Eek! A spooky ghost!

[lasherman]

I'm a huge skeptic, but I do believe there are somethings out there we just simply don't understand yet. Not that it's magic or ghosts or anything, just maybe, hell, I dunno, a weird type of energy that we just can't properly detect yet.

I mostly agree with you. I hate it when people say stuff like "No, it's impossible", just because we haven't figured it out yet. As I said before, I don't believe in ghosts, but I think you're right about there being alot of stuff that we just can't explain.

 

[Zayren]

I was expecting some full-life consequences...

Anyway, no, I don't believe in ghosts. Why wouldn't there be billions of them everywhere if they existed? And if it's the whole, "Ghosts only happen when people have regrets" or whatever.. then there would still be millions of ghosts.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

There are somethings we can't explain that we tend to pin on the supernatural.

I tend to jump back and forth, but I'm gonna have to say No here. I would think the dead would have something better to do then just haunt us.

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

I don't believe in ghosts, because It's stupid to even consider it.

See on the flip side of that rather unexplanitory(spelling?) post I do believe it's possible for ghosts to exist because it would be stupid to not consider it.

We can't prove ghosts do exist but we also can't prove they don't.

I consider what you've said on par with it being impossible for there to be intelligent life out in the universe.

EDIT:

No I don't believe in ghosts. It's physically impossible for there to be ghosts.

I think the point here is that ghosts are not of a physical nature. So what you have said is true.
It does not however explain why you don't believe in them

 

[CloggedDonkey]

well, I believe in an un-seeable force that tries to interact with humans. mainly do to the fact I have had some experiences with them(ho look, there's a ghost kitty! mew mew!), but also I like to think humans are more then electricity and chemicals.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

I do, because I have seen the ghost of my grandfather during his funeral.

 

[HontooNoNeko]

Nope don't believe in ghosts/spirits there is no valid evidence provided to make me believe. I say "Valid evidence" because the stuff they try to pass as probable evidence is mostly bat shit crazy.

Electrons reject other electrons via a magnetic field thus why matter is solid because the electrons prevent matter from passing through other matter with other electrons. The argument I often hear is that ghosts use matter without electrons thus they can pass through other objects... really? Without electrons light would not reflect off a ghost. A ghost could not make sound and even electricity is affected by gravity so to say that a ghost is made of some electric current held together by electromagnetism is really hard to imagine.
Sorry about the rant.
Note: this is only relevant to why ghosts in this world have a low probability of existence. I have yet to find evidence they don't exist at all nor do I think I ever will.

P.S. oh and I love those shows that try to prove ghosts so funny to watch the people freak at nothing and the ending is always predictable "Well we didn't seem to find anything today but next time I'm sure we will!"

 

[Erana]

No I don't believe in ghosts. It's physically impossible for there to be ghosts.

Prove it.

The reason I'm hesitant to discount the zombie goasts is because the universe is so confusing, and if you've been reading XKCD, you should know that we are merely three dimensional beings in a >3 dimensional existence.
Blind denial is the equal of blind acceptance, in my opinion.

 

[meepop]

I'm open to the concept, but until there is conclusive proof or I see one myself, I can't say for certain that I believe in them. I also can't say I don't believe in them.

Agreed; this is exactly how I think. I'm Christian/Catholic, and while there's the whole Heaven thing, some humans may have some VERY strong want to stay on earth. Unfinished buisness or whatever...I do not know if God has a hand in it (don't flame me I'm not saying God has anything to do with it), but if humans can make themselves fail a test if they've been studying for a month if their sub-conscious thinks they can't...Then ghosts have a possibility of being real. Do I believe they're malevolent? No. I believe they have something they wanted to do down here totally peaceful...And that some day they'll go away.

But I do NOT believe those dumb haunted shows on TV, because they have no real proof except shaky footage. I know this is a bit off-topic, but it has the same base: all reality shows like Survivor are fake, there's no possible way that every new season SOMEONE is filming it when the camera's moving. And besides, why would a show be run that lets people die!? Their loved ones would be pissed. I'm getting off-topic so lemme give a thesis statement to show my opinion of whether or not I think ghosts are real: Yes, I think ghosts are real, but not in a way to hurt someone or even just to scare people, they just want to stay on Earth to live out some dream only they themselves know...

