Do you believe in ghosts or the paranormal?

[ajemas]

snip

Wow, I was going to reply to this thread but you pretty much summed up anything that I was going to say. Bravo, my good man.
Since I don't want to get in trouble for having a low content post, I recommend that you guys read this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html
For those of you who claim to have "felt a presence" in the room with you, now you know that whatever you were feeling is a documented physical effect.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Actually, I've heard that she can bring back people who die in her presence, but I've never heard of anyone doing that on their own.

But really, you should ask her, not me.

I call bullshit of the highest order, your honour.

CITATION NEEDED.

 

[ResonanceSD]

snip

All I'm asking for is a scenario which is testable, such that the test arrives at the same eventuality as your supposed supernatural claim. I'm not claiming that the paranormal exists. Read any of my posts if that confuses you.


If you can't test it, it's not real.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Edit: oh yeah and also webMD says that swollen lymph nodes often follow a cold. That's a pretty good explanation for the coughing. Also from what i can gather there are lymph nodes in your neck are the ones that grow, so that could explain shortness of breath.

The shortness of breath was in my chest, and the lymph nodes in my earlobes were the ones that grew. And, yeah, it could have just been a cold, but it was one that I wasn't recovering from at all and which, after a concentrated effort of will, quickly faded.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Also, and here's the exciting part "the universe" isn't a living thing. It's physics.


Let's be rational. For Science.

Alright, the universe isn't a living thing. But it's the least offensive term for whatever entity is influencing events. And there has to be something influencing events. Unless you're going to say that absolutely everything that ever has occurred is by complete chance?

That is hard to believe because....?
Someone flips a coin 100 times. They get heads everytime. What is the probability of that occurring rather than another combination? The same.
We perceive patterns in everything, even when there aren't any.

 

[infohippie]

Nope, I don't believe in it at all. Which is a shame, really - I wish stuff like that existed, because it'd be cool. Sadly, I believe in evidence and observation, and can't bring myself to indulge in wishful thinking.

 

[Burst6]

Heck its possible that or your force of will kicked in an overdrive mode for your immune system which cleared out the viruses causing the swelling. That's much more feasible than any paranormal explanation.

That's sort of what I'm saying. My will caused my body to cure itself. Also I wasn't really saying that that was paranormal, just that it was a difficult-to-explain anecdote which could have an extrascientific explanation.

Well there are two explanations i can think of.

1: coincidence. The same time you started thinking about it, it fixed itself.
2: stress. This is the only mental state i could find that affects immunity. Some studies showed that stress can make your immune system less effective. Maybe when you started to focus on it you calmed down more and your immune system sped up recovery a bit.

Either way, it's explainable.

Edit: oh yeah and also webMD says that swollen lymph nodes often follow a cold. That's a pretty good explanation for the coughing. Also from what i can gather there are lymph nodes in your neck are the ones that grow, so that could explain shortness of breath.

The shortness of breath was in my chest, and the lymph nodes in my earlobes were the ones that grew. And, yeah, it could have just been a cold, but it was one that I wasn't recovering from at all and which, after a concentrated effort of will, quickly faded.

Yeah shortness of breath is a symptom in colds, and explains the lymph nodes.

Also the person with the problem isn't a good judge of how well they are recovering. Could be that you were recovering all that time but you just couldn't feel it.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Actually, I've heard that she can bring back people who die in her presence, but I've never heard of anyone doing that on their own.

But really, you should ask her, not me.

I call bullshit of the highest order, your honour.

CITATION NEEDED.

Go fucking ask her for your citation, stop bothering me about it!

 

[ResonanceSD]

Actually, I've heard that she can bring back people who die in her presence, but I've never heard of anyone doing that on their own.

But really, you should ask her, not me.

I call bullshit of the highest order, your honour.

CITATION NEEDED.

Go fucking ask her for your citation, stop bothering me about it!

So you said something completely outlandish, referring to, if I'm not mistaken, your own mother.

And I'm the one who's got to go LOOKING FOR PROOF? Are you aware how this works? You say something wierd, you go prove it.

Otherwise, the BS flag will still be flying high.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Well there are two explanations i can think of.

1: coincidence. The same time you started thinking about it, it fixed itself.
2: stress. This is the only mental state i could find that affects immunity. Some studies showed that stress can make your immune system less effective. Maybe when you started to focus on it you calmed down more and your immune system sped up recovery a bit.

Either way, it's explainable.

I really don't think it's coincidence that I would suddenly and for no other apparent reason get better after willing myself healthy. As to the second, calming down was the exact opposite of what I was doing. I got really pissed off. If stress and emotion were the sources of the illness, why did I get better rather than worse?

 

[Julianking93]

I don't know what to believe.
I've seen some convincing stuff and some... really unconvincing stuff as well, so really I don't know what to believe.
I've had my own experiences with strange goings on but I can't instantly label is as "OMFGUGUISEGHOSTS!!!!" but I can't say it's nothing so basically.... I'unno.

