What does it take to move this?

Question

Psiexploration, perhaps you don't know me well enough to understand my reason for being here. People come here expecting a scientific answer to questions. This topic being here reinforces their (and your) idea that there is anything scientific about it. I am here, and some others, because we want less informed people to get that message. It should be kicked out of colleges, too.

Answer 1

I see.  So if you can't prove it with science then it ain't so.  

Sheesh!  All the wasted years!  Thank you so much for opening my eyes.

Answer 2

I wouldn't mind seeing it in Social Science.Under Anthropology.It's the people that believe these things that interest me.How does superstition maintain it's hold on us?Without the slightest bit of proof or even decent evidence.People will believe anything that interests them.Those of us who doubt,well,we're closed minded.We can't prove vampires don't exist.So we must be open to the possibility.It's,crazy but I like to hear what they have to say.Even if what I have to say,bothers them.

Answer 3

extra ordinary topics!

Answer 4

There are many people who claim they have knowledge of this subject who are acting purely on instinct or have some other unscientific/unprovable motivation.  Because there are so many of these people around, I understand that this category tends to be cluttered up with information that I would call anecdotal at best and junk science at worst.

Just because there are people who are ignorant of the subject matter does not mean that there is not any true science occuring in the field.  The true scientists, need a forum to discuss the methods they use and to educate those who don't understand the issues, what it means to study these topics using scientific techniques.

We're never going to stop people from asking if their dead relatives can see them having s*x, but true researchers in the field (whether they are researching using electrical instrumentation or doing conciousness research) are not telling fairy tales, and so, they do not belong in mythology.

It makes sense to keep Parapsychology and the Paranormal together.  Many of the experiments done by Parapsychologists reflect the same methods used in Psychology experiments.  Ghost hunters work with a different set of tools, and it is closer to physics than to Psychology.  So, you have to choose one.  Physics or Psychology.  Yahoo picked and put this closer to Physics than Psychology.

You may have a different opinion, but the creation of Taxonomic information is not an exact science.  Personal bias and opinions sometimes creep into decisions about classifications.  I am very glad that Yahoo included this category, and I don't have any preference for whether it is considered closer to Psychology or Physics.

Answer 5

I agree. I haven't seen anything here that would suggest to me that good science is actually being used for paranormal investigations. Rather, it seems to be folklore with a science-y facade.

I certainly believe it's possible to apply valid scientific principles to unexplained things that some people might interpret as supernatural, but supernatural events tend not to happen much when scientists (or skeptics) are in the room. Moreover, the conclusions from the hypotheses put forward would not support the existence of ghosts or vampires or other entities, but would merely acknowledge that something unexplained had happened. I think that this wouldn't be too satisfying for the paranormal enthusiast.

On a side note, I've noticed that scientific explanations tend to earn many thumbs down votes in this category. My impression so far is that many (but not all) people who believe and promote the idea of the supernatural are closed-minded to scientific explanations, which is a shame.

Answer 6

Sure.

1. Get lots of people that don't know science is a method of

     investigation.

2. Select people that are closed minded and only want to

     apply this method to areas that you and them accept.

3. Make sure they don't know the difference between folklore

     and science.

4. Flood Yahoo with e-mails from you and your friends.

Good luck.

I was wondering though if I could help by calling the police or something for you to deal with the person holding the gun to your head forcing you to click on the alternative section when you enter the science and mathematics section.

Michael John Weaver, M.S.

I understand your stance perfectly see #2 above.

The Parapsychological Association http://www.parapsych.org/

has been an associate of the American Association for Advancement of Science http://www.aaas.org/ since 1969.

When a skeptical organization gains admission perhaps there cries of "it's not scientific" will be taken more seriously.

Some skeptics (Ray Hyman) are full members and they support parapsychological research and actively contribute to better controlled experiments.

Peer reviewed journals in parapsychology include:

1. Journal of Parapsychology

2. Journal of Scientific Exploration

3. Eroupean Journal of Parapsychology

Answer 7

Over in the forum a number of people have asked about that. Yahoo Answers' response was that since paranormal investigation used scientific equipment, then it was a scientific topic. Oy. That's like saying that using scientific equipment to detect the Easter Bunny makes that scientific as well. It doesn't seem like many people understand the concept of falsifiability in the scientific method, unfortunately.

Well, they say they are presently reviewing the issue but haven't made a decision yet. Mythology & Folklore would seem to be a good spot for paranormal stuff, especially since ghosts and spells and so forth are already being discussed there.

Answer 8

I completely agree with you, but cant answer your question, sorry!

Ashley