Poll: Are ouija boards dangerous?

[Hugga_Bear]

Yes.
If you drop it on your toe, or if someone has a highly contagious, transmitted by touch disease.

Ouija boards don't do anything, sorry but they don't.
Or at least, they likely don't.

No evidence for it, extremely simple explanations for why it seems to and it's easily tested too. Set it up with the intention of faking the results, watch as it works exactly the same as if it was done professionally. Oh. Wait.

Seriously, they're not dangerous, the logic of them being dangerous fails on just about every level, even if you believe in spirits or what have you.

 

[Kune35]

110 people are trying to fark with you.

 

[The 11th Plauge]

only if you hit someone hard enough with one....

 

[00slash00]

its very dangerous, the board has sharp corners

 

[Kathinka]

appearently, they are! they make 13.3% of all people go batshit idiotic over something completely bs.

 

[MoriyaMug]

But what happens when you feel or experience an external, invisible force or energy that you can't logically explain? You've taken all variables into account, you're both physically and mentally healthy, thoroughly investigated your environment, and come up with diddly-squat. Now what?

It simply indicates that you haven't the means at your disposal to accurately record and measure. Alternately, in the case of such "heebie-jeebies" as discussed in the topic at hand, odds are good that it is simply the mind playing tricks on itself. The power of suggestion also plays a large role.

Put simply, the lack of a current scientific explanation doesn't mean there isn't one to be had.

I would love to continue this discussion (since it is that, and not simply mud-slinging), but I have errands to run. Another time?

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Yes, there is terrible, terrible danger of splinters if you have a wooden one and don't keep it sanded and sealed.

 

[DracoSuave]

Yes they can be dangerous. I'm a Christian, and I found out the hard way that messing with stuff like Ouija boards can invite unwanted guest into your home.

Potheads scouring for food that forgot what they were doing and wanted to play with the Ouija board?

DUDE I like totally have killer munchies and I like asked the board and it said KLR which is like killer so I asked it if it meant munchies and it went PXL which means that it's too hungry to come up with real words so I was like DUDE

 

[Valdus]

I believe in ghosts but I don't believe that you can contact them through those boards. For one if a ghost doesn't want to make it's presence known normally why does a board help? If it does then surely throwing shit around in plain sight is a much better way.

 

[snappydog]

Physically, they can do absolutely nothing short of you deliberately picking it up and bludgeoning the nearest small animal. It would have to be small, on account of the fact that no, it's not dangerous at all.

As far as the spiritual side goes, the way the Ouija board works is thanks to something called the ideomotor effect. It can only spell out things that you already know, and is as such no threat whatsoever.

 

[mandaforever]

They're dangerous in that they make completely misguided and ignorant people believe in things that aren't really there. The very fact that some people actually answered yes shows the danger to intelligence that these things are a part of.

The supernatural, religion, crazy metaphysics, horoscopes, etc. They're all contributing to the dumbification (it will be a word) of humanity. Anyone who accepts something as the truth without there being any physical evidence at all is not in any way shape or form using intelligence. The only "evidence" out there supporting stuff like this is purely anecdotal and coincidental. No causation has ever been shown.

So physically dangerous? No. Danger to intelligence and therefore society as a whole, I guess.

Well done. I could have not said it better.

I actually thin k what you said was a little snobby. I don't think humans have all the answers, nor do we have the physical or mental capacities to do so. There is a surprising amount of science and pseudo-science that we have not even touched on, nor can we ever touch on. Saying we can only believe what we see is a very typical thing for a person to say when they can't think outside the box, which is what a lot of science is all about.

Saying that people who believe in things they can't see are ALL ignorant and ALL unintelligent is a broad statement, a very untrue one at that. How are we ever going to discover anything new without looking at possibilities? I believe people like you are holding us back as a society.

Then again, I'm not religious or superstitious, so I'm not really the best person to go to. But my point still stands.

No, that's not what science is. Science is about finding truth, you're only correct in the sense that it only lets you postulate things that you can actually prove. So, no, you can't just make shit up, and you certainly can't start with a conclusion and then try to find as much evidence that is consistent with it. Observed and tested, not about weather or not you can see something.

What it is, is a classic logical fallacy, one big argument from ignorance. "This stuff is like this, well how else can you explain it!? Therefore, it must be spirits!" "Lightning bolts in the sky!? That guy said it was Zeus, and well, I don't have a better explanation, so it must be Zeus!" That's not thinking outside the box, it's certainly not looking for any possibilities, it's not even thinking within reason - It is just completely asinine... It is not unfair to have a bias towards truth, not unfair to have a bias towards things that are scientifically demonstrable, nor is it unfair to discriminate against bat-shit crazy ideas that happen to be popular with somebody.

that all sounds nice, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what I said, and the parts that do are slightly skewed. What I am saying is that you cannot rule out the possibilities of supernatural beings (although the possibility is slim, it's still there). Humans think they know everything, we are a very ego-centric species. There is so much out there that we've never tested, never bothered to look into, or we have and made errors without knowing, or didn't experiment correctly, simply due to the fact that we're human beings and are imperfect creatures. I'm not talking about "fairys" or anything, I'm talking about ghosts, aliens, the kind of things people talk about seeing and experiencing all the time. What if one of them really did see something supernatural? Just because you can't test it doesn't mean it's not there.

