The great minds of skeptics

Underwear? I've been going commando all day.

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Now I'm starting to wonder if you're homosexual...

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j/k

I think this conversation is going nowhere... it's 4:15 AM, haven't slept yet... I think it's a good idea for me to go asleep...

I think I'm quitting this conversation, this leads to nothing, just like the other 5000 conversations I've had that look like this one

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This is a bit of a tangent, but I have to ask why this is at all relevant. A psychosomatic problem simply means that both the mind and body are involved. There's nothing paranormal or fantastic about this--the brain is part of the body, so it's not a surprise that your attitude and thoughts can affect your own health. When your attitude changes, your brain changes, and your brain is a physical thing. There's nothing mysterious about an observably physical change in the body causing real, beneficial results. It's about as paranormal as tylenol working.

 

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I think I'm quitting this conversation, this leads to nothing, just like the other 5000 conversations I've had that look like this one

I has lead to something. You've achieved the entertainment and attention you so sorely needed. That is your gain, however superfluous.

If you someday decide to have an intelligent conversation, it most likely won't end up like the other 5000.

Moving out of your parents basement might also help.

 

SkinWalker,

I have debated many times with paranormal enthusiasts (psi powers, ufo's...). There are generally three groups that I have identified:

1) Pure hoaxers
2) People who do believe, and indeed want to believe
3) People who are afraid and want help

Group 1 can be dismissed.

Group 2 are the majority, and break down into two subgroups:

a) Those who are desperate for supernatural mystery in their lives and will
embrace almost any claim, with no scientific proof.

b) The mentally unsound (a small minority).

Group 3 are on the edge of rationality and may just need a little shove. They've experienced something, under possibly extraordinary circumstances, but don't have the critical reasoning tools to clarify the situation.

Most people are not scientifically minded. They do not know how to critically judge evidence or a lack thereof. This takes a willingness and some training (not necessarily formal training either). They do not know what constitutes actual scientific proof and don't want to (remember - they want to believe!). Demanding rigorous, peer-reviewed, experimentally verified proof is like asking a child to wait up for Santa and give him the third degree (if he shows up - hehe!). To this group science is either boring or inaccessible. They are not after the truth. They are after a sense of mystery and excitement in the world that the wonders of science fail to provide for them.

Therefore, anyone who gets too upset with them is not using their critical reasoning skills to puzzle out their motivations. The pseudoscientists of the world will never be anything but an entertainment for themselves and other "believers". The world runs on science. We all know it. So relax.

 

Ha.. did I come across as "tense?" Sorry... didn't mean to do that. I just always recognize that there are a lot of people that search forums such as these for information and these types of people mightn't have made their minds up entirely one way or the other... I think it's good that they see all sides of the arguement when it comes to psuedoscience.

Which is why, by the way, I like your post. Well done.

You might also be interested in what I've written regarding my thoughts on belief in this thread: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?p=775341#post775341

 

SkinWalker,

Your link was almost spot on in my opinion! My only comment is that, while religious feelings and beliefs are a feature of the hardwired psychology of the brain, they have, in my opinion, very little positive about them. People talk about the good that religions represent. All I see, throughout history, is a chronicle of repression of ideas, and cruelty. Religions advocate the very thinking that causes so many worldwide humanitarian catastrophies - blind belief in the correctness of your views, no matter what the cost. Religion is ignorance taken to a fine-art level.

Well, that was a rant. Sorry.

 

I rather think that religion, as well as the belief in the paranormal that we see discussed in sub-forums such as this one, are but single side-effects of the human belief engine in general.

The only way to counter these sorts of side effects is to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills within the individual. That's not to say that all-things-spiritual must be abandoned, but certainly the superstitious nature of religion and the fantastic qualities of "Psi powers" are to be discarded.

Without that engine of belief, it's my hypothesis that humanity wouldn't have advanced technologically or emerged as complex societies.

 

You could be right. It sounds reasonable. Seems an aufully high price for advancement though.

 

This thread has everything, the realisation of unshiftable beliefs, the person who attempts to call the others bluff with talk of money and experiments that theyd never go through with in a million years, the slavish empiricalism, the really bad amateur psychology, even james randi showed up! this thread is complete <3

I might save this thread to my hard-drive so i may never have to read a pseudoscience thread again.

 

You forgot to mention my lack of drawers.

 

There is a good reason why there are skeptics.....too many people make too many claims they can't support....little wonder we have skeptics.

I don't have any doubt about the para realms but to expect anything but skepticism would be a wrong thing to expect yes? When it is proved conclusively in a way that skeptics are convinced then there will be no more skeptics...end of story........IMO

 

There is only one type of person that moans about skeptics. Someone who stupidly thinks that they are NOT one.

ALL people are skeptics of something - otherwise we would all believe EVERYTHING - and I bet you for one do NOT. Can you tell me that you aren't a skeptic of something? How about people who see six-foot rabbits? Do you nod every time? Where do you draw the line.

Do you surround yourself with eager and gullible unskeptical types who just nod at your every suggestion? If NOT - then give your thanks to skeptics for at least encouraging you get you ideas in some discernible order - other wise you wouldn't even pay lip-service to science.

Anything would go, whatever.

I once was told by a friend that modern science is too 'arrogant' in its claims. When I suggested that science has helped us understand such things as aerodynamics and propulsion - she said it no more than a rigid 'belief system' like shamanism (for example)or any other set of truths. I drew attention (arrogantly of course) to the fact that we were sitting on an aeroplane at the time. As far as demonstrations go - give me one shamen who can, without fail, put a hundred people and tonnes of metal in the air.

Every person - every single breathing waking minute is testing their ESP along with their SP. The fact is, SP works and ESP is just a poor rumour. The reason we have SP is because ESP wasn't possible. My phone is a million times more reliable than your ESP at contacting people in distant places. Put THAT to the test. See who wins every time.

I don't believe things cos they sound odd or impossible - I don't believe things that have no evidence.

You probably believe in ghosts too. Especially one's that died with 'unfinished business'.

Yeah I know this is an old thread, but it's errors still stand.

 

I predict, using my clairvoyance, that he will not rise to this challenge.