Any thoughts on a proceedure that would prove or disprove the existance of spirits (ghosts)?

Question

I thought I might try to change this into a scientific discussion for a change.

Any ideas? I wont hound you to follow the scientific proceedure, but it has to be something that would eliminate any doubt about the existance, or lack, of spirits.

Answer 1

Sure, it's really simple?

Are ghosts real?

No.

There you go.  There's your procedure.

Answer 2

It's not exhaustive, but we could just assume that something doesn't exist until evidence of *any* reliable sort proves the contrary.  Then, once we can verify that something exists we can tackle the problem of what causes it, what the mechanism is, etc.

This approach has worked for just about everything out there.

Answer 3

Who cares?

Answer 4

Have an experience with them and you'd have no doubt. They're out there, it's all around you. Most people just don't believe and put off the subtle feel of a spirit as something else.

Answer 5

The thing is spirits are real because I have seen them.

I would prove they are real. (some how)

But just say for instance you proved they wern't real there would be no religion because God is ment to be a spirit and there would be proof that spirits don't exsist.

Answer 6

The reason people still believe in ghosts is because there is no scientific basis behind it to prove or disprove.  So if the top scientists in the world don't have an idea for an experiment, I don't think you'll find the answer in Yahoo! Answers.  Plus, it's a lot harder to prove something *doesn't* exist than if it does, so since they don't exist (personal opinion... I suppose...), that's why its much harder to prove than if they really did.

Answer 7

Wow really disapointing answers. I dont belive in ghosts but I know that any serious science based answer would include the fact that you dont already know the answer.

When i was much younger I was curious about all the weird stuff like esp ,bigfoot, all that stuff. And one of the most disbelived "myths" was the Kraken or Giant squid. Opps! guess that one turned out to be real. Now we have film footage and corpses to prove thier existance.

It is correct to say that it is impossible to prove a negative. The chief reaon being that science has been wrong so many times. While I agree, I dont believe in ghosts... Get off YOUR highhorse and answer the question.

Current thought is that (If is were real) Ghosts and spirits seem to have a relationship with energy. Either electromagnetic or Heat. Paranormal societies Like TAPS, a show on the sci-fi channel use EMF and temprature meters. While I like those guys and believe them sincere in their own belief , I think the methods they use are flawed.

Fleeting images of shadows or unexplained noices are not going to explain paranoraml phenomenon, but frequently demonstrates a humans ability to find or attempt to find patterns in a sea of data.

Answer 8

There is no such thing as a Ghost!

Answer 9

Great question.  I think that paranormal can be explained by science.  I just think that we don't have the instrumentation to test for it.  There are many examples like radiation, radio waves, and even electricity.  People saw something then tested it to death until they got it. I guess nothing "really" exists until science can poke its finger at it and dissect it.  The first step is to take away the "giggle factor" and take a seriously  good look at what is going on.  How can so many people have the same things happen and there not be something there.  Maybe psychics just pick up things that others miss and their brain puts it together better than others.  Maybe ghosts are just one of those 10  or more dimensions  the physicists are talking about getting to close to ours.  First you have to be looking for something before you can find it.  Right now the only people looking aren't really applying the scientific method. What the heck is science waiting for?

By the way the Kraken  lives not far from here, its in Samish bay, WA But thats another story!

Answer 10

To a Scientist the concept of ghosts is ridiculous.I'm not sure you could get any to devise a test.Any serious Scientist or layman for that matter,knows it's silliness.Look at psychics for example.Scientists have shown in test after test.They can not do what they say they can.Still you have people who believe in them.Depend on them in fact.People believe in all sorts of foolishness.If you can't prove to them dragons and vampires don't exist good luck with ghosts.I think maybe,you could convince a teenager not to be superstitious.If you reach adulthood and still believe that nonsense.It's a hopeless cause.

Edit.Giant squid were always known to exist.What was doubted was that they attacked ships and people.Those Taps people know ghosts are nonsense.They also know their audience is mostly kids looking for a scare.It's all about the bucks not science,Alex