 

[lasherman]

I dontcare.

Doesn't affect me, no way no how.

I dontcare.

Gee, thanks for that very insightful and relevant post.

Gee, thanks for your sarcasm.

I was attempting to make the point that whether i believe in something or not is, in the end, irrelevant unless it directly affects me.

So yes, my post was very insightful and relevant, and yes, you're welcome.

Well, sorry for not making a thread about a topic that directly affects you personally, but if you don't have anything relevant to say (and no, saying that "it doesn't matter whether I believe it or not" is not relevant or insightful), don't bother posting. I was asking people's opinions on the subject, so if you have no opinion, nobody is forcing you to post.

 

[The Iconnorclast]

I keep my mind open to the possibility, anything is possible. I've seen shows like SyFy's Ghost Hunters and I agree those shows are stupid (South Parks parody of Ghost Hunters was awesome though), but that doesn't mean that ghosts don't exist, just that some people will watch anything.

 

[Rawker]

I don't believe in the discovery channel "douchebag running around attack a ghost with a machete" ghost, but I do believe there is something more than just chemicals in the brain that compose who we are, and that if factor X is unaware it is dead/has unfinished buisness that we can still occupy this earth.

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

No I don't believe in ghosts. It's physically impossible for there to be ghosts.

Prove it.

The reason I'm hesitant to discount the zombie goasts is because the universe is so confusing, and if you've been reading XKCD, you should know that we are merely three dimensional beings in a >3 dimensional existence.
Blind denial is the equal of blind acceptance, in my opinion.

Hear hear.

We are bound by our own perceptions. Just because we can't prove something does exist that does not prove it doesn't exist.

Believe it or not I'm not a religious person

 

[ethaninja]

I dontcare.

Doesn't affect me, no way no how.

I dontcare.

I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
(And someone sees you lying in feotel in a corner)

I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
*clutches empty bottle of pills and begins to twitch*

Looool =D

 

[Grayjack]

I actually do. I've never had an encounter, but I feel as though they do exist.

 

[Mythbhavd]

I want to know why they always whisper on these shows? I mean, how do they know that the "ghost" isn't standing right there listening to them whisper?

 

[King of the Sandbox]

whether i believe in something or not is, in the end, irrelevant unless it directly affects me.


Understand?

Calm down kids, I think this is a misunderstanding.

I think she means ghosts aren't real until you experience one?

/shrugs.

 

[man-man]

I'm a huge skeptic, but I do believe there are somethings out there we just simply don't understand yet. Not that it's magic or ghosts or anything, just maybe, hell, I dunno, a weird type of energy that we just can't properly detect yet.

You're not very good at scepticism if you believe in "something out there that we can't detect yet". The sceptical response would be to hold judgement until evidence exists; to not believe in things, but not pronounce certainty in their non-existence either.

Although, even if you can't claim certainty, the default position (in the absence of evidence) has to be to not believe in a thing, otherwise you end up believing in every crazy idea you come across and/or every crazy idea you come across that manages to sound vaguely sensible, possibly without a shred of evidence.

I'd agree that there exist things we don't yet understand, but I see it as more a matter of time - eventually we'll progress to understanding them, and I expect it to happen via some variety of science. I also don't see any sense in baseless speculation about what those, as yet not understood, things might be. "Weird energy" in particular, strikes me as an unlikely one. Energy being something rather different from the crackly blue stuff you see in movies and games (pro-tip: replace the idea of "energy" with "capacity to do work" in any sentence, and if it doesn't make sense any more then it's probably abusing the term)

In response to the question, no I don't believe in ghosts - I haven't seen any good evidence why I should do so. On the converse, there is good evidence that the human brain is the origin of our consciousness, and hence that brain death implies the end of that consciousness. That being the case, the very idea of a ghost is in fairly direct contradiction with the evidence.

Ghosts, as a concept, also have the thorny issue of what exactly they're made of; there's no known material that would pass through the physical world in the way ghosts are generally depicted as doing, and postulating a whole new kind of matter as part of an unproven, possibly unprovable, theory about disembodied consciousness is a leap too far.