THAT's what I was saying

 

[Rainforce]

"That depends on how much power you give it."

take it as you like, but this can be interpreted as "if you throw it hard enough" or "if you believe in it and act accordingly".

Still, its dangerousness is ALL UP TO YOU, so.

 

[Makon]

Is a Ouija Board dangerous? Yes. If you jam the marker in your eye, stick it up your nose and cut off breathing, or swallow it in general.

Mind you, this is also coming from a guy who does believe in supernatural 'elements' (I'm not gonna bother going into details, just leads to flame wars).

 

[mandaforever]

They're dangerous in that they make completely misguided and ignorant people believe in things that aren't really there. The very fact that some people actually answered yes shows the danger to intelligence that these things are a part of.

The supernatural, religion, crazy metaphysics, horoscopes, etc. They're all contributing to the dumbification (it will be a word) of humanity. Anyone who accepts something as the truth without there being any physical evidence at all is not in any way shape or form using intelligence. The only "evidence" out there supporting stuff like this is purely anecdotal and coincidental. No causation has ever been shown.

So physically dangerous? No. Danger to intelligence and therefore society as a whole, I guess.

Well done. I could have not said it better.

I actually thin k what you said was a little snobby. I don't think humans have all the answers, nor do we have the physical or mental capacities to do so. There is a surprising amount of science and pseudo-science that we have not even touched on, nor can we ever touch on. Saying we can only believe what we see is a very typical thing for a person to say when they can't think outside the box, which is what a lot of science is all about.

Saying that people who believe in things they can't see are ALL ignorant and ALL unintelligent is a broad statement, a very untrue one at that. How are we ever going to discover anything new without looking at possibilities? I believe people like you are holding us back as a society.

Then again, I'm not religious or superstitious, so I'm not really the best person to go to. But my point still stands.

No, that's not what science is. Science is about finding truth, you're only correct in the sense that it only lets you postulate things that you can actually prove. So, no, you can't just make shit up, and you certainly can't start with a conclusion and then try to find as much evidence that is consistent with it. Observed and tested, not about weather or not you can see something.

What it is, is a classic logical fallacy, one big argument from ignorance. "This stuff is like this, well how else can you explain it!? Therefore, it must be spirits!" "Lightning bolts in the sky!? That guy said it was Zeus, and well, I don't have a better explanation, so it must be Zeus!" That's not thinking outside the box, it's certainly not looking for any possibilities, it's not even thinking within reason - It is just completely asinine... It is not unfair to have a bias towards truth, not unfair to have a bias towards things that are scientifically demonstrable, nor is it unfair to discriminate against bat-shit crazy ideas that happen to be popular with somebody.

that all sounds nice, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what I said, and the parts that do are slightly skewed. What I am saying is that you cannot rule out the possibilities of supernatural beings (although the possibility is slim, it's still there). Humans think they know everything, we are a very ego-centric species. There is so much out there that we've never tested, never bothered to look into, or we have and made errors without knowing, or didn't experiment correctly, simply due to the fact that we're human beings and are imperfect creatures. I'm not talking about "fairys" or anything, I'm talking about ghosts, aliens, the kind of things people talk about seeing and experiencing all the time. What if one of them really did see something supernatural? Just because you can't test it doesn't mean it's not there.

THAT's what I was saying

Just to add, I've had quite a few "supernatural" experiences, but I choose not to believe in ghosts, first because it is improbable according to the laws of nature (not impossible)

But what if I DID experience something?

Also, I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not an ignorant person, and this is not an ignorant point, so please stop saying that.

 

[jpoon]

They are simply a board with text on them. It's ideomotor movement, nothing more nothing less.

Spoiler

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG4wTZuT3wM&feature=related[/link]

 

[erto101]

It is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc... that should do it...

 

[Rainforce]

It is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc... that should do it...

so it IS cursed....D:

 

[jpoon]

Now that I think about it these things actually could be quite dangerous...If someone were to ninja star that huge sucker at your face, the damn thing could proberly kill you!

 

[Extravagance]

I hate to break it to you, but no. They were created as a word game by the same guys who made Monopoly. The Parker company. All you get out of it is what you put it. No ghosts, no spooky shite. It's a 'palour' game for slightly drunk gulible idiots. If anything happens, you made it happen pretty much.

 

[kahlzun]

They're just as dangerous as anything else copyrighted by Matel.