Regarding scientific "proof" and the paranormal?

Question

Can science prove that people who claim to experience the paranormal aren't just making stuff up to make their boring lives more interesting? Can science prove that they aren't just believing in this stuff because it makes them feel better, that they know something educated successful people who have made something of their lives don't know?

I thought I heard a noise?...... Yup I did!.... It was the sound of wind between some people's ears.

Answer 1

Do not equate education and success  with disbelief in an afterlife.   I find that highly insulting.   My life definitely is not boring either, yet still I believe.    I guess that blows your theory right out of the water, you have no scientific proof for your suppositions.

Answer 2

Your question is obviously a very poor attempt at proving a point.  It however was not as well thought out as you may have liked.

All you need do is look at the two definitions for each term and you will get the answer you require, if indeed you did want an answer and not just poke fun at people with different views to yourself.  

The thing is most SERIOUS paranormal investigators such as myself aim to PROVE things by DEBUNKING the events using logic and to some extent science

Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning knowledge) is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding of how the physical world works. Through controlled methods, science uses observable "physical" evidence of natural phenomena to collect data, and analyzes this information to explain what and how things work. Such methods include experimentation that tries to simulate "natural phenomena" under controlled conditions and thought experiments. Knowledge in science is gained through research.

NOW THE DEFINITION FOR PARANORMAL

Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe unusual phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation.[1] In parapsychology, it is used to describe the potentially psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings.

As you can see one definition cancels out the other.  In other words if a phenomena can not be proven scientifically, it is loosely termed paranormal because of the lack of Scientific explanation.

Maybe a structured, scientific approach to asking the question would have made the question easier to answer

Answer 3

It is a popular misconception that scientists prove anything.  In fact, the scientific method involves disproving positive claims.

The classic example is Galileo's test of gravity.  It was a common belief that heavy objects fall faster than light-weight ones.  That was the positive claim that he had to disprove.  He was able to disprove it experimentally just by dropping objects of different weights.  He then proposed an alternative, that different-weight objects fall at the same speed.  He tested his theory and was unable to disprove it.  He could never prove it absolutely without dropping every object in the world, but the accumulation of evidence was sufficient to support the claim that his theory is universally applicable.  

Another item is that you cannot prove a negative.  How do you prove something does not exist without examining every corner of the universe?  It is a common sophist ploy to make someone seem wrong by asking him to prove a negative.  It is an insult against reason and an insult to your reader to ask for such a thing.  

That said, it is foolish to ask science to prove anything.  Science then accepts the most likely and simplest explanation of things.  When faced with a choice between ghosts, for which there no objective evidence, and hallucinations and imagination, for which there is a great deal of objective evidence, scientists generally chose the explanation that is supported by objective evidence.

Your question is an insult to anyone who actually thinks about science, reason, or metaphysics.

Answer 4

yes! you can get an emf meter (about $27) and once it gets to a certain point it means that its something other that say, the tv, also you can put out a voice recorder and sometimes catch voices on the recording, there are also evp (electromagnetic voice phenomina) software that can help you identify voices. also you can sometimes get pictures with just a regular old camera.

Answer 5

You can't prove or, in some cases, disprove the supernatural so it depends on what you want to believe in.  It's stupid how you people say that since science hasn't expressly disproved the paranormal (and in many many cases it has) then that makes it true.  It hasn't been proven either.

Answer 6

http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/ted_sher...

Answer 7

I think a lot of them really believe this paranormal stuff no matter how ridiculous it may seem to anybody else when logically examined.

The poster above me is rather angry and rude, I think you may have touched a nerve.

Answer 8

You shouldn't judge another until you've walked a mile in his moccasins, my brother.  

Answer 9

ROFL!!  Funny :)

Nope, science can't prove that either :)

Answer 10

All the proof you need is that since people once thought the earth was flat which was wrong it follows that science must be wrong for not finding any evidence of ghosties.

Simple logic.

Approved for use by simple people.