A friend and I are arguing over ghosts.
I think it’s akin to astrology, homeopathy and palm reading. He says there’s “convincing “ evidence for its existence. He also took up company time to make a meme to illustrate our relative positions. (See image)
(To be fair, I’m also on the clock right now)
What do you think?
The bar for “convincing” is very low when you want to believe.
Dude just thinks he’s special. There would be ANY evidence by now. The superiority of the meme is laughable. Your friend is a fool.
From my perspective, ghosts are basically the result of…
- Delirium / psychosis or similar mental illness.
- Attention seeking.
- People attempting to explain something they saw/heard/experienced but don’t understand and aren’t open minded or curious enough to explore real answers to.
- Infrasound
ghosts are like religion: can neither be proven nor disprofen. what do you even consider a ghost? i do faintly believe in spirits:
when i am sitting at the grave of my grandfather, it does feel as he is around somehow. is that because i miss him and wish he is still with us? likely…
a friend of mine recently lost her father. they are both accomplished mountaineers. on a solo tour, she told me, she heared her father’s voice reminding her to be careful - while not paying attention during a dangerous passage. was it her father reaching out? was it her subconsciousness taking the persona of the father? we will never know…
in the end it doesn’t matter in the slightest, what these feelings of ghosts or spirits really are. if our ancestors keep watching out for us, that is great. if our subconsciousness keeps watching out for us, while taking on different personas, that is great. life goes on the same - even if it all was just imagination.
The second example kind of feels like the Third Man Factor.
Isn’t it irrational to believe in things that cannot be proven or disproven?
If you ever watch the video of Karl Sagan describing what the fourth dimension is, that is a slight possibility for explaining poltergeist ghosts, possibly even alien abductions.
Ghosts are fun to think about and make good stories, but there’s never been one bit of reliable evidence. So no it’s not reasonable to believe in something that isn’t real.
There is no reliable scientific proof. Thread/post end.
Nope. All “evidence” is fake. For example pretty much all UFO vids disappeared once 4k cameras got invented
If you’re willing to extend belief beyond what can be proven through science, sure.
What do I think?
I think anyone who claims to know and understand every aspect of the world as it truly is resides at the top of Mt. Stupid on the Dunning-Kruger graph (yes, I know it’s a disproved theory, but it’s still a useful descriptor of the way some people behave).
I also think anyone who believes in phenomena with little to know evidence can never actually end up on the right side of the bell curve meme (a curve that is also the result of faulty science, but still illustrative of some humans’ experiences).
I also think that terms like “ghost” or “magic” or “miracle” have so many connotations and interpretations, that it’s easy for miscommunication to happen if people don’t spell out exactly what they mean when talking about them.
I think ghosts are real in the sense that I believe people experience things they can’t explain, and so resort to blaming invisible sentiences, and I believe those experiences are real; I have many doubts over their explanations of those experiences.
I also think that anyone who enters into a discussion holding my stance, but framing it as “ghosts are real,” is looking more to start an argument than have an actual meaningful discussion.
I think ghosts are real in the sense that I believe people experience things they can’t explain, and so resort to blaming invisible sentiences, and I believe those experiences are real;
So my ex wife left me because she’s a ghost. Got it. /s
2 of 5 Americans believe in ghosts.
2 of 5 Amercians still support Donald Trump.
See this Venn diagram
You could ask him where he sees himself on that chart and what evidence he has that it’s not on the left side?
We have countless reports but no actual confirmed evidence. Nothing that constitutes proof.
You also have to wonder, where are all the billions of ghosts, both people and animals? We’d be seeing them everywhere.
Ghost sharks, they could have been anywhere when they were alive.
Given that sharks are older than trees, and the ocean levels were much higher for millennia, you’d certainly expect to see shark ghosts swimming along 30 feet in the air.
Not to mention dinosaur ghosts. Those bastards were here for millions of years. I’d expect the odd Ankylosaurus or Triceratops sighting.
Can a reasonable person believe regardless of evidence in ghosts, in deities and gods, in folklore, in aliens, in superstition, in the importance of themselves, in their culture or nation, in their position in society and their gender roles, in mums cooking being better, in bad luck treating them unfairly, in the importance of their habits and rituals, in sticking to how they’ve always done it, in any number of irrational things that they hold close to heart?
I’d say apparently they can. People are not logic processors. People are people.
Sort of all depends on what is meant by a “reasonable” person.
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you cannot be indoctrinated in any religion without believing in ghosts.
The closest thing I have seen that may explain ghost encounters is that many ghost sightings that cannot be explained from physical things tend to be in places with a stronger magnetic field, and there is evidence that a small number of people are extremely sensitive to magnetic fields and can be affected by strong fields by seeing or hearing things that aren’t there, so it is possible that many ghost encounters are just people overly sensitive to magnetic fields hallucinating.
then every MRI machine would be haunted
places with a stronger magnetic field, and there is evidence that a small number of people are extremely sensitive to magnetic fields and can be affected by strong fields by seeing or hearing things that aren’t there, so it is possible that many ghost encounters are just people overly sensitive to magnetic fields hallucinating.
This is why everyone sees ghosts while getting an MRI.
If your friend is that disrespectful to Hitchens’ memory, but also believes in ghosts, aren’t they asking for a haunting 😉
Do they also think his positions on religion represent the middle of the curve?