Though, things like this, even if it's fake, make me pretty damn scared and question my ideals.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

So you said something completely outlandish, referring to, if I'm not mistaken, your own mother.

And I'm the one who's got to go LOOKING FOR PROOF? Are you aware how this works? You say something wierd, you go prove it.

Otherwise, the BS flag will still be flying high.

I said that I heard that she could do something completely outlandish.

If I gave you anything that resembled proof you would just say that I was making it up. If you want to learn something, find out about it yourself. It's not like it's at all difficult to ask someone something when you have their contact information. Here, I'll even give you her email address so that you don't have to go looking on her website for it: morgana@gv.net. Now stop pestering me.

 

[ResonanceSD]

So you said something completely outlandish, referring to, if I'm not mistaken, your own mother.

And I'm the one who's got to go LOOKING FOR PROOF? Are you aware how this works? You say something wierd, you go prove it.

Otherwise, the BS flag will still be flying high.

I said that I heard that she could do something completely outlandish.

If I gave you anything that resembled proof you would just say that I was making it up. If you want to learn something, find out about it yourself. It's not like it's at all difficult to ask someone something when you have their contact information. Here, I'll even give you her email address so that you don't have to go looking on her website for it: morgana@gv.net. Now stop pestering me.

Go to an ICU, find a person who's about to die, get your mother to Jesus them back to life. How hard can that actually be?

 

[Burst6]

Well there are two explanations i can think of.

1: coincidence. The same time you started thinking about it, it fixed itself.
2: stress. This is the only mental state i could find that affects immunity. Some studies showed that stress can make your immune system less effective. Maybe when you started to focus on it you calmed down more and your immune system sped up recovery a bit.

Either way, it's explainable.

I really don't think it's coincidence that I would suddenly and for no other apparent reason get better after willing myself healthy. As to the second, calming down was the exact opposite of what I was doing. I got really pissed off. If stress and emotion were the sources of the illness, why did I get better rather than worse?

Yeah i edited the post you just replied to too slowly. I already replied to the first one about the recovery.

And i probably shouldn't have used the stress example. Stress is a really hazy word, and could refer to a lot of things. The place where i read it from (a Harvard website) said that scientists have a hard time proving that stress does anything in humans. They only had a few results from mice.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

No, I think that what she does is make the body do what it's supposed to do but not actually doing. For example, she apparently can cure cancer.

*record scratch* what?

If she can do that, why doesn't she share her powers with the Jimmy Fund? It makes 0 to 0 logical sense to reserve that sort of thing to private customers!

Seems like the body should be able to take care of that, right?

Well, no, most cancer isn't like other diseases. I'm no doctor, but I'm fairly sure most cases aren't bacteria or virus related. It's mutation in cells causing uncontrolled division.

Amputation is another matter entirely, though I suppose that it's within the realm of possibility for her to reattach the limb if it's available. I thought that you meant completely regrowing a limb earlier. That would just be completely ridiculous.

and... and curing cancer is not?

Actually, I've heard that she can bring back people who die in her presence, but I've never heard of anyone doing that on their own.

*spit take* what?

Okay... my mother lies to me all the time. I am honestly baffled as to how you can believe this.

Okay, your responses were very entertaining. Thank you.

Cancer is the uncontrolled reproduction of cells, but I don't think it's unreasonable that the body could tell the cells to stop reproducing when they don't need to. Cancer can go into remission and stop causing damage, right? That's probably what she's making the body do.

Curing cancer isn't completely ridiculous. The body can recover from practically any non-genetic illness given the right tools and motivation.

I never said that I believed that she brings people back from the dead or cures cancer, all I'm saying is that I have heard that those feats are within her abilities and lie somewhere within the realm of possibility.

...And now I can't stop going to the beginning of your comment and laughing. You have made this entire conversation worthwhile.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Go to an ICU, find a person who's about to die, get your mother to Jesus them back to life. How hard can that actually be?

Lol, "Jesus them back to life"...

Even if that did happen, everyone would just assume that it was a hoax. It's nearly impossible to prove anything nowadays.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Go to an ICU, find a person who's about to die, get your mother to Jesus them back to life. How hard can that actually be?

Lol, "Jesus them back to life"...

Even if that did happen, everyone would just assume that it was a hoax. It's nearly impossible to prove anything nowadays.

So you're admitting that what you claim is impossible to prove?

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Also the person with the problem isn't a good judge of how well they are recovering. Could be that you were recovering all that time but you just couldn't feel it.

Who else would be a good judge of how well someone is recovering?? I had a bad cough and a tight chest, and it was commonly agreed that neither of those symptoms were improving at all. I wasn't recovering at all with any natural solutions my parents gave me.

 

[Aqua Trenoble]

Go to an ICU, find a person who's about to die, get your mother to Jesus them back to life. How hard can that actually be?

Lol, "Jesus them back to life"...

Even if that did happen, everyone would just assume that it was a hoax. It's nearly impossible to prove anything nowadays.

So you're admitting that what you claim is impossible to prove?

Yeah, I fucking said that twice already.