a coma, dreaming you exist. You might not exist but as a fleeting thought in a fractured brain desperately attempting to keep itself together and invent a beautiful lie it can believe long enough to keep from breaking down altogether.

My point is, you don't 100% know jack, though you're probably 100% sure that you can trust your senses, because to open the door to any other possibility would be, well, pretty horrible.

Judging by my social life I'm pretty sure I died in 2011. So far I've found no evidence to disprove it.